Dietrich Peltz - the missing (post-war) years

[VtwinVince]

Why not? I guess you don't see the inherent hypocrisy, but then my grandfather was sentenced to 25 years hard labour by the Russians for being a 'war criminal'. Very loaded term indeed, especially in this day and age of overheated propaganda. How about Arthur Harris? One could go on, couldn't one?

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by VtwinVince

Very loaded term indeed, especially in this day and age of overheated propaganda. How about Arthur Harris? One could go on, couldn't one?

This is a tangent completely unwarranted by the original question. No one has produced any evidence that Peltz was sought in connection with any war crime nor said that he should have been. All anyone can say is that as a senior commander in some significant campaigns, he was the kind of person that the Western Allies were interested in interrogating. There are numerous examples of such interrogations on file.

Please return to the point: what happened to him in the immediate postwar period.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

I believe it would be nice, for Historical purposes, to know (comprehend, understand), how he managed to "evaporate" from Prague in mid 1945...that would be interesting how he managed to survive the chaotics last days; and of course, what he did until setting himself a second career on the civilian life, post-war Germany.

Really a pitty that as a High Officer and decorated, he was not fully interrogated or interviewed post-war, when memories were alive yet and, maybe after the new Bundesluftwaffe, there was not too much animosity towards the US Air Force or other European Nations' Air Forces.

Hope some of you will, eventually, manage to find answers to some of those questions. We ALL will learn from such eventual Documents, or research (book, thesis, etc.).

QUITE NICE THREAD by the way. Well done Simon Trew....you're doing a helluva of a work on the subject.

Adriano

[edwest2]

Adriano,

There are other examples of certain persons evaporating. A certain SS general supposedly died by suicide in Bohemia. A short time later, he was officially declared dead. Recently declassified American documents reveal that he ended up in American custody shortly after the war. The USAAF had him on a list of persons to be interrogated.

[leonventer]

Originally Posted by Simon Trew

... Likewise, I find no trace of a diary or draft memoir by Peltz. But again, am I wrong? Maybe something exists and I just don't know about it. ...

Hi Simon,

In case it's relevant, I happen to have a book titled "Kampfflieger" by Dieter Peltz. (On the title page, the book is named "Kampfflieger-Verbände".) It was published in 1971 by Stiftung Luftwaffenehrenmal e.V.

It contains:

• an introductory page ("Würdigung")
• a 3-page overview of the Luftwaffe's bomber arm
• short histories (2-5 pages each) of LG 1 & KG 1/2/3/4/6/26/27/30/40/51/53/54/55/66/76/77/100/200
• a postscript ("Schlußworte zum Gedenken der Kampfflieger")

Of course, it could well be that Dieter Peltz is someone other than Generalmajor Dietrich Peltz, but that would be a really odd coincidence. The text certainly reads as if it might have been written by a "General der Kampfflieger". Unfortunately, the book doesn't shed any meaningful light on the man himself, except for his deep affection and admiration for his brothers-in-arms.

For more information on the book, just do a search on Google or the usual book search engines, e.g. https://www.abebooks.com/Kampffliege...31149029643/bd

I would appreciate it if someone could provide more details about the identity of Herr Dieter Peltz.

Hope that helps,
Leon Venter

[Bombphoon]

Originally Posted by VtwinVince

Why not? I guess you don't see the inherent hypocrisy, but then my grandfather was sentenced to 25 years hard labour by the Russians for being a 'war criminal'. Very loaded term indeed, especially in this day and age of overheated propaganda. How about Arthur Harris? One could go on, couldn't one?

I wasn't talking theoretical situations or personal gripes - I was talking historical reality in retrospect.

Goering, amongst other senior Luftwaffe staff, was charged with war crimes - by that reason, as Angriffsfuhrer England, Peltz could also have been indicted.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Bombphoon

I wasn't talking theoretical situations or personal gripes - I was talking historical reality in retrospect.

Goering, amongst other senior Luftwaffe staff, was charged with war crimes - by that reason, as Angriffsfuhrer England, Peltz could also have been indicted.

I just asked everyone to get back on topic. If you want to pursue this angle please do it off-board.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

LEON,

Thank you for the book, apparently written by Peltz, that you found. Guess that most of us had not heard about it before. It looks interesting, but not too deeply researched or documented. It seems "a tribute" to all units and very very "over the topic"; though.

It is SAD that he really did not thinked of writing a full war-diary like other veterans wrote. Including his problems as a pilot, his "near died" sorties, etc...

Does anyone know if HIS Flugbüche have survived the war? Has someone seen copies or had access to them? MAYBE that would help Simon Trew discover if Dietrich Peltz flew during the Baby Blitz, or when he visisted some Kampfgeschwadern that actually flying the sorties.

THAT would be a nice "treasure" to find and certainly a help to Simon Trew.

Adriano

[Simon Trew]

Leon - thank you for your fascinating contribution. I was not aware of the existence of this book.

I looked at copies for sale online and given the prices I saw and what you say about its contents, I suspect I won't buy it. But I agree that it sounds very much like the author was Dietrich Peltz, and that he was advocating as powerfully for the Luftwaffe's bomber arm more than a quarter of a century after the end of the war as he did while the conflict was still raging.

IIRC, I came across somewhere a reference to the glowing contents of Peltz's personal file, which would rather suggest it survived the war. I haven't seen it, although I know from German ground commander files of a similar kind that I have seen that one needs to be able to read between the lines, understand the deeper meaning of oft-repeated phrases and not necessarily make too much of phrases confirming the subject's fanatical dedication to the cause. Still, if anybody has a copy, I would be most interested to see it.

Likewise, if Adriano's question has a positive answer, I'd love to see the flugbuche. I re-checked transcripts of secretly-monitored conversations between some Luftwaffe prisoners, and there are references in these to Peltz flying his personal Me 410 between units while Steinbock was going on and to him participating ('flying wingtip to wingtip') in a IX. Fliegerkorps daylight 'propaganda stunt' (a show of force, albeit with only thirty aircraft) in spring 1944. I don't know enough about the degree of latitude allowed to commanders of his seniority to transfer aircraft codes from one plane to another - the original P1+AB must surely have been a Ju 88, as this is what I./KG 60 was equipped with, I think) - but if it turned out that in early 1944 Peltz was flying an Me 410 with the code P1+AB then that would be quite interesting (and if he wasn't, then that would also help answer one of my questions).

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions.

Simon

[FalkeEins]

Originally Posted by leonventer

Of course, it could well be that Dieter Peltz is someone other than Generalmajor Dietrich Peltz

Horst Lux refers to Peltz as 'Dieter' here - discussions around 'Beethoven' the Mistel project..

https://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2012/...stel-test.html