Air fleet 4

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Air fleet 4

active March 18, 1939 to April 21, 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces Balkenkreuz.svg air force
Type Higher command authority
structure see subordinate associations
Location Vienna
commander
Commander see under leadership

The Air Force 4 (Lfl. 4) was on 18 March 1939 the Air Force Command Austria in Vienna established air fleet of the Air Force of the Armed Forces . On April 21, 1945, Luftflotte 4 was renamed Luftwaffenkommando 4.

history

Luftflotte 4 emerged on March 18, 1939 from the Austrian Air Fleet Command, which was created after Austria was annexed to the German Reich on March 12, 1939. During the attack on Poland , it acted in the area of Army Group South .

In the subsequent campaigns in Northern and Western Europe , she was not active. It was only during the Balkan campaign that larger units were placed under her command again. At the beginning of the attack on Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941, aircraft of Air Fleet 4 bombed the Yugoslav capital Belgrade . According to Yugoslav information, 2271 people were killed. 9000 buildings were destroyed or damaged. The commander-in-chief of Air Fleet 4, Alexander Löhr , was sentenced to death on February 16, 1947 before the Military Court of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia . The sentence was carried out ten days later.

During the air landing on the island of Crete , Air Fleet 4 had sole supreme command, so that army units were also subordinate to it.

During the attack on the Soviet Union , Luftflotte 4 was deployed in the area of Army Group South of the Army. She stayed on the Eastern Front until the end of the war. On April 21, 1945, the name was changed to Luftwaffenkommando 4.

guide

Alexander Löhr , first chief of Luftflotte 4, sentenced to death for war crimes in Yugoslavia in 1947.
Chiefs of the Air Fleet 4
Commander in chief from to
Colonel General Alexander Löhr March 18, 1939 July 20, 1942
Field Marshal General Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen July 20, 1942 September 4, 1943
Colonel General Otto Deßloch September 4, 1943 August 17, 1944
Lieutenant General Alexander Holle August 25, 1944 September 27, 1944
Colonel General Otto Deßloch September 28, 1944 April 27, 1945
General of the Aviator Paul Deichmann April 28, 1945 May 8, 1945
Chiefs of the General Staff of the Air Fleet 4
Chief of the General Staff from to
Colonel Günther Korten March 18, 1939 December 19, 1939
Colonel Herbert Olbrich December 19, 1939 June 21, 1940
Lieutenant Colonel Andreas Nielsen July 21, 1940 November 3, 1940
Colonel Richard Schimpf November 4th 1940 January 15, 1941
Lieutenant General Günther Korten January 15, 1941 August 12, 1942
Colonel Hans-Detlef Herhudt von Rohden August 24, 1942 February 23, 1943
Colonel Karl-Heinrich Schulz March 1, 1943 March 25, 1943
General of the aviators Otto Deßloch March 26, 1943 September 3, 1943
Major General Karl-Heinrich Schulz September 3, 1943 April 21, 1945
Colonel Richard Heuser April 24, 1945 May 1945

