4th Air Division (Germany)

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4. Flieger Division

Kommandeur einer Fliegerdivision.svg

Air Division commander's pennant
Country Nazi Germany
Branch Balkenkreuz.svg   Luftwaffe
Role Air Operations
Size Division

4. Flieger Division [1] (4th Air Division) was one of the primary divisions of the German Luftwaffe in World War II. It was formed on 1 August 1938 in Munich from the Höheren Fliegerkommandeur 5. The Division was redesignated 21. Flieger-Division on 1 November 1938 and relocated to Braunschweig and again renamed to 4. Flieger Division on 1 February 1939. The unit was relocated to Düsseldorf on 1 October 1939 and redesignated IV. Fliegerkorps on 11 October 1939 and reformed again in June 1943 in Smolensk.

<i>Luftwaffe</i> Aerial warfare branch of the German military forces during World War II

The Luftwaffe was the aerial warfare branch of the combined German Wehrmacht military forces during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the Luftstreitkräfte of the Army and the Marine-Fliegerabteilung of the Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 as a result of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles which stated that Germany was forbidden to have any air force.

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

Munich Place in Bavaria, Germany

Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, the second most populous German federal state. With a population of around 1.5 million, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, as well as the 12th-largest city in the European Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to 6 million people. Straddling the banks of the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps, it is the seat of the Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria, while being the most densely populated municipality in Germany. Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna.

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Commanders

Alfred Keller German general

Alfred Keller was a general in the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany during the Second World War who commanded the Luftflotte 1. His career in the Imperial German Armed Forces began in 1897; he became one of the most decorated generals of the former Luftwaffe.

Hermann Lukas Plocher was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany.

Franz Reuß was a general in the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in July 1944.

Notes

  1. For an explanation of the meaning of Luftwaffe unit designation see Luftwaffe Organisation

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