Hermann Frommherz Generalmajor ( Major General ) Hermann Frommherz ( 10 August 1891 - 30 December 1964 ) Military Order of St . Henry , Royal House Order of Hohenzollern , Knight ' s Cross of the Military Karl - Friedrich Merit Order , began his military career in World War I as an ace fighter pilot . He was credited with 32 victories . During World War II he was involved in the German takeover of Czechoslovakia and rose to become a Luftwaffe Generalmajor . Early life . Hermann Frommherz was born in Waldshut , in the Baden region of Germany near the Swiss border . He studied engineering in Stuttgart . In late 1911 , he joined the Mecklenburg Jäger Regiment Nr . 14 in the Imperial German Army . In the reserves when World War I began , he was mobilized in July 1914 . He served in France with Regiment Nr . 14 and was promoted to Vizefeldwebel ( non - commissioned officer ) . He was transferred to Infantry Regiment Nr . 250 , which went into combat in Russia . Frommherz earned the Second Class Iron Cross in February 1915 . By April 1915 , he was with the 113th Infantry Regiment . On 1 June 1915 , he transferred to aviation service . World War I aerial service . Frommherz began as a two - seater pilot with the " Luftstreitkräfte ' s " " Kampfstaffel " ( Tactical Bomber Squadron ) 20 of " Kagohl IV " , at the Battle of Verdun and over the Somme River . He was commissioned as a Leutnant on 1 August 1916 . Kasta 20 then moved to serve in Romania in December 1916 , before being posted onward to Macedonia and Thessaloniki , Greece . On 3 March 1917 , Frommherz was assigned to " Jagdstaffel 2 " ; this elite squadron had been led by aviation tactical and strategic pioneer Oswald Boelcke and had been named for him after he was killed in action . Flying a light blue Albatros D . III nicknamed " Blaue Maus " , Frommherz scored his first victory on 11 April 1917 - a No 23 Squadron RFC SPAD VII - and a Royal Aircraft Factory BE 2 e as his second on the 14th . Both times , he forced the plane to land and the English pilot or crew were taken prisoner . Frommherz was injured in a crash on 1 May 1917 . By October , when he had recovered , he was seconded to instructor duty with FEA 3 . In December , he received Lübeck ' s Hanseatic Cross . Upon Frommherz ' s return on 1 March 1918 to " Jasta 2 " to fly a Fokker Dr . I Triplane on 1 March 1918 , he began a string of 30 victories that ran from 3 June 1918 until the war ' s end . He had two victories in June , six each in July and August , ten in September , four in October , and two on 4 November . Notable among his kills were the half dozen against the formidable Bristol F . 2 Fighter s . In the midst of his victory string , on 29 July 1918 , he succeeded Hermann Göring as commanding officer of " Jagdstaffel 27 " . Leutnant Frommherz had a good reputation as a commanding officer . Ernst de Ridder , when newly assigned to the Jasta , claimed he was allowed to retrain himself from the Fokker Dr . 1 to the Fokker D . VII , then nurse - maided into combat with an experienced pilot to watch over him . As de Ridder stated , " He was so concerned about his boys . " When de Ridder was wounded , Frommherz brought de Ridder ' s newly awarded Iron Cross to the hospital . De Ridder left a description of Frommherz ' s Fokker D . VII insignia . It consisted of the yellow nose and tail common to his Jasta , along with red and black chevrons of a Staffelführer ( squadron leader ) painted on top of the upper wing . Frommherz ' s blooming career now garnered him the Knight ' s Cross with Swords of the House Order of Hohenzollern on 30 September 1918 , when his victory total stood at 26 . The following month , he received the Knight ' s Cross of the Kingdom of Saxony ' s Karl Friedrich Military Merit Order . At some point , he had also been awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Military Order of Saint Henry . Frommherz was also nominated for the Pour le Merite , having scored the required 20 victories ; however , the award was still unapproved upon the Kaiser ' s abdication . Despite this non - award , Frommherz was seen wearing the decoration after the war ; he had certainly fulfilled the criteria for it . After World War I . Postwar , Frommherz was active in the German Police Aviation Service . He also flew mail for Deutsche Luftreederei , a predecessor to Deutsche Luft Hansa . In 1920 , he returned to Baden as technical chief at the new airfield at Lorach . Beginning in 1922 , the German high command ran a secret training site at Lipetsk in the Soviet Union . Frommherz became an instructor there in 1925 . He was also an instructor in China . From 1931 to 1932 , he taught the pilots of Chiang Kai - shek ' s new air force fighter tactics . Frommherz returned to Germany to join the nascent Luftwaffe . He was Commanding Officer of I Gruppe , Jagdgeschwader 134 ( " Horst Wessel " ) from September 1938 until 1 November 1938 as Oberstleutnant ; when it was reconstituted as JG 142 , he continued in command until the first day of 1939 . As such , he was involved in the German invasion and conquest of Czechoslovakia , which had the code name Fall Grün ( Case Green ) . As a Major General , he was Commander of Jagdfliegerführer Deutsche Bucht from 1 April until 30 September 1942 , following Werner Junck . Post World War II . Hermann Frommherz returned to civic affairs in his native town of Waldshut . He died of a heart attack on 30 December 1964 .