Free Eagles of the Third Reich: Men of the Luftwaffe in WWII (Stackpole Military History Series) by Samuel W. Mitcham

on German troops. It had lost 2,093 airplanes (largely to bad landings; only 900 were lost in combat), including 758 bombers and 568 fighters, with another 1,361 airplanes damaged. Replacements were not slow in coming, however, so the overall strength of the eastern front air fleets never fell below 1,700 aircraft. 71 On the other hand, the Luftwaffe had served almost exclusively as an appendage of the army. It had dealt effectively with the Soviet air and ground forces at and near the front, true enough, but it had never attempted to bomb the Soviet industrial complexes—and would never do so. The Luftwaffe must therefore be rated a strategic failure. By the end of 1941, 80 percent of the Soviet war industry was in the East. Russian tanks, guns, and airplanes would continue to be destroyed en masse at the front, but the undisturbed factories continued to grind them out until the Wehrmacht—and Nazi Germany—was destroyed. From July to December alone Russian factories had turned out 5,173 of the new Soviet fighters. In the same period, Great Britain manufactured 4,408 fighters, but German factories only produced 1,619 fighters for the Luftwaffe. 72
    The Russian campaign of 1941 ended the predominantly tactical phase of the air war. From this point on, the Luftwaffe would be engaged in a conflict that was more and more strategic in character, a type of war that the German Air Force proved singularly unable to fight or adapt to. The question must now be asked: Why was the Luftwaffe such a mammoth strategic failure? Part of the responsibility, of course, can laid at the door of Adolf Hitler, who pursued a multifront war, but most of the blame lies with the Luftwaffe itself, and especially with two men—Hermann Goering and Ernst Udet.

APPENDIX 1

    Table of Equivalent Ranks
     
     
     
     
Luftwaffe
United States Army Air Corps
Reichsmarschall (Goering)
None
Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall)
General of the Army
Colonel General (Generaloberst)
General
General (General der Fliegers, etc. )
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General (Generalleutnant)
Major General
Major General (Generalmajor)
Brigadier General
Colonel (Oberst)
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel (Oberstleutnant)
Lieutenant Colonel
Major (Major)
Major
Captain (Hauptmann)
Captain
First Lieutenant (Oberleutnant)
First Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant (Leutnant)
Second Lieutenant
Fahnenjunker/Fahnrich
None 1
     
Luftwaffe
Royal Air Force 2
Reichsmarschall (Goering)
Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall)
Air Chief Marshal
Colonel General (Generaloberst)
Air Chief Marshal
General (General der Fliegers, etc. )
Air Marshal
Lieutenant General (Generalleutnant)
Air Vice Marshal
Major General (Generalmajor)
Air Commodore
Colonel (Oberst)
Group Captain
Lieutenant Colonel (Oberstleutnant)
Wing Commander
Luftwaffe
Royal Air Force 2
Major (Major)
Squadron Leader
Captain (Hauptmann)
Flight Lieutenant
First Lieutenant (Oberleutnant)
Flying Officer
Second Lieutenant (Leutnant)
Pilot Officer
    Footnotes
    1 . Roughly equivalent to Officer-Cadet or officer candidate.
    2 . Source of R.A.F. Equivalent Ranks: Hanfried Schliephake, The Birth of the Luftwaffe (Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1971), p. 80.

APPENDIX 2

    Chain of Command of
Luftwaffe Aviation Units
    Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL) (High Command of the Luftwaffe)
    Chef des Generalstabes der Luftwaffe (Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force)
    Luftflotte (Air Fleet)
    Fliegerkorps (Air Corps)
    Fliegerdivision (Air Division)
    Geschwader (Wing) (R.A.F. Group)
    Gruppe (Group) (R.A.F. Wing)
    Staffel (Squadron)
    Kettle (Section) (called “Schwarm” in fighter units)

APPENDIX 3

    Strengths of Luftwaffe Units
     
     
     
     
Unit
Composition
Rank of Commander
OKL
All Luftwaffe Units
Reichsmarschall
Air Fleet
Air Corps and Air and Flak Divisions
General to Field Marshal
Air Corps
Air and Flak Divisions plus various misc. units
Major General to General
Air Division
2 or more wings
Colonel to Major General
Wing
2 or more