Peter Ingenhoven

Peter Ingenhoven
Birth date	16 December 1894(1894-12-16)
Place of birth	Düsseldorf-Volmerswerth, Rhine Province, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	⚔ 1 February 1942 (aged 47)
Place of death	Near Beljajewo, Soviet Union
Allegiance	German Empire National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Imperial German Army Luftwaffe
Years of service	1914–1918 1935–1942
Rank	NSFK-Standartenführer Lieutenant Colonel of the Reserves
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Poland Campaign Operation Weserübung Operation Barbarossa
Awards	Iron Cross House Order of Hohenzollern Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Other work	Teacher

Peter Ingenhoven (16 December 1894 – 1 February 1942) was a German teacher as well as reserve officer of the Imperial German Army and the Wehrmacht, finally Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in World War II. If Josef Ingenhoven (b. 29 January 1917 in Düsseldorf), who joined the Luftwaffe in WWII and was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 May 1943 (Kr.O./Fl.), is a relative, maybe even his oldest son, could not be verified.

Life

After the daring landing by Peter Ingenhoven, the airfield Fornebu in German hands (April 1940)

Peter was born the son of Düsseldorf businessman Peter Ingenhoven (1855–1908) and his wife Christine, née Wierich. He had one brother and two sisters. Members of the Ingenhoven family are documented in Volmerswerth from the 15th century. After his Abitur, Ingenhoven attended the teachers' seminar and passed his exams to become a teacher shortly after the beginn of WWI. He volunteered for the infantry on 25 August 1914, received training and was transferred to the front, where he was severely wounded during the first storm attack on Langemarck on 23 October 1914. On 2 March 1915, he returned to his regiment and served as a motorcycle despatch rider (Kradmelder).

On 20 September 1915, after having applied and being accepted, he transferred to the Fliegertruppe. On 30 September 1915, he was transferred to the Armee-Flugpark 4 for flight training. On 5 August 1916, he was transferred to the Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung Nr. 2 (FEA 2) to receive flight training with experienced pilots. On 9 August 1916, he was transferred to the military flying school (Militär-Fliegerschule) Schneidemühl for special training ant returned to the FEA 2 on 27 October 1916. On 24 February 1917, he was transferred back to the Armee-Flugpark 4 now awaiting his commission to a front flying unit. On 29 March 1917, after some leave, Vizefeldwebel Ingenhoven was transferred to the new Fliegerabteilung 33 (FA 33), which had been formed from the Feldflieger-Abteilung 33 and the Flieger-Bataillon Nr. 1. he was now a Infanterie-Flieger, flying over the front lines while his observer, Lieutenant Mangold, would photograph enemy positions. Ingenhoven and Mangold were praised several times in division and corps orders for their daring missions in Flanders and northern France. Ingenhoven was hurt on 16 April 1917 in a crash vic Moorsele and hospitalized, again on 30 October 1917 in another crash. After 230 combat missions (Feindflüge), Lieutenant of the Reserves, promoted as such in February 1918, Ingenhoven was relaeased from duty on 22 November 1918 and returned home.

He became a teacher at the Volksschulen in Benrath and later in Düsseldorf. In 1933, he joined the NSDAP and in 1934 was appointed director of the Rheinisches Provinzial-Erziehungsheim (Rhenish provincial educational home) in Rheindahlen near Mönchengladbach. He was, like Josef Jacobs and many other veterans, an active member of the of the German Air Sports Association e. V (DLV) as a DLV-Schwarmführer (1st Lieutenant) and later of the National Socialist Air Corps (NSFK) as a NSFK-Hauptsturmführer (Captain) with a focus on training pilots from the youth groups.

When the Luftwaffe was officially unveiled in 1935, he joined the Fliegergruppe (flying group) in Lechfeld, traveling back and forth there for selection exercises (Auswahlübungen) from 1 April to 1 November 1935. On this day, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant of the Reserves with rank seniority from 1 November 1924. On 1 April 1937, he was promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) and trasferred to the Kampfgeschwader 254 (KG 254), later serving in the reserves of the Kampfgruppe z. b. V. 1 under Major Dr. Max Ziervogel (as of 1 October 1937) and Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich "Fritz" Wilhelm Morzik (as of 1 April 1938 until August 1939, when the Kampfgruppe became part of the much larger Kampfgeschwader). In 1939, he became head of department (Dezernent) with the provincial administration of Düsseldorf.

On 16 August 1939, 12 days before mobilization, Ingenhoven was reactivated and transferred to the 12th squadron/Kampfgeschwader z. b. V. 2 under Colonel Dipl.-Ing. Gerhard Conrad. The wing was equipped with Ju 52. On 6 March 1940, he was transferred to the staff of the new Kampfgruppe z. b. V. 103 in Schleswig with four squadrons of Ju 52s as deputy commander under Hauptmann Richard Wagner (1911–1940) from Kiel. Although all these "z. b. V." (for special use) units had the prefix "Kampf" (combat), they were actually purely transport units. On month later, the special group would transport infantry to the airfield Oslo-Fornebu on 9 April 1940, Wesertag, the first day of Operation Weserübung.

