Hans Wenzel Ernst Jeschonnek (9 April 1899 – 18 August 1943) was a German military aviator in the Luftstreitkräfte during World War I, a general staff officer in the Reichswehr in the inter–war period and Generaloberst (Colonel-General) and a Chief of the General Staff in the Luftwaffe, the aerial warfare branch of the Wehrmacht during World War II.
He was born in 1899 and joined the military as a cadet in 1909. Trained as an officer at a military academy, he was granted his commission in 1914 and served in the infantry on the Western Front. In 1916 he transferred to the Luftstreitkräfte and trained as a fighter pilot. Jeschonnek shot down two enemy aircraft by the time of the German defeat in November 1918, earning the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st class.
Jeschonnek remained in the military, joining the Freikorps and then the Reichswehr, the Weimar Republic armed forces. He fought in the Silesian Uprisings in 1919 and then served as a junior general staff officer in the 1920s. In 1933 the National Socialists seized power in Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. Jeschonnek admired Hitler and under the leadership of his close associate Hermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the newly formed Luftwaffe, Jeschonnek's career began a meteoric rise from Hauptmann (Captain) in 1932 to Generalmajor (Brigadier General) in 1939. In November 1938 Jeschonnek was appointed chief of the general staff at just 39. Jeschonnek's rise depended, in part, on his slavish and unquestioning loyalty to Hitler and Göring.
Jeschonnek oriented the Luftwaffe away from the broadly based doctrines of the inter-war period upon the outbreak of World War II. He was a pupil of the short-term concept, the so-called Blitzkrieg war. As a result, Jeschonnek neglected principles surrounding industrial production, military intelligence, logistics, air defence, strategic bombing and the creation of reserves that were crucial to sustaining a military force. Rather, Jeschonnek's way of war was based on the full commitment of the Luftwaffe to close air support operations in cooperation with the German Army. Up until 1942, the German military's victories largely masked such errors in judgment by Jeschonnek, Göring and the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (High Command of the Air Force). As the German war effort failed on the Eastern and North African Fronts in 1942 and 1943, the British and American Combined Bomber Offensive began a strategy to destroy the Luftwaffe in a war of attrition for which Jeschonnek and Göring had failed to prepare.
In 1943, Jeschonnek experienced at least one emotional breakdown over the failures and the inability of the Luftwaffe to defend Germany. Undermined by Göring and his subordinates, Jeschonnek shot himself on 18 August 1943. The suicide was covered up by Göring to preserve German morale and prevent the enemy powers from gaining any intelligence advantages.
Early life, career and World War I Jeschonnek was born on 9 April 1899 in the Prussian town of Inowroclaw (Hohensalza), the son of a teacher, Dr. phil. Friedrich Karl JeschonnekIn German a Doctor of Philosophy is abbreviated as Dr. phil. (doctor philosophiae). and his wife Klara Emma Karoline. He had three brothers and a sister from his father's first marriage and four half-brothers from his father's second marriage. Three of his brothers opted for service in the Reichswehr; his brother Paul died in service at Rechlin on 29 June 1929. Gert Jeschonnek served 34 years as a naval officer. From 1905 until April 1908, Jeschonnek attended the Bürgerschule (citizen school) in Bromberg, present-day Bydgoszcz, and then for one year the local Gymnasium. In 1909, he joined the military Cadet Corps in Köslin, present-day Koszalin. In April 1913, he transferred to the Prussian Main Military academy () in Lichterfelde.
He was made a Leutnant ohne Patent (second lieutenant without commission) in 1914 at the age of 15. In the first months of World War I he served in an infantry regiment: the 50th Lower Silesian Infantry Regiment. In 1915 Jeschonnek received his Leutnant commission at 16. Jeschonnek transferred to the Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial Air Service) at 17. He joined Jagdstaffel 40 (Fighter Squadron 40) on the Western Front and by time World War I ended, Jeschonnek had shot down two enemy aircraft and received the Iron Cross 1st Class and the Iron Cross 2nd Class.
Upon the German defeat, collapse of the German Empire and armistice in November 1918, Jeschonnek joined the Reichswehr and served the Weimar Republic. He fought in the Silesian Uprisings as a member of the Reichswehrs 6th Cavalry Regiment. Jeschonnek joined the Freikorps aerial detachments, Grenzschutz Fliegerabteilungen (GFA) and flew in the same conflict. He then worked under Kurt Student, Inspectorate of Arms Equipment in the Army Ordnance Department from 1923 to 1928 and studied at the General Staff. The lack of German equipment at this time allowed Jeschonnek to visit a number of other countries and fly a number of Dutch, Swedish and Swiss aircraft. In 1928 he graduated from the Kriegsakademie (War Academy) first in his class and in April Jeschonnek worked for Inspectorate 1 (L), the aerial warfare branch of the Ministry of the Reichswehr (Reichswehrministerium) under the command of Hellmuth Felmy from 1929. The department was covertly responsible for the building of military aircraft prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles.
