Wartime Signed Portrait of Paul-Werner Hozzel. At the outbreak of World War II he participated in the Poland campaign in 1939 with the Sturzkampfgeschwaders 1. This unit also participated in the Battle of France and in the Operation Weserübung. Hozzel was the first Stuka pilot to be awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 8 May 1940. He, Oberleutnant Elmar Schaefer, Leutnant Martin Möbus, and Unteroffizier Gerhard Grenzel, received this award for the destruction of the French destroyer Bison and the British destroyer HMS Afridi.
Hozzel was appointed commander of Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 on 16 October 1941. With SG 2, he fought in the Battle of Stalingrad, the Geschwader flew 12,000 combat missions in this engagement.
It was then tasked to form “Gefechtsverband Hozzel” from parts of the Stuka-Geschwaders 1, 2 and 77 participating in the battles around Dnipropetrovsk. Hozzel was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub) on 14 April 1943. He finished the war in a staff position of Luftflotte 1. He had been tasked with its leadership in the Courland Pocket and went into Soviet captivity as a prisoner of war. He was repatriated on 16 January 1956.
Later in 1956 he joined the Bundeswehr and retired as Brigadegeneral on 30 September 1969.
