Luftwaffe General Officer List

[askropp]

[Updated on 14.08.2021]

Okay, let's try to build a Rangliste of the Luftwaffe generals 1935-1945. This will be difficult for the two lower grades (GM & GL), but maybe we can add some new pieces to the puzzle.

For a start, I will list the higher grades because they are well documented (Absolon's Rangliste, Biblio's Generale der Luftwaffe etc. etc.) The dates are the RDA, differing dates of issue are noted if known.

Reichsmarschall
19.07.1940 Hermann Göring

Generalfeldmarschälle
04.02.1938 Hermann Göring
19.07.1940 [1] Erhard Milch
19.07.1940 [2] Hugo Sperrle
19.07.1940 [3] Albert Kesselring
16.02.1943 Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen
25.04.1945 Robert Ritter von Greim

There are no Ordnungsnummern in the 1944 DAL, but Sperrle is listed above Kesselring (who should have been senior).

Generalobersten
20.04.1936 Hermann Göring
01.11.1938 Erhard Milch
19.07.1940 (1) Hans-Jürgen Stumpff
19.07.1940 (2) Alfred Keller
19.07.1940 (3) Hubert Weise
19.07.1940 (4) Ulrich Grauert
19.07.1940 (5) Ernst Udet
03.05.1941 Alexander Löhr
01.02.1942 Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen
01.03.1942 Hans Jeschonnek
01.11.1942 Günther Rüdel
16.02.1943 (1) Robert Ritter von Greim
16.02.1943 (2) Bruno Loerzer
01.03.1944 Otto Deßloch
13.07.1944 Kurt Student
22.07.1944 Günther Korten (nachträglich)

The list of the Generale (three star) is to follow soon.

[askropp]

[Updated on 22.02.2022]

All officers are Generale der Flieger unless otherwise indicated.

