The II. Flakkorps was established on October 3, 1939, in Frankfurt am Main from elements of the 6. Flieger-Division, operating as a major mobile anti-aircraft formation under the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany during World War II. Initially placed under the command of Generalmajor Otto Deßloch (later achieving higher rank), the corps headquarters relocated to Mönchengladbach to support Heeresgruppe B for the upcoming Western Campaign. During the invasion of France and the Low Countries in May 1940, the corps controlled units such as Flak-Regiment 103, Flak-Regiment 201, and Flak-Regiment 202, fulfilling a dual role of providing heavy anti-air defense against Allied aircraft while simultaneously deploying its powerful 8.8 cm guns in a direct-fire mode to smash enemy armor and fortifications. Following the fall of France, the corps was shifted to the English Channel coast in preparation for Operation Seelöwe, taking up positions around key French ports like Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk before transferring to Tours in December 1940 to safeguard the Atlantic coast naval bases of Saint-Nazaire and Nantes. In March 1941, the corps relocated to Grünau near Berlin ahead of Operation Barbarossa, subsequently entering the Soviet Union in June 1941 subordinate to Luftflotte 4 to support Panzergruppe 1 through major armored engagements including the battles of Dubno, Uman, and Kiev. By late September 1941, the unit was transferred to the central sector of the Eastern Front under Luftflotte 2, where it cooperated closely with Panzergruppe 4 during the grueling battles of Vyazma and Bryansk and the subsequent advance toward Moscow, with command posts established in Gshatsk and later Vyazma. On April 10, 1942, the initial incarnation of the corps was dissolved, with its staff being utilized to form the 18. Flakdivision. However, the unit was formally reformed on November 1, 1943, out of the staff of the III. Luftwaffenfeldkorps near Bobruisk, coming under the authority of Luftflotte 6 to oversee various motorized flak divisions—including the 12. Flak-Division, 18. Flak-Division, and 23. Flak-Division—alongside tactical brigades like the 10. Flak-Brigade. Following the massive Soviet summer offensive Operation Bagration in June 1944, the corps was forced into a wide-scale, hard-fought withdrawal westward across White Russia, participating in defensive actions around Vilna and Warsaw, and later operating across East Prussia. Under the final leadership of General der Flakartillerie Job Odebrecht, who commanded from November 1943 onward, the battered formations of the corps were pushed back toward the Oder River and Pomerania in early 1945, supporting the 3. Panzerarmee and 9. Armee and coordinating remnants during the final defense of Berlin before ultimate capitulation and capture in May 1945 near Heide in Schleswig-Holstein.
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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER
Generaloberst Otto Deßloch (1889-1977) was born on 11 June 1889 in Bamberg and died on 13 May 1977 in Munich after a long career that spanned both world wars and culminated in his rise to Generaloberst in the Luftwaffe. He entered the Bayerische Armee on 20 July 1910 as Fahnenjunker in the 5. Chevaulegers-Regiment „Erzherzog Friedrich von Österreich“, receiving promotion to Leutnant in October 1912; early in the First World War he was severely wounded on a reconnaissance ride, recovered, volunteered for the Fliegertruppe, trained first as an observer and then as a pilot, served with Feldfliegerabteilung 8 and Jagdstaffeln, commanded Jagdstaffel 17 as Staffelführer, and later directed the Fliegerschule in Gersthofen, earning the Eisernes Kreuz II. and I. Klasse, the Bayerischer Militärverdienstorden IV. Klasse mit Schwertern und Krone, the Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz, and the Ehrenbecher für den Sieger im Luftkampf. After the armistice he led the voluntary Fliegerstaffel „Deßloch“ with Freikorps Epp against the Bavarian Soviet Republic, transferred into the Reichswehr as Rittmeister and later Major in cavalry regiments while attending the secret Lipetsk fighter-pilot school in 1926–27, then joined the expanding Luftwaffe as commander of flight-training schools and successively as Kommodore of Kampfgeschwader 155 and Kampfgeschwader 55, reaching Generalmajor on 18 January 1939 and taking command of the 6. Flieger-Division. In the Second World War he became Kommandierender General of the II. Flak-Korps on 3 October 1939; during the 1940 Westfeldzug his Flak units, employed innovatively in the ground role against enemy armour while supporting Heeresgruppe B, destroyed some 200 tanks by mid-June, an achievement specially praised in an OKW after-action report that brought him the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 24 June 1940 as the 74th recipient while still Generalmajor and Kommandierender General of the II. Flak-Korps, followed by promotion to Generalleutnant on 19 July. Transferred to the Eastern Front, he commanded the I. Flak-Korps from May 1942 and simultaneously the Luftwaffenkommando Kaukasus through the winter of 1942–43; between 12 May 1942 and 7 March 1943 his Flak-Korps alone accounted for 842 enemy aircraft and 1 168 tanks, particularly distinguishing itself in the defensive battles around Zaporozhye–Ssinelnikow–Dnepropetrovsk, successes that earned him multiple mentions in the Wehrmachtbericht and paved the way for his appointment on 11 June 1943 as Oberbefehlshaber of Luftflotte 4 in succession to Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen. Promoted Generaloberst on 1 March 1944, he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (the 470th award) on 10 May 1944 precisely for these sustained leadership achievements on the southern Eastern Front as Oberbefehlshaber of Luftflotte 4 and earlier of the I. Flak-Korps. Briefly ordered west in August 1944 to take over Luftflotte 3 after the collapse of the front in France, he returned that September to Luftflotte 4 (later Luftwaffenkommando 4) and in the final days assumed command of Luftflotte 6; among his other decorations were the Spange to both classes of the Eisernes Kreuz, the Ostmedaille, the Combined Pilot-Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds, and Romanian awards. Interned until 1948, he thereafter devoted himself mainly to equestrian sport until his death at the age of eighty-seven.
Source :
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Flakkorps/Flakkorps2.htm
https://www.ww2.dk/ground/hq/iiflak.htm
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