Editing Luftwaffe (section)

===Luftwaffe organisation===
{{Main|Organization of the Luftwaffe (1933–45)}}

====Luftwaffe commanders====
[[File:Defendants in the dock at the Nuremberg Trials.jpg|thumb|right|Defendants in the dock during the [[Nuremberg trials]]. The main target of the prosecution was [[Hermann Göring]] (at the left edge on the first row of benches), considered to be the most important surviving Nazi official after Adolf Hitler's death.]]
Throughout the history of Nazi Germany, the Luftwaffe had only two commanders-in-chief. The first was Göring, with the second and last being {{lang|de|[[Generalfeldmarschall]]}} [[Robert Ritter von Greim]]. His appointment as commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe was concomitant with his promotion to {{lang|de|Generalfeldmarschall}}, the last German officer in World War II to be promoted to the highest rank. Other officers promoted to the second highest military rank in Germany were Kesselring, [[Hugo Sperrle]], Milch, and [[Wolfram von Richthofen]].

At the end of the war, with [[Battle of Berlin|Berlin surrounded by the Red Army]], [[Göring telegram|Göring suggested to Hitler that he take over leadership of the Reich.]]<ref>{{harvnb|Killen|2003|p=291}}</ref> Hitler ordered his arrest and execution, but Göring's SS guards did not carry out the order, and Göring survived to be [[Nuremberg trials|tried at Nuremberg]].<ref>{{harvnb|Killen|2003|p=300}}</ref>

Sperrle was prosecuted at the [[High Command Trial|OKW trial]], one of the last twelve of the Nuremberg trials after the war. He was acquitted on all four counts. He died in Munich in 1953.