Bio of Oberstleutnant Wilhelm Knapp (1912-1944)

Wilhelm Knapp

Date of Birth: 25.08.1912 - Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein (German Empire)
Date of Death: 10.06.1944 - Gießen, Hesse (Germany)

Spouse: Charlotte “Lotte” ter Meer (01.02.1920), married in 1941
Children: Edmund Knapp (00.00.1942)

Promotions:
01.01.1943 Major im Generalstab
08.10.1944 Oberstleutnant (posthumously)

Career:
00.00.1930 graduated from the high school and studied the medicine
02.07.1934 entry into the infantry of the Reichswehr as a cadet
01.10.1935 transferred to the Luftwaffe
00.00.1935 training in the Fliegerschule Braunschweig für Beobachter
10.03.1936 Beobachter (Observer) in the Aufklärungsgruppe 122 (Prenzlau)
16.04.1936 - 16.07.1936 advance training in the Flieger-Bildschule Hildesheim
06.11.1936 taken part in the Spanish Civil War in Aufklärungsstaffel (F) A/88 der Legion Condor
04.08.1937 training in the Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung 14 (Detmold)
15.11.1937 advance training in the  Flugzeugführerschule Schönweide
01.03.1938 Beobachter (Observer) in the Aufklärungsgruppe 22
01.11.1938 Flugzeugführer in Aufklärungsgruppe 121
01.04.1939 Chef der Flughafen-Betriebs-Kompanie (Flugh.Betr.Kp.) of Aufklärungsgruppe 121
27.03.1940 - 09.10.1941 Staffelkapitän 3.Staffel (Fern) / Aufklärungsgruppe 121
00.05.1940 during the western campaign in 1940 with the II.Fliegerkorps / Luftflotte 3. Reconnaissance for the over Belgium and France as well as in the operation "Adler Attack" (He 111 and Bf 110)
02.11.1940 according to most sources, Knapp is said to have received the Ritterkreuz as a Staffelkapitän 3.Staffel (Fern) / Aufklärungsgruppe 123. When and if he was temporarily with Aufkl.Gr. 123 cannot be proven with certainty. Isolated sources indicate a continuous service as squadron captain of the 3.(F)/Aufkl.Gr. 121, whereby the Ritterkreuz is said to have been awarded at this time
10.10.1941 Stabsoffizier of the Ia IV. Fliegerkorps
20.12.1941 Stabsoffizier Luftwaffenpersonalamt des Reichsluftfahrtministerium / Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe, and temporarily assigned to the Stab / Luftgaukommando Rostow for the purpose of service
00.00.1942 returned as Staffelkapitän 3.Staffel (Fern) / Aufklärungsgruppe 121
05.04.1942 - 31.10.1942 Stabsoffizier at IV. Fliegerkorps
01.11.1942 posted to the Generalstab der Luftwaffe (despite the fact that he had never attended the Luftkriegsakademie!)
10.04.1943 Gruppenleiter Ia im Stab / IV.Fliegerkorps
00.00.1943 Luftwaffen-Verbindungsoffzier zum Chef des Generalstabes des Heeres
29.03.1944 - 17.05.1944 Abteilung Ia im Stab / Transportfliegerführer 2
18.05.1944 Führer Aufklärungsgruppe 123
10.06.1944 KIA fallen, crashed near Obernau by Giessen
08.10.1944 posthumously promoted to Oberstleutnant at the request of the Chefabteilung des Chef des Luftwaffenpersonalamtes beim Reichsminister der Luftfahrt und Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe

Awards and Decorations:
01.10.1936 Beobachterabzeichen der Wehrmacht
00.00.1938 Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. Klasse (4 jahre)
04.11.1938 Flugzeugführerabzeichen
00.00.19__ Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
00.00.19__ Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
00.00.19__ Luftwaffe Ehrenpokale für Besondere Leistungen im Luftkrieg (Enrenpokal)
02.11.1940 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, as Hauptmann and Staffelkapitän 3.Staffel (Fern) / Aufklärungsgruppe 123
00.00.194_ Frontflugspange für Aufklärer in Gold
05.02.1942 Deutsches Kreuz in Gold

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Major Wilhelm Knapp fell together with his three crew on the night of June 10, 1944 near Obernau near Gießen when his plane (possibly a Junkers Ju 188) crashed during the encounter with enemy's aircraft.

