RLM Departments and Branches

R.d.L. and Ob.d.L.

Departments and Branches

Introduction

Only the main departments and those staffs and inspectorates responsible for supervising troop units and establishments are listed. Also listed are a few lesser subdivisions that were headed by individuals of some import whose names reoccur in the historiography of the Luftwaffe. Generally excluded are the hundreds of branches, offices and sections within the larger departments, especially those concerned with the procurement side of the Luftwaffe.

Each of the three sections that follow, (1) RLM Departments and Branches, (2) Ob.d.L./OKL Departments and Branches, and, (3) Inspekteure and Waffen-Generale, are arranged more or less to conform to an organizational chart marked "Herbst (Autumn) 1943", except that all of the branch-of-service generals and inspectorates have been removed and treated separately in numerical order by their “L. In.” number that appears in the upper right corner of the page. Further, many positions that came into existence after autumn 1943 have been added.

The following works are suggested for those who wish to explore the organizational structure of the supreme headquarters of the Luftwaffe in greater detail:

Boog, Horst. Die deutsche Luftwaffenführung 1935-1945. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1982.

Mehner, Kurt and Reinhard Teuber. Die deutsche Luftwaffe 1939-1945: Führung und Truppe. Norderstedt: Militair-Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, 1993.

Nielsen, Andreas. The German Air Force General Staff. USAF Historical Study No. 173. New York: Arno Press, 1968.

Suchenwirth, Richard. Command and Leadership in the German Air Force. USAF Historical Study No.174. New York: Arno Press, 1969.

War Department, WashDC. Handbook on German Armed Forces. United States War Department Technical Manual TM-E 30-451, 15 March 1945.

(1st Draft 2023)