Hugo Sperrle (7 February 1885 – 2 April 1953) was a Luftwaffe Field Marshal during World War II who commanded Luftflotte 3 from 1 February 1939 to 23 August 1944, preceding Otto Dessloch.
Biography[]
Hugo Sperrle was born on 7 February 1885 in Ludwigsburg, Wurttemberg, German Empire. During World War I, he joined the German Army Air Service and became commander of the air components of the German 7th Army. In 1935 he joined the newly-formed Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany and was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and he was promoted to Brigadier-General of the Luftwaffe. At the outbreak of World War II, he was the commander of Luftflotte 3, and his division first saw action in the Battle of France against France. From June–October 1940 he led the division during the Battle of Britain, and he bombed the United Kingdom into 1941 while living a luxury life at Paris' Luxembourg Palace. From here, he went downhill, however. Sperrle became disillusioned with Adolf Hitler's plans for the war, and he was left with only 319 planes to fight 9,000 Royal Air Force and US Air Force planes on D-Day, preventing him from attacking the Allied armada. Sperrle was dismissed for incompetence, and at the end of the war he was tried and acquitted for war crimes. He died on 2 April 1953 in Munich, Bavaria.