Ernst von Hoeppner

{{Short description|Prussian cavalry officer (1860-1922)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox military person | name = Ernst Wilhelm von Hoeppner | image = Ernst von Hoeppner's portrait on his book.jpg | caption = | birth_date = 14 January 1860 | death_date = 26 September 1922 (aged 62) | burial_label = | burial_place = Tonnin, Wollin, Pomerania | birth_place = [[Unin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship|Tonnin]], [[Wollin]], [[Pomerania]] | death_place = Groß-Mokratz, Wollin, Pomerania | burial_coordinates =  | nickname = | allegiance = {{flag|German Empire}} | branch = | service_years = 1879 – 1919 | rank = ''General der Kavallerie'' (General of Cavalry) | unit = | commands = 75th Reserve Division ''[[Luftstreitkräfte]]'' [[XVIII Corps (German Empire)|XVIII Corps]] | battles = [[World War I]] * [[Aviation in World War I]] | awards = ''[[Pour le Mérite]]'' | relations = | other_work = Military historian | signature = Hoeppner sig.svg }}

'''Ernst Wilhelm Arnold von Hoeppner''' (14 January 1860 – 26 September 1922) was a Prussian cavalry officer who served as the Commanding General of the German Air Service (''[[Luftstreitkräfte]]'') during [[World War I]].

==Early life and military career== Hoeppner was born in [[Unin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship|Tonnin]] on the island of [[Wollin]] in [[Pomerania]] on 14 January 1860.<ref name=Prussian_Machine>{{cite web |url=http://prussianmachine.com/aok/hoeppner.htm |title=Ernst Wilhelm Arnold von Hoeppner |last1=Viser |first1=Jonathan |date=2000–2012 |website=The Prussian Machine |access-date=19 March 2016}}</ref> He was the third son of a Prussian [[Major (rank)|major]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Fredette |first=Raymond |date=2006 |title=The Sky on Fire: The First Battle of Britain, 1917-1918 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |page=36 |isbn=9780817353476 }}</ref> Ernst Ferdinand Hoeppner (1813-1881) and his wife Wilhelmine Minna, née Kropf (1827-1896). Ernst Hoeppner attended the Cadet School in [[Potsdam]] from 1872 and in 1879 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 6th Magdeburg Dragoon Regiment. He attended the [[Prussian Military Academy]] in 1890. From 1893 to 1899, he was a member of the 14th Dragoon Regiment stationed at [[Colmar]] in [[Alsace]], commanding a squadron.<ref name="flieger-album">{{cite web |url=http://www.flieger-album.de/geschichte/portraits/portraiternstvonhoeppner.php |title=von Hoeppner, Ernst |access-date=5 February 2009 |work=flieger-album.de |language=de }}</ref>

Hoeppner married Sophie Eugenie Minette Elisabeth Adele Valentine of Pöppinghausen on 14 July 1885. They had three children: Busso, Margot and Gerd.<ref name="GothaGenTB9">''Hoeppner.'' in: ''Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der briefadeligen Häuser.'' Jg. 9 (1915), section: Elsn-Ribb.</ref>

In 1902 Hoeppner was appointed to the [[German General Staff|General Staff]]. He was appointed as a staff officer with the [[IX Corps (German Empire)|IX Army Corps]] in [[Altona, Hamburg|Altona]] in 1904. By 1906 he was a lieutenant colonel and was commander of the 13th Hussars Regiment in [[Thionville|Diedenhofen]]. Two years later he was appointed chief of staff of the [[VII Corps (German Empire)|VII Army Corps]]. In September 1912 he was made commander of the 4th Cavalry Brigade in [[Bydgoszcz|Bromberg]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Treadwell |first1=Terry C. |last2=Wood |first2=Alan C. |date=2003 |title=German Fighter Aces of World War One |publisher=Tempus |page=108 |isbn=978-0752428086}}</ref> and the following year he was raised to the nobility by [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm II]] and granted the nobiliary particle ''[[von]]'' before his surname. This was in recognition of his achievements as a staff officer and brigade commander.<ref name=Prussian_Machine/>

==World War I== [[File:General von Hoeppner with Oberst-Lieutenant Thomsen.jpg|thumb|left|Hoeppner in consultation with his Chief of Staff, [[Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen|Oberstleutnant Thomsen]]]] At the start of [[World War I]] Hoeppner was [[Chief of Staff]] at the [[3rd Army (German Empire)|3rd Army]] headquarters. He remained in this post until spring of 1915 when he took up command of the [[14th Reserve Division (German Empire)|14th Reserve Division]]. Later in 1915 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the [[2nd Army (German Empire)|2nd Army]] and in 1916 he became the commander of the [[75th Reserve Division (German Empire)|75th Reserve Division]].<ref name="flieger-album"/>

