Hans-Georg von Seidel

Ludwig Karl Hans-Georg Seidel, as of 1909 von Seidel (11 November 1891 – 10 November 1955), was a German officer who served in the German Army during World War I and in the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) during World War II. Von Seidel was promoted to the rank of General der Flieger (General of the Aviators).

He managed his father's estate and served as chairman of the district equestrian association and of the Königsberg-Lebus agricultural cooperative in Frankfurt an der Oder. During this period, he was also a local group and company leader in the Stahlhelmbund, as well as an SA-Sturmbannführer in the mounted SA (Reiter-SA). From his father's estates he inherited in 1933 the 368 hectare Ober-Görsdorf estate, grouped together as a town in Görsdorf, near Diedersdorf. The estate was later maintained by a estate manager.

On 1 May 1934, von Seidel returned to military service: this time in the Air Ministry with a promotion to major. Not yet a pilot, Seidel was detached in August 1935 to the flying school at Braunschweig to take the aerial observer course and the pilot course. He then attended the Kampffliegerschule (bomber flying school) at Jüterbog where he learned to fly multi-engine aircraft. To Jeschonnek, the Quartermaster General should have been his second-most important assistant after the Chief of Operations, but Jeschonnek suffered a cold relationship with Seidel. The two men worked hundreds of kilometres apart, with no contact for months on end, though their plans were intimately tied. On five occasions, Seidel requested a transfer and was refused each time.

When Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, the Luftwaffe was worked hard, and the supply chain was stretched taut. Before the attack, aviation gas reserves were at 400,000 tonnes and Seidel, promoted to major general the day the war started, Many aircraft were lost to Polish anti-aircraft fire, and some from fighter aircraft opposition and operational accidents. Seidel reported that as of 28 September 1939, 285 aircraft were lost to all causes, while 279 additional aircraft were damaged more than ten per cent and required major repairs. Aircrew losses were 189 dead, 126 wounded, and 224 missing, with 195 more casualties among Luftwaffe ground personnel and Fliegerabwehrkanone (flak) units.

Seidel saw that aircraft testing areas were needed behind front lines, so that newly delivered aircraft could be assessed and given minor field modifications appropriate to their employment in battle. He established such testing areas, and also used them for final assembly of any light aircraft shipped by rail. Göring insisted that there was no alternative, that he had already tried to change Hitler's mind.

Mannerheim's birthday Seidel joined Adolf Hitler in Finland to see Mannerheim. He's the second person from the left in this image. Upon the occasion of the 75th birthday of the Marshal of Finland, Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Hitler flew to Finland to visit him. On the morning of 4 June 1942 at Immola airfield near Imatra, Seidel was the first German general to arrive, followed within a few hours by Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen Stumpff, Generaloberst Eduard Dietl, and then Feldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel who accompanied Hitler. Finnish and German officers reviewed troops in the airfield, then the officers met in a rail car for a few hours. The visiting Germans flew out in the evening.

Eastern Front For the 800,000 Luftwaffe personnel on the Eastern Front, Seidel was able to work with Milch to secure extra woollen underwear, fur boots, and other winter wear. However, beginning in October 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad, Seidel sought desperately to find enough aircraft to supply the surrounded Sixth Army by air–the Junkers Ju 52 transports of Luftflotte 4 (Air Fleet 4) were not sufficient, and Hitler had ordered the army to stand and fight. On 23 November, Seidel ordered all German ministry, training, and staff aircraft of any size to join the airlift into Stalingrad. Some 600 aircraft flown by highly skilled instructors were taken from training facilities and sent east, with the result that some specialized training schools were closed. Aircraft as various as Heinkel He 111 bombers, Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor reconnaissance patrol bombers, Junkers Ju 90 airliners, and Junkers Ju 86 trainers were pressed into airlift service. Severe winter conditions and unrelenting Soviet attacks took a heavy toll of the ground and air forces. Some 488 aircraft were lost along with some 1,000 of the Luftwaffe finest airmen. Seidel noted the great equipment losses in that theatre: "Of 100,000 Luftwaffe vehicles in the East, only 15 per cent still functioning early in January 1942." The aircraft evacuated 42,000 men, mostly wounded, with the last one flown out on 24 January 1943. The Sixth Army surrendered on 3 February.

