Wilhelm Wimmer (General)

Wilhelm Wimmer (born September 9, 1889 in Vilsbiburg , † May 15, 1973 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen ) was a German general of the Wehrmacht aviators .

Life

After graduating from high school in 1909 at the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich , Wimmer joined the 16th Infantry Regiment of the Bavarian Army as a flag junior . From 1910 to 1911 he attended the Munich War School and was subsequently promoted to lieutenant . Shortly before the start of the First World War , he completed his pilot training at the Schleißheim Aviation School .

In October 1914 he came to Feldflieger -teilung 4b on the Western Front . In April 1916 he was appointed adjutant to the staff officer of the aviators in the staff of the Strantz Army Department for a few months . He was then assigned to the Bavarian Military Aviation Inspectorate (ILuft), where he worked until shortly before the end of the war. For his achievements Wimmer had received both classes of the Iron Cross as well as the Order of Merit IV. Class with Swords. In November 1918 he took over the aviation department 294 b (artillery), in December of that year he became an aviator in the I. Army Corps . From May 1919, until its dissolution, he was an aviation officer at the Ministry of Military Affairs in Munich.

In the transitional army he was initially used as platoon leader and deputy company leader in the Reichswehr Rifle Regiment 41. On September 30, 1920, he retired from the army with the rank of captain before he was accepted into the Reichswehr on January 1, 1921 . Here he served, among other things, as a company commander of the 7th (Bavarian) Motor Vehicle Department and in the 19th (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment . In 1926 he was transferred to the Reichswehr Ministry.

In 1929 Wimmer was appointed head of the statistical group (Wa. Prw. 8) of the testing department in the Army Weapons Office, which made him responsible for aircraft development, testing and procurement. From this the Office C (later Technical Office) emerged in the Reich Aviation Ministry in 1933 , which Wimmer continued to head. In this role he played a key role in the armament of the Air Force . After Walther Wever's death in June 1936, Wimmer , who had meanwhile been promoted to major general , was replaced as head of the technical office by Göring's personal friend Ernst Udet and was instead appointed Senior Aviation Commander 3 based in Dresden . When the 2nd Flieger Division was set up (temporarily 12th Flieger Division) from his command in August 1938, he remained its commander. In February 1939 Wimmer was then Commander in Chief of the Air Force Command East Prussia, as which he participated in the attack on Poland at the beginning of the Second World War . After his promotion to General der Flieger, he led Luftflotte 1 (Berlin) from May to August 1940 .

In August 1940, Wimmer succeeded Curt Pflugbeil as commander in Luftgau Belgium-Northern France, which he was to remain until 1944. After the Luftgau was dissolved as a result of the Allied conquest of the area, he was transferred to the Führerreserve in September 1944 . Wimmer was arrested along with several other Luftwaffe generals and brought to court-martial for the hasty retreat. In November 1944, however, he was assigned to the staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Parachute Force. After the surrender, Wimmer was taken prisoner by the Allies, from which he was released in 1947.

Wimmer lived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen until his death at the age of 83.

literature

• Lutz Budraß : Aircraft Industry and Air Armament in Germany 1918–1945. 2nd edition, Droste, Düsseldorf 2007, ISBN 3-7700-1623-8 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Annual report on the K. Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Munich 1908/09.
2. ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1924, p. 154.
3. ↑ Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr. : Eagles of the Third Reich: Men of the Luftwaffe in World War II. Stackpole, 2007, ISBN 0-8117-3405-6 , p. 260.