Fornebu

On 9 April 1940, at 7:20 a.m., 1st and 2nd Company of the Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1 (FJR 1) were to jump from Ju 52s of the 2nd Group under Karl Drewes of the Kampfgeschwader z. b. V. 1 under Friedrich "Fritz" Wilhelm Morzik and occupy the airport. However, due to bad weather and fog, the planes returned.

The weather on 9 April was good at the takeoff areas; cloudless but hazy. Visibility was 2 to 4 kilometers. Early morning fogs, especially over the ocean, were anticipated. However, the combat group approaching Oslo first encountered patches of fog, which began to grew thicker at the altitude they were ordered to maintain. It soon turned out that about a fourth of the crews were incapable of maintaining unit cohesion with visibility reduced to a few meters. In a normal practice flight, the orders should have been given to turn back, but because of the importance of the mission, the German group commander, Lieutenant Colonel Drewes, refused to give the turn back order. But when two Ju 52s "went missing" – probably lost control of the aircraft or simply crashed into the sea – he finally gave the order. The designated airport to return to: Aalborg. Then the different levels of the German command gave confusing feedbacks. The HQ of Fliegerkorps X confirmed the command. Lufttransportchef (Land), however, gave a contradicting order, and issued the units to press on, arguing that the follow-up units' pilots have sufficient training in bad weather flights. The worst case scenario, he argued, is the loss of the leading elements. If the leading elements are encountering heavy resistance on the ground, he argued, then the follow-up units will simply not land. On the other hand, if the whole mission is abandoned, the entire campaign might be in jeopardy. On top of this, he went on, if all these units will return to the two tiny Aalborg airfields, then the congestion on the landing strips will result a catastrophe; the returning units had to land in a very narrow window of time for the lack of fuel, and their arrival would coincide with the arrival of the follow-up air supply units from Germany. Despite these objections, the HQ of Fliegerkorps X issued the command to turn back. By pure chance, the 103th KGrzbV, carrying one of the infantry battalions, did not obey the order. This unit was recently activated - and not organically incorporated into the Luftwaffe chain of command. Thus its commander, Hauptmann Wagner considered the order from Lufttransportchef (Land) a bit of higher importance than that of the HQ of Fliegerkorps X; also he was suspicious of enemy sabotage of radio communications. Consequently, he followed the original plan and forced the landing of his battalion into the teeth of Norwegian defenses. He, just as the German Luftwaffe attaché in Oslo (who came to the airport to observe the operation), was killed in action. His deputy, Hauptmann Peter Ingenhoven took over the command, subdued the defenders, established a defensive perimeter around the airfield and guided the follow-up elements to the airfield - he was awarded with a Ritterkreuz for his performance and bravery. Mission reports indicate that by far the biggest problems were the wrecks on the airfield, some of them are still in flames. As the Heer infantry had no training whatsoever in airfield operations, it was both luck and skill that disaster didn't follow. The Aalborg airfield(s) under control, the remaining units of the II./KGzbV.1 joined their comrades in Oslo, and the III./324 IR was sent there as well, instead of Stavanger. By the evening of 9 April 1940, the air transport operations were back to schedule.

The transport planes began to circle the airfield, uncertain about what they should do. It looked like another part of the German plan to capture the Norwegian capital had failed. However, the fortunes of war took a favorable turn for the Germans. Plans called for the Me-110s to land at Fornebu to refuel after they had protected the landing of the paratroopers because they did not have sufficient fuel to return to Germany or Denmark. This is another example of the risks the Germans were willing to take in their operational planning. The Me-110s had used up all their fuel waiting for the paratroopers, and the squadron commander decided to land his aircraft at Fornebu. He did not have much choice. When the transport aircraft saw the Messerschmitts land, they decided to do the same, and one by one the German planes landed despite heavy Norwegian fire.

At 7:40 a.m., the Kampfgruppe z. b. V. 103, as the second wave, transporting the 2nd Battalion and an engineer company from the Infanterie-Regiment 324, was to land at Fornebu which should be conquered by now. But because the German paratroopers had not landed, the resistence was stiff. Machine gun fire opend from all sides. The first plane, with commander Richard Wagner acting as an observer, touched down and was instantly hit. The pilot gave full throttle, but before he was airborne again, the commander Captain Richard Wagner (later buried at the Old Rerik cemetery near Rostock) and several others were killed. The the wounded pilot, 1st Lieutenant Robert Sandt, gained speed and started off. Now the second plane was landing, with Captain Ingenhoven and his pilot. The pilot first started to gain speed, thinking the operation would be discontinued, but Ingenhoven ordered: Land and prepare to fight. So the pilot did, and taxied far away hoping for safety. Other aircraft followed their new leader. The infantry exited as fast as possible, Ingenhoven at their head shouting orders. The Norwegian Gloster Gladiators were destroyed. Two German aircraft were also destroyed and five damaged.