Subordinate associations

September 1939
( attack on Poland ) 		directly subordinated 3. (F) / 123; Wekusta 76
2nd Air Division I., II. And III./KG 4 ; I. and III./KG 76 ; I., II. And III./KG 77 ; I./StG 2 ; I./ZG 76; 3. (F) / 122
Pilot z. b. V. I. and II./StG 77 ; I./StG 76 ; I./ZG 2; II./LG 2 ; 1. (F) / 124
April 5, 1941
( Balkan campaign ) 		directly subordinated 4. (F) / 121; I. and III. KG 2 ; III./KG 3 ; I., II., And III./KG 51 ; II./KG 4
Aviator leader Graz II./StG 77; II./JG 54 ; I./JG 27
Pilot Arad I. and III./StG 77; I./ZG 26; III. and 4./JG 54; II. And III./JG 77
VIII. Air Corps I. and III./StG 2; III./StG 2; I./StG 1; II. And 10. (S) / LG 2; II./ZG 26 ; II. And III./JG 27; I. (J) / LG 2; 2. (F) / 11
German Air Force Mission Romania III./JG 52
May 20, 1941
( Airborne Battle of Crete ) 		directly subordinated 4. (F) / 121; Wekusta 76; Distress Squadron 7; 6th Mountain Division ; 5th Panzer Division
VIII. Air Corps I. and III./KG 2; III./KG 3; I., II. And III./LG 1 ; II./KG 26 ; I., II. And III. StG 1; I. and III. StG 2; I., II. And III./StG 77; I. and II./ZG 26; II./ZG 76; II. And III./JG 77; I. and II./LG 2; II./KG 4; 10./LG 2; 2. (F) / 11; 7./LG 2;
XI. Air Corps 7th Aviation Division ; Airborne assault regiment; 5th Mountain Division ; 22nd Infantry Division ; I. and II./KG z. b. V. 1 ; I. and II./KG z. b. V. 172; KGr. zbV 60; KGr. z. b. V. 101; KGr. z. b. V. 102 ; KGr. z. b. V. 40; KGr. z. b. V. 105 ; KGr. z. b. V. 106 ; I./LLG 1;
June 22, 1941
( German-Soviet War ) 		directly subordinated 4. (F) / 122; Wekusta 76; KGr. z. b. V. 50 , 104
IV. Air Corps 3. (F) / 121; I., II. And III./KG 27 , II./KG 4; II. And III./JG 77, I./LG 2
V. Air Corps 4. (F) / 121; I., II. And III./KG 55 ; I. and II./KG 54 ; I., II. And III. KG 51; I., II. And III./JG 3
II. Flak Corps Flak Regiment 6; General Goering Regiment
June 1942
(Soviet Union)
German-Soviet War 		VIII. Air Corps
Pilot South
I. Flak Corps 9th Flak Division , 10th Flak Division , 15th Flak Division , 17th Flak Division
Luftgau Command XVII
Air District Command Kiev
Luftgau command in Rostov
Air Force Mission to Romania
June 1943
(Soviet Union)
German-Soviet War 		I. Air Corps
IV. Air Corps
VIII. Air Corps
Kgl. Romanian Air Corps
Black Sea pilot
I. Flak Corps 9th Flak Division, 10th Flak Division, 15th Flak Division, 17th Flak Division
5th Flak Division
Air Force Mission to Romania
Air Force Mission to Bulgaria
Luftgau command in Kharkov
Luftgau command in Rostov
Feldluftgau Command XXV
June 1944
(Soviet Union)
German-Soviet War 		I. Air Corps
VIII. Air Corps
Kgl. Romanian Air Corps
Commanding general of the German Air Force in Romania
Fighter pilot Romania
Air Force Task Force Croatia
I. Flak Corps 9th Flak Division, 10th Flak Division, 15th Flak Division, 17th Flak Division
5th Flak Division
Feldluftgau Command XXV

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernhard R. Kroener : The German Reich and the Second World War , Volume 5/1 , Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-421-06232-3 , p. 718.
  2. ↑ Belgrade Historical Archive: Bombardovanje Beograda u drugom svetskom ratu. Belgrade 1975, pp. 1-5.
  3. ↑ Kurt W. Böhme: On the history of the German prisoners of war of the Second World War - The German prisoners of war in Yugoslavia 1941–1949 , Vol. 1/1, Munich 1962, p. 279.
  4. ↑ Ulf Balke: The aerial warfare in Europe 1939-1941 . Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-86047-591-6 , p. 393-396 .
  5. ↑ Ulf Balke: The aerial warfare in Europe 1939-1941 . Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-86047-591-6 , p. 414-415 .
  6. ^ Leo Niehorster : The Battle for Crete, Order of Battle German 4th Air Fleet 20 May 1941 , accessed on May 5, 2015.
  7. ↑ Ulf Balke: The aerial warfare in Europe 1939-1941 . Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-86047-591-6 , p. 416-419 .
  8. ↑ a b c German Luftflotte 1939–1945 (PDF; 154 kB), pp. 6–7.