Nickname: No information
Date of Birth: 09.06.1914 - Gera-Reuß, Thuringia (German Empire)
Date of Death: 10.08.2001 - Munich (Germany)
Battles and Operations: Polish Campaign, Battle of France, Battle of Britain, Operation Barbarossa, Arctic convoys, Mediterranean operations (Torch), Operation Steinbock (Baby Blitz against England), Defense of the Reich, Operation Bodenplatte planning
NSDAP-Number: No information
Religion: No information
Parents: factory director (name unknown)
Siblings: No information
Spouse: unknown (brother-in-law of Ritterkreuzträger Hans-Karl Stepp)
Children: No information
Promotions:
04.04.1934 Fahnenjunker-Gefreiter
01.12.1934 Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier
01.06.1935 Fähnrich
01.10.1935 Oberfähnrich
01.04.1936 Leutnant
01.03.1939 Oberleutnant
01.03.1941 Hauptmann
18.07.1942 Major
01.12.1942 Oberstleutnant
17.03.1943 Oberst im Generalstab (RDA 01.09.1943)
01.05.1944 Generalmajor (RDA 01.11.1943; youngest general in the Wehrmacht)
Career:
04.04.1934-31.05.1935 Offiziers-Anwärter, 1. Kompanie, Kraftfahr-Abteilung 5, Stuttgart-Cannstatt
01.06.1935 Kriegsschule des Heeres, Munich
01.10.1935-31.03.1936 Flugzeugführerausbildung, Fliegerschule Salzwedel
20.04.1936 Staffeloffizier and later Gruppen-Adjutant, Jagdgeschwader "Immelmann" (later StG 162/StG 168/StG 76), Lübeck-Blankensee/Graz
1937 blind-flying school Wesendorf-Neuburg an der Donau
01.05.1939-07.1940 Staffelkapitän 1. Staffel, I. Gruppe, Sturzkampfgeschwader 76 (later StG 3)
08.1940-11.1940 Geschwaderstab, Kampfgeschwader 77, Laon (Channel Front)
02.11.1940-12.03.1941 Staffelkapitän, Kampfgeschwader 77
13.03.1941-29.09.1941 Kommandeur II. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 77 (East Prussia, Operation Barbarossa)
01.10.1941-07.07.1942 Lehrgangsleiter Sturzlehrgänge, Verbandsführerschule für Kampfflieger, Foggia (Italy)
08.07.1942-31.07.1942 Offizier zur besonderen Verwendung, Reichsluftfahrtministerium
01.08.1942 Gruppenkommandeur I. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 60 (precision-guided munitions development)
01.01.1943 Inspekteur der Kampf- und Sturzkampfflieger, Oberkommando der Luftwaffe
24.03.1943 Angriffsführer England
04.09.1943-14.10.1944 mit der Führung beauftragt, IX. Fliegerkorps (later commanding general)
15.10.1944-26.01.1945 Kommandierender General, II. Jagdkorps
26.01.1945-08.05.1945 Kommandierender General, IX. Fliegerkorps (or I. Fliegerkorps in final weeks)
05.1945-? prisoner of war or immediate release (post-war civilian career)
Awards and Decorations:
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse (15.09.1939)
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse (22.05.1940)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes #142 (14.10.1940) as Oberleutnant and Stabsoffizier Kampfgeschwader 77. The award citation highlighted his completion of roughly 130 frontline sorties up to that point. These included 45 missions over Poland in September 1939, where he repeatedly attacked railway junctions, traffic centres and bridges in support of the rapid German advance, as well as the bombing of Wieluń on the first day of the campaign. During the Battle of France in May and June 1940 he flew a further 57 sorties with his Ju 87 Staffel, striking railway lines, bridges and troop concentrations; one particularly noted success was the sinking of a British transport ship off the coast of Dunkirk during the evacuation. After converting to the Junkers Ju 88 he flew another 70 missions, both day and night, in the Battle of Britain, often conducting solo precision attacks on specific targets such as airfields, ports and infrastructure. These operations demonstrated exceptional accuracy and determination under heavy anti-aircraft fire and fighter opposition
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #46 (31.12.1941) as Hauptmann and Kommandeur II. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 77. By this date he had accumulated approximately 250 combat sorties. The citation emphasised his outstanding successes against railway infrastructure in the northern sector during Operation Barbarossa. Operating from East Prussia and later forward bases, Peltz's Gruppe conducted repeated low-level and medium-altitude attacks on train stations, marshalling yards, railway lines, canals and lock gates supporting the Soviet defence of Leningrad and the Moscow approaches. He personally developed and refined new bombing techniques that allowed smaller formations to achieve precision results previously requiring far larger bomber streams. On 12 July 1941 he flew his 200th mission. These methods greatly increased the effectiveness of the German bomber arm in disrupting Soviet supply lines and troop movements at a critical stage of the campaign. The award was presented at the Wolf's Lair in January 1942 alongside other recipients.
