Wilhelm Kohlbach

Wilhelm Kohlbach (born May 7, 1896 in Konitz , West Prussia , † February 11, 1947 in Shugborough Park , Great Haywood , United Kingdom ) was a German major general in the Air Force in World War II .

Life

Kohlbach joined the imperial army on August 10, 1914 and was made a lieutenant on October 2. On June 5, 1916, he began training as an observer in the Flieger-Ersatzabteilung 1 and switched to Army Aircraft Park 10 on August 28, 1917. After completing a pilot training course at the Flieger-Ersatzabteilung 2 on June 27, 1917, he was on February 2 2018 to Jagdstaffel 50 and from August 11th to Jagdstaffel 10.

After the end of the war, he returned to the army of the Reichswehr and was promoted to captain on February 1, 1932. On March 17, 1933, he joined the NSDAP and was director of an air transport company and a department of the German Air Sports Association, a cover organization of the future air force. He then joined the newly founded Air Force on July 1, 1934, as a captain. After he was only employed in the Reich Ministry of Aviation, he took over on April 20, 1935 the post of Deputy Staffelkpapitäns in the combat squadron "Hindenburg" . There he was promoted to major on August 1, 1935. Then he took over from October 15, 1936 as a company commander of the headquarters of the II Group of Combat Squadron 154 "Boelcke" . From March 1, 1937, he took over as squadron captain of the 5th squadron of the combat squadron 157. After he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 1, 1938, he went on February 1 as a course leader to the Great Fighting School in Tutow. He stayed there until August 19, 1939, when he took over Group II of Kampfgeschwader 53 . On May 10, 1940, after the start of the Western campaign , his machine of the Heinkel He 111 type was fired at by a British hurricane from the 87 Squadron and had to make an emergency landing. He was injured in the process and on July 25, 1940, he took over as commander of the 41st Aviation Training Regiment at the Frankfurt / Oder air base. On September 1, he was appointed Colonel and from October 1942 took over the management of night hunting room 11 at the XII. Air Corps. After he was transferred to the Führerreserve on September 22, 1943, he took over the post of commander of the military district command in Gelsenkirchen on November 1, where he was promoted to major general on March 1, 1944. On March 25, 1945 he returned to the Führerreserve, where he was taken prisoner by the British on April 9, 1945. He died in Shugborough Park / Great Haywood / Staffordshire as a British prisoner of war.

Web links

• Henry L. deZeng IV, Douglas G. Stankey: Air Force Officer Career Summaries, Section G – K. (PDF) 2017, pp. 919–920 , accessed on August 16, 2020 (English).