Generalmajor Walther Wadehn (Luftwaffe)

SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11

NAME: Generalmajor Walther Wadehn (Luftwaffe)

PW NO:          A593795
RANK:            Generalmajor
CAPTURED:   Unknown
DATE:             15 May 1945

PERSONAL
DATE OF BIRTH:     1 August 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH:   Wilhelmshaven
DATE OF DEATH:   13 July 1949
PLACE OF DEATH: Hannover
NATIONALITY:       German
RELIGION:               Protestant
OCCUPATION:        Regular Air Force Officer
HEIGHT:                    6'2"
WEIGHT:                  Unknown
HAIR COLOUR:      Dark Blonde
EYE COLOUR:        Grey - blue
NEXT OF KIN:        Hannover (Kirchrode), (British Zone)

Promotions:

War Volunteer: 1 September 1914
Gefreiter: 9 January 1915
Unteroffizier: 17 March 1915
Fähnrich: 2 September 1915
Leutnant: 20 October 1915
Charakter als Oberleutnant: 31 December 1920
Hauptmann: 9 October 1934
Major: 1 August 1937
Oberstleutnant: 1 April 1941
Oberst: 1 September 1942
Generalmajor: 1 September 1943 – RDA 1 March 1944 (10)

Commands & Assignments:

1 September 1914-22 November 1914: Entered the Army as a War Volunteer in the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Train-Bataillon Nr.9.
23 November 1914-14 June 1915: Assigned to Supply Columns 1 and 4 of the IX Army Corps.
15 June 1915-9 July 1915: Transferred to the Replacement Battalion of Train Battalion 9.
10 July 1915-16 October 1915: Fahnenjunker in Supply Column 4.
17 October 1915-13 February 1916: Ordonnanz-Offizier on Staff “Jansen.”
14 February 1916-17 May 1916: Assigned to the Haulage Park Column 6.
18 May 1916-6 July 1916: Assigned to Supply Column 4 of the IX Army Corps.
7 July 1916-1 December 1916: Assigned to the Medical Column of the IX Army Corps.
2 December 1916-16 February 1917: Detached to Army Air Park 6.
17 February 1917-15 May 1917: Aerial observer training with Fliegerersatz-Abteilung [Flying Replacement Detachment] 1 and at the Officers Radio Telegraph Instruction Detachment in Warsaw.
16 May 1917-15 July 1917: Training at the Artillery Observer School at Jüterbog.
16 July 1917-8 August 1917: Training with Fliegerersatz-Abteilung 1.
9 August 1917-30 October 1917: Detached to Army Air Park 1.
31 October 1917-25 September 1918: Aerial Observer in Flieger-Abteilung [Flying Detachment] A 272.
26 September 1918-11 November 1918: Detached to Army Air Park 1.
12 November 1918-1 January 1919: Demobilization with Flieger-Abteilung 1, Gotha.
2 January 1919-July 1919: Aerial Observer in Kampfgeschwader [Combat Wing] Sachsenberg. [Deployed to Courland in Latvia to fight against Bolshevik domination of the newly independent Baltic States, the wing was named for its commander, Leutnant zur See Gotthard Sachsenberg. Holder of the Prussian Pour le Mérite Order and with 31 aerial victories to his credit, Sachsenberg was Germany’s second highest scoring naval pilot of World War I. Two other Pour le Mérite holders served in Geschwader Sachsenberg: Leutnant der Reserve der Matrosen-Artillerie Theodor “Theo” Osterkamp, future Generalleutnant in the Luftwaffe and the top scoring First World War naval pilot with 32 victories, and 47-victory ace Leutnant Josef Jacobs.]
July 1919-May 1920: Ordonnanz-Offizier on the staff of Transport Battalion 9.
May 1920-31 December 1920: Ordonnanz-Offizier on the staff of Transport Battalion 1.
31 December 1920: Separated from the Army with the honorary rank of Charakter als Oberleutnant.
1 September 1934: Entered the Luftwaffe with the rank of Hauptmann.
1 September 1934-30 September 1934: Detached to the German Air Traffic School at Schleißheim.
1 October 1934-30 November 1934: Detached to the Lechfeld Combat Flight School.
1 December 1934-19 January 1936: Instructor at the Jüterbog Combat Flight School.
20 January 1936-31 March 1936: Detached to the Tutow Combat Flight School.
1 April 1936-31 October 1936: Instructor in the Jüterbog Flight Demonstration Group.
1 November 1936-31 October 1938: Instructor in the Oldenburg Flight Demonstration Group.
1 November 1938-31 January 1939: Instructor at the Lechfeld Large Combat Flight School.
1 February 1939-12 September 1939: Staffelkapitän [Squadron Commander] in Kampfgeschwader [Bomber Wing] 255.
13 September 1939-15 December 1939: Commander of the III. Group of Kampfgeschwader 77. [Major Wadehn succeeded Charakter als Generalmajor Wolf von Stutterheim as commander of the III. Group when that officer was elevated to command of the wing.[1] Equipped with Dornier Do 17 bombers, the group took part in the invasion of Poland in September 1939 attacking primarily airfields, ammunition dumps, troop concentrations and targets of opportunity]
16 December 1939-4 March 1942: Commander of Acceptance Office 2 for Luftwaffe Officer Candidates.
5 March 1942-21 June 1942: Delegated with the leadership of Flying Training Regiment 27.
22 may 1942-24 September 1942: Commander of Flying Training Regiment 27.
25 September 1942-4 November 1943: Delegated with the leadership of the 10th Luftwaffe Field Division. [Deployed to northern Russia in December 1942, the 9th and 10th Luftwaffe Field Divisions, both initially assigned to the 18th Army’s L Army Corps and then to General der Flakartillerie Job Odebrecht’s III Luftwaffe Field Corps, maintained a defensive watch over the Soviet troops isolated in the Oranienbaum pocket on the Gulf of Finland. Shortly after the transfer of the Luftwaffe field divisions to Army control on 1 November 1943, Wadehn relinquished command of the division to Generalmajor Hermann von Wedel and passed into reserve status.]
5 November 1943-1 September 1944: Luftwaffe High Command Leader Reserve.
1 September 1944-5 January 1945: Commander of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division on the Western Front. [Virtually destroyed in Normandy, the 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division was rebuilt in the Netherlands mainly from inexperienced rear echelon Luftwaffe ground troops. Subordinated to the I SS-Panzer Corps, the division took part in the German Ardennes Offensive launched on 16 December 1944. Attacking on the extreme left wing of the 6th (SS) Panzer Army, Generalmajor Wadehn’s division had the mission of dislodging the U.S. 14th Cavalry Group from Manderfeld, advancing on Holzheim and opening up Rollbahn (March Route) E for follow-up exploitation by Battle Groups “Hansen” and “Knittel” of the 1st SS-Panzer Division “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler.” Initially stalled by German minefields to its front, the 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division finally pushed through the U.S. cavalry screen capturing Holzheim, Manderfeld and Lanzerath within 24 hours. Shortly thereafter, Battle Group “Peiper” of the 1st SS-Panzer Division angled south to exploit the breach created by the capture of Lanzerath. The I. Battalion of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 9 was temporarily attached to SS-Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper’s battle group to escort his tanks through the forests beyond Lanzerath.[2] With the failure of the 6th (SS) Panzer Army to achieve success on the northern wing of the offensive, Generalmajor Wadehn’s division passed to control of the LXVII Army Corps under the 15th Army. As Germany’s last major offensive in the west petered out, Wadehn relinquished divisional to Generalleutnant Dipl. Ing. Richard Schimpf and reported for his next assignment.[3]]
6 January 1945-14 January 1945: Delegated with raising the 8th Fallschirmjäger-Division.
15 January 1945-5 May 1945: Commander of the 8th Fallschirmjäger-Division on the Western Front. [Formed at Köln-Wahn with Fallschirmjäger-Regiments 22, 24 and 32, the division was assigned to General der Fallschirmtruppe Eugen Meindl’s II. Fallschirm-Korps of the 1. Fallschirm-Armee holding the northern Rhineland. Heavily engaged against the Canadian First Army during its offensive against the German forces between the Maas and Rhine Rivers (Operations Veritable and Blockbuster), the battered 8th Fallschirmjäger-Division withdrew to the east bank of the Rhine in early March 1945.[4] The remnants of the division finally passed into British captivity upon the German surrender in northwest Germany, the Netherlands, Schleswig-Holstein, and Denmark on 15 May 1945.]
15 May 1945-February 1948: Prisoner of war in British captivity.
- 16 July 1947 transferred from Camp 18 to Island Farm Special Camp 11
- 10 February 1948 transferred to Camp 186 for repatriation.

