As we have seen, Lettow-Vorbeck formed a lifelong friendship during his journey to Africa with Danish author Karen Blixen, better known by her pen name Isak Dinesen, author of "Out of Africa." Years later, Blixen recalled, "He belonged to the old days, and I have never met another German who gave me such a strong impression of what Imperial Germany was and represented."
Great work Santi.
I never knew this part of history and you make it very easy to read and understand.
gregM
Live to ride -- Ride to live
I was addicted to the "Hokey-Pokey" but I've turned
myself around.
Monument to the Schutztruppe. Hamburg-Jenfeld
Monument to the Schutztruppe in Tanzania Park. Hamburg-Jenfeld
This artwork from the 1930s is by sculptor Walter von Ruckteschell, who served in the German "Schutztruppe" in East Africa.
The Askari reliefs have been in the "Tanzania Park" since autumn 2002; They previously adorned the entrance to the neighboring Lettow-Vorbeck barracks.
Lettow-Vorbeck-Kaserne entrance
Left panel:
Right panel:
This monument to the Schutztruppe has been located in the "Tanzania Park" since 1939. At the ceremony, General Lettow-Vorbeck praised the heroic exploits of Schutztruppe and Askaris in the colonies. Until the Bundeswehr left the Lettow-Vorbeck barracks in 1999, joint wreath-laying was held every year on Remembrance Day by the traditional associations of the Afrika Korps and the Schutztruppe.
The memorial is dedicated to the fallen soldiers who "died for their fatherland" in the four German colonies during World War I.
Panels of honour not only commemorate fallen German soldiers, but also sometimes Askari and "auxiliary warriors and porters". In German East Africa (left panel), 732 officers and officials died between 1914 and 1918, as well as 3,000 Askari and 4,750 "auxiliary warriors and porters." According to experts, at least the number of dead helpers is low.
On the façade of the "Wissmann House" a portrait of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, after whom the barracks was named, is still preserved to this day. The "Lion of Africa" , as we said, celebrated for successfully resisting the overwhelming British forces and their allies in East Africa until the end of World War I.
In 1966, under the government of Federal Minister of Defence Kai-Uwe von Hassel, the Schutztruppe monument was supplemented in the centre with a commemorative plaque commemorating the fallen of the Afrika Korps in World War II.
Kai-Uwe von Hassel (1913 - 1997) was a German politician associated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
He served as Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein from 1954 to 1963, as Federal Minister of Defence from 1963 to 1966. From 1969 to 1972 he was the fourth president of the Bundestag.
Speech at the funeral of General Paul von Lettow. March 13, 1964.
Von Hassel's grandfather was Lieutenant General Friedrich von Hassel (1833-1890).
Hassel was born in Gare, German East Africa (now in Tanga Region, Tanzania), where his father Theodor von Hassel (1868–1935) had served as a Schutztruppe officer and, after leaving active duty, owner of a plantation in the former colony.
After the First World War, the Hassel family was banished from Tanganyika by the British mandate administration and settled in Glücksburg, Schleswig-Holstein.
Hassel took his Abitur (school-leaving exam) in 1933, trained as an agribusiness merchant, and returned to the Tanganyika Territory in February 1935, as a plant trader. Thus, he unknowingly escaped conscription, which the Nazi regime reintroduced shortly thereafter. Kai-Uwe von Hassel wanted to follow in his father's footsteps in Africa.
In September 1939, a few days after the start of World War II, he was arrested, interned in Dar es Salaam until February 1940, and then expelled to Germany.
There he was soon drafted for military service. From 1943 to 1945, Hassel worked as an interpreter with the rank of lieutenant in the foreign military intelligence bureau headed by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. He was decorated with the Iron Cross (2nd Class).
Kai-Uwe von Hassel (1913-1997) as a soldier in Italy 1944
After the end of the war he spent some time in a British prisoner-of-war camp near Rimini, from which he was liberated in September 1945
Federal Defense Minister Kai-Uwe von Hassel visits troops in an armored personnel carrier in 1963.
Kai-Uwe von Hassel and his first wife, Elfriede, had two children: Joachim (born 1942) and Barbara (born 1943). Joachim von Hassel died on 10 March 1970 in an accident with a Starfighter.
Last edited by TabsTabs1964; 05-26-2024 at 01:58 PM.
