who was adolf galland how did he become the youngest general
in world war ii and what made him stand out as a combat leader hello i'm colin heaton former
army and marine sniper and today we'll be covering the career and the life of general adolf galland
fighter tactician and leader on this episode of forgotten history
adolf galland was born on march 19 1912 the second of four brothers his father and mother
were apparently strict disciplinarians but he looked upon that as being a positive
thing when he decided in 1931 that he was going to join the new fledgling luftwaffe
which at that time was still illegal in germany
after his training advanced he had a crash as a student pilot and for the rest of his life
still had the residual effects of having powdered glass from the instrument panel in his right eye
his acumen and natural flying skill brought him to the attention of his superiors
so much so that when hitler decided to support francisco franco in the spanish civil war
fighting against the government of spain galland is one of the first officers selected to go to
spain with the famous condor legion to fly combat air patrols and tactical ground support missions
while in spain adolf galland flew tactical air support against the communist forces supported by
joseph stalin in the soviet union after his tour was over he met werner molders his replacement
whom he did not like at first and didn't really trust because werner molders was a very strict
catholic didn't smoke didn't drink and carried a bible gallon and molders later
did become the best of friends after spain and when world war ii broke out in 1939
werner molders would become the most successful fighter pilot in the spanish civil war
shooting down 14 aircraft by the time he died he had 114 confirmed aerial victories he and galland
both flew their missions flying their independent squadrons in the battles of france and the battle
of britain both of them became household names and due to their rapid success both of them
were the first recipients of the oakland swords and diamonds to the knights cross
later galland was placed on a short staff job which he hated and begged to go back to combat
molders was then sent to the eastern front in 1941 for operation barbarossa upon the suicide
of general ernst udet the famous world war one ace the top surviving german ace of that war
molders was flying back for the state funeral his he-111 bomber in which he was a passenger crashed
and he was killed at the funeral gearing turned a gallon and said you're his replacement you are
now the new general of the fighters galland at that time was only 29 years old in a full colonel
gallon would later find out that with that promotion came a lot of responsibility
but it also came with a lot of heartache due to adolf gallon receiving the diamonds
he was taken off of combat flying status mainly because of the propaganda value
but also because of his strategic value and his tactical knowledge and his tactical innovations
he and molders had basically rewritten their combat doctrine for the luftwaffe
and upon taking his desk in berlin galland found out that his two brothers who had finished flight
school were not fighter pilots paul and wilhelm the heartbreak would continue because both of
these men successful fighter pilots wilhelm with the knights cross would be killed in action
but then it continued gallon later began hearing rumors about the concentration camps
he knew of that guy he knew of some of the others where political prisoners
had been kept but it wasn't really a well-known fact of what was going on
galland then had the occasion to meet several of his old friends from spain
gunter lutzov who was a colonel and a very highly decorated successful fighter pilot edward neumann
whom he flew with in spain who was the commanding officer of a rebellious young hans marseille
uh many of the other pilots that galland flew with the people he thought he could trust
were part of his inner circle hitler called him into a meeting after the scharnhorst and gennais
now mission called operation cerberus this was the channel dash in 1942 when the two pocket
battleships were trying to navigate the english channel to return to germany for repairs after
a tour in the north atlantic gallon basically planned the entire tactical air umbrella operation
to protect those two ships and it worked to such perfection hitler brought him to berlin
and wanted to interview him and talk to him and and basically give him more responsibility as
general of the fighters adolf galland had a great responsibility he was in charge of assignments
and officer appointments and making sure that the fighter force received everything it needed
from fuel to ammunition to parachutes pilots he scoured the entire occupied nations interviewing
and talking to his commanding squadron leaders and group leaders and wanting to get the feel for how
they felt about the war he cared about his men and he wanted to know what their thoughts were
when he went to uh do his report to general hans jeshonik in 1943 galland basically was
complaining that the luftwaffe in north africa had never received what they needed the luftwaffe the
on the russian front in the eastern campaign was suffering horrendous losses and now with the
us army eighth air force operating out out of uh great britain that uh german fighter pilots
in the west were having a difficult time and needed more support and basically the
resources to fight the war these fell on deaf ears with jeshonek who later committed suicide
in the summer of 43. and gallon became very disillusioned with hermann goering's leadership
of the luftwaffe and he began to talk to his superiors such as the general staff in the
army that respected him but didn't trust goring at all in 1943 colonel curtis lamey later general of
me had changed the doctrine for flying bomber formations from a stream into a box formation
mainly because the german fighters were able to hit them from the flank in the rear causing
great losses amongst the fighter forces the two battles of schweinfurt regensburg in august and
october of 1943 saw the u.s lose over 120 b-17s each man each bomber carrying a 10-man crew
lemay devised a new box tactic that was adopted throughout the entire air force
however in january of 1944 a new man came on the scene to take command of the 8th air force that
was general james doolittle famous for his tokyo raid in april of 1942. unlike his predecessors
who wanted to keep the fighters strictly close to the bombers to protect them doolittle talked
to his fighter leaders such as hans zimke and he decided to let the fighter leaders dictate
the terms of action and the new tactic was for the fighter forces to go deeper into germany
a couple of hours ahead of the bombers to draw the german fighters up who would normally
lay back and wait for the fighters to turn back when they were short on fuel then they would
attack the bombers january of 44 the p-51d mustang with the rolls merlin engine now had the range
to actually engage german aircraft and stay in the fight for up to eight hours gallon found out
that his luftwaffe force was being torn to pieces by this new tactic of letting fighter
american fighters and british fighters roam deep into germany and hit their airfields
lure them into combat and after the war adolf galland said that my greatest
enemy is my friend general james doolittle he cost me more pilots than anything else
but he was a good leader and a good man to his nation adolf galland's meteoric career
going from a basic aviation cadet in the early 30s to being awarded the spanish cross was soared in
gold with storage and diamonds by francisco franco to receiving all of germany's highest decorations
from valor and becoming by the end of the war lieutenant general at age 32. he scored 104
victories in 705 missions his last victories were when he was commanding his own personal squadron
jv 44 in 1945 with hitler's permission after the failed fighters revolt of january of that year
galland johannes steinhoff gunter lutzov and many other of the fighter leaders had rebelled against
going for a second time at this point goring was so frustrated he threatened to have them
on court-martialed and executed for treason hitler got involved and finally he sided with galland and
said to goring let galland do what he can with the jets i'm out of this it's over after the war
gallon was captured and he was treated hospitably why because he was a very chivalrous fighter
in 1941 when the legendary legless fighter pilots or douglas bader bailed out of his aircraft
that was shot down his artificial legs were damaged one was left in the cockpit and one was
destroyed upon landing under parachute gallon contacted goring and they had permission for
the raf to fly over and drop a replacement set of artificial legs for bader as a gesture of goodwill
which they did along with a few bombs on his runway but the british never forgot that uh he was
so well respected that his son andreas hubritus has a very unique godfather that one of the top
british aces of world war ii robert standard tuck became the godfather two galland's son
galland later was recruited after the war to go to argentina at the request of president juan peron
to help him create the argentine air force utilizing material aircraft tactics
and giving argentina a world-class air force lieutenant general adolf galland emerged from the
war as one of the most famous and well-respected german fighter pilots in history heralded by his
former enemies he was always welcomed in the united states united kingdom and around the
world to give lectures give talks and he was very gracious with his time giving interviews he died
february 9th 1996. if you enjoyed this segment on forgotten history please click like subscribe
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