Generale
01.03.1935 Hermann Göring
01.09.1935 Erhard Milch (issued on 20.04.1936)
01.10.1935 (1) Edmund Wachenfeld
01.10.1935 (2) Hans Halm
01.12.1935 Leonhard Kaupisch
01.10.1936 (1) Otto von Stülpnagel
01.10.1936 (2) Konrad Zander
01.06.1937 Albert Kesselring
01.10.1937 Günther Rüdel (Flakartillerie)
01.11.1937 Hugo Sperrle
01.02.1938 Hellmuth Felmy (issued on 04.02.1938)
01.06.1938 Karl Friedrich Schweickhard
01.11.1938 Hans-Jürgen Stumpff
01.01.1939 (1) Hellmuth Volkmann
01.01.1939 (2) Waldemar Klepke
01.01.1939 (3) Friedrich Christiansen
01.02.1939 Bodo von Witzendorff
01.03.1939 Alexander Löhr
01.04.1939 (1) Ludwig von Schröder (Flakartillerie)
01.04.1939 (2) Alfred Keller
01.04.1939 (3) Bernhard Kühl
01.08.1939 (1) Friedrich Hirschauer (Flakartillerie)
01.08.1939 (2) Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen
01.10.1939 (1) Karl Kitzinger
01.10.1939 (2) Hubert Weise (Flakartillerie, issued on 25.10.1939)
01.10.1939 (3) Ulrich Grauert
01.10.1939 (4) Wilhelm Wimmer
01.04.1940 Ernst Udet
19.07.1940 (1) Hans Geisler
19.07.1940 (2) Robert Ritter von Greim
19.07.1940 (3) Bruno Loerzer
19.07.1940 (4) Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen
19.07.1940 (5) Hans Jeschonnek
01.08.1940 Kurt Student (Fallschirmtruppe, issued on 22.05.1940)
01.10.1940 Eduard Dransfeld
01.11.1940 Rudolf Wenninger
01.12.1940 Camillo Ruggera (Flakartillerie)
01.02.1941 (1) Wilhelm Mayer
01.02.1941 (2) Ludwig Wolff
01.02.1941 (3) Emil Zenetti (Flakartillerie)
01.04.1941 (1) Max Mohr
01.04.1941 (2) Heinrich Danckelmann
01.04.1941 (3) Hugo Schmidt
01.07.1941 (1) August Schmidt (Flakartillerie)
01.07.1941 (2) Rudolf Bogatsch
01.07.1941 (3) Hellmuth Bieneck
01.07.1941 (4) Alexander Andrae
01.07.1941 (5) Helmuth Förster (issued on 18.04.1941)
01.07.1941 (6) Karl Bodenschatz
01.07.1941 (7) Gustav Kastner-Kirdorf
01.09.1941 Karl-Siegfried Goßrau
20.09.1941 Wolfgang Martini (Luftnachrichtentruppe)
01.10.1941 Alfred Haubold (Flakartillerie)
01.01.1942 (1) Joachim Coeler
01.01.1942 (2) Otto Deßloch
01.01.1942 (3) Wilhelm Speidel
01.01.1942 (4) Hans-Georg von Seidel
01.02.1942 (1) Maximilian Ritter von Pohl
01.02.1942 (2) Curt Pflugbeil
01.03.1942 (1) Bernhard Waber
01.03.1942 (2) Wilhelm Haehnelt
01.04.1942 (1) Hans Ritter
01.04.1942 (2) Hans Siburg
01.06.1942 (1) Albert Vierling
01.06.1942 (2) Egon Doerstling
01.06.1942 (3) Walter Sommé
01.06.1942 (4) Veit Fischer
01.06.1942 (5) Eugen Weißmann (Flakartillerie)
01.07.1942 (1) Wilhelm Schubert (Luftwaffe)
01.07.1942 (2) Friedrich Heilingbrunner (Flakartillerie)
01.07.1942 (3) Richard Putzier
01.10.1942 Willi Harmjanz
01.11.1942 (1) Erich Petersen
01.11.1942 (2) Walter Mußhoff
01.12.1942 (1) Julius Schulz
01.12.1942 (2) Gerhard Hoffmann (Flakartillerie)
01.12.1942 (3) Job Odebrecht (Flakartillerie)
01.01.1943 (1) Josef Kammhuber
01.01.1943 (2) Günther Korten (issued on 30.01.1943)
01.01.1943 (3) Otto Hoffmann von Waldau
01.02.1943 Otto Wilhelm von Renz (Flakartillerie)
01.03.1943 (1) Martin Fiebig (issued on 30.01.1943)
01.03.1943 (2) Alfred Schlemm (Fallschirmtruppe, issued on 30.01.1943)
01.07.1943 Stefan Fröhlich
01.09.1943 Alfred Mahnke
01.01.1944 Friedrich-Carl Hanesse
01.02.1944 Helmuth Richter (Flakartillerie)
01.03.1944 Robert Knauss
01.04.1944 (1) Walther von Axthelm (Flakartillerie)
01.04.1944 (2) Johannes Fink
01.04.1944 (3) Eugen Meindl (Fallschirmtruppe)
01.04.1944 (4) Karl Barlen
01.05.1944 (1) Otto Langemeyer
01.05.1944 (2) Richard Reimann (Flakartillerie, issued on 01.10.1944)
01.06.1944 Bruno Bräuer (Fallschirmtruppe)
01.07.1944 (2) Karl Drum
01.08.1944 Karl Koller (issued on 01.11.1944)
01.09.1944 (1) Ulrich Keßler
01.09.1944 (2) Ernst Müller
01.09.1944 (3) Heinrich Burchard (Flakartillerie)
01.09.1944 (4) Rudolf Meister
01.09.1944 (5) Werner Kreipe
01.09.1944 (6) Bernhard Ramcke (Fallschirmtruppe, issued on 14.09.1944)
01.10.1944 Richard Heidrich (Fallschirmtruppe, issued on 31.10.1944)
01.12.1944 Alfred Bülowius
01.01.1945 Paul Conrath (Fallschirmtruppe)
30.01.1945 Walter Surén (Luftnachrichtentruppe)
01.03.1945 (1) Walter Boenicke
01.03.1945 (2) Georg Rieke
01.03.1945 (3) Wolfgang Pickert (Flakartillerie)
01.03.1945 (4) Paul Deichmann (issued on 20.04.1945)
01.03.1945 (5) Hans Seidemann (probably also issued on 20.04.1945)
01.04.1945 Friedrich Fahnert (Luftnachrichtentruppe)
20.04.1945 Kuno Heribert Fütterer

If Drum's Ordnungsnummer is no typo, the only logical explanation for the missing (1) would be that a GL was promoted to full general on 01.07.1944 and retired mit Wirkung vom 31.07.1944. But such a promotion is not listed anywhere. The Heer used empty first slots in 1944, but there is no other example of the Luftwaffe doing the same.