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #31 (23.07.1943) as Oberst im Generalstab and Angriffsführer England. The citation noted that he had by then flown over 300 frontline sorties and recognised both his continued personal bravery as a pilot and his exceptional leadership in rebuilding and directing the German bomber offensive against Britain. Prior to this higher command role, as Gruppenkommandeur of I. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 60 in 1942, he had achieved significant successes against Allied maritime targets using early precision-guided munitions. His Gruppe operated first against the Murmansk convoys in Norway and then from Sardinia during Operation Torch, scoring hits on shipping in the Arctic and Mediterranean theatres. As Angriffsführer England from March 1943 he consolidated scattered bomber units under a single command and prepared the retaliatory night offensive known as Operation Steinbock (the Baby Blitz), which began in January 1944. The Schwerter were bestowed in recognition of his ability to maintain bomber effectiveness despite growing Allied air superiority and his personal example in sustaining high sortie rates.
Luftwaffe Ehrenpokal für besondere Leistungen im Luftkrieg
Gemeinsames Flugzeugführer- und Beobachterabzeichen mit Brillanten
Frontflugspange für Kampfflieger in Gold mit Anhänger und Einsatzzahl "300"
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht 4. Klasse
Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht (26.06.1944)
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Dietrich Peltz (9 June 1914 – 10 August 2001) was a German World War II Luftwaffe bomber pilot and youngest general of the Wehrmacht. As a pilot he flew approximately 320 combat missions, including roughly 130 as a bomber pilot on the Eastern Front, 90 as a bomber pilot on the Western Front, and 102 as a dive bomber pilot during the invasion of Poland and Battle of France.
Born in Gera, Peltz joined the Reichswehr, later renamed the Wehrmacht, of Nazi Germany in 1934. Initially serving in the Heer (Army), he transferred to the Luftwaffe (Air Force) in 1935. He flew combat missions over Poland and France as a dive bomber pilot. He then converted to the Junkers Ju 88 bomber and was assigned to Kampfgeschwader 77 (KG 77). With this unit he flew further combat missions in the Battle of Britain. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 14 October 1940. During Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Peltz was instrumental in developing bombing techniques which allowed precision bombing attacks. This achievement earned him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves on 31 December 1941. He was then posted to a bomber unit leaders school before he was tasked to form a unit, I. Gruppe of Kampfgeschwader 60, specialized in the use of precision-guided munitions against Allied shipping.
In early 1943, Peltz was appointed Inspector of Combat Flight, a role in which he oversaw the strategic development of the German bomber arm. As of August 1943, he was appointed commanding general of the IX. Fliegerkorps (9th Air Corps) and was tasked with reviving the German bomber offensive as Angriffsführer England (attack leader England) against Britain and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords on 23 July 1943 for his leadership. This initiative led to a night-time strategic bombing campaign against southern England code-named Operation Steinbock, which ended in heavy losses for German bombers in early 1944. Although a bomber expert, he was appointed commanding general of the II. Jagdkorps (2nd Fighter Corps) and was responsible for the planning of the unsuccessful Operation Bodenplatte, the attack of German fighters on Allied air bases in Belgium and the Netherlands. He was tasked with the entire aerial Defense of the Reich in March 1945 and advocated the idea of ramming to halt the air campaign against Germany even at the risk of sustaining high losses. His last service position was commanding general of I. Fliegerkorps (1st Air Corps). After the war he worked for Krupp and Telefunken and died on 10 August 2001 in Munich.
Peltz was born on 9 June 1914 in Gera-Reuß, in Thuringia, at the time a Principality of Reuss-Gera. He was the son of a factory director. Aged 18 he had received a pilot's license and graduated in 1933 with his Abitur (diploma) from the Hermann Lietz country boarding school in Spiekeroog.
After his graduation, Peltz did an internship at Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim in the years 1933–34. He joined the military service of the Reichsheer as an officer candidate with the 1st company of the Kraftfahr-Abteilung 5 (5th Motor Vehicle Department) in Stuttgart-Cannstatt on 4 April 1934. Here he served as a Kradschütze (motorcycle infantry) and was promoted to Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier (cadet-corporal) on 1 December 1934.
