German Air Defenses: Flak Personnel--Regular Luftwaffe Personnel
Figure 1.--This scene at a Luftwaffe battery in the Reich is undated, but we believe it was early in the War, probably about 1940. This battery was manned by regular Luftwaffe trops. The boys may have been related to the men or just local boys the crew adopted as mascots. After the invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941), the demands made on the Luftwaffe increased. As a result many regular Luftwaffe troops were transferred from the FLAK units. And Hitler Youth boys began manning the guns. These were teenagers. These boys look younger than the HJ gun crews.
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The Luftwaffe Flak units were a very substantial part of the Luftwaffe's total force. We have seen a variery of estimates. One source suggests that at the beginning of the War the Luftwaffe had a total strength of about 1.5 million men. Of that total about 0.9-1.0 million men were in FLAK units, maning about two-thirds of the service. [Stedman, p. 9.] Other sourse report a smaller force. The different numbers, probably representing varying time points. One reports suggests a Lugtwaffe force of only 0.5 million in 1939. This may have been early in 1939, before the War. Another source reports a Luftwaffe force of about 1.7 million men in 1941 with nearly 0.6 million men in FLAK units. This would be about a third of the force, still a very important part of the total force. The Luftwaffe never planned for a 6-year war against Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The FLAK units as originally conceived were regular Luftwaffe troops. As Hitler's military campsigns expanded, regular Luftwaffe troops had to be used to fill the expanding role of the Luftwaffe. Regular Luftwaffe prsonnel were gradually replaced. The replacements, however, were considered to be part of the Luftwaffe even they may have been Hitler Youth boys or even foreigners. The Luftwaffe peaked at 2.5 million men (autumn 1944). About half of that total were in FLAK units.
Sources
Stedman, Robert. Luftwaffe Air & Ground Crew, 1939-45.
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Created: 5:00 AM 9/18/2010
Last updated: 12:51 AM 1/26/2017