Robert Ritter von Greim

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Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim
von Greim as Generalleutnant in 1940
Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe
In office 26 April 1945 – 8 May 1945
Preceded by	Hermann Göring
Succeeded by	Office abolished
1st Inspector of Fighters
In office 1 August 1935 – 20 April 1936
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Bruno Loerzer
Personal details
Born	Robert Greim (1892-06-22)22 June 1892 Bayreuth, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died	24 May 1945(1945-05-24) (aged 52) Salzburg, Allied-occupied Austria
Cause of death	Suicide
Military service
Allegiance	German Empire (1911–1918)  Nazi Germany (1934–1945)
Branch/service	Bavarian Army  Luftstreitkräfte  Luftwaffe
Years of service	1911–18 1934–45
Rank	Generalfeldmarschall
Battles/wars	World War I World War II: Battle of Britain Operation Barbarossa Case Blue Battle of Kursk Operation Citadel Operation Kutuzov Battle of Berlin
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords Pour le Mérite Military Order of Max Joseph

Robert Ritter von Greim (born Robert Greim; 22 June 1892 – 24 May 1945) was a German Field Marshal and First World War flying ace. In April 1945, in the last days of World War II, Adolf Hitler appointed Greim commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) after Hermann Göring had been dismissed for treason. He is the last person ever promoted to Field Marshal in the German armed forces. After the surrender of Nazi Germany in May 1945, Greim was captured by the Allies. He committed suicide in an American-controlled prison on 24 May 1945.

Early life[]

He was born as Robert Greim on 22 June 1892 in Bayreuth in the Kingdom of Bavaria, a state of the German Empire, the son of a police captain. Greim was an army cadet from 1906 to 1911. He joined the Bavarian Army on 14 July 1911. After completion of officer training, he was posted to Bavaria's 8th Field Artillery Regiment on 29 October 1912 and commissioned as a Lieutenant (Leutnant) a year later, on 25 October 1913.

First World War[]

When World War I started in August 1914, he commanded a battery in fighting at the Battle of Lorraine and around Nancy, Epinal, Saint-Mihiel, and in France. He became a battalion adjutant on 19 March 1915.

Flying ace[]

The remains of the first aircraft shot down by Greim 10 October 1915. The Pilot and observer of Escadrille MF 63 were killed.

On 10 August 1915, Greim transferred to the German Air Service (Fliegertruppe).^[1] On 10 October 1915, while flying two-seaters in FFA 3b as an artillery spotting observer, Greim claimed his first aerial victory: a Farman. He also served with FAA 204 over the Somme. After undergoing pilot training, Greim joined FA 46b on 22 February 1917.^[1] He transferred to Jagdstaffel 34 in April 1917. He scored a kill on 25 May 1917, and on the same day he received the Iron Cross First Class. On 19 June, he rose to command Jasta 34. Greim became an ace on 16 August 1917, when he shot down a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter. By 16 October, his victory tally totaled 7. There was a lull in his successes until February 1918. On the 11th, he had an unconfirmed victory and on the 18th he claimed aerial victory number 8.^[1]

On 21 March 1918, the day of his ninth credited victory, Greim became Commanding Officer of . He flew with them until at least 18 June, when he notched up his 15th success. On 27 June 1918, while Greim was engaging a Bristol Fighter, his aircraft lost its cowling. The departing cowling damaged his top wing, along with the lower left interplane strut, but Greim managed to land the machine successfully.^[1] By 7 August 1918 he was commanding , and scored his 16th victory. On 23 August, he cooperated with Vizefeldwebel Johan Putz in what was arguably the first successful assault by aircraft on armored tanks.^[2] On 27 September, he scored kill number 25 while flying with Jagdgruppe 9.^[1]

He returned to Jasta 34 in October 1918. The Jasta had been re-equipped with 'cast-offs' from Richthofen's Flying Circus, Jagdgeschwader 1. The new equipment was warmly welcomed as being superior to the older Albatros and Pfalz fighters that they had been previously equipped with. Greim's final three victories came during this time, while he was flying Albatros D.Vs, Fokker Triplanes, and Fokker D.VIIs.^[1] By the war's end he had scored 28 victories and had been awarded the Pour le Mérite on 8 October, as well as the Bavarian Military Order of Max Joseph (Militär-Max Joseph-Orden).^[1] This latter award made him a Knight (Ritter), and allowed him to add both this honorific title and the style 'von' to his name. Thus Robert Greim became Robert Ritter von Greim.^[3]

Interwar period[]

By 1919, Greim had returned to Bavaria and rejoined his regiment (8th Bavarian Artillery) and for 10 months ran the air postal station in Munich. This was the key turning point in his career, as in 1920 he flew the up-and-coming German army propaganda instructor Adolf Hitler to Berlin as an observer of the failed Kapp Putsch.^[4] Many other people from Hitler's years in Bavaria immediately after World War I also rose to prominence in the National Socialist era. Greim then focused on a new career in law and succeeded in passing Germany's rigorous law exams. However, Chiang Kai-shek's government offered him a job in Canton, to help to build a Chinese air force. Greim accepted the offer and took his family with him to China, where he founded a flying school and initiated measures for the development of an air force.^{[citation needed]}

