Air News Department
Luftnachrichtenabteilung (also written as Luftnachrichten -teilung ) was the name for a department of the Luftnachrichtentruppe before and during the Second World War , that is, the intelligence unit of the German Air Force . Common abbreviations were Ln.Abt. or OKL / Ln dept . The air news departments included between battalion - and regimental strength and consisted of several different specialized companies .
Insinuation
Like all units of the Luftwaffe of the Wehrmacht , the air intelligence departments were subordinate to the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL) or its Commander in Chief (ObdL). Reported directly to him was General Wolfgang Martini (1891–1963). He had already established the Air Intelligence Service (LNVW) and the Air Intelligence Force before the war, and in 1938 he was appointed Major General and Head of Intelligence in the Air Force. On September 20, 1941 he was promoted to General of the Air Intelligence Force and remained in this position until the end of the war , after he had been appointed General Intelligence Officer of the Air Force (GenNafü) in 1944 .
tasks
The tasks of an air intelligence department included the establishment and operation of communications links via radio or field telephone between the units of the air force and to army and naval units. Also the airspace surveillance by means of radio measurement methods ( English radar ), and consequently the flight reporting and fighter control service against enemy aircraft, as well as air traffic control and radio navigation for own aircraft. Other tasks included radio detection using radio eavesdropping stations and the subsequent radio reconnaissance , i.e. cryptanalysis and, if possible, deciphering the mostly encrypted hostile radio traffic and finally radio defense and the resulting radio interference and deception measures.
Examples
At the beginning of the war, there were around 70,000 soldiers in the entire air intelligence force. This number increased to 243,000 by 1941 and to 500,000 by 1944. There were about a hundred air communications departments, such as Ln.Abt. 4, Ln.Abt. 6 and so on up to Ln.Abt. 359. In addition, others, such as the "Air News Department Africa " or the "Air News Department of the KG100" ( Kampfgeschwader 100 ). Of central importance was the "Luftnachrichtenabteilung Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe" (Ln RLM / ObdL) in Potsdam-Eiche on the site of what was then General Wever barracks , named after Walther Wever (1887-1936), the former head of office who died in a plane crash in the Reich Ministry of Aviation (RLM).
literature
- Karl Otto Hoffmann: Ln. - The story of the Air Intelligence Force. (Volume 1: The beginnings of 1935–1939, Volume 2.1: The flight reporting and Jägerleitdienst 1939–1945, Volume 2.2: Wire communication, radio link 1939–1945); Wuppertal 1965, 1968, 1973.
Web links
- Air News Departments
- ASA : European Axis Signal Intelligence in World War II. Volume 5 - The German Air Force Signal Intelligence Service. 1946, www.nsa.gov (PDF; 56 MB, English)
- Luftnachrichten-Regiment ObdL www.gyges.dk (PDF; 280 kB), p. 32
Individual evidence
- ↑ Air News Departments , accessed June 17, 2019.
- ^ The "Luftnachrichtenabteilung Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe" , accessed on June 17, 2019.