Oberkommando der Luftwaffe

Oberkommando der Luftwaffe
Flag of the Chief of the General Staff
Active	1935–1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Luftwaffe
Engagements	Invasion of Poland, Eastern Front, Battle of Britain, Defence of the Reich, Unternehmen Bodenplatte
Commanders
Chief of the General Staff	Walter Wever
Chief of the General Staff	Albert Kesselring
Chief of the General Staff	Hans-Jürgen Stumpff

The Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL) was the air force High Command of the Third Reich.

Luftwaffe was organized in a large and diverse structure led by Reich minister (German: Reichsminister) and supreme commander of the Luftwaffe German: Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe Hermann Göring. Göring through the Reich Air Ministry (German: Reichsluftfahrtministerium /RLM/) controlled all aspects of aviation in Germany including civilian and military aviation. The organization of this organization was from the peacetime period dating prior to involvement in Spanish Civil War.

In early 1937, Göring announced reorganization of the Reich Air Ministry into military and civilian branches. The military branch was to be led by the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (Supreme H.Q. of Air Force). A chief would be leading the general staff. However, the separation of military from civil aviation was not complete and it was fragmented. Some parts of the military branch were left under the control of Air Inspector General Field Marshal (German: Generalfeldmarschall) Erhard Milch. These were

The reasons for this formation was primarily to undermine Milch, who was getting favorable attention from the Party. However, later during the year and early next year, Göring again changed the organization structure by removing three offices from Milch's and General Staff's control. He brought under his own direct control. These were

This change made these offices to be additional power centers in RLM further fragmenting the top Luftwaffe organization. It also crippled important functional areas.

To gear for the European war, Luftwaffe needed a high command equivalent to Army (Oberkommando des Heeres OKH) or Navy (Oberkommando der Marine OKM). Thus on 5 February 1935, Air Force Command (German: Oberkommando Der Luftwaffe OKL) was created. Then in 1939, the Luftwaffe was again reorganized. The credit for the formation of a true Air Force High Command (German: Oberkommando Der Luftwaffe OKL) goes to General der Flieger Günther Korten commander of Air Fleet 1 (German: Luftflotte 1) and his Chief of Operations General der Flieger Karl Koller. They both campaigned to carve out a command out of Goring's all compassing Reich Air ministry. The intent was to put Luftwaffe on a true wartime footing, by grouping all the essential military parts of the RLM into a single command. It included following branches.