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|awards = Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves |laterwork = }} Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen (10 October 1895 – 12 July 1945) was a German ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field Marshal) of the ''Luftwaffe'' (German Air Force) during the Second World War. Born in 1895 into a family of the Prussian nobility, Richthofen grew up in prosperous surroundings. At the age of eighteen, after leaving school, he opted to join the German Army rather than choose an academic career, and joined the army's cavalry arm in 1913. On the outbreak of the First World War, Richthofen fought on the Western Front, winning the Iron Cross Second Class. In 1915 he was posted to the Eastern Front, where he stayed until 1917. The Richthofen family produced several notable personalities that would become famous during the First War. His cousins, the brothers Lothar and Manfred von Richthofen both became flying aces and they encouraged him to join the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (German Imperial Air Service). He did so, and joined Manfred's ''Geschwader'' (Wing), ''Jagdgeschwader 1'' (Fighter Wing 1). Manfred, known as the ''Red Baron'', was the highest scoring ace of the war, with 80 victories. On his first mission with his cousin, on 21 April 1918, Manfred was killed. Wolfram continued flying and went on to claim eight aerial victories before the armistice in November 1918. Lothar survived the war but was killed in a flying accident in 1922. After the war Richthofen resumed civilian life after being discharged from the army. He studied Engineering at University before rejoining the ''Reichswehr'', the German armed forces of the Weimar Republic era. In 1933 Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany, and the ''Reichswehr'' was transformed into the ''Wehrmacht''. Richthofen joined the new ''Luftwaffe''. He also served as part of the ''Condor Legion'' which supported the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. During this time, he recognised the need for close air support in military campaigns and championed the dive bomber, particularly the Junkers Ju 87 ''Stuka''. He also believed in improving ground-air communications, which was put into effect in the Second World War, after his experiences in Spain and Poland. The combination of effective air-ground communications and powerful concentration of dive bombers would lead to personal success for Wolfram in the first half of the war. By 1941, a high standard of air to ground communications became a uniform facility in the ''Luftwaffe''. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, Richthofen commanded a specialised ground-attack air unit, ''Fliegerkorps VIII'' (8th Air Corps), first as a small active service unit in the Polish Campaign, and then as a full-sized Air Corps in Western Europe, from May to June 1940. The effectiveness of his units proved decisive at certain points in the French Campaign, particularly covering the German thrust to the English Channel. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 23 May 1940, in view of his achievements. He continued in frontline service during the Battle of Britain and the Balkans Campaign in 1940 and 1941. Richthofen achieved his greatest success on the Eastern Front. In particular, he achieved notable success in the Crimean Campaigns during 1942. Despite offering vital tactical and operational support to Army Group South, after the defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad he was moved to the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations, where he commanded ''Luftwaffe'' forces in the Italian Campaign. He remained in active service until late 1944, when he was retired on medical grounds. Soon after the capitulation of Germany in May 1945, he was taken prisoner by the United States Army, but on 12 July he died in captivity of a brain tumor. ==Early life== Richthofen was born on 10 October 1895, at the Richthofen Barzdorf (now Bartoszówek, Poland) estate (''Gut Barzdorf''), near Striegau (Strzegom), Lower Silesia to an aristocratic family. His father, Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen (1856–1922), and mother, Therese Gotz von Olenhusen (1862–1948) were of the Silesian nobility, and the family had been ennobled 350 years before Wolfram's birth〔Corum 2008, p. 28.〕 Richthofen was the second child and oldest son of four children. His older sister, Sophie-Therese, was born in 1891 (and died in 1971). His brother Manfred was born in 1898 and Gerhard in 1902. He was the fourth cousin of the German World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, popularly known as the "Red Baron," and the baron's younger brother Lothar von Richthofen. As the son of a nobleman, he enjoyed a life of privilege. The family’s noble status dated back to the 1500s, and by the 1700s the Richthofens owned 16 estates in Lower Silesia. When Frederick the Great annexed Silesia in 1740, he personally granted the title of Baron (Freiherr) to one of Richthofen’s direct ancestors. The family remained in Silesia for a further three generations.〔Corum 2008, pp. 28–34.〕 Richthofen’s home, an eighteenth-century estate, was only one of 25 Richthofen-owned properties totalling . Barzdorf, where he lived, was a modest , of which 269 was farmed and the rest was forest. Interestingly Wolfram, as the oldest son did not inherit the estate. Instead, on the death of his father in 1922, it was given to his younger brother, Manfred. Some years before, Wolfram’s uncle General of Cavalry Manfred von Richthofen, his father’s brother, had asked him to inherit his estate to keep it in the family, as he himself had no children. Wolfram inherited the estate after Manfred legally adopted him. The General did not die until 1939, having lived long enough to see his nephew win success in the Spanish Civil War and in the Polish Campaign.〔Corum 2008, p. 31.〕 He had a distant relationship with his youngest brother, but a close one with Manfred. Unlike most Prussian nobles Wolfram von Richthofen went to the local Gymnasium (academic high school) and did not have private tutors at home. He attended school in Striegau. His grades in mathematics and German language were good, but he did not excel at foreign languages (in which he scored average to poor results). He found studying language to be boring, but did learn Italian and could converse competently in it in later life.〔Corum 2008, p. 35.〕 He became good friends with his cousins, Lothar and Manfred von Richthofen, and he hunted game at the estate with them regularly. By the end of his teens he had become an established hunter and horse rider – interests which remained with him for the rest of his life. He enjoyed being outdoors and, while still at school, opted to apply for a commission in the German Army (rather than choose an academic career).〔Corum 2008, p. 37.〕 In 1913, at the age of 18, he joined the army and took the officer course in Berlin. The Cavalry was the most prestigious arm, and he applied to join the 4th Hussars which belonged to the 12th Cavalry Brigade of the Sixth Army Corps in Breslau. He did not have much time to experience peacetime military service. In August 1914 the First World War began.〔Corum 2008, pp. 40–41, 47.〕 On 18 September 1920, he married Jutta von Selchow (March 1896 – 1991) at a Lutheran church in Breslau (now the city of Wrocław in Poland). They had been introduced by her brother Gunther. Jutta was also of Silesian nobility, and had moved in the same circles. She had served as a nurse in the war. They lived in an apartment in Hanover while Wolfram restarted his academic career in Engineering. During their marriage they rarely travelled abroad in the 1920s. In the 1930s they took skiing holidays in Switzerland. The couple had three children; Wolfram (born 25 May 1922), Götz (27 November 1925) and Ellen (15 February 1928)〔Corum 2008, pp. 80–82.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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