Robert Ritter von Greim (22 June 1892 – 24 May 1945) was a Field Marshal of Nazi Germany who was Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe from 29 April to 8 May 1945, succeeding Hermann Goering.
Biography[]
Robert Greim was born on 22 June 1892 in Bayreuth, Bavaria, German Empire. He joined the Imperial German Army in 1911 and moved to the Luftstreitkrafte (German air force) in 1915 during World War I. He scored 28 victories, and he was given the Bavarian Military Order of Max Joseph, making him a knight, "Robert Ritter von Greim". Chiang Kai-shek invited him to the Republic of China to help in the formation of a Chinese Air Force, but his Chinese pupils did not work well, and he believed that Asians could not operate complicated machinery. Von Greim believed that his true duty was to help Germany, and in 1923 he took part in the Beer Hall Putsch alongside Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. During World War II, Von Greim was given command of Luftflotte 3, serving in the Blitzkrieg air campaigns. In 1945, he flew into Berlin with Hanna Reitsch and was the last man to be promoted to Field Marshal by Hitler. On 29 April 1945 he took over command of the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany from Hermann Goering, and he was sent to arrest the traitor Heinrich Himmler after he opened peace talks with the Allied Powers. On 8 May 1945 Von Greim was captured by US Army troops in Austria, and on 24 May 1945 he committed suicide with poison after discovering that he was due to be given to the Soviet Union and possibly tortured by the NKVD.