Luftwaffe Personnel Sentenced to Death 1940-1944

[kaki3152]

Through surfing the Web, I came across a table of Wehrmacht members sentenced to death, 1940-1944. The table is is in three columns: Army, Navy and Air Force. For the Luftwaffe, the yearly totals are the following:

1940 39
1941 64
1942 228
1943 369
1944 233

The list was complied by Dr. Messerschmidt, a noted German war historian.. Doesn't say whether all these death sentences were carried out, but I suspect many of them were executed. I know of one well-known execution of a Luftwafe officer. That was the firing squad for Oblt. von Einsiedel, a member of an active LW reconnaissance squadron. on May 22,1942 at Morlaix, France. He was sentenced for cowardice. I also know that at least one U-boat Captain was executed.
So what were the charges that would lead to a death sentence? Cowardice in action as seen above, desertion, sabotage come to mind. Any one know where I can find more information>?