Generale z.V.
01.09.1940 (1) Helmuth Wilberg
01.09.1940 (2) Erich Quade
01.01.1941 Hugo Grimme (Flakartillerie)
01.12.1942 Walther Wecke (Luftwaffe)

Charakterisierte Generale
01.12.1932 Edmund Wachenfeld [issued on his retirement from the Heer]
01.09.1935 Karl Eberth (a.D.)
01.10.1935 Otto von Stülpnagel (E-Offizier)
01.10.1937 Bodo von Witzendorff
01.03.1938 Friedrich von Cochenhausen (a.D.)
01.04.1938 Helmuth Wilberg (a.D.)
01.04.1938 Erich Karlewski (a.D.)
01.04.1939 Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen
01.04.1939 Erich Quade (a.D.)
01.07.1939 Karl von Roques (a.D., Flakartillerie)
18.09.1939 Eduard Dransfeld

Generaloberstabsärzte
01.07.1941 Erich Hippke
01.01.1944 Oskar Schröder

Generaloberstabsintendant
01.07.1944 Richard Plagemann

Ministerialdirektor im Range eines Generals der Flieger
01.09.1941 Willy Fisch

Corrections and additions are always welcome.

[Schloss Adler]

Hello,

If you can get a hold of the book "The Luftwaffe 1935-1945: The Units and Commanders of the German Air Force" by Andris J. Kursietis, he basically has the entire seniority list by rank (Appendix B, pages 123-136)

I hope this helps,

Doug Batson

[Dieter Zinke]

I made some supplements and corrections [firstly for all "Generale der ... "] according
Rudolf Absolon: Rangliste der Generale der Deutschen Luftwaffe nach dem Stand vom 20. April 1945, Podzun-Pallas Verlag 1984.
You will find there much more Ranglisten (Sanitätsoffiziere, Intendanten, Richter etc.)

Dieter Z.

[askropp]

Dieter, I consulted Absolon, but I omitted the rank number (1) in the case of those officers who were the only person promoted on a given date because there is no doubt about their ranking.

On the question of the retired officers, Absolon lists all of them (incuding Eberth and Cochenhausen) with a rank date of their last service day (i.e. the last day of a month). As the official Heer Ranglisten list retired officers with a rank date of their first retirement day (i.e. the first day of a month), I chose to follow that pattern. In my opinion, this seems to be more logical because 1.) active officers were also usually promoted on the first day of a month, and 2.) the intention was to give those officers a righer rank AFTER their retirement, and on the last day of the month they were still on active service. In any case, to get an uniform appearance, we should use the same system (last or first day) for ALL retired officers.

So, should we add an (1) to all officers still without rank number, and should we change Eberth and Cochenhausen to the last day?
And were there any other errors you had to change?

[Dieter Zinke]

I have no reason to refuse the statement of Rudolf Absolon [former head of the Zentralnachweisstelle (central documentary service) of the Bundesarchiv in Kornelimünster near Aachen], who was a proven expert (also forensic expert) and author.
In the foreword of his book "Rangliste ... " he stated the situation of his considerations on the basis of the preserved documents, why we should reinterpret all this just down our alley ?

Where are the other experts ?

Dieter Z.

[askropp]

I know who Absolon was, and it was never my intention to challenge the information provided by him (although he was not undisputed, as the "Fähnrichs-Affäre" shows). And no author is infallible: two errors by Absolon in his "Rangliste" are that he failed to include Grimme's promotion to full General der Flakartillerie z.V. and that he gives Dransfeld as z.V. although he was an active General der Flieger for one year BEFORE he was placed zur Verfügung. Absolon gives rank numbers of (1) for officers promoted without peers because the original Luftwaffe documents give them. Why did they do that? Because there was the possibility of later additions by backdating ranks. Now that this possibility no longer exists, I thought it was unneccessary to add the numbers, because if only one runner took part in a race, there is no doubt about who finished first.

