Luftwaffe Personnel Sentenced to Death 1940-1944

[Brian Bines]

There was a He111 of KG 4 which was shot by own flak taking off from Grossenbrode on a flight to desert on 4th May 1945 . The aircraft coming down in or by the Binnensee . I believe there were 7 people including a female onboard , 4 were killed or died of injuries and 3 were tried and shot . Post war a Major Hesse was sentenced to prison for authorising the death sentences .
I have the names of the crew/passengers but at present cannot find my notes on this .

[James A Pratt III]

Waber's wiki bio has him being shot by a firing squad. His execution really angered many in the Luftwaffe do to goring's corrupt actions.

[bakerman]

Gen.Lt. HERMANN BECKER was executed the same day as General WABER on Feb 6 1945. His Personalakte with several documents related to his court case can be seen on the Bundesarchiv website.
Another one was Oberst ERWIN GEHRTZ, on February 10, 1943 he was executed in Plötzensee Prison.
Some other Luftwaffe death sentences are recorded in the Bundesarchiv file RL 1/4

[kaki3152]

GEHRTS, Erwin. (DOB: 18.04.90 in Hamburg). WWI served as a Lt. (n.d.) employed as the Chief editor of the Tägliche Rundschau (to 1932). 1935 encountered elements of the resistance group Red Chapel. 01.09.39 Oberst, Chef Ic (5. Abt. – Sonstiges Personal)/Gen.St.d.Lw. (to 1942). 09.10.42 arrested and charged with passing military information. †10.02.43 executed at Plotzensee.

[Erik Mombeeck]

Hi,
Here's a thread that goes off the beaten track.
Don't forget to add it to the list: At 06:00 on May 7 1945, all officers and soldiers were present on the Leck airfield to attend the execution of Lt. Hermann Gern of I./JG 11, sentenced to death by the divisional field court for having planned desertion. This 29-year-old pilot had belonged 9./ZG 26, in which he had been wounded and claimed a B-17 in February 1944.
This execution is obviously very shocking when you consider that it would have been possible to delay it by a day or two and he would have survived. I hope that Oberst Karl-Gottfried Nordmann will have often thought about it later. Several others similarly “deserted” at the same time, but probably with more agility, such as Albert Palm (JG 4) who managed to reach Landstuhl from Leck. And no one ever blamed him - on the contrary, many admired this incredible flight.

I'd also like to come back to the adjective used by Vince to describe Heinrich Graf von Einsiedel: “infamous”. Here too, I'm shocked that one could still write that after so many decades. I was lucky enough to spend many long hours with this highly educated man in his home in München. And as chance would have it, I've just reread his book recently. Really, he doesn't deserve the adjective “infamous”. I think he understood before many others what Germany's fate would be, and rather than keeping a low profile like most of his fellow captives, he tried, in his own way, to influence his country's fate.
Erik

[VtwinVince]

Hi Erik,

Nice to hear from you again. Regarding my use of the term 'infamous', it isn't meant as a judgement of this individual's personal heroism or other attributes, rather his well known activities as a member of the NFD, membership in which, as you know, was a very controversial subject back then, and even today. I personally agree with von Einsiedel's comments regarding the opinions of his famous ancestor, von Bismarck, regarding the wisdom of waging war against Russia, something which surely is of timely importance in this day and age, don't you agree?