|
ADMINISTRATIVE
The basis of the Administration and Supply organisation of the Luftwaffe
was the Luftgau, which was a territorial area command within Germany,
and later occupied areas, responsible for training, administration,
maintenance, supply and field defence.
OPERATIONAL
The Luftflottenkommando or Luftflotte
(Air Fleet Command) were established on a territorial basis. The
commander of the Luftflotte, normally a Generaloberst or higher, was
responsible for the field formations under him regardless of their
operational role. The subsidiary formations under the Luftflotte,
normally a limited number, were the Fliegerkorps,
the Fliegerdivision, the Jagdkorps,
the Jagddivision, and the Jagdfliegerführer,
in addition, there were localised commands known as Fliegerführer
(Air Commander) e.g., Fliegerführer Atlantik, Fliegerführer Afrika,
etc. Thus, a fighter unit would be controlled possibly by a Jagdfliegerführer
or Jafü (Fighter Commander) for its tactical employment, who was in
turn subordinated to a Fliegerkorps or Fliegerdivision under the final
control of the Luftflotte.
TACTICAL
The highest tactical command was the Geschwader
(Air Wing). The Geschwader bore the prefix that indicated its role in
warfare, i.e., Kampfdgeschwader (Bomber
Wing). The Geschwaderkommodore or Kommodore
was usaully a Major or above in rank and flew operations with his Geschwaderstab.
His Stab (Staff) consisted of an
Adjutant, a IIa Officer (Adj.'s assistant: commissioned rank), a
IIb Officer (Adj.'s assistant: non-commissioned rank), a Staff Major, a
Ia Operations Officer, a Ic Intelligence Officer, a Nachrichten Offizier
(Intelligence/Signals Officer), a TO (Technical Officer), a Kfz-Offizier
(Armaments Officer) and a IVa (Administrative Officer). The control of
the entire Geschwader was normally exercised from the Gefechtsstand
(Battle HQ) situated on the Geschwaderstab's airfield, but this was not
always the case, and its was common for the Geschwader to have its
Gruppen scattered over a wide area, even possibly in different theatres
of war. The Geschwader normally consisted of 3 Gruppen
(Groups), the IV. Gruppe was normally the operational training unit (Ergänzungsgruppe)
for the Geschwader, but it could be used for operations if needed, and
in 1941, some Kampfgeschwaders were already using the IV. Gruppe as a
fully fledged combat formation.
The
Gruppe (Group) was led by a Gruppenkommandeur
or Kommandeur, an executive post held by an aircrew member whose rank
could vary considerably - normally it was a Major in the case of bomber
units and a Hauptmann in fighter units. He had his own operational and
administrative Gruppenstab (Staff), and
flew combat operations with his Stabsschwarm
(Staff Flight) usually of 3 to 4 aircraft. Under his command there were
three, or sometimes four, Staffeln
(Squadrons) led by a Staffelkapitän,
an executive post that could be held by any aircrew officer from
Leutnant to Hauptmann. In the temporary absence of the Staffelkapitän,
the unit was led by a Staffelführer.
For tactical operations, the Staffel was split into Schwarm
(Section of four aircraft) or Rotte
(pair of aircraft) in the case of fighters, fighter-bombers or close
-support aircraft, or Kette (Flight of
three aircraft) in the case of bombers and dive-bombers. The Staffel
normally comprised between 12 and 16 aircraft, with the number of
aircrew varying according to the strength; normally there were 20-25
pilots and 150 ground crew in the case of single-engined fighter units
and 80 groundcrew in the case of twin-engined fighter units. Thus, a
Gruppe consisted of 40-50 aircraft on establishment with around 500
ground personnel.
The
Kampfgeschwader had about 80-90
aircraft on strength.
The
Gruppen number was indicated by the Roman figure, whilst that of the
Staffel was the Arabic figure: thus II./KG200 was the second Gruppe, and
2./KG200 was the second Staffel of KG200. The complete organisation of
KG200 in early 1945 was:
Stab/KG200
I./KG200 (Gruppenstab, 1. - 3. staffeln)
II./KG200 (Gruppenstab, 4. - 6. staffeln)
III./KG200 (Gruppenstab, 7. - 9. staffeln)
The High Command of the Luftwaffe was called the Oberkommando
der Luftwaffe, and it was divided into several numbered
Directorates (Abteilungen), including.:
1. Operations
2. Organisation
3. Training
4. Movements
5. Intelligence
6. Equipment
8. Historical
9. Personnel
In addition to the
Directorates there were sixteen Inspectorates, which came under the
Chief of the General Staff. These dealt with specific flying subjects
such as fighter, ground attack flight safety, etc.
The Reichsluftfahrtministerium
(Luftwaffe Air Ministry) was situated in Berlin and was headed by the
Air Minister. The Ministry included the 16 Inspectorates mentioned
above.
Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe (ObdL):
Chef der Generalstabes der Luftwaffe:
Chef
der Luftwaffenführungsstabes:
Reichsminister der Luftfahrt:
Der Staatssekretär der Luftfahrt (disbanded 6.44):
Der
Generalinspekteur der Luftwaffe (disbanded 1.45)*:
Der Generalluftzeugmeister (disbanded 6.44):
Der Chef der Luftwehr (in RLM):
|