On the retirements, Keilig in his "Rangliste" shows that retired officers still kept on the list as "wearing the uniform" of certain units, who all were retired on the last of the month, had rank dates of the first day of the following month. Absolon shows rank dates of the last day. So, either Keilig or Absolon must be wrong. As Keilig's list, based on the 01.05.1944 Heer DAL, is near facsimile, we can assume his style is true Heer style. Absolon used the 01.08.1944 Luftwaffe DAL and added all higher officers (Generale der Waffengattung and higher) who were not anymore on that list. I don't know whether the five retired generals listed by Absolon were on the DAL, but I doubt it, so he MAY have erred.

Maybe the wording of the original retirement documents is ambiguous and allows both conclusions, last and first day? Maybe it was something like "Mit Ablauf des Monats x versetze ich den y unter Verleihung des Charakters als z in den Ruhestand" or so (forgive me my ignorance of bureaucratic phrases)?

[askropp]

@Doug (Schloss Adler), does the Kursietis book really list ALL generals (including those retired and the lower ranks of officers who rose above GM) with their rank numbers? For instance, does it tell which rank number say Wilhelm Süßmann had as a GM?

[askropp]

[This list is obsolete. See page 4 for the newest version.]

Okay, I will now begin with the Generalleutnante. There are many of them, so I will start with my try on a list of the pre-1940 GL (Truppenoffiziere only). I will use black letters for proven information and will color my own conjectures in red.

01.02.1931 (?) Hans Halm
I have no Luftwaffe RDA for him, so he may have retained his old Heer RDA when he joined the Luftwaffe in April 1934.
Of course he could alternatively have gotten a backdated Luftwaffe RDA like Grimme and Witzendorff did.
As Halm later was the third ranking General der Flieger after Göring and Wachenfeld (who both never held GL rank in the Luftwaffe),
he may well have been the ranking Luftwaffe GL. In any case, he must have ranked Kaupisch and Witzendorff who were his juniors
als Generale der Flieger. The only officer who possibly could have ranked him as GL would have been Grimme.

01.05.1931 Hugo Grimme (issued on 01.05.1935)

01.03.1932 (?) Leonhard Kaupisch
A similar case like Halm. He could also have retained his old Heer RDA.

01.12.1933 Bodo von Witzendorff (issued on 01.10.1935)

01.04.1935 (1) Karl Eberth
01.04.1935 (2) Konrad Zander
I have no rank numbers for them, but Eberth ranked Zander as GM and was already a Char. GL.

01.10.1935 (1) Friedrich von Cochenhausen
01.10.1935 (2) Erich Karlewski

01.04.1936 (1) Helmuth Wilberg
01.04.1936 (2) Albert Kesselring
01.04.1936 (3) Walther Wever
01.04.1936 (4) Günther Rüdel
Kesselring ranked Rüdel as GM, so it is highly probable this was also the case as GL.
Wilberg should have been the ranking GL of that date, because he ranked Kesselring as GM and was already a Char. GL.

01.10.1936 Karl Friedrich Schweickhard
01.01.1937 Ludwig von Schröder
01.04.1937 (1) Hugo Sperrle

01.04.1937 (2) Franz Müller
01.04.1937 (3) Hellmuth Felmy (issued on 20.04.1937)
01.04.1937 (4) Hellmuth Volkmann (if correct, probably also issued on 20.04.1937)
I have ranked those three officers after their GM ranking.

01.08.1937 (1) Hans-Jürgen Stumpff
01.08.1937 (2) Waldemar Klepke
Difficult. Stumpff had been the junior GM, but he would become the senior General der Flieger. He had already "overtaken"
Christiansen as GL, but had he "overtaken" Klepke? I bet on Stumpff, because he was the Generalstabschef at the time.

01.08.1937 (3) Friedrich Christiansen

01.01.1938 Heinrich Niehoff (issued on 30.01.1938)
30.01.1938 is given as RDA, but at the time, even "Nazi" promotions were dated on the first. He ranked Keller and Kühl
as GM, so January is the obvious guess.

