Walter Rudolf Enneccerus

Walter Rudolf Enneccerus (born November 21, 1911 in Trier ; † August 3, 1971 in Troisdorf ) was a German Air Force officer and ground attack pilot in the Air Force in World War II and Brigadier General of the German Air Force .

Military career

Promotions

• 2nd March 1934 lieutenant
• 1st October 1935 First Lieutenant
• 1st January 1939 captain
• July 28, 1940 Major
• October 1, 1943 Lieutenant Colonel
• 1st September 1957 Colonel
• 1st October 1963 Brigadier General

Prewar years

Enneccerus joined the Reichswehr Air Force, which was still secretly operated on April 1, 1930 . Since military training to become a pilot was not yet possible, this took place at the civilian German Aviation School in Schleissheim and from April to September 1931 in Lipetsk ( Soviet Union ). Subsequently, from October to December 1931, Enneccerus trained recruits in the 12th Infantry Regiment as well as a subsequent telephone training with the communications department 3 in Potsdam . After this, Enneccerus acted from April to September 1932 as a telephone troop leader in the communications department 6 in Hanover and later from February to August 1934 there as a company and recruit officer. During this time Enneccerus attended the infantry school in Dresden from October 1932 to May 1933 and the artillery school in Jüterbog from June 1933 to January 1934 . In September 1934 Enneccerus served as a company and recruit officer in the Jüterbog intelligence training command and in October of the same year he joined the intelligence and research department in Halle . After the German Air Force was exposed, Enneccerus joined them on January 1, 1935, where he served as a teacher and adjutant in the Schleissheim fighter pilot group until March 1936 . In March 1936, Enneccerus transferred as an officer for special use to Sturzkampfgeschwader 165 in Kitzingen , where he worked from November 1936 to March 1939 as a squadron captain of the 4th squadron in the II. Group of the squadron there. He then attended the Higher Air Force School in Berlin-Gatow from April to June 1939 .

Second World War

In July 1939, Enneccerus, meanwhile in the rank of captain , joined Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 , which had emerged from the renaming of Sturzkampfgeschwader 165 on May 15, 1939, and flew with it during the attack on Poland . On December 15, 1939, Captain Walter Enneccerus became commander of II./StG 2. However, as Enneccerus emphasized, the group had nothing to do with the Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 Immelmann of the same name . Enneccerus led the group in attacks on the Maginot Line , Le Havre , La Rochelle , Dunkirk and in the fight against tanks. After the defeat of France, Enneccerus, like all group commanders of the Stukawaffe, was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 21, 1940 for his achievements in the Polish and Western campaigns and was promoted to major on July 25, 1940 . Subsequently, his group flew in the Battle of Britain , where they suffered heavy losses. In December 1940 the group, which had been under StG 3 since July 1940, was withdrawn from France and transferred to Sicily . From February 13, 1941, the II./StG 2 was in action in the Africa campaign , where Enneccerus group under the StG 3 supported the advance of Rommel . Enneccerus' group also flew attacks on the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious and sank the cruiser HMS Southampton . On January 13, 1942, the Enneccerus Group was renamed III./StG 3. On October 18, 1941, Enneccerus gave up control of the group. In April 1942 he switched to the staff of Pilot Africa Otto Hoffmann von Waldau , based in Derna, as the third general staff officer (Ic - enemy situation) . In May 1942 Enneccerus was posted to the Eastern Front as 1st General Staff Officer (Ia - deployment) in the Luftgau Rostow , where he remained until November 18, 1942. On the following day, November 19, 1942, Enneccerus returned as a commodore to battle squadron 77 , in which he was already deployed in the attack on Poland. He then led the squadron in the southern section of the Eastern Front until February 1943. In April 1943 he moved to the IX. Fliegerkorps , where he initially worked as quartermaster and later as 1st general staff officer. In March 1944 Enneccerus rose to Fliegerführer West in Luftflotte 3 ; a function that he held until July 20, 1944. From July 29, 1944 to the end of August 1944, he then acted as a liaison officer in the Hungarian Air Force and from September to March 15, 1945 in the same position in the East Prussian Army Group and Central Army Group . On May 9, 1945 Enneccerus was taken prisoner by the Allies, from which he was released on September 6 of the same year.

Post-war years

No details are known about Ennecceru's curriculum vitae from 1945 until joining the Bundeswehr on July 11, 1956. After passing the aptitude test and briefing, Enneccerus was commissioned on August 15, 1956 with the management of Air Force Training Regiment 1, which he headed as commander until the end of January 1957. From February to April 1957 he had the status of an officer for special use in the Federal Ministry of Defense in Bonn , where he received instruction in the command of the air force schools in Fürstenfeldbruck . He was then from May 1957 to December 1962 permanent representative of the commander of the Air Force Training Inspection. Then he acted until May 1963 as deputy and chief of staff at the inspection of the air force training system in Fürstenfeldbruck. In June 1963 he was promoted to chief of staff at the Air Force Office in Porz-Wahn . Enneccerus held this position until September 30, 1967. On October 1, 1967, he was put into temporary retirement for health reasons. Enneccerus died on August 3, 1971 after a long illness in Troisdorf .

literature

• Dermot Bradley: The Generals and Admirals of the Bundeswehr , Volume 1: Adam – Fuhr, Osnabrück 1998, ISBN 978-3-7648-2492-1 , pp. 479-481.
• Georg Brütting : That was the German Stuka-Asse 1939-1945 , Motorbuch-Verlag Stuttgart, 4th edition 1984, ISBN 3-87943-433-6 , pp. 190-191.
• Enneccerus, Walter: The II. / Sturzkampfgeschwader 2. Typewritten record, Karlsruhe, February 15, 1967. 13 pages