Alois Lindmayr

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Alois Lindmayr
Alois Lindmayr.jpg
Birth date 19 September 1901(1901-09-19)
Place of birth Laibach, Austria-Hungary
Death date 17 July 1965 (aged 63)
Place of death Marktgemeinde Mondsee,[1] Republic of Austria
Allegiance Austria First Austrian Republic
 National Socialist Germany
 Austria
Service/branch Roundel of the Austrian Armed Forces.png Austrian Bundesheer
Luftwaffe eagle.jpg Luftwaffe
Roundel of the Austrian Armed Forces.png Austrian Army (civil servant)
Years of service 1925–1938
1938–1945
1957–1965
Rank Colonel
Commands held 7./KG 76, I./KG 76
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Other work Businessman

Alois Lindmayr (19 September 1901 – 17 July 1965) was a German officer from Austria, Colonel of the Wehrmacht and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during WWII.

Life

Walter Storp (left), Major General Stefan Fröhlich (center) and Alois Lindmayr (right)

Alois Lindmayr was born in 1901 in Laibach as the son of a professional officer and later pilot. Like other schoolboys, he did some "home front" duties as pathfinder or as a guide on railway stations or for the Red Cross in WWI. He would later therefore receive the Austrian and Hungarian commemorative medal without swords. After completing the military high school (Militär-Oberrealschule) in Vienna, he worked as a bank clerk at a Vienna bank until Lindmayr joined the Austrian Federal Army's Bicycle Battalion No. 2 in 1925. From 1927 to 1930, he attended the officer's school in Enns.

Chronology

  • 1920 Graduated from Militäroberrealschule in Vienna, subsequently clerk apprentice at the Wiener Giro-Kassen Bank in Vienna
  • 1925 Joined the Austrian Bundesheer, Radfahrbataillon 2 (Bicycle Battalion No. 2)
  • 1927 to 1930 Officers Academy in Enns
    • 1 October 1929 Transferred to the Infanterie-Fachschule (infantry school)
  • 1930 Second Lieutenant in the Feldjägerbataillone zu Rad 4 (FJBzR 4)
  • 1931 Pilot course in Fliegerschule (flying school) Graz
  • 1 September 1934 Commander of the Reconnaissance Squadron/Fliegerregiment Nr. 1 (equipped with Focke-Wulf Fw 56)
  • 1936 Lindmayr passes entry exam for the staff college course 1936/37 but isn't invited due to the high number of other participants.
  • 1938 After Anschluss, taken over into the Luftwaffe as Hauptmann (Captain)
    • Assigned to Luftwaffen-Kommando in Österreich (Lw.Kdo.i.Ö.), then Kampfgeschwader 253 „General Wever“
  • 1 November 1938 Appointed Commander of the 7./KG 158, later renamed 7./KG 76
  • 1939 to 1940 Squadron commander in the Kampfgeschwader 76 with Dornier Do 17 Z
    • Lindmayr's most distinct action was leading two groups of KG 76 bombers in a raid to London on Sunday, 15 September 1940 during the Battle of Britain. The day was the climax of the battle and became known as the "Battle of Britain Day". Lindmayr led his Dornier unit into the heart of London despite heavy attacks by Royal Air Force Fighter Command. He held his unit in formation losing eight of his 27 bombers. His experience and discipline prevented his unit suffering greater losses. In the battle, KG 76's escort, numbering some 120 Messerschmitt Bf 109s, were heavily outnumbered by RAF fighters making his leadership even more essential to the survival of his formations.
  • July 1940 Commander of the I. Group/KG 76, as of 1941 equipped with Junkers Ju 88 A
  • April 1941 to late 1942 Commander of Sondergruppe "L" under General der Kampfflieger
  • 1943 to February 1944 Gruppenleiter (Ic) and then Chief of Operations (Ia) in Feldluftgau-Kommando XXV, initially stationed in Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine)
  • Transferred to Luftflotte 4, later head of the German instructor staff in Hungarian 102nd Aviation Brigade (Fliegerbrigade 102)
  • February 1944 to October 1944 Commander of pilot school (Flugzeugführerschule) A 123 in Graz-Thalerhof
    • Not much training at this time was possible due to the fuel shortage at this stage of the war.
  • November 1944 Commander of pilot school (FFS) A 23 in Kaufbeuren
  • 26 April 1945 Lindmayr arranges the non-hostile surrender of pilot school Kaufbeuren and the airfield to US forces.