01.02.1938 (1) Alfred Keller
01.02.1938 (2) Bernhard Kühl
01.02.1938 (3) Alexander Löhr (issued on 24.03.1938)

01.03.1938 (1) Rudolf Wenninger
01.03.1938 (2) Friedrich Hirschauer (issued on 15.03.1938)
01.03.1938 (3) Johannes Lentzsch
01.03.1938 (4) Erich Quade
Very tricky. Wenninger ranked the others as GM.
But who was ahead of Lentzsch? Lenztsch and Hirschauer had nearly similar careers, all their
Reichswehr promotions were on the same date. The only difference is that Hirschauer had been
a Char. GM and Lentzsch not, and Hirschauer (14) was way ahead of Lentzsch (23) as a Major.
Quade for his part had been retired in the meantime and returned as E-Offizier while the others
remained active all the time. He was retired again before the war. So my guess is Hirschauer
was senior to the other two, but I may be wrong.

01.04.1938 (1) Karl Kitzinger
01.04.1938 (2) Hubert Weise
01.04.1938 (3) Ulrich Grauert
01.04.1938 (4) Wilhelm Wimmer
Again, a tough nut. Kitzinger and Wimmer were both senior to Weise and Grauert as GM.
So, who "fell behind"? Luckily, all four were also promoted to full General together, with Kitzinger in front.
So it must have been that way as GL, too.

01.10.1938 (1) Karl von Roques
01.10.1938 (2) Eduard Dransfeld
Roques is my clear choice because he was already Char. GL and way ahead of Dransfeld as GM.

01.11.1938 Ernst Udet
01.03.1939 Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen
01.04.1939 Hans Geisler

01.08.1939 (1) Wilhelm Mayer
01.08.1939 (2) Ludwig Wolff
01.08.1939 (3) Emil Zenetti
Zenetti was the junior GM. Mayer ranked Wolff as General der Flieger.

01.10.1939 (1) Max Mohr
01.10.1939 (2) Heinrich Danckelmann
01.10.1939 (3) Hugo Schmidt
I ranked them after their General der Flieger ranking.

01.11.1939 Camillo Ruggera

[VtwinVince]

Max Kieffer, Generalleutnant am 1.6.42.

[askropp]

Please allow me some time to add the years from 1940 to 1945.

[askropp]

[This list is obsolete. See page 4 for the newest version.]

The year of 1940:

01.01.1940 (1) August Schmidt
01.01.1940 (2) Rudolf Bogatsch
01.01.1940 (3) Hellmuth Bieneck
01.01.1940 (4) Alexander Andrae
01.01.1940 (5) Ottfried Sattler
Bieneck is evident because he was stuck between Bogatsch and Andrae both as GM and General der Flieger.

01.01.1940 (6) Helmuth Förster
This seems logical after his GM and General der Flieger ranking. But after him, things become murky because of several "social climbers". What I know is:

01.01.1940 (8) Robert Ritter von Greim
Greim came up from behind, but Bodenschatz also overtook Kastner-Kirdorf as a General der Flieger. Student may be a possible (7) because "Die Ritterkreuzträger der Fallschirmtruppe" lists him as (1), which is wrong but could be a typo or misreading. Until I get further info, I can only say:

01.01.1940 (?) Kurt Student
01.01.1940 (?) Bruno Loerzer
01.01.1940 (?) Karl Bodenschatz
01.01.1940 (?) Gustav Kastner-Kirdorf

01.03.1940 (1) Karl-Siegfried Goßrau
01.03.1940 (2) Hans Sommer
Self-evident.

01.04.1940 (?) Friedrich Fahnert
01.04.1940 (?) Alfred Haubold
01.04.1940 (?) Wolfgang Martini
Again, nearly impossible at the time being. Martini came up from behind to "overtake" the others as full General.

19.07.1940 (1) Joachim Coeler
19.07.1940 (2) Otto Deßloch
19.07.1940 (3) Wilhelm Speidel
19.07.1940 (4) Hans-Georg von Seidel

01.08.1940 (?) Walther Wecke
01.08.1940 (?) Maximilian Ritter von Pohl
These two also changed places between GM and full General.

01.09.1940 (?) Bernhard Waber
01.09.1940 (?) Curt Pflugbeil
And again ... I would bet on Waber, though.

01.10.1940 (1) Albert Schwub
01.10.1940 (2) Gebhard von Kotze
01.10.1940 (3) Wilhelm Schubert
01.10.1940 (4) Robert Carlsen
Self-evident.

