Rudolf Meister (General)

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Rudolf Meister (1945)

Rudolf Meister (born August 1, 1897 in Cologne , † September 11, 1958 in Hanover ) was a German officer , most recently General der Flieger in World War II .

Life

After the outbreak of the First World War, Meister joined the Fusilier Regiment “Queen Victoria of Sweden” (Pomeranian) No. 34 on August 16, 1914 . In November 1914 he was wounded while working at the front and after his recovery he was transferred to the 6th West Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 149 on January 5, 1915 . There he was promoted to lieutenant on March 22, 1915. From December 23, 1915 to August 11, 1916, he was employed as the company commander of his regular regiment and then completed an artillery observer course until October 30, 1916. Meister was then used as a flight observer until the end of the war.

After the end of the war, he was assigned to the flight school in Stolp and accepted into the Reichswehr . Here he was used as a company officer in the 4th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment until September 1923 . Then the leader assistant training took place until June 30, 1925. On July 31, 1925 he was promoted to first lieutenant and served in the 4th Infantry Regiment. Meister was put up for disposition on September 1, 1927 and dismissed on March 31, 1928 to participate in the secret German Air Force training program in the Soviet Union .

On May 1, 1931, he was reactivated as a captain in the 5th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment and was employed as a company commander from October 1931 to March 1933. Subsequently, he was transferred to the Defense Ministry to Berlin , September 1, 1933, his conversion to the Air Force and the appointment as Inspector of flight schools in the Ministry of Aviation . On May 1, 1935 he was first promoted to major and on August 1, 1937 to lieutenant colonel.

After the beginning of the Second World War, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the 1st Air Corps on December 18, 1939. In 1943 he was Chief of the Air Force Command Staff, later Commanding General of the Air Force in Denmark and from September 4, 1943, Commander of the IV Air Corps.

When allied bomber groups began to no longer return to England after their attacks on Germany, but landed on Soviet-occupied territory in order to then bomb German targets again in shuttle-bombing and then fly on to England again, he developed a plan to do so To attack planes in the less protected airports in the east. On the night of June 22, 1944, German fighter planes under his command succeeded in destroying 43 American bombers and 15 fighter planes in Poltava without any losses of their own.

After the dissolution of the IV Fliegerkorps at the end of 1944 until the end of the war, he was head of the Air Force Personnel Office. With the German capitulation champion came on May 8, 1945 in US captivity , from which he was released 1948th

In 1950, Meister was one of the authors of the Himmeroder memorandum , which dealt with the rearmament of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Awards

literature

  • Karl Friedrich Hildebrand: The Generals of the German Air Force 1935-1945, Volume 2 Habermehl-Nuber , Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1991, ISBN 3-7648-1701-1 , pp. 374–376

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ DNB 974180602/34
  2. ↑ a b c Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1925, p. 189
  3. ↑ a b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 536.
personal data
SURNAME Master, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and general of the aviators in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH September 11, 1958
Place of death Hanover