Wolfram von Richthofen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wolfram von Richthofen
10 October 1895 - 12 July 1945
Place of birth	Barzdorf, near Striegau
Place of death	Bad Ischl
Allegiance	Germany
Years of service	1913-1918, 1933-1944
Rank	Generalfeldmarschall
Unit	Jasta 11
Commands	Condor Legion, Fliegerkorps VIII, Luftflotte 2, Luftflotte 4
Battles/wars	Invasion of Poland, Battle of France, Battle of Britain, Battle of Greece, Battle of Crete, Operation Barbarossa, Battle of Stalingrad
Awards	Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub

Generalfeldmarschall Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen (10 October 1895 - 12 July 1945) was a German fighter ace during World War I and a general and field marshal of the Luftwaffe during World War II.

Von Richthofen was a distant cousin of the German World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, popularly known as the "Red Baron" (who had shot down 80 enemy aircraft before being killed in action in 1918), and the baron's younger brother Lothar von Richthofen, who himself shot down 40 enemy aircraft.

Contents 1 Early life and World War I 2 Condor Legion 3 World War II 4 Notes 5 References

[edit] Early life and World War I

He was born on the estate Barzdorf, near Striegau, Lower Silesia. During World War I he served in a German cavalry unit. In 1918 he learnt to fly fighter aircraft and was transferred to the air force. In March 1918 he was assigned to Jasta 11 fighter squadron, and by the end of the war he shot down eight aircraft, which gave him the title of flying ace. von Richthofen studied engineering from 1919 to 1922. On 18 September 1920, he married Jutta von Selchow (1896 - 1991) at Breslau (now the city of Wrocław in Poland). The couple had three children.

[edit] Condor Legion

In 1933 von Richthofen joined the Luftwaffe, becoming one of the commanding officers in the Condor Legion in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. He commanded the combat formations, and during his command in 1937 the Condor Legion bombed the Basque town of Guernica, with great loss of civilian life, an action that became a worldwide symbol of the horrors of aerial bombing. von Richthofen was appointed Chief of Staff to Hugo Sperrle, and was heavily involved in drawing lessons from the Civil War that would serve the Luftwaffe well in World War II. In September 1938 he was promoted to Generalmajor and served as an advisor to General Francisco Franco until he returned to Germany in May 1939 to assume command of the now returned Condor Legion.

[edit] World War II

At the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939 von Richthofen commanded Fliegerkorps VIII during the Invasion of Poland.^[1] He directed the attempt to destroy Warsaw from the air. During the Battle of France from 10 May 1940 the Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers of Fliegerkorps VIII supported Walther von Reichenau and his Sixth Army in Belgium and Paul von Kleist' Panzergruppe von Kleist in France. During the Battle of Britain von Richthofen's unit took part in the unsuccessful attempt to subdue the Royal Air Force.

In April Fliegerkorps VIII were tasked with supporting the Battle of Greece and the Battle of Crete. Following the successful conclusion of this campaign von Richthofen, now a General, became the 26th recipient of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves (Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub) on July 17, 1941. Following the Balkans campaign, von Richthofen were appointed commander of Luftflotte 2,^[1] based in Italy.

On 22 June 1941 Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. von Richthofen was appointed commander of Luftflotte 4, which supported Heeresgruppe Süd under Erich von Manstein in their advances towards the Stalingrad and Caucasus regions. In the winter of 1942 the Sixth Army under Friedrich Paulus were surrounded by a Russian counter-attack during the Battle of Stalingrad. Hitler was assured by Field Marshal Hermann Göring that the Luftwaffe could supply the Sixth Army by air, and as a result, Hitler denied the request of Paulus to retreat from the city. Wolfram von Richthofen tried in vain to overturn this decision to try to supply the entire German Sixth Army by air, without success. Although the air bridge did manage to deliver over 8,300 tons of supplies during a 72 day period, this was much too little for the besieged army. The operation also cost Luftflotte 4 nearly 500 aircraft and 1,000 crewmen.

After the failure of the air-bridge, and the failed Operation Wintergewitter to relieve the city, Hitler promoted Paulus to field marshal in his besieged Stalingrad headquarters in an effort to convince his commander to commit suicide rather than surrender. When Paulus surrendered anyway on 31 January 1943, Hitler declared, "That is the last field marshal I make in this war!"^{[citation needed]}

However on 16 February 1943, only two weeks later, Hitler promoted von Richtofen to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall, he became one of only six officers in the Luftwaffe in the history of the Third Reich to be promoted to this rank (The others were Hermann Göring, who had held the rank from 1938 until his promotion to Reichsmarschall in July 1940, Albert Kesselring, Erhard Milch, Hugo Sperrle, and when the Third Reich was within days of falling, Robert Ritter von Greim). 47 at the time, von Richthofen was the second youngest person promoted to rank of field marshal in Nazi Germany, after Hermann Göring (promoted when he was 45). Von Richthofen was retired on medical grounds in late 1944. He subsequently died of a brain tumor whilst being held in American captivity at Bad Ischl on July 12, 1945.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} For an explanation of the terms Fliegerkorps and Luftflotte see Luftwaffe Organization

[edit] References

• http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERrichthofen.htm
• http://www.richmond.edu/~wgreen/ECDrichthofen.html

German Field Marshals (Generalfeldmarschall) of World War II (in alphabetical order)
Werner von Blomberg | Fedor von Bock | Walther von Brauchitsch | Ernst Busch | Hermann Göring | Robert Ritter von Greim | Wilhelm Keitel | Albert Kesselring | Ewald von Kleist | Günther von Kluge | Georg von Küchler | Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb | Wilhelm List | Erich von Manstein |Erhard Milch | Walter Model | Friedrich Paulus | Walther von Reichenau | Wolfram von Richthofen | Erwin Rommel | Gerd von Rundstedt | Ferdinand Schörner | Hugo Sperrle | Maximilian von Weichs | Erwin von Witzleben
Honorary: Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli
German Grand Admirals (Großadmiral) of World War II
Erich Raeder | Karl Dönitz