Upon his return to Germany, Greim joined the Nazi Party and took part in the 1923 putsch; as a convinced Nazi he "remained utterly committed to Hitler to the very end of the war".^[5]

In 1933, Hermann Göring invited Greim to help him to rebuild the German Air Force, and in 1934 he was appointed to command the first fighter pilot school, following the closure of the secret flying school established near the city of Lipetsk in the Soviet Union during the closing days of the Weimar Republic. (Germany had been forbidden to have an air force under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, so it had to train its pilots in secret.)^{[citation needed]} In 1938, Greim assumed command of the Luftwaffe research department. Later, he was given command of Jagdgeschwader 132 (later JG 2), based in Döberitz, a fighter group named after Manfred von Richthofen.^{[citation needed]}

Second World War[]

Von Greim second on the left behind Hitler, 1945

After the end of the Polish Campaign, von Greim became commander of the 5th Fliegerkorps which participated in the Battle of Britain. In the early stages of this battle, von Greim was promoted to General der Flieger. In 1941, on the Eastern Front, his korps split up and renamed Sonderstab Krim. In April 1942 he became commander of Luftwaffenkommando Ost in Smolensk, as his korps replaced the 8th Fliegerkorps in the front area there. In February 1943, von Greim was given command of Luftflotte 6, which continued to support Army Group Centre in its operations. As part of Operation Citadel, von Greims Luftflotte provided 730 aircraft in July 1943. Due to high losses, by June 1944 only around 50 aircraft were operational.

In late 1942, his only son, Hubert Greim, a fighter pilot with 11./JG 2 was listed as missing in Tunisia. He was shot down, but bailed out and spent the remainder of the war in a prison camp in the United States.

Berlin, April 1945[]

As late as January 1945, von Greim made a commitment to Hitler: "I who believed in the Führer - and damn it, still believe in him. I can not become a traitor. Not me!"

On 26 April 1945, with Berlin encircled by Soviet forces during the Battle of Berlin, von Greim flew into Berlin from Rechlin with pilot Hanna Reitsch, in response to an order from Hitler. Initially they flew from the central Luftwaffe test facility airfield, the Erprobungsstelle Rechlin to Gatow (a district of south-western Berlin) in a Focke Wulf 190. As the cockpit had room for only the pilot, Reitsch flew in the tail of the plane, getting into it by climbing through a small emergency opening.^[6] Having landed in Gatow, they changed planes to fly to the Chancellery; however, their Fieseler Storch was hit by anti-aircraft fire over the Grunewald. Greim was incapacitated by a bullet in the right foot, but Reitsch was able to reach the throttle and joystick to land on an improvised air strip in the Tiergarten, near the Brandenburg Gate.^[7]

They drove directly to the Führerbunker where Greim's wound was dressed. Then Hitler promoted Greim from Generaloberst to Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal), making him the last German officer ever to achieve that rank and appointed him as commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, to replace Hermann Göring, whom he had recently dismissed in absentia for treason.^[8] Greim thus became the second man to command the German Air Force during the Third Reich. However, with the end of the war in Europe fast approaching, his tenure as Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe lasted only a few days.

On 28 April, Hitler ordered Ritter von Greim to leave Berlin and had Reitsch fly him to Plön, so that he could arrest Heinrich Himmler on the charge of treason. That night, the two left Berlin, taking off from the Tiergarten air strip in a small Arado Ar 96 aircraft. Soldiers of the Soviet 3rd Shock Army feared they had just seen Hitler escape. In a post-war interview, Reitsch said, "It was the blackest day when we could not die at our Führer's side."^[9]

Death[]

Grave of Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim in Salzburger Kommunalfriedhof

On 8 May, the same day as the surrender of Germany, Greim was captured by American troops in Austria. His initial statement to his captors was reportedly "I am the head of the Luftwaffe, but I have no Luftwaffe".^[10] Greim committed suicide in prison in Salzburg on 24 May.^[11]

Awards[]

• Iron Cross of 1914 2nd Class (26 November 1914) & 1st Class (10 October 1915)^[12]
• Military Merit Cross (Bavaria)
• The Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
• Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph (23 October 1918)^[12]
• Pour le Mérite (14 October 1918)^[12]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
  • Knight's Cross on 24 June 1940 as Generalleutnant and commander of V. Flieger-Korps^[13]
  • Oak Leaves on 2 April 1943 as Generaloberst and commander of Luftflottenkommando Ost (Luftflotte 6)^[13]
  • Swords on 27 August 1944 as Generaloberst and commander of Luftflotte 6^[13]

References[]

Notes

Bibliography

• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
• Thomas, Franz (1997). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 1: A–K [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 1: A–K] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2299-6.