Personality and personal life of W. Oesau

[RedBaroness]

Hi Ladies and Gents;

Just got done searching the forum for some information on my pet project, the personal life and personality of W. Oesau.

Apart from what I can glean off the internet, I haven't been able to find much information on this man.

I have tonnes of photographs (just recently bought a wartime signed of him) but really nothing in the way of a biographical study.

I understand there are some German-language biographies of him floating around, and I was wondering how to get a hold of one of those.

It's been too long that someone like Walter has been without an English-language biography (he among other LW pilots and other WM personalities, but one at a time for me, I'm only one person... ) and I would like to attempt to write something on him.

Does anyone have any links or information that might be useful in my biographical research?

With many profuse thanks in advance,

Cori

[Larry deZeng]

Here is a thumbnail sketch of his career:

OESAU, Walter. (DOB: 28.06.13 in Farnewinkel/Holstein). (RES, DKG). 1936 assigned to I./JG 132. 20.04.37 promo to Lt. 04.38 volunteered for the Legion Condor in Spain (to c.02.39). 15.07.39 Oblt., TDY from JG 2 to I./JG 20 and appt Staka 1./JG 20 (to 04.07.40). 04.07.40 appt Staka 7./JG 51 (to 24.08.40). 19.07.40 promo to Hptm. 20.08.40 Hptm., awarded Ritterkreuz, Staka 7./JG 51. 25.08.40 Hptm., appt Kdr. III./JG 51 (to 10.11.40). 11.11.40 Hptm., appt Kdr. III./JG 3 (to 28.07.41). 06.02.41 Hptm., awarded Eichenlaub, Kdr. III./JG 3. 15.07.41 Hptm., awarded Schwerter, Kdr. III./JG 3 and promo to Maj.. 01.08.41 Maj., appt Kommodore JG 2 (to 18.06.43). 01.02.43 promo to Obstlt. 22.06.43 Obstlt., appt Jagdfliegerführer 4 (Lfl. 3) (to 01.09.43). 17.10.43 Obstlt., awarded DKG, Jafü 4. 12.11.43 Obstlt., appt Kommodore JG 1 (to 11.05.44 KIA - shot down by P-38 Lightnings over St.-Vith in the Eifel). 10.01.44 awarded DKG. 01.05.44 posthumous promo to Oberst. Credited with 125 air victories in some 300 combat missions.

You didn't say whether or not you read German. If you do, then I would get a copy of his personnel file from BA-MA Freiburg. Then I would search the German bibliographic data bases, i.e., www.wlb-Stuttart.de , www.mgfa.de/html/bibliothek , www.ddb.de/ , etc. You can do a subject search on these just as you can in the Library of Congress catalog data base.

If you don't find any books, you will surely find periodical articles on him. He went all the way to RES, so there is probably a fair amount of material on him, such as in the Landser-Band series, Deutsches Soldaten Jahresbuch series, etc. As an important last step, you might try special German language bibliographies dealing with World War II and/or German military history. A good start would be Edward L. Homze, German Aviation: A Guide to the Literature. This is a bit dated, but at least it's in English. His coverage of biographies begins on p.147.

The very best bibliography of all is in German: Walter Held, Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg: Eine Bibliographie der deutschsprachigen Nachkriegsliteratur. These large volumes were published by Biblio Verlag in Osnabrück and cover various periods of time; i.e., Band I (1945-1975), Band II (1976-1981), Band III (1982-1987), Band IV (1988-1993), etc. They are excruciatingly detailed, offering not only book listings but every article and manuscript on every subject and individual. If it was written in Germany, you will find what you are looking for in these volumes. You can probably get them through interlibrary loan. The Joint University Libraries, Central Library, Nashville, Tennessee has them for example, but many other university libraries do, too.

Well, that's all I have to say. Good luck!

--Larry

[RedBaroness]

Thanks, Larry - I do speak and understand German (not good enough for conversation) and also French. I'm having some friends overseas do some searching for me as well - a very good friend of mine lives not far from Meldorf.

Incidentally, and probably why my interest is further peaked, my first child is due on Walter's birthday, June 28th.

[Larry deZeng]

Thanks, Larry - I do speak and understand German (not good enough for conversation) and also French. I'm having some friends overseas do some searching for me as well - a very good friend of mine lives not far from Meldorf.
Incidentally, and probably why my interest is further peaked, my first child is due on Walter's birthday, June 28th.

That's great, Cori - hearty congratulations on your first child and very best wishes for a successful outcome with your ongoing research!

--Larry

[RedBaroness]

Thanks Larry - I just had a friend send me some more pictures of Walter that I didn't have before - some of them rather amusing. He seems to have had a pretty good sense of humor - when he's not trying to stare down the camera, he's laughing.

[Will Brown]

Funny you should mention Oesau, I was doing the same thing a couple of days ago. Here are two good links I was reading up on:

http://www.luftwaffe.cz/oesau.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=gjz...qRNEKt4uQHBDDg

(Just in case you have not found them yourself)

Good luck with your endeavor Cori,

Will.

[RedBaroness]

Funny you should mention Oesau, I was doing the same thing a couple of days ago. Here are two good links I was reading up on:

http://www.luftwaffe.cz/oesau.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=gjz...qRNEKt4uQHBDDg

(Just in case you have not found them yourself)

Good luck with your endeavor Cori,

Will.

Thanks, Will - I've practically exhausted the internet on him, and I just recently bought the book too - there was a book for sale on him on eBay.de, but I didn't have the money to get it.

Eventually though, I hope to be able to take a trip to Meldorf. I have been told by a few friends who are in the area that there is a ton of information in that town, his home of Farnewinkel being a suburb(?) of Meldorf.

[jmark]

Not sure if this will help but I've also got a few photos of him. Apart from a signed pic, I've also got a small homemade album titled "General d.Fl. Ritter von Greim besucht am 23.6.41 Schloss Polanka und Hauptmann Ösau am 18.6.41". I'm happy to post some of the photos. There's at least 3 photos of Oesau (two show him sitting around a table having coffee with 8 or 9 fellow LW officers while the third photo shows him behind the wheel of a staff car).

All the best,
Jason

[RedBaroness]

Oh, that would be great, Jmark.

Sorry it took me so long to respond; been busy with a move and preparing a nursery.

I'm going to have a son, due on Oesau's birthday. Of all things.

Already got a name; Walter, of course.

Oh, and I found video of Oesau on YouTube too - but it's silent. Darn. Was hoping for sound. But hey, video is video.