At the same time, a radio message issued an order to all transport units in the air to abort the task and land in Aalborg. 1st Lieutenant of the Luftwaffe Hermann Kempf, Abwehr agent in Oslo, had seen the fighting and the smoke, he hurried to the German cargo ship "Widar" in the harbour.

He went on board and was pleased to see that the radio officer (trained to detect secret radio messages) was equipped with an Afu device (Agentenfunkgerät). His first radio message at 8:10 a.m. was: Fornebu in German hands. This was received in Hamburg-Wohldorf, the reception point for the Hamburg Abwehr Office. Only minutes later, the X. Fliegerkorps and Führerhauptquartier received the message. the first of many hundred of that day. The Norwegians at Fornebu ran out of ammunition and were forced to withdraw at 8:30 am. Norwegian attempts to mount a counter-attack were half-hearted and effectively came to nothing. The Germans quickly took control of the airfield and signaled for subsequent waves to land. Six companies of Germans — about 900 men — were on the ground by noon, including the Fallschirmjäger, who had returned. Airborne troops flown into Fornebu Airfield, had managed to occupy Oslo within 12 hours.

For this action and at the personal suggestion of Hermann Göring, Captain Peter Ingenhoven received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 11 May 1940 and was promoted to NSFK-Hauptsturmführer with effect from 17 May 1940 by Friedrich Christiansen.

1940 to 1942

On 27 June 1940, Ingenhoven was appointed commander of the 3. Squadron/Kampfgruppe z. b. V. 106. On 1 September 1940, he was promoted to Major of the Reserves. On 17 October 1940, he was appointed acting commander of the Kampfgruppe z. b. V. 106. One 19 April 1941, he was transferred to the airborne Luftlandegeschwader 1 (LLG 1), where he oversaw Ju 52/3m–DFS 230 towing and air-landing operations in the Balkans. On 22 August 1941, Ingenhoven was appointed commander of the I. Group/LLG 1. Circa 16 december 1941, he was appointed commander of the Kampfgruppe z. b. V. 900.

Death

On 1 February 1942, a Junkers Ju 52 of the Kampfgruppe z. b. V. 900 was flying over the Eastern Front. The plane was piloted by 1st Lieutenant Bruno Fillner (b. 4 January 1913 in Berlin-Niederschöneweide), his observer sitting to his right was group commander Peter Ingenhoven, because of his rank, also commandant of the plane. The aircraft was shot down by machine gun fire from the ground and crashed near Beljajewo 10 km south of Welish. German records state, Ingenhoven, Fillner and four others (among them Lieutenant Schultz) were reported missing.

The Russian side states: "Comrade Chursin, using a captured machine gun, destroyed the transport plane." In his statement, Chursin claimes he "destroyed" 13 crew members, two wounded officers were taken prisoner. For this action, Chursin received the Russian Order of the Red Banner (see Russian documets in the gallery).

Because this happened behind enemy lines, the crash could only be verified by the Germans in November 1942, until then, the crew of the transport plane had officially been reported missing. Newspaper articles, reporting on Ingenhoven's death, are all from November 1942. On 15 December 1942, Peter Ingenhoven was posthumously promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Reserves with backdated effect from 1 February 1942.

Major Hans-Joachim Bittner had taken command of the Kampfgruppe z. b. V. 900 when Ingenhoven had not returned, Hauptmann (later Major) Franz Stiptschitsch (1911–1991) took over command on 20 March 1942, after Bittner had been shot down and wounded.

Awards and decorations

• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 20 September 1915
  • 1st Class on 22 September 1917
• Prussian military pilot badge (Preußisches Militär-Flugzeugführer-Abzeichen) on 22 May 1917
• Wound Badge (1918) in Black on 1 August 1918
• House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (HOH3⚔) on 16 August 1918
• Aviator Commemorative Badge (Flieger-Erinnerungsabzeichen)
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (1934) with Swords
• Observer Badge (Beobachterabzeichen (Wehrmacht))
• DRL/Reich Sports Badge (Deutsches Reichssportabzeichen) in Gold in 1938
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 3rd Class
• Sudetenland Medal with the Prague Castle Bar (Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938 mit Spange „Prager Burg“)
• Repetition Clasp 1939 to the Iron Cross 1914, 2nd and 1st Class
• Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Gold
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 11 May 1940 as Captain and acting commander of the Kampfgruppe zur besonderen Verwendung 103 (KGr.z.b.V. 103)

Gallery

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