Decorations & Awards:

[1] On 15 June 1940, Charakter als Generalmajor von Stutterheim was severely wounded in aerial combat over France while commanding Kampfgeschwader 77. He died from his wounds in a Berlin hospital on 3 December 1940. He received the Prussian Pour le Mérite Order in World War I while serving as the Regimental Adjutant of Kaiser-Alexander-Garde-Grenadier Regiment Nr.1 on the Western Front.

[2] At least one company of the I. Battalion of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 9 remained with Battle Group “Peiper” and took part in the capture of Stoumont on 19 December 1944. Surrounded by the Americans in a pocket anchored on the towns of Stoumont, Cheneux and La Gleize, Peiper’s battle group finally withdrew into a single position at La Gleize on 21 December 1944. In the early morning hours of December 24th, Peiper’s troops broke out from the town on foot after abandoning their remaining tanks, vehicles and heavy weapons. On the afternoon of Christmas Day, the 770 survivors of Battle Group “Peiper” reached the German lines.

[3] On 20 August 1944, Generalleutnant Dipl. Ing. Schimpf, the original commander of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division, was severely wounded in the leg during the breakout from the Falaise Pocket. He remained hospitalized and in convalescence until 6 January 1945 when he resumed command of the division. Schimpf was later held as a prisoner of war at Island Farm Special Camp 11.

[4] For further details on the II. Fallschirm-Korps and the 1. Fallschirm-Armee during Operations Veritable and Blockbuster, please refer to the profiles of General der Fallschirmtruppe Eugen Meindl and General der Fallschirmtruppe Alfred Schlemm, both hosted on this site.

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