01.11.1940 (1) Wolfgang Weigand
01.11.1940 (2) Friedrich Cranz

01.11.1940 (3) Hans Ritter
01.11.1940 (4) Hans Siburg
01.11.1940 (5) Walter Musshoff
01.11.1940 (6) Alfred Mahnke
A speculative ranking after their General der Flieger ranking, but I could be wrong.
Knowing their GM ranking would help.

01.11.1940 (7) Hermann Ritter von Mann, Edler von Tiechler
01.11.1940 (8) Walther Lech
01.11.1940 (9) Hermann Bruch
01.11.1940 (10) Alexander Kolb
01.11.1940 Peter Hermann (z.V.)

01.12.1940 (1) Wilhelm Haehnelt
01.12.1940 (2) Albert Vierling
01.12.1940 (3) Egon Doerstling
01.12.1940 (4) Wilhelm Süßmann
01.12.1940 (5) Erich Koch
01.12.1940 (6) Walter Sommé
01.12.1940 (7) Veit Fischer
01.12.1940 (8) Eugen Weissmann
01.12.1940 (9) Julius Schulz
Another speculative ranking after their General der Flieger ranking, another time I could be wrong.

[Schloss Adler]

Hi, to answer your question...sorry no, the list from Kursietis does not, his list just contains the highest rank achieved for each individual and does not take into account the subsequent ranks below their final rank. So I guess his list is not as all-inclusive as I thought.

[askropp]

[This list is obsolete. See page 4 for the newest version.]

Now the year 1941:

01.01.1941 (1) Kurt Steudemann

01.01.1941 (?) Friedrich von Arnauld de la Perière
01.01.1941 (?) Friedrich Heilingbrunner
01.01.1941 (?) Richard Putzier
Heilingbrunner should have ranked Putzier, but I'm not sure about Arnauld.

01.02.1941 Walter Witting (z.V.)
01.04.1941 (1) Erwin von Römer
01.04.1941 (2) Franz Josef Walz
01.04.1941 (3) Hilmer Freiherr von Bülow
01.04.1941 (4) Walter Feyerabend

01.04.1941 (5) Willi Harmjanz
01.04.1941 (?) Erich Petersen (issued on 01.10.1941)
01.04.1941 (?) Karl Barlen
01.04.1941 (?) Ulrich Kessler
01.04.1941 (?) Walter Surén
Harmjanz seems to be a fair guess, but then? GM ranking gives no clue, full General rankings wide astray.
Petersen was only a Heer Oberst before and was promoted six months later, so maybe he should rank last.

01.04.1941 (8) Theophil Gautier
01.04.1941 (10) Georg Mackensen von Astfeld
01.04.1941 (11) Otto Mooyer

01.06.1941 (1) Gerhard Hoffmann
01.06.1941 (2) Oskar Bertram
01.06.1941 (3) Job Odebrecht
Ranked after their GM and full General rankings.

01.08.1941 (1) Theodor Spieß
01.08.1941 (2) Otto Wilhelm von Renz
01.08.1941 (3) Helmut Richter
01.08.1941 (4) Ingo Lindner
Ranked after their General der Flieger ranking.

01.10.1941 Josef Kammhuber
My sources show an (1) for him, but I don't know of another officer promoted on the same date.

01.11.1941 Kurt-Bertram von Döring
01.12.1941 (1) Victor Krocker
01.12.1941 (2) Walter Friedensburg

[histan]

Amongst my Heer promotions and appointments list, I have the occasional one for the Luftwaffe. From these, I can confirm:

01.08.1939 (1) Wilhelm Mayer
01.08.1939 (2) Ludwig Wolff
01.08.1939 (3) Emil Zenetti

01.01.1940 (1) August Schmidt
01.01.1940 (2) Rudolf Bogatsch
01.01.1940 (3) Hellmuth Bieneck
01.01.1940 (4) Alexander Andrae
01.01.1940 (5) Ottfried Sattler
01.01.1940 (6) Helmuth Förster
Then
01.01.1940 (7) Karl Bodenschatz
01.01.1940 (8) Robert Ritter von Greim
01.01.1940 (9) Bruno Loerzer

08.01.1940 Gustav Kastner-Kirdorf

Regards

John