caption serviceyears laterwork branch commands relations death_date death_place birth_place allegiance unit awards battles birth_date rank image article_title name
dietrich peltz 1934 -- 45 worked for krupp and telefunken heer -- 45 -rrb- -lrb- 1934 -- 35 -rrb- luftwaffe -lrb- 1935 ix '' i. '' fliegerkorps '' . '' fliegerkorps '' ii . '' jagdkorps hans-karl stepp -lrb- brother in law -rrb- 10 august 2001 munich , germany gera , german empire nazi germany stg 2 , kg 77 knight leaves and swords 's cross of the iron cross with oak world war ii 9 june 1914 generalmajor dietrich peltz.jpg dietrich peltz
 dietrich peltz
dietrich peltz

dietrich peltz -lrb- 9 june 1914 -- 10 august 2001 -rrb- was a german world war ii `` luftwaffe '' bomber pilot and youngest general of the wehrmacht .
as a pilot he flew approximately 320 combat missions , including roughly 130 as a bomber pilot on the eastern front , 90 as a bomber pilot on the western front , and 102 as a dive bomber pilot during the invasion of poland and battle of france .
born in gera , peltz joined the military service in the reichswehr , later renamed wehrmacht , of the third reich in 1934 .
initially serving in the `` heer '' -lrb- army -rrb- , he transferred to the `` luftwaffe '' -lrb- air force -rrb- in 1935 .
he flew combat missions over poland and france as a dive bomber pilot .
he then converted to the junkers ju 88 bomber and was assigned to `` kampfgeschwader '' 77 -lrb- kg 77 -- 77th bomber wing -rrb- .
with this unit he flew further combat missions in the battle of britain .
he was awarded the knight 's cross of the iron cross on 14 october 1940 .
during operation barbarossa , the german invasion of the soviet union , peltz was instrumental in developing bombing techniques which allowed precision bombing attacks .
this achievement earned him the knight 's cross of the iron cross with oak leaves on 31 december 1941 .
he was then posted to a bomber unit leader 's school before he was tasked to form a unit , i. `` gruppe '' -lrb- 1st group -rrb- of `` kampfgeschwader '' 60 -lrb- kg 60 -- 60th bomber wing -rrb- , specialized on the use of precision-guided munition against allied shipping .
in early 1943 peltz was appointed inspector of combat flight , a role in which he oversaw the strategic development of the german bomber arm .
as of august 1943 , he was appointed commanding general of the ix .
`` fliegerkorps '' -lrb- 9th air corps -rrb- and was tasked with reviving the german bomber offensive as `` angriffsführer england '' -lrb- attack leader england -rrb- against britain and was awarded the knight 's cross of the iron cross with oak leaves and swords on 23 july 1943 for his leadership .
this initiative lead to a night-time strategic bombing campaign against southern england code-named operation steinbock , which ended in heavy losses for german bombers in early 1944 .
although a bomber expert , he was appointed commanding general of the ii .
`` jagdkorps '' -lrb- 2nd fighter corps -rrb- and was responsible for the planning of the unsuccessful operation bodenplatte , the attack of german fighters on allied air bases in belgium and the netherlands .
he was tasked with the entire aerial defense of the reich in march 1945 and advocated the idea of `` ramming '' to halt the air campaign against germany even at the risk of sustaining high losses .
his last service position was commanding general of i. `` fliegerkorps '' -lrb- 1st air corps -rrb- .
after the war he worked for krupp and telefunken and died on 10 august 2001 in munich .