Hitler blamed Göring for the disaster in East, after which Göring announced that he would court-martial Jeschonnek and Seidel for causing the failure of the Stalingrad airlift. Hitler forbade this action as he believed that the two men were not at fault. On 12 May 1948 after three years of imprisonment, Seidel began the process of repatriation.

In 1949, von Seidel gave a lecture about how the supply of aviation fuel was a major factor in the war. In the early 1950s, he corresponded with authors seeking further information about the war.

Death General (Ret.) Hans-Georg von Seidel died in Bad Godesberg on 10 November 1955.

Family His parents were the manufacturer, district deputy, and lord of the manor (Rittergut Diedersdorf, family-owned from 1872 to 1945) 2nd Lieutenant (Ret.) Johann Max Ludwig von Seidel (1851–1933)—who was ennobled on 27 January 1909—and his wife Berta Margarete, née Veit (b. 6 January 1861), both of whom were from Berlin. He had three older siblings.

Marriage On 16 May 1919 in Berlin, Captain von Seidel married his fiancée Felicitas "Fairy" Eugenie Cäcilie Mathilde, widowed Baroness von Schilling, née Baroness von Buxhoeveden (b. 17 July 1892 in Gostilizy near Peterhof), daughter of Baltic German Provincial Marshal (Landmarschall) Alexander "Axel" Peter Eduard Baron von Buxhoeveden (b. 21 April 1856 in Arensburg; murdered 16 February 1919 at Kuiwast Estate, Estonia), jurist, civil servant, later Chief Court Huntsman and Chamberlain at the court of the Russian Emperor in St. Petersburg as well as Knight of Justice (Rechtsritter) of the Johanniter-Orden and lord of the manor (Gut Kuiwast), and his wife (∞ 11 April 1887) Charlotte Mathilde Sophie, née von Siemens (1858–1926). They would have two children of their own:

Hans-Georg Ludwig Alexander (b. 20 February 1920 in Berlin-Charlottenburg; d. 2010), Wehrmacht officer; ∞ 1951 Waltraut von Bülow (1924–2014), 4 children Hans-Georg Joachim Horst (b. 18 July 1923 in Berlin; d. 11 June 2018 in Hamburg); ∞ Amelie Scholz-Forni (a granddaughter of the well-known Hamburg shipowner Martin Garlieb Amsinck) After his service with the heavy railway anti-aircraft artillery and the end of the war, Horst pursued a career in the business world. He rose to become the general representative of the renowned banking firm Merck, Finck & Co. in Munich. Like his brother Alexander, he was a Knight of Justice of the Protestant Order of Saint John (Brandenburg Provincial Chapter) and remained active in the field of foundations well into his later years (serving, among other roles, on the board of the Hans-Rudolf-Stiftung in Munich).

Felicitas von Seidel died on 6 May 1945 in Oschatz, Saxony; the exact circumstances of her death are not clearly documented in historical records. The Americans had occupied the city without a fight in April 1945. On 5 May 1945, they handed the city over to the Russians. By 6 May 1945, they had left the city. Given that she died in Saxony one day after the Red Army entered the city—an event accompanied by mass murder and mass rapes—it is more than likely that her death was connected to this. Whether this was her fate or whether she chose suicide remains unknown. Her husband became a US prisoner of war in Oberaudorf (Bavaria) and was unable to support her in Saxony. A memorial plaque in her honor is located on the elaborate tomb of her mother, Charlotte, at the main cemetery in Baden-Baden. Her name also appears on her husband's gravestone in Bad Godesberg, "in memory" of his wife.