In October 1916, [[Erich Ludendorff|General Ludendorff]] decided that the German Air Service needed greater unity of command with a general officer having authority over all the Army's aerial combat and anti-aircraft units both in the field and at home. Ludendorff chose Hoeppner as the new air commander and it was at this time the Air Service was renamed from ''Fliegertruppe'' to ''Luftstreitkräfte''. Hoeppner was given the title of ''Kommandierender General der Luftstreitkräfte'' (Commanding General of the Air Service - sometimes abbreviated to Kogenluft in German), holding the rank of [[Generalleutnant|lieutenant-general]]. He was directly responsible to [[Paul von Hindenburg|Hindenburg]] at [[Oberste Heeresleitung|Supreme Army Command]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lawson |first1=Eric |last2=Lawson |first2=Jane |title=The First Air Campaign |year=2002 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0-306-81213-4 |page=96}}</ref>

Hoeppner reorganized the fragmented air services, greatly increasing the number of ''[[Jasta]]s'' (squadrons) and forming them into ''[[Jagdgeschwader]]'' (wings).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Higham |first1=Robin D. S. |title=100 Years of Air Power & Aviation |year=2003 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=1-58544-241-0 |page=43}}</ref> Priority was given to the development of strategies for massed air attacks.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kilduff |first1=Peter |title=Red Baron |year=2007 |publisher=David & Charles |isbn=978-0-7153-2809-5 |page=76}}</ref> In 1917 Hoeppner authored a memorandum asking for a significant increase in aircraft production which initiated the [[Amerika Programme]]. In 1917 he was awarded the [[Pour le Mérite]] even though as a senior commander he was not directly involved in air combat. The award was resented by some of his junior officers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pourlemerite.org/wwi/air/air.html |title=Air Pour le Mérite winners |access-date=5 February 2009 |last=Winkler |first=Gretchen |author2=von Tiedemann |author3=K. M. |work=www.pourlemerite.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151212234003/http://www.pourlemerite.org/wwi/air/air.html |archive-date=12 December 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Post war== [[File:General von Hoeppner (cropped).jpg|thumb|Hoeppner pictured at the end of World War I]] After the war, the German Air Service was dissolved. The German War Ministry issued orders for Von Hoepppner's post to be disestablished on 16 January 1919 although he appears to have continued as Commanding General for a few more days. His final order to his Air Service personnel was issued on 21 January.<ref>{{cite book |title=Germany's War in the Air |last=von Hoeppner |first=Ernst |others=trans. J Hawley Larned |year=1994 |orig-year=First published in 1921 in German |publisher=Battery Press |location=Nashville |isbn=0-89839-195-4 |page= 172 }}</ref> He then took up command of the [[XVIII Corps (German Empire)|18th Army Corps]] on 10 April 1919 but resigned from active service at his own request at the end of November 1919. He retired as [[General of the Cavalry (Germany)|general of cavalry]] with permission to wear the uniform of the 13th Hussars Regiment.

Hoeppner returned to his estate at Groß-Mokratz (now Mokrzyca Wielka) on the island of [[Wolin|Wollin]] in the [[Baltic Sea]] where he wrote his memoirs. In 1921 he published ''Deutschlands Krieg in der Luft'' ("Germany's War in the Air"), a study of the German Air Service from 1914 to 1918.

On 26 September 1922 Hoeppner died of [[influenza]] at the age of 62. He was buried in his birthplace of Tonnin, on the island of Wollin, in what is now [[Poland]].<ref name="flieger-album"/>

==In popular culture== In the 2008 [[biopic]] ''[[The Red Baron (2008 film)|The Red Baron]]'', Hoeppner is portrayed by actor [[Axel Prahl]].

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110727144317/http://www.onairpower.org/docs/H%C3%B6ppner,_Ernst_Wilhelm On Air Power - von Höppner, Ernst Wilhelm] *[http://www.flieger-album.de/geschichte/portraits/portraiternstvonhoeppner.php flieger-album.de - von Hoeppner] {{in lang|de}} *[http://prussianmachine.com/aok/hoeppner.htm The Prussian Machine - Ernst von Hoeppner]

{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} |- {{s-bef|before=Max von Seydewitz}} {{s-ttl|title=Commander of the [[75th Reserve Division (German Empire)|75th Reserve Division]]|years=1916}} {{s-aft|after=Arthur von Eisenhart-Rothe}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen|Hermann Thomsen]] As Chief of Field Air Forces ''Chef des Feldflugwesens''}} {{s-ttl|title=Commanding General of the [[Luftstreitkräfte|Imperial German Army Air Service]] ''Kommandierender General der Luftstreitkräfte''|years=1916–1919}} {{s-non|reason=Air Service disestablished}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Günther von Etzel]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Commander of the [[XVIII Corps (German Empire)|XVIII Army Corps]]|years=1919}} {{s-non|reason=Corps disestablished}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoeppner, Ernst Von}} [[Category:1860 births]] [[Category:1922 deaths]] [[Category:Deaths from influenza]] [[Category:Military personnel from the Province of Pomerania]] [[Category:Luftstreitkräfte personnel]] [[Category:Military aviation leaders of World War I]] [[Category:Generals of the cavalry (Prussia)]] [[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class)]] [[Category:German military historians]] [[Category:Historians of World War I]] [[Category:People from Kamień County]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus]] [[Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class]] [[Category:German male non-fiction writers]] [[Category:German Army generals of World War I]]