Alfred Keller Early service life . After his graduation , in 1902 , Keller served in the 17º Battalion Infantry in Thorn as Fähnrich . While serving in Thorn , Keller became attracted to heavier - than - air aircraft , and made his first flight in the school at Metz , becoming an observer in 1912 . In the following year , Keller concluded his training as a pilot in the school of Niederneuendorf , gaining his pilot ’ s wings . Service during the First World War . When the First World War begun in August 1914 , Hauptmann Alfred Keller was serving in a Western Front bomber unit Kagohl 5 , Kampfstaffel ( Kasta ) 27 , with which he would fly his first combat missions . Keller participated in the first air reconnaissance mission of Paris in October 1914 , which served to obtain evidence in the absence of anti - aircraft defences in the French capital . This factor was decisive for Keller and the unit ’ s pilots to initiate attacks on the French cities , one of which , against Paris , gaining for him the Cross of Iron 2nd Class . On the Verdun and Somme fronts Keller performed some missions of reconnaissance and offensive patrolling , which led to him in September 1915 being nominated Kommandeur of Kagohl 7 , Kampfstaffel ( Kasta ) 40 , a unit that he would help to consolidate in the following months . On 1 September 1917 , after some attacks of its airplanes against the enemy lines , Keller s decorated with Cross of Iron 1st Class , also in recognition for his performance as an organiser . Assuming the command of Bombengeschwader der Obersten Heeresleitung ( Bogohl ; Bomben Geschwader der OHL - Bomber wing of the OHL ) BG 1 ( new designation for bomber squadrons ) from April 1917 until the end of the war , Keller ’ s unit become the first German bombers to operate night missions , which was noted for the missions against Dunkirk and the British forces concentrated there , with his sudden delivery in the silence of the night of 100 , 000 kg of bombs on the port , causing considerable damage in September 1917 and forced a British retreat to Calais . For planning , organization and leadership in this attack and others he was decorated with the Cross of the House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords , and on the on 4 December 1917 , with the even more desirable Order Pour le Mérite . On the night of 30 – 31 January 1918 Keller , in spite of the fierce anti - aircraft opposition , again attacked Paris , causing a great panic in the civilian population , the pilots of Bogohl 1 returned safely though . These multiple attacks by Keller on Paris would compel the French to remove some anti - aircraft batteries from the front and use them in the defence of the city . Promotions : Assignments : Interwar activity . The end of First World War found Keller in command of the Luftreederei , a logistics unit . In the years following the Armistice , Keller left the army and became first director / conductor of the " Abteilung Luftverkehr der Junkerswerke " ( later part of Deutsche Luft Hansa ) ground - air service " of the German air shipping company " , the first German airline founded by Hugo Junkers . In 1923 he changed direction of his business by offering air shipping company services and was a managing director in Danzig , offering air mail service in Germany for the first time . During 1925 Keller operated an air traffic control school in Berlin , but in 1928 moved it to Braunschweig . Here he began , as a means of resistance to Allied conditions of Armistice the secret training of new military pilots , and he would be one of the first men called by Hermann Göring to help in the reconstruction of the Luftwaffe , as soon as the Nazis had assumed power in 1933 . With the organisation of the Luftwaffe , Keller was commissioned with the rank of Oberst ( Colonel ) , and assumed the command of the first bomber squadron , during the winter of 1936 , KG 154 “ Boelke ” ( He 111B - 1 ) . Soon after he was appointed commander of the Air Force command East Prussia . Service during the Second World War . In September 1939 , when the Second World War begun , the then General Alfred Keller commanded the IV . Fliegerkorps during Campaign in Poland , assuming this command on 13 October 1939 . The following campaigns , during campaigns against Norway , Holland , Belgium and the Battle of France , he commanded Luftflotte 2 with General der Flieger Albert Kesselring as his superior . By his superlative performance during these campaigns , Alfred Keller was decorated by Hitler with the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross on 24 June 1940 as General Kommandierender of the IV Fliergerkorps . Shortly afterwards , on 19 July 1940 , he was promoted Generaloberst . On 19 August 1940 , during the Battle of Britain , Alfred Keller was appointed as the commander of Luftflotte 1 and Air Force commander - East . Keller led this formation very energetically during the invasion of the Balkans Campaign and later during the Operation Barbarossa where he predominantly supported Army Group North . Keller remained with Luftflotte 1 until 12 June 1943 , when he retired from active service at the age of 61 , replaced by the 16 years younger Günther Korten . However he continued to perform important functions in NSFK ( Nationalsozialistische Fliegerkorps – Organisation of Aerial National Socialist , a paramilitary unit that he organised to form a civil reserve of pilots ) . He was Korpsführer of the NSFK from June 26 , 1943 , until the German surrender on May 8 , 1945 . Towards the end of the war Keller was the responsible one for the antitank weapons department of the Luftwaffe . Promotions : Life after service . With the German capitulation on 8 May 1945 , Keller became a British prisoner , being kept as a POW until 1947 . In the 1950s he become one of the first presidents of the Ordensgemeinschaft der Ritterkreuzträger ( Association of Knight ' s Cross Recipients ) . Keller died in Berlin .