Wolfgang "Wolf" Henner Peter Lebrecht Graf von Blücher
Date of Birth: 31.01.1917 - Altengottern, Thuringen (German Empire)
Date of Death: 21.05.1941 - near Heraklion, Crete (Greece)
Promotions:
12.10.1935 Gefreiter der Reserve
30.09.1936 Unteroffizier der Reserve
29.10.1936 Wachtmeister der Reserve
20.04.1938 Leutnant der Reserve (with RDA from 01.04.1938)
31.07.1940 Oberleutnant der Reserve (with RDA from 01.08.1940)
Career:
01.01.1934 - 12.10.1935 Kavallerie-Regiment 14
00.08-09.1936 First reserve exercise
00.10-11.1936 Second reserve exercise
00.03-05.1937 Third reserve exercise
12.10.1937 Officer in Kavallerie-Regiment 3
00.00.1937 - 15.02.1939 Panzer-Abwehr-Abteilung 12
16.02.1939 volunteered for the Luftwaffe and submitted request to be transferred to Jagdgeschwader 132 "Schlageter" at the Düsseldorf-Unterrath air base. However, this was not given in to
00.08.1939 Panzer-Abwehr-Abteilung 12
16.12.1939 volunteered again for the Luftwaffe and this time his request was granted
16.01.1940 after his training, he transferred to the 3.Kompanie / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1 in Stendal in the hussar barracks "Albrecht the Bear" (named after Albrecht I). Shortly thereafter he was transferred to the 2nd company as a platoon commander
31.01.1940 formally leaving the Army and moved to Luftwaffe with effect from 01.02.1940
00.04.1940 experienced his first mission in Norway during the fighting in the Oslo and Narvik area
00.05.1940 fought in the Fall Gelb
01.08.1940 took a leave of absence and went back to his estate in Mecklenburg
01.04.1941 reported back to his regiment as Zugführer in 2.Kompanie / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1 and was transferred to Greece
Awards and Decorations:
00.00.19__ Fallschirmschützenabzeichen der Luftwaffe
18.04.1940 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
24.05.1940 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
24.05.1940 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, as Leutnant der Reserve and Zugführer in 2.Kompanie / I.Bataillon / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1 / 7.Flieger-Division. In the course of the western campaign, the 1st Battalion bailed out as a regimental reserve at Tweede Tool on May 10, 1940, with only the 3rd Company having received the order to seize the bridges near Dordrecht. Only one company was deployed, since there were no opportunities to deploy further units in the area in question. The capture of these bridges and the formation of strong bridgeheads was crucial for the capture of Fortress Holland and thus a central point in the German attack plans. The bridges were captured after brief and weak resistance, but after which the 3rd Company became involved in heavy street fighting in Dordrecht. This forced Oberst Bräuer to use more of the battalion's forces against Dordrecht. In the ensuing battles, Leutnant Graf von Blücher distinguished himself in particular and received the Ritterkreuz.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The von Blücher brothers (German: Gebrüder von Blücher) were three German brothers and paratroopers of the Luftwaffe who were killed in combat within hours of each other on 21 May 1941 during the Battle of Crete.
Names
Wolfgang Henner Peter Lebrecht Graf von Blücher (31 January 1917 in Altengottern, Mühlhausen – 21 May 1941 near Heraklion)
Leberecht Wilhelm Konstantin Wolf Axel Graf von Blücher (13 April 1922 in Fincken – 21 May 1941 near Heraklion)
Hans-Joachim Gebhard Leberecht Graf von Blücher (23 October 1923 in Fincken – 21 May 1941 near Heraklion)
On 21 May 1941 during the Battle of Crete Hans-Joachim Graf von Blücher attempted to resupply his brother, Oberleutnant Wolfgang Graf von Blücher, with ammunition when the latter and his platoon were surrounded by members of the British Black Watch. Hans-Joachim, who had arrived early morning with the second wave of paratroopers on his first active deployment, had commandeered a horse, which he attempted to gallop through British lines. He had almost reached his brother's position before he was shot and killed.
"...According to the account of the story, the Fallschirmjäger, running short of ammunition and medical supplies, were amazed to see a rider and horse galloping towards them with boxes of supplies. The soldiers of the Black Watch were similarly stunned and only fired at the last moment, hitting both horse and rider. Wolfgang von Blucher asked who the rider was, to be told it was his youngest brother Hans-Joachim, and that he was now dead ... For many years afterwards, a number of poor families living in a shanty village in the area reported seeing a ghostly horse and rider..."
Wolfgang and his men of the Fallschirmjägerregiment 1, ran out of ammunition. The rest of their platoon was overrun by British armoured vehicles and killed around midday.
Wolfgang’s younger brother, Leberecht Graf von Blücher, had also arrived with the second wave. He was reported killed in action on the same day but his body was never recovered.
Four weeks after the battle the brothers' mother, Gertrud (Freiin Marschall) von Nordheim (widowed Gräfin von Blücher), who had lost her husband in 1924, was informed that three of her four sons had been killed on the same day in the Battle of Crete. Her fourth son, Adolf Graf von Blücher, was released from duty and left the German navy (Kriegsmarine) to take care of the agricultural firm at home. He was accidentally shot and killed in 1944 while hunting.
In 1974, Wolfgang and Hans-Joachim were re-interred in a single grave at the German War Cemetery on a hill behind the airfield at Maleme, Crete, which was newly inaugurated on 6 October in the presence of their sister Gertrud Freifrau von Ketelhodt and hundreds of guests from Germany. Because Leberecht’s body was never retrieved or identified, his name is on a plaque of honor (German: Ehrentafel) for the unknown fallen close to the grave of his brothers. The sister named her sons after her brothers.
Source :
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-oberleutnant-first-lieutenant-wolfgang-count-von-blcher-the-citation-19833953.html
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2009/12/tragedi-blucher-bersaudara-saving.html
https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Graf_von_Bl%C3%BCcher,_Wolfgang
http://www.denkmalprojekt.org/misc_laender/maleme_kreta_gr_bluecher.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Bl%C3%BCcher_brothers
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/B/BluecherW.htm
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/28499/Bl%C3%BCcher-Finken-Graf-von-Wolfgang.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20120630002428fw_/http://www.ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de/Luftwaffe/B/Bl/Bluecher-Wolfgang-Graf-von.htm
https://www.welt.de/geschichte/zweiter-weltkrieg/article155669335/So-starben-die-deutschen-Fallschirmjaeger-auf-Kreta.html#cs-lazy-picture-placeholder-01c4eedaca.png
http://www.zuidfront-holland1940.nl/index.php?page=photo&pid=3424
No comments:
Post a Comment