New project. Im currently working on a book about the Luftwaffe Generals who were awarded the Knight's Cross to be published by Schiffer early 2009.
Anyone with any informaiton regarding these generals or PHOTOS please let me know. Any photo offered and used, you will get full credit and a good discount on the book !
Thank you in advance
Jeremy Dixon
A sample: (first draft only)
Oskar DINORT (1901 – 1965)
Generalmajor
Knight’s Cross: Awarded on 20th June 1940 as Major and Commander of 2nd Stuka Wing “Immelmann”, for air support during the French Campaign.
Oakleaves: He became 21st recipient of the Oakleaves on 14th July 1941 as Commander of the same Stuka Wing, for his continued success in supporting ground troops.
Ranks:
Gefreiter – 1st May 1919
Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier – 1st March 1921
Fähnrich – 1st October 1921
Oberfähnrich – 1st November 1922
Leutnant – 1st February 1923
Oberleutnant – 1st February 1928
Hauptmann – 1st April 1934
Major – 1st March 1937
Oberstleutnant – 19th July 1940
Oberst – 1st September 1941
Generalmajor – 1st April 1945
Awards:
Iron Cross 2nd Class – 20th September 1939
Iron Cross 1st Class – 11th May 1940
Royal Bulgarian Bravery Medal 3rd Class with 1 Star
Armed Forces Long Service Award 4th to 2nd Class
Combat Clasp for Bombers in Gold
Royal Bulgarian Bravery Medal 3rd Class
Born on 23rd June 1901 in Berlin-Charlottenburg Oskar Dinort entered military service in February 1919, as an officer cadet, with an Assault Instruction Regiment, attached to the Guards Rifle Division. He then spent the next few years serving with the 51st Rifle Regiment and the 2nd Infantry Regiment, finally serving the next eighteen months attached to an Infantry School in Munich. He returned to the 2nd Infantry Regiment in October 1922 and in February 1923 was commissioned as a Leutnant, and immediately trained as a pilot.
In February 1928 he was promoted to Oberleutnant and in May he took part in secret flying training in Lipezk and when he returned he took part in aerobatics training in Würzburg. The following year he established the world endurance record for gliders and in 1931 he won the National Aeroplane Competition, and three years later he was promoted to Hauptmann. In May 1934 he transferred to the Luftwaffe, where he was assigned as Chief of Operations to the 1st Group of Fighter Wing “Richthofen” and in March 1935 was transferred as Chief of Operations on the staff of the Inspector of Fighter and Ground Attack Pilots within the Air Ministry.
Dinort went onto serve in another two fighter squadrons and was promoted to Major in March 1937 before transferring to dive bombers in September when he assumed command of the 1st Group of 165th Stuka Wing. The same year he established a new world endurance record for gliders and became a minor celebrity. Prior to the outbreak of war he was assigned as commander of the 163rd Stuka Wing “Immelmann” and from May 1939 until the outbreak of war he commanded the Airbase at Cottbus. In October 1939 he was appointed Wing Commander of the 2nd Stuka Wing “Immelmann” which had been formed in Cologne. He remained as commander until October 1941 seeing action on virtually every front which included France, Romania, Poland, Greece and finally Russia.
He won the Knight’s Cross on 20th June 1940, in recognition of his forty missions when attacking targets from 2nd to 6th June 1939 in Piotrkow and from 17th September 1939 for attacks against Warsaw. He helped with the destruction of the remaining 16 Polish divisions in the forest of Radom. It was also for the part he played during the campaign in the west in 1940 against such targets as Fort Eben Emael, the Fort of Barchon, de Pontisee, and attacks on Arras, Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk. He was also awarded the Oakleaves on 14th July 1941 for his success against English ports and shipping in the Channel, where his command sank 87,400 tons of shipping and damaged 68,100 tons of British ships from Greece. During the fighting against the British in Crete his command sunk six destroyers and damaged 66,000 tons of shipping.
In September 1941 Dinort was promoted to Oberst and in October he was transferred to the Air Ministry as Chief of Staff of the General Air Equipment Branch, and he remained here until February 1942 when he became an advisor on bombing to Generalfeldmarschall Milch. In September 1943 he was given another combat command when he was named commander of the Flieger-Zielgeschwader, a command that controlled and guided aircraft target units. It was formed in Weidenlupnitz, near Hörselberg, Germany, and he remained in this command until September 1944 when he was named Commander of the 3rd Flying School Division, a position he held until the end of the war.
Dinort was captured by Allied forces on 23rd June 1945 and interned, he was released two years later in June 1947 and returned home. He died in Köln-Riehl on 27th May 1965.