Heinrich Hentschel, Knights Cross holder

[srob48]

Source: Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries.
Does anyone have any further information on this Knights Cross holder:
HENTSCHEL, Heinrich. (R). 01.09.42 promo to Hptm.(d.R.z.V./Fl.). 25.11.43 Ofw., awarded Ritterkreuz, III./St.G. 2. †20.03.41.

Doesn't appear to have died in an aircraft crash?
Thank you

[Chris Goss]

Doesn't make any sense-promoted to Hptm 1 Sep 42 but awarded RK as an Ofw 25 Nov 43 but killed 2 Mar 41.?? Only Stuka RK man was Erwin Hentschel

[srob48]

Thanks Chris, yes, Hans Ulrich Ridel's Bordfunker, but it's definitely not him.
Something doesn't add up with this entry, which is unusual for the Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries pages.

BTW Chris, may I ask. Is there going to be a follow on book to your excellent "Knights of the Battle of Britain' book? Perhaps "Knights of the Blitz 1941' ?

[Chris Goss]

Thanks for your kind comments. As the Blitz effectively lasted 4.5 months after Knights of the Battle of Britain finishes, it will be a very thin book. It could be expanded to Baby Blitz but the trouble is few were awarded the RK for ops purely over UK rather in other Theatres

[Larry deZeng]

Originally Posted by srob48

Thanks Chris, yes, Hans Ulrich Ridel's Bordfunker, but it's definitely not him.
Something doesn't add up with this entry, which is unusual for the Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries pages.

BTW Chris, may I ask. Is there going to be a follow on book to your excellent "Knights of the Battle of Britain' book? Perhaps "Knights of the Blitz 1941' ?

Could be confusion due to their being more than one person by this name, could be a typo in the original documents/sources, could be an entry error on our part, deZeng/Stankey. Trying to get the right information posted to the right person when there are duplicate names has always been a headache and often proved to be unsolvable. Many vital Wehrmacht personnel documents do not even use the individual's first name. Now that the Luftwaffe officer personnel records are becoming more accessible, it's too late for us to go back and try to straighten out these troublesome same name conundrums. I'm in my mid-80's and Doug Stankey is in his 70's. Our time has come and gone.

BTW, according to the source below, there was no one by this name who was awarded the Ritterkreuz or even appears in the book's index, which lists all Stuka RK awardees.

Brütting, Georg. Das Waren die deutschen Stuka-Asse 1939-1945. Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 1984. ISBN: 3-87943-433-6. Hb. 285p. Illus. Bibliography. Index.

Larry deZ.

[Larry deZeng]

Postscript to my Post #5, above:

Doug S. has been searching through a ton of primary and secondary resources trying to get to the bottom of the Heinrich HENTSCHEL conundrum and has found no mention of him. He also checked the Volksbund website but got no response. There is one possible source that we haven't checked: Fold 3. Neither of us belongs to it, so if someone here who does could check it for us, that would be appreciated. See Post #1, above, for his date of death.

Graves information (especially helpful for obtaining a few details on non-officer personnel):
Gräbernachweis des Volksbundes
Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V.
http://www.volksbund.de/graebersuche/content_suche.asp

[ju55dk]

Ogfr. Bordfunker 7/KG 40 Heinrich Hentschel killed in a crash Küblingen bei Ansbach. Born 29/3-1918.
Junker

[Larry deZeng]

Thank You, Jörn!
That pretty well clears this up. How he ended up in our Career Summaries is a mystery, aside from pilot error.

L.