Walther von Axthelm

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Walther von Axthelm (born December 23, 1893 in Hersbruck , † January 6, 1972 in Traunstein ) was a German general of the Luftwaffe anti-aircraft cartillery during World War II .

Major General Walther von Axthelm.

Life

Axthelm joined the 8th field artillery regiment "Prince Heinrich of Prussia" No. 8 of the Bavarian Army in Nuremberg on September 15, 1913 as a flag squire . When the First World War broke out , he took part as a battery officer in the fighting in Lorraine , the trench warfare between the Moselle and Maas, and the Battle of Verdun . On December 16, 1916, Axthelm transferred to the staff of Department II, where he received a briefing as a departmental adjutant until January 20, 1917 . He then held this position until September 8, 1917 and was then employed as a battery leader on the Western Front until the end of the war . His achievements during the war were recognized by the award of both classes of the Iron Cross , the Badge of Wound in black and the Order of Military Merit IV class with swords and a crown. After the war ended and his return to the garrison, his regiment was demobilized on December 28, 1918 and finally disbanded.

Various free formations were formed from demobilized parts , including the safety battery 2. It was also known as the Volkswehr battery "von Axthelm" and formed into four batteries . Axthelm acted as the leader of this association from March 25 to October 20, 1919, was accepted into the Provisional Reichswehr and assigned to the Reichswehr Artillery Regiment 24. From January 1, 1921 to September 30, 1923 he was a department adjutant in the 7th (Bavarian) Artillery Regiment . Axthelm then worked there until September 30, 1931, initially as a platoon leader , battery driver , and later battery boss, and completed an automotive and anti-aircraft training course. Axthelm was assigned to the Swedish Army from September 20 to October 2, 1931 . On October 1, 1931, he was transferred to the Reichswehr Ministry, where he was a referee for weapons, equipment and ammunition at Training Staff 3 during the artillery inspection until the end of March 1933. On April 1, 1934, he was promoted to group leader there.

On April 1, 1935, Axthelm joined the Air Force as a major , where he was employed as a group leader in the inspection of the anti-aircraft cartillery in the Reich Ministry of Aviation until August 12, 1936 . The following day he was appointed commander of the Air Force Regiment “General Göring” , which from October 28, 1939, was given the code name Stab Flak-Regiment 103. During the Second World War, Axthelm gave command to Lieutenant General Paul Conrath on May 31, 1940 , and on June 1, 1940, he became the commander of the newly established 1st Flak Brigade , which had been set up for anti-aircraft protection in the greater Paris area after the end of the Western campaign . On December 8, 1940, the brigade staff was transferred to Dessau , where they took over anti-aircraft protection for the Junkers aircraft and engine works . On March 11, 1941, the brigade staff was expanded and converted into the new General Command of the I. Flak Corps . In this context, Axthelm was commissioned to lead the I. Flak Corps.

In the course of the eastern campaign that began in June 1941, his corps was part of Army Group Center and was used as part of the 2nd Panzer Army . This was followed by missions in the Kesselschlacht near Białystok and Minsk , the Kesselschlacht near Smolensk , the Battle of Kiev , as well as the double battle of Vyazma and Bryansk and finally in the Battle of Moscow . Axthelm led the latter from November 25, 1941 as the commanding general of the I. Flak Corps. Previously, he had already been awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his tactical leadership on September 4, 1941 . On December 20, 1941, Axthelm gave command of the corps to Major General Richard Reimann , who was entrusted with the leadership. Axthelm himself returned to the Reich Ministry of Aviation in Berlin, where he held the position of General der Flakwaffe (inspector of the anti-aircraft artillery) from January 12, 1942 to the end of March 1945 . At the same time he acted during this time from April 1, 1943 to the end of March 1945 as inspector of the V 1 , which initially had the camouflage designation Flakzielgerät 76.

On March 31, 1945, Axthelm gave the post of General of the Flakwaffe to Wolfgang Pickert , who had been trained since March 20, 1945 and became the Commanding General of Flak Training . With the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht Axthelm came on May 8, 1945 in US captivity , from which he was released on July 1, 1947th

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl Friedrich Hildebrand: The Generals of the German Air Force 1935-1945. Part II. Volume 1: Abernetty – v. Gyldenfeldt. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1701-1 , pp. 30-31.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1930, p. 144.
  2. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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. 196.
personal data
SURNAME Axthelm, Walther von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German general of the anti-aircraft cartillery in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH December 23, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Hersbruck
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1972
Place of death Traunstein