Geiger, August, born 06-05-1920 in Überlingen, near Lake Constance, the son of a typographer, grew up in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. Following graduation from school, he joined the military service in 1939 and was trained to fly Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter. He became a German Luftwaffe night fighter ace and recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves during World War II. German Nightfighters A. Geiger (right) H. Luetje (left) The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Geiger claimed 53 aerial victories, all of the them at night. Geiger joined Hermann Goering’s (did you know) Luftwaffe in 1939 in the 8th Squadron of the the Nachtgeschwader I , old age Night Fighters I, under command of Oberst Wolfgang Falckas , as a leutnant. Falckas survived the war and died age 96 on 13-03-2007. World War II in Europe had begun on Friday, 01-09-1939, when German forces invaded Poland. Following the 1939 aerial Battle of the Heligoland Bight, Royal Air Force (RAF) attacks shifted to the cover of darkness, initiating the Defence of the Reich campaign. By mid-1940, Generalmajor Josef Kammhuber had established a night air defense system dubbed the Kammhuber Line. It consisted of a series of control sectors equipped with radars and searchlights and an associated night fighter. Each sector named a Himmelbett (canopy bed) would direct the night fighter into visual range with target bombers. In 1941, the Luftwaffe started equipping night fighters with airborne radar such as the Lichtenstein radar. This airborne radar did not come into general use until early 1942.Geiger is really an Ace and received the Iron Cross first class, in 1943. Promoted to Oberleutnant he becomes Hauptmann of the 7th Squadron and in the night of 29-03-1945 he shoot 5 opponents. Total skills 22 now, he is awarded with the Ritterkreuz and promoted to Hauptmann and commander of the III Group of the Squadron in Twente, Netherlands (see About).
Death and burial ground of Geiger, August.
On 29-09-1943, his squadron mounted to intercept an English attack and was shot by the ace killer specialist over the Zuiderzee, Holland, Group Captain John Randall Daniel “Bob” Braham, ., of No. 141 Squadron . this English ace died of a brain tumor, age 53, on 07-02-1974, in Nova Scotia (see Joseph Joe Crilley), Canada.
. Geiger, 53 skills in 328 flights, could jump out with his parachute, landed in the channel and drowned. His body washed ashore and is buried on the large war cemetery of Ysselsteyn, 32.000 graves, in the Netherlands (see About) close to the grave of General der Infanterie, Feldkommandeur der 642thin Arnhem, Friedrich Kussin, the first killed and scalped General during Operation Market Garden . He was posthumously awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross on 02-03-1944. Also buried there the personalities, Generalleutnant der Infanterie, Kommandeur der 526th Reserve-Division, Kurt Scmidt, Generalmajor der Infanterie, Kommandeur der 376th Infanterie Regiment, Oskar von der Hagen, Oberleutnant with 3./NJG1 Paul Gildner, Major, Kommandeur III./N.J.G. 1, Egmond Prinz zur Lippe Weissenfeld, Major, Kommandeur I./N.J.G. 100, Heinrich Prinz zur Sayn Wittgenstein
Oberleutnant with I./ZG 76, 24 victories, Helmut Woltersdorf and Oberleutnant in the 26thJG, Air Fighter Squadron, Karl Willius.
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