In 1941, Wilhelm Knapp married his fiancee Charlotte “Lotte” ter Meer, his great love. Charlotte (born in February 1, 1920) was the daughter of Dr. Friedrich "Fritz" Hermann ter Meer (from 1925 to 1945 a member of the board of I.G. Farben AG and bearer of the Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross). The death of Wilhelm hit her hard, their son Edmund was just two years old. Charlotte had lost her mother, both siblings and finally her husband in a short period of time as a result of the bombing terror!

After the end of the war, the widow had to leave her house, which was confiscated by the occupying forces, and move into a small room with her now three-year-old son Edmund. The ter Meer family was friends with the Kiep family, Charlotte with Erika Kiep as a girl. In 1939 she also met Erika's 13-year-old brother, who later became a CDU politician, Walther Gottlieb Louis Leisler Kiep (1926-2016), who, as a rascal, had fallen in love with the woman who was six years older than him, but who also admired and adored Knapp, winner of the Knight's Cross. After the war, Charlotte and the Kiep family, who had also lost their house, lived with the ter Meer family. Charlotte and young Walther became closer and in 1950 they married. The couple had four children of their own (an addition to the family, Michael, was born in 1951, followed by Walther two years later, daughters Charlotte and Christiane were added in 1956 and 1962), stepson Edmund kept his father's name "Knapp".

The presentation of the Luftwaffe Ehrenpokale für Besondere Leistungen im Luftkrieg (Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe) for Oberleutnant Wilhelm Knapp (Staffelkapitän 3.Staffel / Aufklärungsgruppe 123). With him is Generalleutnant Curt Pflugbeil (Kommandierender General IV. Fliegerkorps)



Ritterkreuz award ceremony for Hauptmann Wilhelm Knapp (Staffelkapitän 3.Staffel / Aufklärungsgruppe 123), which were held on 2 November 1940.

Formal portrait of Wilhelm Knapp as a Hauptmann.



Wilhelm Knapp.



Hauptmann Wilhelm Knapp and crew.


The officers of IV. Fliegerkorps involved in a serious discussion. From left to right: General der Flieger Curt Pflugbeil (Kommandierender General IV. Fliegerkorps), Hauptmann Wilhelm Knapp (Stabsoffizier IV. Fliegerkorps), and Oberstleutnant i.G. Thorsten Christ (Chef des Generalstabes IV. Fliegerkorps). These three officers were all Ritterkreuzträger (Ritterkreuz medal recipient): Pflugbeil received it on October 5, 1941, Knapp on November 2, 1940, and Christ on October 2, 1942. This photo itself was taken in the summer of 1942 when IV. Fliegerkorps still operated in the southern region of the Eastern Front. At that time there were four Luftwaffe air wings under the command of the corps: Kampfgeschwader 27, Kampfgeschwader 4, Jagdgeschwader 77, and Lehrgeschwader 2



Wilhelm Knapp as a Hauptmann.

"Aufklärungsstaffelkapitän Hauptmann Wilhelm Knapp" by Wolfgang Willrich.

Source :
BPK Bildagentur Nr. 50058600
"Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries - Section G-K" by Henry L. deZeng IV and Douglas G. Stankey
https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Knapp,_Wilhelm
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=2399385#p2399385
https://gmic.co.uk/topic/9499-a-luftwaffe-rk-winner-database/page/9/
http://www.ritterkreuztraeger.info/rk/k.html
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/23935/Knapp-Wilhelm.htm
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/forum/wehrmacht-era-militaria/photos-and-paper-items-forum/177626-help-id-this-lw-rkt