Knight's Cross

Awarded for his successes as a bomber pilot and Staffelkapitän in the Polish and Western campaigns. In the Battle of France his squadron carried out attacks on the airfields at Escarmain and Tours, destroying 28 and 20 aircraft respectively. He also led an attack on the Rennes railway station, catching it while it was very congested with traffic. In this one raid his bombers hit about 500 railway ammunition and troop transport cars. Lindmayr’s squadron also struck enemy troop concentrations and motorized columns near Charleroi, Cambrai, Lille and Rouen. He would be recognized appropriately for these successes.

Post-WWII

When Lindmayr was released from American captivity in 1946, he worked in the private sector as an accountant at the Austrian Nitrogen Works, as a commercial clerk at the company "Steiners Erben" and as a representative of the health insurance company. When the plans for the development of the Austrian air force were finally to be made, Lindmayr was entrusted with the planning by the Raab federal government due to his experience and special qualifications. On 1 May 1955, he was therefore accepted as a contract employee in the Upper Austrian state government in order to facilitate a possible reactivation for a new federal army (Bundesheer). Lindmayr hoped to be reinstated as an officer, something he had envisioned since the end of the war and something he always openly stated to private companies. As a result, he was also, according to his own statements, always passed over for civilian promotion opportunities. When the Office for National Defense was formed as Section VI of the BKA on 15 July 1955, Lindmayr remained as a contract employee in the Upper Austrian state government. During this time, Lindmayr was certainly in contact with his former comrade from the First Federal Army and the Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel i. G. Lube.

Alois Lindmayr was originally intended by the head of the Air Department, Colonel (Lieutenant Colonel of the Air Force/Wehrmacht) Paul Lube, to be the head of the newly established Air Park of the Federal Army in 1956. In this year, there was still no clarity about Lindmayr's last rank in the Wehrmacht. However, upon request from the BMfLV in various German archives, the rank of colonel was confirmed and thus he could not be taken on into active military service. According to the Colonel Paragraph of 1955, Wehrmacht officers from colonel or higher could not be taken on in the Austrian Army. The state police investigations into Lindmayr's person revealed no abnormalities and he was therefore accepted as a retired Colonel (Oberst a. D.) with a special contract in the BMfLV on 1 February 1957. He was finally taken on as a real civil servant and head of the Upper Austria Supplementary Command in January 1958, where he acted as “de facto” military commandant. His employment in general staff functions during the Second World War could not be credited to him under service law, which is why he was classified as a B-rank function (“Higher Service of the Army Administration”). As head of the Supplementary Command (later: Military Command), Lindmayr exercised command over the military under his command. His deputy and his immediate colleagues, with the exception of the Wirklicher Amtsrat Friedrich Ebner, were professional officers with the ranks of captain to lieutenant colonel. Lindmayr fulfilled a purely commanding role, which meant that he also had to write the assessments for the promotions of professional officers.

Lindmayr himself was never entirely satisfied with the civilian division. This can also be seen in the job description of his superior, Major General Linhart, who gave his assessment in 1961 as follows: "[Lindmayr] is more interested in military service than in the reserve system. [...] Very suitable as a leader in a position where he can give orders and command." If Lindmayr had "only" become a lieutenant colonel in the Luftwaffe, he would certainly have played a leading role in the development of the Austrian Air Force. However, since he had not completed a general staff course before or during the war, he would probably have been denied a career as a general of the air force. However, he could certainly have achieved promotion to brigadier (Dienstklasse VIII) as a career officer and head of the air fleet in the BMfLV.

Promotions

  • c. 1927 Zugsführer (NCO)
  • 15 August 1929 Wachtmeister (Sergeant)
  • 15 August 1930 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant) with Patent from 1 September 1930
  • 1 September 1934 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
  • 1. June 1938 Hauptmann (Captain of the Luftwaffe)
  • 1 August 1940 Major
  • 1 September 1942 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
  • 1 December 1944 Oberst (Colonel)
  • 1 June 1959 Wirklicher Amtsrat (Dienstklasse VI)
  • 1 July 1962 Wirklicher Amtsrat (Dienstklasse VII)
    • Due to his premature death in 1965, an appointment as a real court councillor (Wirklicher Hofrat) could no longer take place.

Awards and decorations

Sources

  • Christian Frech / Markus Pichler / Peter Steiner / Iakovos Vlachos: Österreichs Generäle 1919–1955 – Die Generäle der 1. Republik und des Bundesstaates bis zur 2. Republik 1955, 4 Volumes, Verlag Militaria, Wien 2021

References

  1. ↑ Other sources state, he died in Wels (Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries, Section L-R) or Enns.
  2. ↑ Peter Alexander Barthou: Wirklicher Amtsrat Oberst der Luftwaffe Alois Lindmayr, Wien 2007, p. 122 ff. (Archive)
  3. ↑ Lindmayr, Alois
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