Luftwaffe Generals:
Generaloberst der Luftwaffe Kommandeur Luftflotten 5, Alfred Keller:
Generaloberst was the highest ordinary military rank awarded outside of war. Generaloberst commanded large military organizations such as shown by the following three examples. Alfred Keller was one of the most decorated General officers in the Luftwaffe, recipient of both the Pour le Merite in WWI, the Knights Cross, and the Combined Pilots-Observation badge in Gold with Diamonds. Keller served as both observer and pilot during the length of WWI and was with the unit that became the first German flyer to initiate night bombing. Keller’s WWII service included commanding a Fliegerkorps during the opening invasion of Poland, Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, and as air force commander of a Luftflotte during the Balkans Campaign and the invasion of Russia. Retired in 1943 he went on to command the NSFK as a Korpsführer.
Ernst Udet was a World War I flying ace and Luftwaffe director of research and development, Generaloberst Ernst Udet, 1940. The highest-scoring German fighter pilot to survive that war, and the second-highest scoring after Manfred von Richthofen, his commander in the Flying Circus, Udet rose to become a squadron commander under Richthofen, and later under Hermann Göring. Udet spent the 1920s and early 1930s as a stunt pilot, international barnstormer, light aircraft manufacturer, and playboy. Kurt Arthur Benno Student was an early pioneer of airborne forces, Student was in overall command of developing a paratrooper force to be known as the Fallschirmjäger, and as the most senior member of the Fallschirmjäger, commanded it throughout the war.
With its unique extended eagle wing collar insignia, this is a unique example of the Generaloberst uniform and cap. The individual’s combat awards show leadership and combat action in both the 1914- 18, Spanish Civil War, as well as the 1939-45 conflict. On Alfred Keller’s Ribbons Bar he carries the EKII with 1939 Spange (w/o if Spange worn on buttonhole ribbon), Hausorden von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern am Kriegsband, Bavaria - Militär-Verdienstorden 4. Klasse mit der Krone, Hessen-Darmstadt Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen für Tapferkeit, Ehrenkreuz des Weltkrieges für Frontkämpfer (1934), Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht (18 Jahre - Luftwaffe), Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht (4 Jahre - Luftwaffe).
The Erkennnungsmarken with the uniform links to the overall command of the Luftwaffe forces in Norway, Luftflotten 5.
Field Marshall Luftwaffe Kommando III. West:
By 1944 the Luftwaffe flight operations on the Western Front have become mostly defensive in nature with the command in Munich overseeing the Reich's Air Defense. Only limited offensive operations are conducted with the last large scale taking place during the Ardennes Offensive. A combat pilot in the 1914-18 war, the field marshal has been awarded a number of decorations including the Pour Ie Merit. Service between the wars in the Reichswehr served to obtain the Army Long Service ribbon prior to getting back into the pilot's seat as the Luftwaffe formed. Service in Spain proved the new air arms ability and equipment and as a senior officer, this man was there. Prior to moving to the command of the Western Front, he served during the war in the west and in what became known as the Battle of Britain, then to the Afrika Campaign. Along the way winning not only the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves but the Luftwaffe Honor Roll Clasp as well. In keeping with a combat appearance, the Field Marshal's uniform is made from field grade cloth with which he wears a general grade Schirmmutz and belt. The Pour Ie Merit and Knight's Cross are worn at the throat of a light blue shirt.
Generalmajor Eugen Meindl:
Eugen Meindl was a highly decorated German Fallschirmjager and general during WWII. He was also a recipient of the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, with Oak Leaves and Swords. The Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, and its higher grade, Oak Leaves, and then Swords, was awarded to recognize the extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.
Eugen Meindl was born in Donaueschingen. He served with the artillery from July 27, 1912. Old enough to serve, in WWI he commanded a platoon and later and later a battery and subsequently served as adjutant with the 67th Artillery Regiment and with the Artillery Commander, 52nd Corps.
Meindl served with various artillery in the Reichswehr. Promoted to Hauptmann on August 1, 1924, he was assigned to the Reichwehr Ministry on September 14, 1926, he then spent the next ten years at the same rank, before being promoted to Major.
