Wilhelm Antrup

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Wilhelm Antrup (born February 1, 1910 in Leeden / Westphalia ; † November 24, 1984 in Neubiberg ) was an officer and pilot in the air force of the Wehrmacht and later the air force of the German armed forces . He retired as brigadier general .

Life

Antrup entered the German Aviation School in Cottbus in 1934 , before moving to the newly formed Air Force in 1935. After completing his training as a pilot he joined Kampfgeschwader 155. From 1937 to 1938 he took part in the Spanish Civil War with the Condor Legion as a courier pilot . From 1939 he was employed as a first lieutenant and technical officer in the staff of Kampfgeschwader 55 . On October 27, 1940, he was promoted to captain and appointed squadron captain of 5th squadron of Kampfgeschwader 55. At this time, the squadron was in northern France and took part in the Battle of Britain . From June 1941 his squadron was used in the German-Soviet War in the southern section of the Eastern Front. On January 2, 1942, he received the German Cross in Gold . On October 1, 1942 he was promoted to major and received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on November 22, 1942 . From April 1, 1943 he took over temporarily and from May 6, 1943 as group commander of the III. Group of Kampfgeschwader 55. At this time it was in the southern section of the Eastern Front and was preparing for Operation Citadel . On August 8, 1943, Antrup took over the post of commodore of Kampfgeschwader 55, before being promoted to lieutenant colonel on June 1, 1944 . On the night of June 21-22, 1944, in addition to his own squadron, he led parts of Combat Squadrons 4 , 27 and 53 and attacked Poltava airfield in the Ukraine . As a result of Operation Frantic , 114 American B-17 bombers were lying there, 43 of which were destroyed and another 23 were damaged. Among other things, he was awarded the Knight's Cross Oak Leaves on November 18, 1944 for leading this attack and for over 500 enemy flights carried out. On October 1, 1944, he gave up command of the squadron.

In 1956 he joined the Bundeswehr Air Force as a colonel and became head of the Air Force Technical School 1 . On December 1, 1956, he switched to the same function at the Air Force 3 Technical School. In this position, he became Brigadier General on March 31, 1968 and later retired. He then worked as a consultant at the US defense company Litton Industries.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst Boog : The German Empire and the Second World War . Volume 7. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Stuttgart 2001, p. 364.
  2. ↑ Armor: "The elite cavort there". In: DER SPIEGEL 28/1972. 1972, Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Antrup, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and pilot
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Leeden
DATE OF DEATH November 24, 1984
Place of death Neubiberg