Major-General Georg Paul Neumann - The German Air Force I Knew, 1914–1918: Memoirs of the Imperial German Air Force in the Great War

This edition published in 2014 by
Pen & Sword Aviation
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This book was first published as The German Air Force in the Great War
by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., London, 1921.

Copyright Coda Books Ltd.
Published under licence by Pen & Sword Books Ltd.

ISBN: 9781783463138
EPUB ISBN: 9781473850484
PRC ISBN: 9781473850552

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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C ONTENTS

T RANSLATOR S N OTE

T HE ORIGINAL WORK, Die Deutschen Luftstreitkrfte im Weltkriege, is approximately three times the size of this English version. As Major Neumann points out in his Preface, his object has been to accumulate records concerning everything that appertains to the German Air Force, not only with regard to its history, but also with regard to its development in technical design and organisation.

He has been assisted in this endeavour by twenty-nine contributors, each one of whom is a specialist in some branch of the aircraft industry or flying service, and it is well to mention that the result is a very comprehensive and accurate survey.

Having to confine myself within certain limits, I have been obliged to recast the work and omit a great deal that did not seem to be of direct interest to English readers. For this purpose I have divided the book into two parts, of which the first concerns itself with the German Air Force as a unit of power, and describes the machines used and the training of personnel; the second part deals with the application of this power, and is therefore mainly historical.

From this selection of essentials I hope that the reader will be able to form a definite mental picture of the strangely paradoxical German Air Force.

I have endeavoured to preserve the individual style of each writer as far as is possible in English, but here and there the recasting of the work has necessitated slight alterations.

To Captain W. F. J. Harvey, D.F.C., late Squadron 22, R.A.F., I wish to express my gratitude for his assistance and criticism, which have been of exceptional value on account of his wide experience of service flying.

J. E. G URDON .

L ONDON , 1920.

P REFACE

T HE WORDS OF this stanza whispered a soft admonishing rebuke to me in the days when this work was first conceived and took its shape. It seemed as though they foretold the arduous journey which lay between my desire and its fulfillment, my object and its attainment. Perhaps even they hinted at the impossibility of painting on so small a canvas the entire picture of our Air Force, its development and its achievements. But then war would never have scaled the heavens had not a generation of pioneers led the way, and the airmen, before whose eyes the world lies revealed like an open book, would never have conquered space in its third dimension had they admitted the existence of impossibility; the aeroplane would never have arisen godlike from land and sea.

And so the attempt has been made to gather from many sources such vivid pictures of past events as will portray the growth of our Air Force in organisation and knowledge, and also the use to which it was put during the war. It is hoped that this book may serve as a nucleus later for a complete history of the flying service, since a record of aerial achievement in the war should never suffer from the restrictions imposed by lack of space. My present aim, however, is to select from the multitude of events, and rescue from oblivion all which we should remember concerning our struggle in the air. All that work accomplished by intense and concentrated thought, and by world-wide labours from Boulogne to Bagdad, most surely deserves immortality. And so this book shall stand for a monument, not only to all those who served with our aerial forces by land and sea, but also to the whole German nation, which used to follow their glorious deeds with wonder and amazement.

For this purpose much new material will be employed, and I shall reveal to the world many things which hitherto have been guarded as official secrets. With the aid and criticism of others it will be possible not only to outline essentials, but also to place events in their order of merit or importance. Furthermore, we may bring about an appreciation of those methods which solved for our Air Force the many problems of organisation and design, and piloted it through so many grave crises.

To the rising generation, upon whom lies the burden of carrying out the plans for that future aerial development which is to be the harbinger of peace and unity among the nations, perhaps this book may prove a source of enthusiasm and inspiration. In time to come, those who turn these pages may remember with a thrill of gratitude that during the bitter, bloody struggle for the mastery of the air was laid the foundation of peaceful aerial navigation.

I NTRODUCTION

M AJOR GEORG PAUL Neumann was a former German Air Force officer who had served in the Great War. He produced his outstanding survey of the German Air Force in 1920 while the events were still recent history. He was able to draw on his own experience and his contacts to compile a large number of personal accounts from officers and men who had so recently fought in the cause. The result is an accurate, faithful and comprehensive review of the aircraft, personnel and organisation of the force which began life in 1910 as the Imperial German Army Air Service and ended the war as the Luftstreitkrfte.

This comprehensive and compelling review is highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of the Great War in the air and includes a series of primary sources dealing with some of the unusual and lesser known aspects of the Luftstreitkrfte including a gripping account of defending a Zeppelin against attack by British fighters.

Major Neumanns indispensable work has never been surpassed and in my opinion this English language translation is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the realities of the war in the air in the Great War.

The first military aircraft to be acquired by the German Imperial Army entered service in 1910, forming the nucleus of what was later to become the famous