Werner Ostendorff

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W. Ostendorff, here SS-Obersturmbannführer

Werner Ostendorff (born August 15, 1903 in Königsberg (Prussia) , † May 1, 1945 in Bad Aussee ) was a German officer , most recently an SS group leader and lieutenant general of the Waffen SS in World War II .

Life

After completing a commercial training, Werner Ostendorff joined Infantry Regiment 1 on November 5, 1925. Ostendorff was a member of the NSDAP ( membership number 4,691,488) and since 1935 a member of the SS (SS number 257,146).

It was on May 1, 1930, Lieutenant and on July 1, 1933 Lieutenant of the Air Force Jüterbog transported. On March 1, 1934, he switched to the Air Force and on October 1, 1935, he was SS-Obersturmführer at the SS Junker School in Bad Tölz . On January 30, 1936, he was promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer and teacher at the SS Junk School. On August 17, 1938 he was promoted to leader of a company in the 4th SS standard "Der Führer" and on June 1, 1939 to SS-Sturmbannführer . On the same day he became the commander of an SS battalion with which he took part in the attack on Poland at the beginning of World War II . Then he took part in the western campaign, after which he was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross . On December 13, 1940 he was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer . He then took part in the Balkan campaign and, from June 1941, in the attack on the Soviet Union . After the fighting for Ushakowo near Smolensk on September 13, 1941, he was awarded the Knight's Cross. On March 1, 1942, he was promoted to SS-Standartenführer and on June 5, 1942 was awarded the German Cross in Gold. From July 1942 he became chief of staff of the newly established SS Panzer Corps under Paul Hausser and fought with it in February and March 1943 in the 2nd and 3rd battles for Kharkov. Promoted to SS-Oberführer on April 20, 1943, he took over the leadership of the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen" in France on November 26, 1943 . On April 20, 1944 he was promoted to SS Brigadefuhrer and Major General of the Waffen SS. From June 1944 he took part in the fighting in Normandy , where he was seriously wounded on June 16 at Carentan . From October 21, 1944 to November 15, 1944 he took over the SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen" again. On December 1, 1944 he was promoted to SS-Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of the Waffen-SS and Chief of Staff of the Army Group "Upper Rhine". As commander of the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" (January 29 to March 9, 1945) Ostendorff was seriously wounded by an incendiary grenade near Stuhlweissenburg in Hungary on March 9, 1945 and died on May 1, 1945 as a result of a gas fire infection in a reserve hospital in Bad Aussee.

Ranks

  • Sagittarius : November 2, 1925
  • Officer Candidates : April 1, 1926
  • Private : August 1, 1927
  • Sergeant : October 1, 1927
  • Ensign : August 1, 1928
  • Oberfähnrich : August 1, 1929
  • Lieutenant: June 1, 1930
  • First lieutenant: July 1, 1933
  • SS-Obersturmführer: October 1, 1935
  • SS-Hauptsturmführer: January 30, 1938
  • SS-Sturmbannführer: June 1, 1939
  • SS-Obersturmbannführer: December 13, 1940
  • SS-Standartenführer: March 1, 1942
  • SS-Oberführer : April 20, 1943
  • SS Brigadefuhrer and Major General of the Waffen SS: April 20, 1944
  • SS-Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of the Waffen-SS: December 1, 1944

Awards

literature

  • Mark C. Yerger : Waffen-SS Commanders: Army, Corps, and Divisional Leaders , Vol. 2. Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA, 1999.
  • Andreas Schulz, Günter Wegmann, Dieter Zinke: The generals of the Waffen-SS and police: Lammerding-Plesch , Biblio-Verlag, 2003, ISBN 978-3-7648-2375-7 .

Web links

Commons : Werner Ostendorff  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Schulz, Günter Wegmann, Dieter Zinke: The generals of the Waffen SS and the police: Lammerding-Plesch . Biblio-Verlag, 2003, ISBN 978-3-7648-2375-7
  2. ↑ 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. 161.
personal data
SURNAME Ostendorff, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently SS group leader of the Waffen SS and chief of staff in the SS disposal division in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Königsberg (Prussia)
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1945
Place of death Bad Aussee , Styria