Peter Siegler

[Teresa Maria]

Dear All,
I have a question about De Zeng and Stankey's biography of Peter Siegler.

Apparently, he became an Oberleutnant on 15 June 1942, but later he was an Oberfeldwebel (on 2 August 1942) and later he died as a Feldwebel. Why was he demoted? He was awarded a Knight's Cross, so he must have been a hero for the Germans.


SIEGLER, Peter. (DOB: 21.08.20 in Heusenstamm/Hessen). (R, DKG). 22.06.41 Uffz., 2./JG 54. c.07.41 assigned to 3./JG 54 on completion of training. 13.08.41 Uffz., 2./JG 54. 23.09.41 Uffz., 2./JG 54. 25.12.41 Uffz., 2./JG 54 WIA when doing an emergency landing at Smolino. 17.03.42 Uffz., 2./JG 54. 15.06.42 Oblt., awarded the Ehrenpokal. 02.08.42 Ofw., 3./JG 54. 24.09.42 Fw., 3./JG 54 KIA – shot down over the Leningrad dockyards. 03.10.42 Fw., awarded DKG, 3./JG 54. 03.11.42 Fw., awarded Ritterkreuz, 3./JG 54. Credited with 48 air victories.


Thank you in advance.

[Larry deZeng]

Definitely a typo. Here's the entry from Horst Scheibert's Die Inhaber des Ehrenpokals für Besondere Leistung im Luftkrieg, Friedberg: Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, 1986. ISBN 3-7909-0283-7. Page 278:

Siegler, Peter. Uffz. Flugzeugführer. 24.08.42.

It looks like he was promoted to Feldwebel right after receiving the award.

Thanks for pointing this out!

//Larry deZeng//
Henry L. de Zeng IV

[ghostwriter]

hello,

on loss of rank (this is the correct term) was, to my knowledge, decided only within the framework of military court convictions. in most cases, this was a so-called secondary penalty, i.e. the loss of the rank was then associated with imprisonment. the most extreme form was thus the "loss of military service" and the associated exclusion from the wehrmacht.

in no biography about siegler could I find anything about a prison sentence, the times were complete ...

last but not least some good literary:

Messerschmidt, Manfred:
Die Wehrmachtjustiz 1933-1945
Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag
Paderborn 2005
511 Seiten
ISBN: 3506713493

best regards
ghostwriter

[Teresa Maria]

Dear Larry and Marc,
Thank you very much for your comments. So, Peter wasn't demoted, he was just a Feldwebel. In fact, Obermaier also presents him as a Feldwebel.