Eagles of the Third Reich: Men of the Luftwaffe in WWII (Stackpole Military History Series) (65 page)

Messerschmitt Me-109
. This single-seat, single-engine fighter was the most important airplane used by the Luftwaffe in the Second World War. Thirty thousand of them were produced between 1937 and 1945—more than any other type of aircraft used by the German Air Force. Armed with two or three machine guns, the Me-109 was hampered by poor lateral control at high speeds and was technologically inferior to the British Spit-fires and Hurricanes and the American Mustang, but not grossly so. It nevertheless continued to operate on all fronts until the end of the war, largely because the German aircraft industry and the Luftwaffe Technical Branch were unable to produce a suitable replacement in sufficient numbers. Many of the Me-109s were employed in a fighter-bomber role.

Messerschmitt Me-110
. A two-seat, twin-engine day fighter, it was designed to escort German bombers. It was also occasionally used as a ground attack aircraft. It performed well in Poland and France but proved too vulnerable to Spitfires and Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain. The Me-210 was designed to replace it, but when it proved to be a failure the Luftwaffe had no choice but to continue manufacturing this obsolete aircraft until the end of the war. Total production was about six thousand.

Messerschmitt Me-163
. A single-seat jet interceptor, the revolutionary “Komet” was rushed into production in early 1944, despite numerous technological and production difficulties. It had a maximum speed of almost six hundred miles per hour. However, it had no landing gear (it took off on a jettisonable trolley and landed on a skid) and was almost as dangerous to its pilots as to enemy aircraft. Its propellants were highly volatile and tended to explode on landing. The Me-163s devastated sev- eral American bomber formations in the last year of the war, but entirely too many Komets (and their pilots) were lost due to accidents. About 370 were used by the Luftwaffe during the war.

Messerschmitt Me-210
. Designed to replace the Me-110, this twin-engine, two-seat fighter suffered from numerous technological difficulties, including severe flight instability and landing-gear malfunctions. Luftwaffe pilots considered this aircraft a death trap. Production was nevertheless started in 1942, before it had been adequately tested. Three hundred fifty had been manufactured before production of this flawed aircraft was terminated. Great hopes had been placed in the Me-210, and its failure was a severe blow to the Luftwaffe’s war effort.

Messerschmitt Me-262
. A single-seat jet fighter/fighter-bomber, this aircraft first flew in April, 1941. It might have won the air war for Germany, but its development was hampered by the disinterest of Milch, Udet, and others. It first reached the squadrons in September 1944. About thirteen hundred were produced during the war, but only about one hundred ever flew in combat, due to a lack of fuel and the near-collapse of the German transportation network. With a maximum speed of 540 miles per hour, it was a formidable weapon in combat.

Messerschmitt Me-321 “Gigant.”
This heavy cargo glider could carry a 24.5 ton payload or a company of infantry. Production began in mid-1941 and was terminated in early 1944.

Notes

CHAPTER 1: THE SECRET AIR FORCE

  
1
. Matthew Cooper,
The German Air Force, 1933–1945
(London: Jane’s, 1981), p. 9 (hereafter cited as “Cooper”).

  
2
. Robert Manvill and Heinrich Fraenkel,
Goering
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962), p. 27 (hereafter cited as “Manvill and Fraenkel”); Leonard Mosley,
The Reich Marshal: A Biography of Hermann Goering
(New York: Doubleday and Co., 1974; reprinted., New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1975), pp. 23–26 (hereafter cited as “Mosley”); “General Officers of the German Air Force,” Air University Archives, Document EO 11652, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Ala bama, n.d. (hereafter cited as “Gen. Off.s, GAF”).

  
3
. Manvill and Fraenkel, p. 26.

  
4
. Ibid, pp. 44–46.

  
5
. Floyd Gibbons,
The Red Knight of Germany
(New York: Doubleday and Co., 1927; reprinted., New York: Bantam Books, 1959), pp. 190–209.

  
6
. Mosley, pp. 47–53.

  
7
. Manvill and Fraenkel, p. 37.

  
8
. Herbert M. Mason, Jr.,
The Rise of the Luftwaffe
(New York: Dial Press, 1973), p. 132 (hereafter cited as “Mason”).

  
9
. Richard Suchenwirth, “The Development of the German Air Force,”
United States Air Force Historical Studies Number 160
.
Harry R. Fletcher, ed. United States Air Force Historical Division, Aerospace Studies Institute (Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama: Air University Archives, 1968) (hereafter cited as “Suchenwirth MS ‘Development of GAF’”).

10
. Wilberg Personnel Extract, Air University Archives, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama.

11
. Mosley, pp. 269–71.

12
. Wilberg remained on active duty until November 20, 1941, when he was killed in an air accident in Belgium.