Jeschonnek was one of 300 aviators, including 168 officers, who formed part of the embryonic air staff on 1 November 1930. He held office as a section leader in the Truppenamt and Waffenamt until 1935. Jeschonnek involved himself in the debate amongst officers in the Truppenamt in 1932 over the independence of military aviation. The head of the department from 1930 to 1934, Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, objected to the air staff's proposals to make a future air arm semi-independent. He proposed dividing it into three branches, with the army taking control of the majority. Equord's opposition was answered in a paper by Jeschonnek, which advocated the centralisation of all aviation, military and civilian, under one office. The debates on air force organisations were resolved quickly once the Nazis came to power.
Luftwaffe On 30 January 1933 Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. The National Socialists reorganised the Reichswehr and renamed it the Wehrmacht in 1935. The armed forces were divided into branches. On 1 May 1933 the Ministry of Aviation (Reichsluftfahrtministerium) was established. Jeschonnek — at only 34 — was appointed adjutant to Secretary of state Erhard Milch. The two men eventually became hostile to one another when Milch requested Jeschonneks' court-martial for a series of accidents in which air crews were ordered to fly low in inclement weather.
Concurrently, Jeschonnek held a field command as officer commanding Kampfgeschwader 152 (Bomber Wing 152). In March 1934 he was promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) while in command of KG 152. On 1 April 1935 he was elevated to the rank of Major. On 1 October 1936 Jeschonnek was appointed Head of Training Group III of Air Administrative Area I in Greifswald. Jeschonnek's time here was considered the happiest of his career. He was able to take an active part in testing and evaluating aircraft that brought the Luftwaffe to the cutting-edge of aircraft technology. Jeschonnek served as a section leader, with three serving officers, eleven former officers and 15 engineers with officer rank. He became a strong proponent of the Schnellbomber (fast bomber) concept while stationed there. The vision played an important part in German aircraft procurement.
General Staff On 20 April 1937 Jeschonnek was promoted to Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) and entered the Ministry of Aviation (Reichsluftfahrtministerium) as Chief of Branch 1 of the General Staff. Jeschonnek was a protégé of Walther Wever chief of staff in the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (High Command of the Air Force). Wever designated him as his successor and Chief of the Luftwaffe Operations Staff in case of mobilisation in 1936. Wever recognised his intelligence and talent; Jeschonnek was considered the "wunderkind" of the General Staff. Wever, having had no plans in place for an early death, died in an air crash in June 1936. Jeschonnek had nearly completed his tutelage under Wever, a gifted staff officer, in the area of leadership, training and organisation. In the reorganisation following Wever's death, Jeschonnek became the chief of the Luftwaffe Operations Staff on 1 February 1938 and was promoted to Oberst (colonel) in November. At 39, the seniority of this rank was unusual in a peacetime professional military. Hitler's insistence on a rapid build-up created unique opportunities for early promotion.
Jeschonnek played a peripheral part in the political intrigues in the Luftwaffe. In 1937, then-chief of staff, Albert Kesselring, left office after battling with Milch. The latter began a campaign after Wever's death to place most of the functions and commands under his jurisdiction to become de facto chief of staff. On 1 June 1937 chief personnel officer Hans-Jürgen Stumpff replaced Kesselring. Stumpff fought against Milch's power-grabbing and on 6 December 1937 he sent a memorandum to Göring, complaining the General Staff and Milch's offices were issuing directives without consultation. He called the lack of a demarcation line in the chain of command "damaging and unacceptable."
Stumpff argued for Milch to lead procurement, technical matters and production while the General Staff governed field commands, war planning, training and operations while Milch proposed creating two commands with equal footing in a calculated move to undermine the chief of staff. Jeschonnek opposed his superior in favour of Milch. In a memo to Göring in January 1938, Jeschonnek said the General Staff should be "free of ballast", kept small and concerned only with operational level matters. Jeschonnek's proposals were anathema to Wever's view on supply and maintenance: "Do not say — That is not the General Staff's work." Göring ignored Stumpff and in February 1938 created the post of General Inspector of the Luftwaffe to report directly to him and supervise the ten air force directorates. The directorates were permitted to report to Stumpff on supply-maintenance matters.
Failing to convince his peers in the strategic and technical aspects, Jeschonnek sought to fulfil his duty to Hitler, who he viewed as a personal hero. On 7 November 1938, the Nazi leadership proposed a five-fold increase in the strength of the Luftwaffe. Jeschonnek published plans for an air force of 10,700 aircraft by 1 January 1942 – with 5,000 bombers — but ran into opposition at an OKL conference on 28 November. Most of the staff officers opposed the program on the basis Germany lacked the raw materials for such an expansion. Jeschonnek, argued for blind trust and obedience to Hitler: "I take the view that it is our duty not to let down the Führer. If he has ordered this program he also knows the means by which it can be carried out." Jeschonnek preferred to leave the technicalities of production to others, namely Milch and the unqualified Udet. He showed a distinct lack of interest in these dull non-operational matters and, as a consequence, the chasm between the ambitions of the General Staff and Udet's production planners widened before the war started. Milch attempted to humiliate Jeschonnek in front of Göring, but was left speechless when Göring supported Jeschonnek's plans.