Wolfgang Vorwald

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Wolfgang Vorwald (born May 8, 1898 in Beeskow ; † June 1, 1977 in Munich ) was a German officer , most recently lieutenant general of the Air Force in World War II and commanding general of the Luftgau in Munich. After the war ended, Vorwald worked in the Blank Office , the predecessor institution of the Federal Ministry of Defense of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Life

First World War

The son of a local court council stepped Vorwald during the First World War on June 5, 1917 as a cadet - commissioned officer in Altona in the . Lauenburgische Field Artillery Regiment No. 45 of the Prussian army one. On February 22, 1918, Vorwald was appointed ensign and promoted to lieutenant on June 17, 1918 . In the further course of the war he was deployed as a battery officer and awarded the Iron Cross II. Class and the Wound Badge in black.

Weimar Republic

After the end of the war and return to his home country, he worked in the 3rd Guards Field Artillery Regiment from January 20 to July 31, 1919 , was then transferred to the Provisional Reichswehr and assigned to the 3rd Reichswehr Artillery Regiment. From December 10, 1919, Vorwald came to the staff of the 32nd Infantry Leader, later the 8th Infantry Leader, and was briefly commanded to the 5th Cavalry Regiment until September 30, 1920. From October 1, 1920 to September 30, 1924, Vorwald was with the 3rd Squadron of the 1st (Prussian) Driving Department in Gumbinnen . During this time he also acted in his department as a welfare officer and attended the Jüterbog artillery school from October 1923 to August 22, 1924 . After a MG course with the 1st (Prussian) Infantry Regiment , Vorwald was appointed adjutant of the 1st Squadron in Königsberg on October 1, 1924 . He carried out these tasks until the end of September 1929 and was promoted to first lieutenant on June 1, 1925 .

After a short time as a battery officer, Vorwald was placed at the disposal of the Chief of Army Command in April 1930, where he was assigned to study at the Technical University of Berlin . During his student days, Vorwald was promoted to captain on July 1, 1933 . On July 25, 1934, he received his degree in engineering here . The final main diploma examination took place from August 1 to August 31, 1934. In September 1934 Vorwald returned to driving department 1, but was appointed squadron chief of the driving department Seerappen in October of the same year , whose post he filled until the end of March 1935.

Transfer to the Air Force

On April 1, 1935, Vorwald joined the Air Force as a captain , where he continued to work in the Seerappen flak department , albeit as a battery officer. He held this position until September of the same year. He was then from October to December 1936 battery chief in Flak Regiment 11 . In his publication for this period, however, Patzwall states that Vorwald is said to have been appointed Higher Fliegerkommandeur III in 1936 and head of the Technical Office of the Air Force Administration Office in June 1936. In January 1937, Vorwald was appointed to the Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM), where he was commanded as an officer for special use and as a tactics teacher at the Munich War School until September 1937 . Here Vorwald was promoted to major on January 1, 1937 . Subsequently, Vorwald was from October 1937 to June 1938 commander of the teaching department of the anti-aircraft artillery school.

Second World War

In July 1938, Vorwald was appointed head of the armaments department of the Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force, which was subordinate to the Quartermaster General of the Air Force. On April 1, 1939, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and on February 1, 1941 to colonel . At the end of October 1941, Vorwald resigned from this position and was appointed head of the technical office in the RLM on November 1, 1941. Patzwall gives the date of this takeover as October 1941 and adds that the position was with the Air Force Quartermaster General. Vorwald, who was promoted to major general on March 1, 1943, and lieutenant general on July 1, 1944 , held this position until the end of August 1944. Here Vorwald was involved in the introduction of " free night hunting " in the spring of 1943 . However, his proposal failed because of Josef Kammhuber's intervention . On August 17, 1944, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords for his previous work . He then acted from September 1, 1944 to the end of April 1945 as commanding general and commander in Luftgau VII Munich. In this function he was court lord of the Munich Air Force Court. According to a publication by the city of Munich, the reconstructable judgments of the court in cases of desertion were "comparatively mild", for which Vorwald was responsible. On April 29, 1945, Vorwald was taken prisoner by the United States , from which he was released on January 15, 1948.

Post-war years

After his dismissal, Vorwald worked for a few years in the private sector as a technical manager and authorized signatory . Another source indicates that Vorwald worked as a sales representative. On September 1, 1953, he returned to the civil service , where he was employed as a technical clerk in the Federal Chancellery ( Blank Office ) in the Koblenz branch (Department V). There he was initially head of sub-department C (planning for EVG with regard to research, development and testing). On April 1, 1956, Vorwald was appointed head of the defense technology department (T) in the Federal Ministry of Defense . Here he was appointed ministerial director on November 15, 1957, with simultaneous appointment as civil servant for life . On February 11, 1958, Vorwald was appointed commissioner for the Bundeswehr test centers at the Federal Office for Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB). During his local service Vorwald was (3 (solid propellant set) and O 31 (liquid fuel) E) from the course of a rocket fuel controversy attorney general for treason accused, but later acquitted. At the time, Der Spiegel dealt with this incident in detail in issue 52 of the 1957 year. On May 31, 1964, Vorwald resigned from the civil service.

literature

Web links

  • Brief curriculum vitae in Helmut Maier: Research as a weapon: Armaments research in the Kaiser Wilhelm Society and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Metal Research; 1900–1945 / 48 (= Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science [Hrsg.]: History of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in National Socialism . Volume 16 ). Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-8353-0109-8 ( limited preview in the Google book search).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reichelt p. 35. Outline google.books
  2. ↑ Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry , ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1925, p. 189.
  3. ↑ a b c Patzwall p. 170.
  4. ↑ a b Patzwall p. 171.
  5. ↑ a b Boog / Krebs / Vogel p. 166.
  6. ↑ Stefanie Reichelt: "For me the war is over!" Deserters and war objectors of the Second World War in Munich. Published by the state capital Munich. Buchendorfer Verlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 978-3-927984-36-3 , p. 37.
  7. ↑ Entry of the federal archive on Bundesarchiv.de
  8. ↑ Baar / Petzina p. 505. Outline google.books
  9. ↑ Spiegel edition 52/1957 on the Vorwald affair
  10. ↑ Entry of the federal archive on Bundesarchiv.de
personal data
SURNAME Vorwald, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently Lieutenant General in the Air Force in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Beeskow
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 1977
Place of death Munich