On the outbreak of the war, Meindl saw action during the Polish Campaign. In April 1940, General Major Dietl, commander of 3. Gebirgs Division, took Gebirgsjager Regiment 139 by sea to seize the Norwegian Port of Narvik. Meindl’s artillery regiment did not take part in this operation; but later, when things began to look desperate for Dietl’s force, surrounded outside Narvik, Meindl immediately offered to jump by parachute with a relief force-despite having no jump training. After Dietl retook Narvik on 8 June, Meindl was decorated with the 1939 bar to the 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class and the Narvik campaign shield.
On the successful conclusion of the Norwegian campaign, he was placed on reserve, allocated to Wehrkreis XVIII, in Salzburg, Austria. However, after a detachment to the Air Force to complete regulation parachute training, in November 1940 he formally transferred from the ‘Heer’ (Army) to the Luftwaffe (Air Force), and then, he was promoted to Generalmajor on 1 January 1942.
At the head of the Luftlande Sturmregiment (Air-Landing Assault Regiment), GenMaj. Meindl took part in the Airborne Invasion of Crete in May 1941; landing near the contested Maleme airfield, he was soon wounded and had to pass control of the regiment to Oberst Ramcke. In recognition of the regiments, success on Crete, Meindl was awarded the Knights Cross.
On recovering from his wounds, in January 1942 Meindl was sent to Russia to command scratch round units formed from disparate Luftwaffe personnel to try to stem the Soviet Winter Counter-Offensive.
At the Beleaguered town and airfield of Yukhonov the so-called Luftwaffe Kampfverband (mot) Meindl - later retitled it Division Meindl-at first comprised the HQ company from his old air-landing assault regiment led by Major Walter Koch, a veteran of Eben Emael and Crete, with various other just arrived paratroopers from 7. Flieger Division and a mostly group of Luftwaffe Field Units, including a Ski-Battalion; to these was added several struggling Army and Waffen-SS units.
Meindl ‘breathed’ new spirit into their defense and launched attacks to clear the airfield, from which his chief medical officer, the remarkable Dr. Heinrich Neumann (who had won the Knights Cross in Crete) organized the evacuation of many neglected wounded soldiers.
In March a Soviet breakthrough saw Meindl’s men fighting north of Yukhonov; thereafter-though suffering from typhoid fever-he moved his men to Staraya-Russia to take control of the newly arrived Luftwaffe Field Regiments, transported piecemeal from East Prussia to serve under Heersgruppe Nord. Some of their fights were to brake-up encirclements of German Forces at Demjansk and Kholm.
By June 1942, Division Meindl - with four Luftwaffe field regiments, and virtually no artillery - was holding 60 miles of the front line between Demjansk and Kholm, in close contact with Soviet forces and harassed by strong partisan bands in almost impassable swamps. In October 1942, Meindl’s division (later redesignated 21. Luftwaffe Feld Division) and the III-SS ‘Totenkopf Division’ carried out a successful attack towards the Lovat River.
General Meindl wears a mix of Luftwaffe and Heer uniform items such as Heer Bergmutz with Luftwaffe insignia, Luftwaffe tropical jacket devoid of all but his rank insigna, LW wollen trousers with Heer mountain boots. with a double claw officer belt. He is armed with a MP-40, sub-machine gun. Already highly decorated at this point of the war, Meindl only wears his Knights Cross.
Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke:
Ramcke was born on 24 January 1889, and he joined the German Imperial Navy in 1905 and 9 years later served in the First World War.
Following to end of the hostilities, Ramcke In 1919, fought with the Russian Army of the West, against the Bolshevik forces, serving in the Baltic region. Ramcke served with the Reichswhere when Germany was called the Weimer Republic. He then joined the Wehrmacht when Hitler took over all power in the country. By 1937 he was an Oberleutnant.
Soon Ramcke was assigned to the 7th Fligger Division, in July 1940. The Fallschirmjager was still a relatively new concept of Air-Envelopment. The division was under the command of General Kurt Student, and he promoted Ramcke to Oberst., and at the age of 51, Ramcke successfully completed the parachute qualification course!
