Robert of Greim

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Robert Ritter von Greim (1939)

Robert Greim , from 1918 Knight von Greim (born June 22, 1892 in Bayreuth ; † May 24, 1945 in Salzburg ), was a German Army and Air Force officer ( General Field Marshal from 1945 ) and the last Commander-in-Chief for a few weeks after Hermann Göring's replacement of the German Air Force in World War II .

Life

Empire and First World War

Robert Greim was born on June 22, 1892 in Bayreuth as the son of a royal Bavarian gendarmerie captain.

Greim joined the Bavarian Railway Battalion as an ensign in July 1911 and was transferred to the 8th Field Artillery Regiment in Nuremberg in November 1912 . After attending the military school in Munich , he was transferred back to his regiment and made a lieutenant . Greim was initially used as a battery officer in his regiment .

After the outbreak of the First World War , he was initially employed as an orderly officer and later as an adjutant in the I. Department. In 1915 he signed up for training as an aircraft observer , which he began in August 1915. After its completion, Greim was deployed as an observer in Field Aviation Department 3b. In 1916 Greim came to Schleißheim to train as a pilot and was promoted to lieutenant in January 1917 . After completing his pilot training, Greim returned to his department, which - as a result of restructuring - has now been designated as Fliegerabteilung 46 b. From April 1917 he was deployed in Jagdstaffel 34, where he became a squadron leader in the same year. During a mission on March 11, 1918, Greim was probably the first German fighter pilot to destroy a British tank from the air using machine gun fire. In the German spring offensive of 1918 , Greim commanded several squadrons. He had meanwhile won 28 aerial victories and had received several awards, including a. also with the order Pour le Mérite . On October 23, 1918, he was finally awarded the Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order , which earned him the elevation to the personal nobility with the title "Knight of".

Weimar Republic

As early as August 1919, Greim organized a show aerobatics together with Ernst Udet on Munich's Oberwiesenfeld , during which, among other things, they imitated aerial battles. With the proceeds they wanted to support returning prisoners of war and protect them from Bolshevism. During the Kapp Putsch in March 1920, Greim took over the flight services between Munich and Berlin. At his own request Greim 1920 retired from military service with the honorary rank of captain from what he was at the University of Munich , a law school began. After completing his studies, he became an employee of a bank in 1922. Since Greim continued to have a strong interest in aviation, he took part in the implementation of air sports events. In 1924 he went to China for three years , where he was busy building an air force for the Chinese national government.

When Greim returned to Germany in 1927, he became head of the civil aviation school in Würzburg . His students during this time included u. a. Elly Beinhorn .

time of the nationalsocialism

Pre-war period

On January 1, 1934, Greim joined the Reichswehr with the rank of major , where he was initially assigned to Artillery Regiment No. 7 . After a short time he was transferred to the newly founded Reich Aviation Ministry, where he was involved in the establishment of the new Döberitz Richthofen fighter squadron . This was later renamed Jagdgeschwader 132, then Jagdgeschwader 131, and finally merged with Jagdgeschwader 2.

On August 1, 1935, Greim was promoted to inspector of the fighter pilots and on September 1, 1935 to lieutenant colonel. On April 20, 1936, he was promoted to colonel with a simultaneous change to the position of inspector for air traffic control and equipment. From 1937 Greim was also entrusted with the management of the Air Force Personnel Office in the Reich Aviation Ministry , and in 1938 he was officially head of the office. On February 1, 1938, he was promoted to major general .

On March 31, 1939, Ludwig Wolff handed over command of the 5th Flieger Division to Greim.

Second World War

In October 1939, after the invasion of Poland , Greim became Lieutenant General, Commanding General of the V Fliegerkorps . After the end of the campaign in the West , he was promoted to General der Flieger on July 19, 1940 . Subsequently, the squadrons belonging to his corps were involved in the Battle of Britain .

