World War I Hermann Göring

film clip of göring in cockpit of fokker d.vii during world war i

during first year of world war i, göring served infantry regiment in area of mülhausen, garrison town less 2 km french frontier. hospitalized rheumatism, result of damp of trench warfare. while recovering, friend bruno loerzer convinced him transfer become, october 1916, luftstreitkräfte ( air combat forces ) of german army, request turned down. later year, göring flew loerzer s observer in feldflieger abteilung 25 (ffa 25) – göring had informally transferred himself. discovered , sentenced 3 weeks confinement barracks, sentence never carried out. time supposed imposed, göring s association loerzer had been made official. assigned team ffa 25 in crown prince s fifth army. flew reconnaissance , bombing missions, crown prince invested both göring , loerzer iron cross, first class.

after completing pilot s training course, göring assigned jagdstaffel 5. wounded in hip in aerial combat, took year recover. transferred jagdstaffel 26, commanded loerzer, in february 1917. steadily scored air victories until may, when assigned command jagdstaffel 27. serving jastas 5, 26, , 27, continued win victories. in addition iron crosses (1st , 2nd class), received zaehring lion swords, friedrich order, house order of hohenzollern swords third class, , finally, in may 1918, coveted pour le mérite. according hermann dahlmann, knew both men, göring had loerzer lobby award. finished war 22 victories. thorough post-war examination of allied loss records showed 2 of awarded victories doubtful. 3 possible , 17 certain, or highly likely.

on 7 july 1918, following death of wilhelm reinhard, successor manfred von richthofen, göring made commander of famed flying circus , jagdgeschwader 1. arrogance made him unpopular men of squadron.

in last days of war, göring repeatedly ordered withdraw squadron, first tellancourt airdrome, darmstadt. @ 1 point, ordered surrender aircraft allies; refused. many of pilots intentionally crash-landed planes keep them falling enemy hands.

like many other german veterans, göring proponent of stab-in-the-back legend, belief held german army had not lost war, instead betrayed civilian leadership: marxists, jews, , republicans, had overthrown german monarchy.