As of May 1941, he was working with the division Stab (Staff) he helped in the planning of and execution of Operation Merker, that was the “Airborne” invasion of Crete. His group captured an airfield, which would pay off greatly, in that now they could bring in reinforcements. But it was a costly victory for the Germans in Crete, the survivors of the Luftwaffe Fallschirmjager gathered together and formed an “ad hoc” Brigade, and commanded by Ramcke.
by 1942, they were referred to as Ramcke's Parachute Brigade, and they were sent to North Africa to operate with the “Deutsches Afrikakorps”, that was commanded by Erwin Rommel. His orders were to push on to the Suez Canal and take control of the shipping lanes. But that was a bit of a reach, and soon the offensive bogged down, eventually, they joined their comrades on the line, at El Alamain. The fighting had been bitter, and the Afrikakorps began to collapse, the Brigade had gotten surrounded, and high command figured they had been decimated as they had no real transport to escape. But they did not surrender, Ramcke and his small group were able to break out, and on foot, headed west, losing some 450 men in the process.
They got lucky again when they captured a British supply column, with all its luxuries of food and whatnot, and transported them back to their own-so called lines. About 600 of the Fallschirmjager later rejoined the Afrikakorps in late November 1942 to continue the struggle. But Ramcke was summoned back to Germany, to be awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross personally by Der Fuhrer.
In 1943 Ramcke, had been promoted again, to Generalleutnant and he took command of the 2nf Parachute Division, and he went to Italy. But then Italy signed an armistice with the Allies on 8 September 1943. So the division was ordered to take over the country in Operation Achse. Ramcke fought the turn-coat Italian Army units near Rome and captured the city. But he was sevearly injured when an Italian aircraft attacked his vehicle, running it off the road, so he was then medically evacuated to Germany.
Ramcke re-entered the fight in 1944. The 2nd Parachute Division had been deployed to the Eastern Front, and at this point in full retreat. Ramcke became sick and made to return to Germany on 17 March. Later he would rejoin the unit near Colone, in early May. Then came the “Invasion of France” by the Allies. And the 2nd Parachute Division was moved over to the Brittney region of France, taking up positions at Breast. Then the Americans and British famously broke out of the hedgerows of Normandy and moved inland, and his men were attacked by the U.S. VIII Corps moving into the Brittany region. The German fell back to Brest, with Ramcke taking command of “Festung Breast”. he was in charge of 30,000 various troops, and the battle turned vicious, Ramcke had been ordered by Hitler to fight to the last man and he was determined to carry out the order. He was a fanatic and completely agreed with the order. Prior to the Battle, Ramcke had evacuated many French civilians from Brest. Ramcke’s Fallschirmjager were to shore-up positions held but the 343rd Infantry Division, these troops were not of the caliber of the Fallschirnjager, they had been quickly trained and poorly equipped. He then ordered the destruction of Brest, to keep it out of Allied control, and the beginning of his war crimes. The Battle began on 21 August. There was bitter fighting for the city but eventually, the US Army overwhelmed the German defence's and on 13 September General Middleton sent Ramcke a proposal, that he surrender the garrison "with honor", but of course he rejected it. And the fight continued, a US Army Commander called the fighting "fanatical" by the Germans.
The Germans started to surrender on the 18th of September, and Ramcke tried to escape from the city. Ramckes “diehards" were forced to surrender on 19 September. On that same day, Ramcke was awarded the Swords (99th Recipient) with Diamonds (20th recipient) to the Knight's Cross. Ramcke'had served in all three branches of the German armed forces, only 27 people in the military so decorated.
He was captured by American forces at the conclusion of the Battle for Brest, in September 1944. Like many, he did not serve that much time though unfortunately, as he was a committed “Nazi” and he had committed War Crimes., he went on after he was let out of prison to cause trouble, and he was dedicated to the Nationalist, and Right Wing groups in the country tell his death, 4 July 1968 (aged 79)