Commands and assignments 18 March 1910 – 30 September 1913: Fahnenjunker and squadron officer in 1. Leib-Husaren-Regiment Nr.1. 1 October 1913 – 2 August 1917: Squadron officer and squadron commander in Husaren-Regiment Kaiser Nikolaus II von Rußland (1. Westfälisches ) Nr.8. 3 August – 31 October 1917: Ordnance officer on the staff of 77th Reserve Division. 1 November 1917 – 30 June 1918: Chief Supply Officer (Ib) on the staff of 2nd Infantry Division. 1 July – 13 December 1918: Chief Supply Officer (Ib) on the General Staff of the Landwehr Corps. 14 December 1918 – 11 August 1919: Consultant in the Operations Department of the Army High Command, General Staff of the Field Army and General Staff of the Army. 12 August – 25 September 1919: Transferred to the Kommandostelle of the General Staff of the Army in Kolberg. 26 September – 27 November 1919: Transferred to the Abwicklungsstelle of the General Staff of the Army. 28 November 1919 – 26 April 1920: Consultant in the Army Command/Reich War Ministry. 26 April 1920: Separated from the Army. 1 May 1934: Returned to military service with the Luftwaffe. 1 May 1934 – 30 November 1935: Consultant in the Air Command Department, Reich Air Ministry. 18 August – 11 October 1935: Detached to aerial observer course at the Flying School Braunschweig and at the Kampffliegerschule (Bomber Flying School) Jüterbog. 1 December 1935 – 28 February 1937: Department Chief in the General Staff of the Luftwaffe, Reich Air Ministry. 1 March 1937 – 15 April 1938: Commander of Aufklärungsgruppe 12 (Reconnaissance Group 12) and, at the same time, Military Airfield Commandant Stargard-Klützow. 16 April 1938 – 30 June 1944: Quartermaster General of the Luftwaffe. 1 July 1944 – 27 February 1945: Commander-in-Chief of Luftflotte 10 (Air Fleet 10). 27 February – 6 May 1945: Führer Reserve Luftwaffe High Command. 6–17 May 1945: Prisoner of war in American captivity. 17 May 1945 – 17 May 1948: Prisoner of war in British captivity. 9 January 1946 transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 12 May 1948 transferred to Camp 186 for repatriation.

Promotions Fahnenjunker: 18 March 1910 Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier: 5 August 1910 Fähnrich: 16 November 1910 Leutnant: 18 August 1911 with Patent from 20 August 1909 Oberleutnant: 18 August 1915 Rittmeister: 18 August 1918 21 August 1918 renamed Hauptmann i. G. (Captain in General Staff) Major i. G.: 1 May 1934 Oberstleutnant i. G.: 20 April 1936 with effect and Rank Seniority (RDA) from 1 April 1936 (3) Oberst i. G.: 27 July 1938 with effect and RDA from 1 August 1938 Generalmajor: 22 September 1939 with effect and RDA from 1 September 1939 Generalleutnant: 19 July 1940 General der Flieger: 1 January 1942 2nd Class on 25 September 1914 1st Class on 10 October 1915 Princely Schaumburg-Lippe Cross for Faithful Service (SLK) on 7 July 1917 Knight of Honour (Ehrenritter) of the Order of Saint John in 1931 together with his older brother Major der Landwehr Ludwig Rudolf Hans-Joachim von Seidel-Diedersdorf Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords Imperial Order of the Yoke and Arrows, Grand Cross on 12 May 1941 Order of the Star of Romania, Grand Officer with Swords on 23 December 1941 (Royal Decree No. 3517) Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria), class unknown (most likely Grand Cross with War Decoration) Crusade Against Communism Medal Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty, 1st Class with Oakleaves and Swords on 31 March 1943 Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords as General der Flieger and Quartermaster General of the Luftwaffe on 20 July 1944