54 years ago, Lieutenant Joachim von Hassel (1942-1970) from “Marinefliegergeschwader 2” (Naval Aviation Squadron 2) crashed his Starfighter.
Lt. Joachim von Hassel (1942-1970)
"Die Luft über See gehört dem MFG!" - The air above sea belongs to the MFG!
The son of the President of the Bundestag (and former Defense Minister) was neither the first nor the last victim claimed by the jet fighter introduced into the Bundeswehr in 1962. Because the “Rakete mit Sitz” (rocket with a seat) did not forgive the slightest pilot mistake.
Former german F104 pilot Woolf Beck
His flying companion that day, veteran pilot Woolf Beck, remembers it this way:
Joachim von Hassel, my colleague, was the son of former Defence Minister and President of the German Bundestag Kai-Uwe von Hassel. It was March 10, 1970. We flew in a formation of three, simulating a fight. I had problems with the rudder and had to go down. Joachim flew to the landing site next to me, I landed and he took off again, to land at another airfield. His last words: 'See you soon.' I went out, went to the barracks, and they asked me: "Where did you leave Joachim?" Then they came running screaming, 'Von Hassel fell from the sky.' Then I thought, "Oh Scheisse."
F-104 the Witwenmacher
The aircraft's debut in the FRG air force could not have been worse. In rehearsals for the official unveiling of the new fighter, all four aerobatic patrol planes crashed and all four of its pilots were killed. A terrible omen.
The Federal Republic had ordered too many aircraft too quickly and planned them for too many different tasks (fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, fighter-bombers and to combat maritime targets). Both mechanics and drivers had to be trained or retrained in too short a time.....
Towards the end of the sixties, the Bundesluftwaffe had several hundred F 104 fighters.
The then General Steinhoff observes a model of the American fighter
The ace of aces Erich Hartmann was one of the first to realize the very serious flaws of this plane and actively campaigned with the authorities for its withdrawal or revision. This confrontation cost him to be relegated
The public, outraged by the high number of accidents and casualties, not only demanded that the abuses be remedied, but also looked for someone to blame. The SPD opposition thought it had found it in Defence Minister von Hassel. But he defended himself and his office.
Kai-Uwe von Hassel german defense minister
In March 1966, during a debate in the Bundestag on the series of Starfighter fighter aircraft accidents in the Federal Republic of Germany, the then Federal Minister of Defence, Kai-Uwe von Hassel, said: "All air forces in the world must expect a certain rate of loss. even in times of peace. Accidents can't be prevented."...
The minister gave the necessary powers to his newly appointed air force inspector, Johannes Steinhoff, and assigned him direct responsibility for the F-104's weapons system.
Johannes Steinhoff was in charge of solving the problem....
Politically, the federal government was able to resolve the crisis easily thanks to such decisions. But Defense Minister von Hassel's sober words in the Bundestag in 1966 proved fateful for him as a father less than four years later, when von Hassel had to bury his son Joachim, who died at the controls of his Lockheed F104. (tactical number 21 + 28)
By 1970, 56 Starfighter pilots had died. In some years, one every two weeks. Only the 57th death marked a turning point. There was talk of the Starfighter scandal.
By the time the "Widow Makers" retired in 1991, 262 of the 916 aircraft purchased had been involved in accidents. One in three accidents ended in life and a total of 116 pilots lost their lives, 56 before and 59 after Joachim von Hassel.
So the son of a Schutztruppe officer and born in the former German East Africa, Kai Uwe von Hassel, as Defense Minister of the FRG, gave the funeral speech of General Paul von Lettow-Worveck in 1964.
Two years later, in the midst of controversy over the F-104 scandal, in March 1966 he gave a speech in the Bundestag with the idea that accidents in the air forces are inevitable... and four years later, in March In 1970 he had to bury his young son, a Bundesluftwaffe pilot, who died in an accident with that terrible plane... at that funeral, perhaps he did not have words to honor his son
I have to recommend this German TV movie from 2015. It explains the history of the F-104 in the German air forces in the 60s.
RTL film "Starfighter. Sie wollten den Himmel erobern" - Starfighter. They wanted to conquer the sky
Contains some incredible flight scenes of the F 104 fighters.
Harry (Steve Windolf) and Betti (Picco von Groote) in the RTL film Starfighter
Here I leave you the link to the trailer. It's entertaining
Starfighter – Sie wollten den Himmel erobern - Filmkritik - Film - TV SPIELFILM
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