Josef Kammhuber - Biography

Biography

Josef Kammhuber was born in Tüßling, Bavaria, the son of a farmer. When World War I started he was 18 and joined a Bavarian engineer battalion. He experienced the Battle of Verdun in 1916, and was promoted to Leutnant (second Lieutenant) in 1917. He was allowed to remain in German's tiny post-war army, and in 1925 was promoted to Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant). Between October 1926 and September 1928, he received division-level leadership training. From 1.5. through 30.9.30, he was sent to the USSR for secret pilot training. On his return, he joined the staff of General Walter Wever, chief of staff of the Luftwaffe. He was promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) on 1.2.31. Wever was in the process of attempting to set up a strategic bomber command; this effort, however, died in June 1936 when Wever was killed in an air crash. Kammhuber had continued to rise in the ranks, promoted to Major on 1.10.34, Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) on 1.10.36, and then Oberst (Colonel) on 1.1.39. This was followed by Generalmajor (Brigadier General) on 17.10.40, Generalleutnant (Major General) on 1.10.41 and General der Flieger (General of Aviation - Lt. General) on 1.1.43.

After it became clear that the Royal Air Force was starting a massive aircraft building program, Adolf Hitler decided to match their expansion and proposed a program worth about 60 billion Reichsmarks (RM). The German aircraft industry was incapable of matching this sort of request, due to both construction and material shortages, and the leadership within the Luftwaffe realised it was impossible. The chiefs of staff, Hans Jeschonnek, Kammhuber and Hans-Jürgen Stumpff, then put forth Kammhuber's own plan for about 20 billion RM, production levels which they felt they could meet. Milch organised a meeting between them and Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe, in which Göring said that Hitler's programme should be carried out as planned, confident that "somehow" they could meet his quotas.