Eagles of the Third Reich: Men of the Luftwaffe in WWII

401 Pages·2007·5.92 MB·English

by  Samuel W. Mitcham Jr.

EAGLES OF THE
THIRD REICH
Other titles in the Stackpole Military History Series
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Cavalry Raids of the Civil War
Pickett’s Charge
Witness to Gettysburg
WORLD WAR II
Armor Battles of the Waffen-SS, 1943–45
Army of the West
Australian Commandos
The B-24 in China
Backwater War
The Battle of Sicily
Beyond the Beachhead
The Brandenburger Commandos
The Brigade
Bringing the Thunder
Coast Watching in World War II
Colossal Cracks
D-Day to Berlin
Exit Rommel
Flying American Combat Aircraft of World War II
Fist from the Sky
Forging the Thunderbolt
Fortress France
The German Defeat in the East, 1944–45
German Order of Battle, Vols. 1, 2, and 3
Germany’s Panzer Arm in World War II
Grenadiers
Infantry Aces
Iron Arm
Luftwaffe Aces
Messerschmitts over Sicily
Michael Wittmann, Vols. 1 and 2
The Nazi Rocketeers
On the Canal
Packs On!
Panzer Aces
Panzer Aces II
The Panzer Legions
Retreat to the Reich
Rommel’s Desert War
The Savage Sky
A Soldier in the Cockpit
Stalin’s Keys to Victory
Surviving Bataan and Beyond
Tigers in the Mud
The 12th SS, Vols. 1 and 2
THE COLD WAR / VIETNAM
Flying American Combat Aircraft: The Cold War
Land with No Sun
Street without Joy
WARS OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Never-Ending Conflict
GENERAL MILITARY HISTORY
Carriers in Combat
Desert Battles
EAGLES OF THE
THIRD REICH
Men of the Luftwaffe in World War II
Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr.
STACKPOLE
BOOKS
Table of Contents

Introduction vi
Acknowledgments vii
Chapter 1. The Secret Air Force 1
Chapter 2. Command Fragmentation 14
Chapter 3. Spain: The First Battle 31
Chapter 4. The Buildup and the Outbreak of the War 51
Chapter 5. Blitzkrieg 80
Chapter 6. The Air War Against Britain, 1939-42 95
Chapter 7. The Balkans Campaign 114
Chapter 8. Russia, 1941: The Last Blitzkrieg 127
Chapter 9. The Fall of Ernst Udet 149
Chapter 10. The Russian Front, 1942-43 173
Chapter 11. The Bombings Begin, 1942 200
Chapter 12. The Tide Turns, 1943 207
Chapter 13. Defeat on All Fronts 236
Chapter 14. Rittervon Greim: The Last Field Marshal 266
Appendix 1:Table of Equivalent Ranks 279
Appendix 2:Chain of Command of Luftwaffe Aviation Units281
Appendix 3:Strength of Luftwaffe Units 282
Appendix 4:Glossary of Luftwaffe Terms 283
Appendix 5:Other Leading Luftwaffe Personalities 286
Appendix 6:The Principal German Aircraft, 1935-45 293
Notes 301
Bibliography 325
Index 335
Introduction
A
re wars fought by men and machines, or are they fought by men with
machines? Since history is truly argument without end, this question is
somewhat moot, but for purposes of this book I adopt the second premise, since
the machines themselves were (and are) the products of men. In other words, I
believe that the Luftwaffe lost the war because of human failure, rather than
because of technological failure. This is not to say that the technological failure
did not occur—quite the opposite. I in no way intend to minimize the
contributions of those who study the technological aspects of the air war in
Europe; I very much respect and admire them. However, it is my opinion that the
human factor was (and is) primary in war—just as war itself, in the larger sense,
must be regarded as a human failure. For example, the technical reasons why the
British Spitfires and Hurricanes were superior to the Heinkel 111s and
Messerschmitt 110s during the Battle of Britain are significant questions, but
perhaps a more significant question might be: “Why were the German combat
pilots still saddled with obsolete He-111s and Me-110s as late as 1940?”
The purpose of this book is to look at the men behind the airplanes, i.e., to
examine the fundamental causes of the Luftwaffe’s demise. The war has now
been over for more than sixty years. The technology of the 1940s has been
relegated to museums for decades, but the causes of the Luftwaffe’s defeat are
still with us. One only has to listen to a debate in the American Congress to
understand that. If those who do not study the past are indeed condemned to
relive it, then this book should serve as a warning to the leaders, strategists, and
technicians of today.
Acknowledgments
F
irst and foremost, I wish to thank Mr. Harry R. Fletcher and the staff of the
Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center, Air University, Maxwell Air
Force Base, Alabama, for all their kind and very professional help.
Thanks also go to the staff of the United States National Archives,
Washington, D.C., for providing photographs; to Paula Leming, Professor of
Foreign Languages at Henderson State University, for help in translating; and to
Dr. Claude Sumerlin of H.S.U. for proofreading and advice. Appreciation is also
extended to Drs. Charles D. Dunn and Joe T. Clark for their support, and to Dr.
Gene Mueller for assisting in the acquisition of material on the Condor Legion.
Gratitude is also extended to the staff of Huie Library, H.S.U., and most
especially to Mrs. Barbara Roberts, who has for years been plagued by my
insatiable demands for interlibrary loans.
CHAPTER 1
The Secret Air Force
A
lthough it would not officially exist for more than two years, the Luftwaffe
can trace its birth to 11 A.M. on January 30, 1933, when Adolf Hitler was sworn
in as chancellor of Germany. Later that day he appointed Hermann Goering, the
number two man in the Nazi party, as minister without portfolio and Reich
commissioner of aviation (Reichskommissariat für die Luftfahrt) in the new
government. Actually Goering was minister of aviation and commander-in-chief
of the secret German air force. In many ways his personality dominated the
Luftwaffe throughout its existence.
Hermann Goering, author Matthew Cooper later wrote, “was an enigma. He
was as much the stuff of which heroes are made as are villains. He was a
remarkable combination of contradictions . . . He was both energetic and lazy;
realistic and romantic; brutal and kind; brave and cowardly; refined and coarse;
intelligent, vain, humourous and ruthless . . . [an] inspiration to some, an object
of ridicule and detestation to others.”1
Hermann was born in Marienbad Sanitarium at Rosenheim, Bavaria, on
January 12, 1893, the fourth son of Heinrich Ernst and Franiszha “Fanny”
Goering. His middle name was Wilhelm, after Kaiser Wilhelm II, whom he was
destined to serve in World War I. Hermann grew up in Bavaria. A head-strong
and rebellious youth, he was educated at various boarding schools: the Karlsruhe
Military Academy and the prestigious Gross-Lichterfelde Cadet Academy near
Berlin, where he underwent officer training. He was gazetted Leutnant (second
lieutenant) in the Prince Wilhelm (112th Infantry) Regiment at Muelhausen in
March 1912.2
When World War I broke out in the fall of 1914, young Goering’s regiment
was sent to the western front, where he was commended for initiative and
daring. He soon fell ill, however, and was recovering in the military hospital at
Freiburg when a visit from Lt. Bruno Loerzer changed his entire life.