While attending the Kriegsschule (war school) of the Heer (Army) in Munich, he was promoted to Fähnrich (ensign) on 1 June 1935. He was promoted to Oberfähnrich (senior ensign) on 1 October 1935 and transferred to the Air War School Klotzsche in Dresden. He then received further training at the flight school in Salzwedel which he completed on 31 March 1936. One day later, on 1 April, he was promoted to Leutnant (second lieutenant) and on 20 April was officially transferred to Jagdgeschwader Immelmann, named after the World War I fighter pilot Max Immelmann, at Lübeck-Blankensee. During this assignment, he was posted to the blind-flying school at Wesendorf-Neuburg an der Donau.
Jagdgeschwader Immelmann was renamed to Sturzkampfgeschwader 162 (StG 162) and equipped with the early Junkers Ju 87A dive bomber. In 1937, Peltz was appointed adjutant of the I. Gruppe (group) which was renamed to I. Gruppe of Sturzkampfgeschwader 168 (StG 168) on 1 April 1938. Following the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, just as the Junkers Ju 87B came into service, this unit was moved to Graz and was referred to as II. Gruppe of Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 (StG 2). On 1 March 1939, Peltz was promoted to Oberleutnant (first lieutenant). Two months later, on 1 May 1939, the Gruppe was again renamed and was known as I. Gruppe of Sturzkampfgeschwader 76 (StG 76), sometimes referred to as Grazer Gruppe. On this day, Peltz was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of the 1. Staffel (1st squadron).
Peltz led 1. Staffel in the Ju 87 dive bombing demonstration at Neuhammer, present-day Świętoszów, Poland, on 15 August 1939. Observing the demonstration were the senior Luftwaffe commanders, including Generals Hugo Sperrle, Bruno Loerzer, and Wolfram von Richthofen. The lower cloud layer, which was believed to be at 900 meters (3,000 feet), was only 100 m (330 ft). During the demonstration, 13 Ju 87 crews crashed to their deaths as they misjudged the cloud layer and failed to pull up in time. The event became known as the Neuhammer Stuka Disaster.
World War II in Europe began on Friday 1 September 1939 when German forces invaded Poland. Peltz flew 45 combat missions with his Staffel against Poland, attacking railway lines, traffic junctions and bridges as well as the Bombing of Wieluń. For his services in Poland he received the Iron Cross 2nd Class on 15 September 1939. During the Battle of France, beginning on 10 May 1940, he flew with the same Staffel which was renamed to 1. Staffel of Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 (StG 3) on 5 July 1940. Again he targeted railway lines, traffic junctions and bridges. In addition he attacked shipping at Calais and during the Battle of Dunkirk sank a transport vessel. In total he flew eight missions against Dunkirk and was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class on 22 May 1940. He flew an additional 57 missions before the campaign in France came to an end on 25 June 1940. In total, Peltz flew 102 combat missions over Poland and France, leading his Staffel through these campaigns without loss.
Following the Battle of France, Peltz was sent to Greifswald for conversion training to the Junkers Ju 88. In August 1940 he was posted to the Geschwaderstab (headquarters unit) of Kampfgeschwader 77 (KG 77) based in Laon at the Channel Front. He flew 70 daytime and nocturnal missions in the Battle of Britain including special operations of him alone attacking specific targets. Following his 130th mission in total as a dive bomber pilot over Poland and France, as well as a bomber pilot over England, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 14 October 1940. The presentation was made by Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, he received the award together with Major Friedrich Kless, Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of the II./Kampfgeschwader 55.
Peltz was appointed Staffelkapitän in KG 77 in November 1940 and promoted to Hauptmann (captain) on 1 March 1941. Less than two weeks later, on 12 March, he was given command of the II. Gruppe of KG 77. With this unit he relocated to East Prussia in June 1941, in the prelude of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. He flew support missions for the Heer against targets in the Northern sector, including the Leningrad-Moscow railway line, railway stations, marshalling yards, canals and lock gates. Here, Peltz was instrumental in developing accurate bombing techniques, allowing his group to achieve success against precision targets which previously could be achieved only with much larger bomber forces. He flew his 200th combat mission on 12 July 1941.
