41 Facts About Luftwaffe

The Condor Legion, a Luftwaffe detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a valuable testing ground for new tactics and aircraft.

Partially as a result of this combat experience, the Luftwaffe had become one of the most sophisticated, technologically advanced, and battle-experienced air forces in the world when World War II broke out in 1939.

Luftwaffe proved instrumental in the German victories across Poland and Western Europe in 1939 and 1940.

From late 1942, the Luftwaffe used its surplus ground support and other personnel to raise Luftwaffe Field Divisions.

In January 1945, during the closing stages of the Battle of the Bulge, the Luftwaffe made a last-ditch effort to win air superiority, and met with failure.

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The Luftwaffe had only two commanders-in-chief throughout its history: Hermann Goring and later Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim for the last two weeks of the war.

The Oberkommando der Luftwaffe organized Nazi human experimentation, and Luftwaffe ground troops committed massacres in Italy, Greece, and Poland.

Corum states that under this doctrine, the Luftwaffe leadership rejected the practice of "terror bombing".

Luftwaffe believed that tactical aircraft should only be used as a step to developing a strategic air force.

The Luftwaffe was to be an organization capable of carrying out broad and general support tasks rather than any specific mission.

Wever's participation in the construction of the Luftwaffe came to an abrupt end on 3 June 1936 when he was killed along with his engineer in a Heinkel He 70 Blitz, ironically on the very day that his "Bomber A" heavy bomber design competition was announced.

Many in the Luftwaffe command believed medium bombers to be sufficient power to launch strategic bombing operations against Germany's most likely enemies; France, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

The Luftwaffe quickly realized the days of the biplane fighter were finished, the Heinkel He 51 being switched to service as a trainer.

The Luftwaffe was just starting to accept the Junkers Ju 88A for service, as it had encountered design difficulties, with only a dozen aircraft of the type considered combat-ready.

At the start of the war the Luftwaffe had four Luftflotten, each responsible for roughly a quarter of Germany.

The Luftwaffe reached its largest personnel strength during the period November 1943 to June 1944, with almost three million men and women in uniform; 1.

When World War II began in 1939, the Luftwaffe was one of the most technologically advanced air forces in the world.

The Luftwaffe rendered invaluable support to the army, mopping up pockets of resistance.

The Luftwaffe was to have in place a ground-to-air communication system, which played a vital role in the success of 1940's Fall Gelb.

In May and June 1940, the Luftwaffe contributed to the unexpected German success in the Battle of France.

In spring 1941 the Luftwaffe helped its Axis partner, Italy, secure victory in the Balkans Campaign and continued to support Italy or the Italian Social Republic in the Mediterranean, Middle East and African theaters until May 1945.

The Luftwaffe destroyed thousands of Soviet aircraft, yet it failed to destroy the Red Air Force altogether.

Luftwaffe defended German-occupied Europe against the growing offensive power of RAF Bomber Command and, starting in the summer of 1942, the steadily building strength of the United States Army Air Forces.

Luftwaffe became the most highly decorated German serviceman of the Second World War.

Failure of the Luftwaffe in the Defence of the Reich campaign was a result of a number of factors.

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The Luftwaffe lacked an effective air defense system early in the war.

The Luftwaffe was forced to improvize and construct its defenses during the war.

However, by the time this was achieved the Luftwaffe lacked the fuel and trained pilots to make this achievement worthwhile.

The Luftwaffe, OKW argued, was still an offensive weapon, and its primary focus was on producing bomber pilots.

The Luftwaffe thus lacked a cadre of staff officers to set up new combat units with carefully selected and skilled combat personnel, and pass on experience.

Luftwaffe was unusual among contemporary independent air forces in possessing an organic paratrooper force called Fallschirmjager.

From 1943, the Luftwaffe had an armored division called Fallschirm-Panzer Division 1 Hermann Goring, which was expanded to a Panzerkorps in 1944.

In 1944, many Luftwaffe soldiers were transferred to concentration camps to alleviate personnel shortages.

Luftwaffe paratroopers committed many war crimes in Crete following the Battle of Crete, including the Alikianos executions, Massacre of Kondomari, and the Razing of Kandanos.

Luftwaffe troops participated in the murder of Jews imprisoned in ghettos in Eastern Europe.

Ten thousand Luftwaffe troops were stationed on the Eastern Front for such "anti-partisan" operations.

In 1941, experiments with the intent of discovering how to prevent and treat hypothermia were carried out for the Luftwaffe, which had lost aircrew to immersion hypothermia after ditchings.

Sigmund Rascher, a Luftwaffe doctor based at Dachau, published the results at the 1942 medical conference entitled "Medical Problems Arising from Sea and Winter".

The Luftwaffe started bombing Wielun at 04:40, five minutes before the shelling of Westerplatte, which has traditionally been considered the beginning of World War II in Europe.

Biggest attacks at civilian targets occurred in the Battle of Britain when the large fleet of Luftwaffe attacked the British Isles and primarily hit non military targets.

Several prominent Luftwaffe commanders were convicted of war crimes, including General Alexander Lohr and Field Marshal Albert Kesselring.