Hoffmann, Gerhard, born 13-10-1887 in Qualisch 
in the Czech Republic, on 22-03-1906, joined the 47th Infantry Regiment “King Ludwig III of Bavaria” (2nd Lower Silesian) 
as an officer cadet. After the outbreak of the First World War, Hoffmann served as a company officer in this regiment until November 1914. On 08-11-1914, he was promoted to first lieutenant and transferred to the 37th Reserve Infantry Regiment under command of General Alexander Heinrich Rudolph von Kluck 
as a company commander, where he remained until the end of September 1915. He then rose to the rank of adjutant of the 18th Reserve Infantry Brigade. From 18-09-1916, to 25-01-1917, Hoffmann served as a general staff officer in the 5th Reserve Corps. 
He then held the same position at the staff of the 3rd Landwehr Division 
until 05-05-1917, and at the staff of another division from May 6 to 23-11-1917. After a few days as an officer on special assignment at the 2nd Army High Command, Hoffmann was transferred to the Quartermaster Staff at the Grand Headquarters on 28-11-1917, where he remained until 08-06-1918. Hoffmann then became a General Staff Officer at the staff of the IX Army Corps, where he remained beyond the end of the war until the end of April 1919. From 01-05-1919, having meanwhile been transferred to the Provisional Reichswehr, Hoffmann served as a General Staff Officer at the 9th Reichswehr Brigade until the end of September 1920. On that day, he left military service with the rank of Major.
On 14-07-1932, Hoffmann was appointed as a national defense officer with the rank of major in the Reichswehr, where he initially served at the commands in Oppeln, Kreuzberg, and Waldenburg until the end of May 1934. He then served as adjutant to the President of the Reich Air Defense League until 02-10-1934. From 22-10-1934, to the end of February 1936, Hoffmann was assigned to Air District Command V in Munich, having already been promoted to a reserve officer on 01-11-1934.
On 01-03-1936, Hoffmann was reactivated for the Herman Göring‘s 
Luftwaffe 
and assigned to the 1st Division of the 5th Flak Regiment in Munich. After a month-long gunnery course in Wustrow in July/August 1936, Hoffmann served as liaison officer to the command staff of the VII Army Corps from August 10 to the end of September 1936. In September 1936, he completed his anti-aircraft training with the 2nd Division of the 22nd Flak Regiment 
in Brandenburg an der Havel and was appointed commander of the 2nd Division of the 5th Flak Regiment on 01-10-1936. Hoffmann held this position until the end of May 1937. He then held the same position with the 1st Division of the 12th Flak Regiment from July to September 1937. Hoffmann was appointed regimental commander there on 01-10-1937.
On 01-08-1938, Hoffmann was promoted to commander of the Berlin Air Defense Command, 
later Air Defense Command 1. He replaced Colonel Braun, who had died in an accident. Hoffmann held this command until 23-06-1940, then handed it over to his successor, Colonel Werner Prellberg, 
who survived the war and died 15-06-1960 in Wolfenbüttel age 64, and was appointed commander of Air Defense Command 9 on 24-06-1940. At the end of February 1941, Hoffmann relinquished this command to Lieutenant General Otto Wilhelm von Renz (1891 – 1968) 
and was appointed commander of Air Defense Command 4, later the 4th Flak Division, 
on 01-03-1941. He led this command until 28-02-1942, when he was appointed commander of the 15th Flak Division. Here, his division distinguished itself in Operation Blau with high kill rates and advanced as far as Maikop. 
Operation Blau/Fall Blau, later called Operation Braunschweig, was a German summer offensive in 1942. Its objective was to capture oil fields in the southern Caucasus from the Soviets and destroy the Red Army. The offensive ended with the German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad.
At the end of November 1942, Hoffmann relinquished command to Major General Eduard Muhr 
and was appointed Commanding General of the IV Luftwaffe Field Corps 
on 30-11-1942. General Muhr died in battle on 27-12-1944, age 51 in St Stefan in Gailtal, Kärnten 
.
On 01-07-1943, Hoffmann was assigned to the staff of Luftgau-Kommando III in Berlin, where he remained until the end of the month. On 01-08-1943, Hoffmann was appointed Commanding General and Commander of Luftgau III in Berlin. He was subsequently transferred to the Führer Reserve 
of the Luftwaffe High Command (OKL) on February 21-02-1945, and released from active military service on 30-04-1945. He was not taken prisoner of war.
Gerhard Hoffmann survived the war and died age 82, on 06-11-1969 in Wedel and was buried in the Wedel Cemetery, Egenbüttelweg 2Wedel, Kreis Pinneberg, Schleswig-Holstein 22880 Germany
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