Peltz was ordered to surrender his command of II./KG 77 on 30 September 1941 to Hauptmann Heinrich Paepcke and was posted to the Luftwaffenstab (Air Force headquarters) at the Ministry of Aviation in Berlin. In numerous discussions within the Luftwaffe High Command he advocated the necessity of a bomber unit commander's school. He was put in charge of dive-bomber training at the unit leadership school for bomber pilots at Foggia in Italy. For his previous achievements as a pilot accumulated during roughly 250 combat missions, Peltz was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves on 31 December 1941. The 46th member of the Wehrmacht so honored. The presentation, together with Major Otto Weiß and Major Hubertus Hitschhold, was made at the Wolf's Lair, Hitler's headquarters in Rastenburg, present-day Kętrzyn in Poland, in January 1942.
In January 1942, Peltz was made Commanding Officer of the bomber unit commanders school at Foggia, where all operational bomber commanders were trained in the latest operational techniques. In the timeframe of 8–31 July 1942 he served as an officer for special assignments of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium and Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe. In this period fell his promotion to Major on 18 July 1942. The bomber unit commanders school relocated from Foggia to Tours in France in mid-1942. Here the I. Gruppe of Kampfgeschwader 60 (KG 60) was raised from the bomber unit commander's school and Peltz was appointed its Gruppenkommandeur on 1 August 1942. The Gruppe, equipped with the Ju 88 A-4, was tasked with developing on the use of precision guided munitions then under development in Germany, such as the Fritz X and Henschel Hs 293, against Allied shipping. Operational by October 1942, this unit was sent to Norway against the Allied Murmansk convoys, but only three weeks later was switched to bases in Sardinia to counter the Allied Torch invasion, the British-American invasion of French North Africa.
Peltz was promoted to Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) on 1 December 1942. A month later, on 1 January 1943, Peltz replaced the World War I veteran Generalleutnant Johannes Fink as the Inspector of Combat Flight with the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe. In this role he was questioned by Reichsmarschall Göring on the use of the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet aircraft as bomber. Peltz pointed out to Göring that it would be very difficult to aim a bomb, let alone hit a target with the Me 262. He went on and explained that the Me 262 was unsuitable for dive bombing, and in level flight, hitting a target of the size of one square kilometer depended largely on luck. Göring, under pressure to present Hitler with a fast bomber capable of avoiding the Allied fighters, was infuriated by his assessment. Peltz went on to explain that the problem of staying in formation during bad weather would further negate the bombing effect as attacks would have to be made by single aircraft. Peltz then went on and argued that the Me 262 would be better utilized as an interceptor aircraft.
Peltz was promoted to Oberst im Generalstab (colonel in the General Staff) on 17 March 1943 with a Rangdienstalter (rank seniority) of 1 September 1943. In addition to his other obligations, he was appointed Angriffsführer England on 24 March 1943. The idea was to revive the German bomber offensive against Britain by combining all the available bomber resources under one command. In this command position he became the 31st member of the Wehrmacht to receive the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords on 23 July 1943. As Angriffsführer England he controlled elements of Kampfgeschwader 2, Kampfgeschwader 6, Kampfgeschwader 30, Kampfgeschwader 51, Kampfgeschwader 54 and the I. Gruppen of Kampfgeschwader 66, Kampfgeschwader 76, Kampfgeschwader 100 and Schnellkampfgeschwader 10, as well as the 1. Staffel of Aufklärungsgruppe 123. These units were then consolidated under the command of IX. Fliegerkorps and Peltz was appointed its commander on 4 September 1943. He commanded this unit until 14 October 1944. In this command position, he was promoted to Generalmajor (major general) on 1 November 1943 with a RDA of 1 May 1944.
The Mistel project, a composite aircraft configuration, was advocated by Peltz at the time. The configuration was a fighter aircraft mounted on top of a pilot-less bomber aircraft with its crew compartment replaced with a high-explosive warhead. The plan was to use these weapon systems against hardened targets such as bridges and enemy shipping.
IX Fliegerkorps commanded the Luftwaffe bomber forces in Operation Steinbock (21 January – 29 May 1944), the retaliatory bombing of England, referred to as the Baby Blitz, which ended in heavy losses for German bombers. In December and early January, Peltz carefully husbanded together some 500 aircraft including Junkers Ju 88s, Ju 188s, Dornier Do 217s, Me 410s and the troublesome Heinkel He 177 A-series onto French airfields to form IX Fliegerkorps. The attacks, initially against London and the industrial areas and later against coastal targets, dwindled to a halt in late May after heavy losses to the Germans, with little to show for the effort.