13
. Paul Schmidt,
Hitler’s Interpreter
(London: Heinemann, 1951), pp. 30–32; Manvill and Fraenkel, p. 136.

14
. Robert Wistrich,
Who’s Who in Nazi Germany
(New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1982), p. 209 (hereafter cited as “Wistrich”). The future state secretary’s full name was Erhard Alfred Richard Oskar Milch (Milch Personnel Extract).

15
. According to German Colonel Killinger (Auswerte Stelle-West), comments to British interrogators (C.S.D.I.C. [U.K.], S.R.G.G. 1243 [C], dated 22 May 1945) on file at the Historical Research Center, Air University Archives, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama. Dozens of these interrogations are on file and hereafter shall be cited as “Interrogation of . . .” followed by the name of the officer and the date of the interrogation, when given. Some of the captives were surprisingly frank—even outspoken—in their remarks.

16
. Interrogation of Colonel Killinger, 22 May 1945.

17
. Richard Suchenwirth, “Command and Leadership in the German Air Force,”
United States Air Force Historical Studies Number 174
.
United States Air Force Historical Division, Aerospace Studies Institute (Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama: Air University, 1969) (hereafter cited as “Suchenwirth MS ‘Command’”).

18
. David Irving,
The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe: The Life of Field Marshal Erhard Milch
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973), p. 5 (hereafter cited as “Irving,
Milch
”); Milch Personnel Extract.

19
. Suchenwirth MS “Command”; Irving,
Milch
,
pp. 5-–8; Milch Personnel Extract.

20
. Irving,
Milch
,
pp. 8–9. His promotion was dated August 18, 1918—three years to the day after his promotion to first lieutenant (Milch Personnel Extract).

21
. Ibid, pp. 9–10.

22
. Suchenwirth MS “Command.”

23
. Irving,
Milch
,
p. 11.

24
. Ibid, pp. 12–14. Suchenwirth stated that Milch did not join Junkers until 1923, but Irving’s date seems more likely (Suchenwirth MS “Command”).

25
. Irving,
Milch
,
p. 22; Suchenwirth MS “Command.”

26
. Irving,
Milch
,
pp. 24–25. According to his personnel extract, Milch joined the Nazi party in January, 1930.

27
. Interrogation of Colonel Killinger.

28
. Irving,
Milch
,
p. 29; Suchenwirth MS “Command.”

29
. Willi Frischauer,
The Rise and Fall of Hermann Goering
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1951), p. 99 (hereafter cited as “Frischauer”); Mosley, p. 209; Bella Fromm,
Blood and Banquets
(New York: Harper and Row, 1942), 106.

30
. Irving,
Milch
,
pp. 36–37; Mason, p. 110.

31
. Suchenwirth MS “Development of the GAF.”

32
. Cyril March, ed.,
The Rise and Fall of the German Air Force, 1933–1945
(London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1948; reprint ed., New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983), p. 11 (hereafter cited as “March”).

33
. Irving,
Milch
,
pp. 36–37; Mason, p. 110.

34
. Suchenwirth MS “Development of the GAF.”

35
. Ibid; March, p. 8.

36
. In 1938, after the Luftkreise had been set up and were functioning well, Goering sent all three of these men back into retirement. All three were recalled to service by Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch, the commander-in-chief of the army, when the war broke out. Hans Halm commanded Wehrkreis VIII (VIII Military District in Silesia) until May, 1942, when he permanently retired as a general of infantry. Edmund Wachenfeld commanded Wehrkreis VII (Bavaria) until his retirement as a general of artillery on March 1, 1943. He died in Munich in 1958. Leonhard Kaupisch led an ad hoc corps into combat in Poland and, as commander of XXXI Army Corps, directed the German occupation of Denmark and was subsequently military governor of that country. He retired in 1942 as a general of artillery and died in Weimar in 1945. Wolf Keilig,
Die Generale des Heeres
(Friedberg: Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, 1983), pp. 124, 164, and 358–59 (hereafter cited as “Keilig”).

37
. Robert Goralski,
World War II Almanac, 1931–1945
(New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981), p. 33.

CHAPTER 2: COMMAND FRAGMENTATION

  
1
. Andreas Nielsen, “The German Air Force General Staff,”
United States Air Force Historical Studies Number 173
.
United States Air Force Historical Division, Aerospace Studies Institute (Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama: Air University, 1952) (hereafter cited as “Nielsen MS”).

  
2
. Ibid.

  
3
. Kenneth Macksey,
Kesselring: The Making of the Luftwaffe
(New York: David McKay Company, 1978), pp. 17–18 (hereafter cited as “Macksey”); Gen. Off.s, GAF.