World War II German Air Force: Poor Leadership, Bad Logistics, and a Tragic Branch

Lieutenant General Adolf Galland of the WWII German Luftwaffe was not just a senior commander; he was also an ace pilot with a record of shooting down 104 enemy aircraft.

This former director of the German Luftwaffe’s fighter force stated in an interview with Code One magazine in the 1980s:

“From the start of the war, I knew defeat was inevitable!”

At the age of 72, Adolf Galland spoke candidly to the Code One magazine reporter:

As early as 1942, before the “Barbarossa Plan,” I openly discussed this with the Luftwaffe Chief of Staff, General Jeschonnek. From the beginning of the war, Germany had already lost.”

On May 24, 1940, when the German armored forces, which were advancing rapidly, suddenly received an inexplicable order from the Supreme Command to “stop pursuing,” the more than 300,000 English and French Allied forces trapped in Dunkirk, who had already abandoned their heavy equipment, got a glimmer of hope.

In the subsequent sea evacuation during “Operation Dynamo,” the British used all means available, including fishing boats, and almost everything that could float, to finally bring 336,000 English and French Allied troops back to the mainland.

At this time, all Western European countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, and Norway, had already been defeated and surrendered, leaving only…