In the winter of 1941/42 Greim led the “Crimean Special Staff” formed from parts of his corps in Mariupol . On April 1, 1942, he was given supreme command of the Air Force Command East based in Smolensk , when his corps replaced the 8th Air Corps in this front area. Promoted to Colonel General in February 1943 , he was appointed Commander in Chief of Air Fleet 6 formed from his command in May 1943 . This association was still responsible for the air force operations in support of Army Group Center . As part of the Citadel , the third and last German summer offensive in the Soviet Union, Greim's air fleet offered 730 aircraft in July 1943. Due to high losses and technical failures due to the inadequate supply of spare parts, at the beginning of the Soviet summer offensive in June 1944, only 50 machines were operational.

Greims grave in the department "War Graves Second World War" at the Salzburg municipal cemetery

In January 1945 Greim made a commitment to the “Führer”: “Who I believed in the Führer - and damn it, I still believe in him. I cannot turn a traitor. Not me! ”After Göring was removed from office by Hitler on April 23, 1945, Greim was flown by Hanna Reitsch on April 26, 1945 to Berlin, which was already enclosed. During the approach over the Berlin zoo, the plane came under flak fire and Greim suffered injuries to his foot. He was then personally appointed by Hitler as Goering's successor as Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force and at the same time promoted to Field Marshal General. Greim then assured me: "The togetherness with the Führer and his strength strengthened me enormously." On April 29, 1945 Reitsch and Greim used the Charlottenburger Chaussee as a runway to fly on to Plön with the last plane, a small Arado , where at that time Hitler's successor Karl Dönitz was staying. Afterwards Reitsch and Greim flew on to Kitzbühel in Tyrol . There Greim became a US prisoner of war .

Greim surrendered to the Americans with the words “I am the head of the German Air Force, but I have no Air Force.” Originally, he was supposed to take part in the surrender negotiations in Berlin-Karlshorst on May 8th - but because of his foot injury he was taken by Colonel General of the Air Force and Commander of the Air Fleet 5 Hans-Jürgen Stumpff represented. He was taken to a hospital in Salzburg , where he learned that the Americans wanted to transfer him to Soviet captivity. On May 24, 1945 Ritter von Greim committed suicide in Salzburg suicide . He took the poison capsule that Adolf Hitler had given him in the Führerbunker at the end of April 1945. Greim's grave is located in the Salzburg municipal cemetery (section "War Graves Second World War"), not far from the resting place of Igo Etrich .

Awards

Representation in art

Robert Ritter von Greim has appeared in the following film and television productions:

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Robert Ritter von Greim  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Dollinger : Munich in the 20th century. A chronicle of the city from 1900 to 2000. Buchendorfer, Munich 2001, ISBN 978-3-934-03642-0 , p. 80.
  2. ↑ "The devil will take us all". In: Die Zeit No. 47/1990, November 16, 1990.
  3. ↑ Federal Archives: The traditional Wehrmacht squadrons. ( Memento of the original from January 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesarchiv.de
  4. ^ A b Robert Ritter von Greim - Officials of the National Socialist Reich Ministries . In: Officials of National Socialist Reich Ministries . March 15, 2018 ( ns-reichsministerien.de [accessed March 29, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Poor, poor Adolf: Treue - but not until death in Der Spiegel 16/1947, pp. 5–6, from April 19, 1947.
  6. ^ A b Traudl Junge, Melissa Müller: Until the last hour - Hitler's secretary tells her life , Munich 2002, p. 292, footnote 104.
  7. ↑ Guido Knopp : The last battle: Hitler's end. Section for: April 26, 1945.
  8. ↑ Poor, poor Adolf: Treue - but not until death in Der Spiegel 16/1947, pp. 5–6, from April 19, 1947.
  9. ↑ a b c Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 347.
  10. ↑ Klaus D. Patzwall : The golden party badge and its honorary awards 1934-1944, Studies of the History of Awards Volume 4 , Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2004, ISBN 3-931533-50-6 , p. 69.
  11. ↑ Last act, Der (1955) . IMDb.com. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
  12. ^ Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973) . IMDb.com. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
  13. ^ The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973) (TV) . IMDb.com. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
  14. ^ Downfall, Der (2004) . IMDb.com. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
personal data
SURNAME Greim, Robert von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Greim, Robert (maiden name); Greim, Robert Ritter von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Field Marshal General
DATE OF BIRTH June 22, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Bayreuth
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1945
Place of death Salzburg