Following the Allied Invasion of Normandy the already largely depleted bomber forces had to fly support missions of the Heer on the Invasion Front. On 10 October 1944, the bomber crews of IX Fliegerkorps were remustered as infantry or as fighter pilots. On 11 November, Göring, in his role as commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, organized a meeting of high-ranking Luftwaffe officers, chaired by Peltz. The meeting, also referred to as the Areopag was held at the Luftkriegsakademie at Berlin-Gatow. This Luftwaffe version of the Greek Areopagus — a court of justice — aimed at finding solutions to the deteriorating air war situation over Germany.
Peltz, who by training and experience was a bomber expert but admired by Hitler for efficiency in carrying out orders, became the commander of the II. Jagdkorps (2nd Fighter Corps) which saw action during the Ardennes offensive, in particular the Operation Bodenplatte, the attempt to gain air superiority during the stagnant stage of the Battle of the Bulge so that the German Army and Waffen-SS forces could resume their advance. The operation achieved some surprise and tactical success, but was ultimately a failure. A great many Allied aircraft were destroyed on the ground but replaced within a week. Allied aircrew casualties were quite small, since the majority of Allied losses were empty planes sitting on the ground. The Germans, however, lost many of their fighter pilots that they could not readily replace.
To counter the overwhelming Allied bomber offensive against Germany, Peltz, together with Oberst Hajo Herrmann, advocated the idea of ramming the American four-engined bombers. The concept called for having young and regime-loyal, but relatively poorly trained, fighter pilots volunteer for these suicide missions.
In mid-January 1945, Peltz visited the Luftkriegsschule 2 in Berlin-Gatow to recruit volunteers for ramming missions against the Allied bomber force. The Luftwaffe command was expecting an attrition rate of 90 percent, nevertheless all 80 student pilots volunteered. The pilots were trained for the ramming attack at Stendal near Magdeburg under the cover name Schulungslehrgang Elbe (Training Course Elbe). The original idea was centered on a mass attack of 1,500 aircraft. This could not be realized and on 7 April 1945, 183 fighters attacked the Eighth Air Force. The attack resulted in the destruction of 23, potentially more, four-engined bombers at the cost of 133 German aircraft lost.
In March, Peltz, the youngest general in the Wehrmacht, had been tasked with the obligation to coordinate the entire aerial Defense of the Reich. At the end of World War II in Europe he was commanding general of the I. Fliegerkorps (1st Air Corps).
During the final days of World War II in Europe, Generalleutnant Adolf Galland attempted to surrender Jagdverband 44 (JV 44), an elite Me 262 jet fighter unit, to American forces. At the same time General der Flieger Karl Koller had ordered JV 44 to relocate to Prague and continue fighting. Oberstleutnant Heinrich Bär, who was substituting for the injured Galland as commander of JV 44, attempted to ignore the order. Bär was further pressured to relocate JV 44 by Peltz, as commander of the IX. Fliegerkorps, and Oberst Herrmann, commander of 9. Flieger-Division (J), who unexpectedly emerged at the control room in Maxglan on 2 May 1945. A heated and violent dispute erupted between Bär, Peltz and Herrmann, witnessed by Walter Krupinski. He later recalled that Bär responded with We are under the command of Generalleutnant Galland, and I will only follow orders of Generalleutnant Galland! — an act of disobedience that Krupinski believed could have led to Bär being shot for insubordination.
After Peltz was released as a prisoner of war, he found work in private industry. Initially he worked for Krupp in Essen and Rheinhausen. In 1963 he found employment with Telefunken where he stayed until his retirement. His last position was chief representative of Telefunken and head of the factory in Konstanz. Peltz, who was the brother-in-law of Hans-Karl Stepp, died on 10 August 2001 in Munich.
Peltz flew approximately 320 combat missions, 130 of which as a bomber pilot on the Eastern Front and 90 on the Western Front, and 102 missions over Poland and Western Front as a ground-attack pilot (Stuka).
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Peltz
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/34535/Peltz-Dietrich.htm
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/
https://rk.balsi.de/
https://www.unithistories.com/units_index/index.php?file=/officers/personsx.html
https://forum.axishistory.com/
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/
https://www.geni.com/
https://aircrewremembered.com/KrackerDatabase/?q=units
https://www.ww2.dk/lwoffz.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20091027052912fw_/http://geocities.com/orion47.geo/index2.html
Stockert, Franz. Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht, Band 1-2 (various editions consulted via references)
Various volumes on Luftwaffe Ritterkreuzträger and KG 77 history (Google Books excerpts)
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