5.+Luftwaffe

Written by Chris DiPietro My name is Hanz, and I am just a recruit hoping to join our glorius army's new air force the Luftwaffe, I wanted to have some kind of role in the military just like my father who fought in World War I. After our Defeat of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles destroyed all units of our Military Aviation. Germany was determined to rebuild our air force, and found ways to work around the treaty, and eventually we violated the terms, but it was to finally pick our country off its back. We were not allowed to produce military aircraft in our own country, so we used factories scattered through out Europe. We did still produce civilian aircraft, but they would be able to be converted into war planes in the time of need. Our Country encourages the use of flying clubs that give flying and gliding training to thousands of members. Militarization of Germany soon lead to the formation of Luftwaffe, and gave our country its back bone for air superiority in Europe. In March of 1935 I first heard about the formation of the Luftwaffe. The new German Air Force would first be composed of one thousand aircraft, and a total of 20,000 officers and men. In February of 1938, four air fleets were made to balance out fighter, bomber, and recon planes (“The” 1). Our only rival that we would have to worry about is the British Royal Air Force (RAF) during what I hear would be Battle of Britain(Danzer 540). I hear stories of the Luftwaffe crippling the red Army in June 22, 1941. The combined assets of four Luftwaffe air fleets struck a criticle blow to the Russians. During the beginning of the operation the Luftwaffe targeted airfields, rail roads, rail road stations, and naval areas in Sevastopol (“The” 3). The Luftwaffe totaled 222 confirmed kills in the air, and a total of 890 on the ground. While German losses were just 18 aircraft. The Luftwaffe was made of fighter planes to attack air targets, bombers for ground targets and close air support, and recon which gave vital intelligence to the German Army and made a total of 25% of the air force. Im hearing reports of peaple becoming aces, people who reached a total or exceeded a total of five confirmed kills. The most notorious ace that Ive heard reached the highest kill record, Major Erich Hartmann. Major Hartmann reached an incredible total 352 kills and a total of 800 missions (“Major” 1). I heard that Hartmann would take his enemies by surprise and fire at close range. He would sometimes fire so close that he would have to avoid colliding with pieces from his adversary’s plane. He was actually severely damaged and was forced down eight times from the flying debris. My friend told me he had a black tulip painted on the nose of his BF.109 E, and was easily recognized by his Russian enemies,who soon avoided him. It wasn’t until he painted over it again he started to down more aircraft. Hrtmann I think would either die one of Germany's greatest fighter pilots because he is an artist when it comes to dog fights, or would survive the war and teach eager pilots like me how to fly. In the summer of 1940 the I hear the two biggest air powers in Europe would fight for air superiority in Britain. The British and the Luftwatte will face off for months in dog fights and bombing runs. The goal of the Luftwaffe will be to first destroy the RAF while it was on the ground, but eventually start to attack cities to crush the moral of its citizens. I fear that we will lose this battle because of the new invention of radar that the Brits are putting in their aircraft. They'll know we're coming right befor we could see them. I hope we win this battle, it will be a hard one

To me Luftwaffe marked the beginning of Militarization in Germany, and aided in the Eastern front by attacking the Red Army’s supplies, and showed the world our top aces, and that we are a military power.

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Works Citied Danzer, Gerald, et. al. The Americans. Evanston: McDougal Littell, 2005. 540,541 Major Erich Hartmann. 10/20/08 . 1 The Luftwaffe. 10/20/08 <[|www.theasternfront.co.uk]>. 1,3