Korten, Günther Bruno Ulrich Max, born 26-07-1898 in Cologne, as a son of the architect Hugo Korten (1855–1931) and his wife Marie Korten (1866–1942). Günther became a German Generaloberst and Chief of the General Staff of the Luftwaffe
in World War II. He died from injuries suffered in the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler (did you know in July 1944
. Korten was born as a son of the architect Hugo Korten (1855–1931) and his wife Marie Korten (1866–1942). At the beginning of the World War I he was a cadet in the Prussian army. He served through the war in an engineering battalion. He continued his military career after the war in the Engineers, until he was selected in 1928 to participate in the secret pilot training program me in the Soviet Union. On returning to Weimar Germany he joined the “Bildstelle Berlin”. Joseph Goebbels (did you know)
was next to propaganda minister also the Gauleiter of Berlin. With the rise of the nazi party started on its rearmament programme, Korten, by then a captain, formally joined the Luftwaffe of Hermann Göring (did you know)
in 1934. He received training as a General Staff officer and served for several years in the Air Ministry. He was a Colonel and Chief of the General Staff of Luftflotte 4, under Generaloberst Bruno Loerzer,
stationed in Austria. At the beginning of 1940, Korten was transferred to the General Staff of the Luftflotte 3
under Generalfeldmarschall Hugo Sperrle,
in which he served during the Battle of France and in the Battle of Britain.
The Battle of Britain ( “air battle for England”) was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF)
and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe. It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. The British officially recognise the battle’s duration as being from 10 July until 31 October 1940, which overlaps the period of large-scale night attacks known as the Blitz, that lasted from 07-09-1940 to 11-05-1941. German historians do not follow this subdivision and regard the battle as a single campaign lasting from July 1940 to May 1941, including the Blitz.
The British victory in the Battle of Britain was achieved at a heavy cost. Total British civilian losses from July to December 1940 were 23,002 dead and 32,138 wounded, with one of the largest single raids on 19–12-1940, in which almost 3,000 civilians died. With the culmination of the concentrated daylight raids, Britain was able to rebuild its military forces and establish itself as an Allied stronghold, later serving as a base from which the liberation of Western Europe was launched.
On 19 July Korten was promoted to Generalmajor. In January 1941 he transferred back to the 4th Air Fleet, in order to participate in the Balkans Campaign and in the assault on the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa.
Korten here with Albert Speer,
Göring and Bruno Loerzer in August 1942 was promoted to Generalleutnant and took over the command over the Ist Fliegerkorps, which fought at the southern sector of the Eastern Front and was temporarily transferred to the “Luftwaffenkommando Don”
during the Battle of Stalingrad (see Friedrich Paulus



and Walther von Seydlitz Kurzbach.
At the beginning of 1943 Korten was promoted to General and in the summer replaced Generaloberst der Flieger, Alfred Keller at Luftflotte 1. Alfred Keller died old age 91, on 11-02-1974 in Berlin.
A few weeks later, on 25 August he accepted the position of General Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe, after the former Chief of Staff Generaloberst der Flieger, Hans Jeschonnek committed suicide.
Death and burial ground of Korten, Günther Bruno Ulrich Max.
Korten was mortally wounded as fragments of the conference table were driven in his bodyin the Wolfsschanze near Rastenburg during the July 20 Plot in 1944, in which Oberst der Kavallerie, Graf Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg
, here on the left, attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler (did you know) with a bomb. Korten died two days later and his successor was General de Flieger, Werner Kreipe
Kreipe died 07-09-1967, aged 63, in Badenweiler The 20 July threaten at the Bendlerblock in Berlin was saved by Major Otto Ernst Remer
commander of the Infantry Regiment Grossdeutschland
who refused to arrest Josef Goebbels after talking to Hitler in the Wolfschanze by phone Two days after the assassination attempt Günther Korten succumbed to his injuries, age 45, on 22-07-1944, in the military hospital attached to the Führer’s headquarters. Like the other military victims General der Infanterie, Rudolf Schmundt
and Heinz Brandt,
the bomb exploded and blew one of Brandt’s legs off, Brandt died the next day 21-07-1944, age 37, after surgery in Rastenburg hospital
and was posthumously promoted to Major General by Hitler.




Originally, Korten was buried in the Tannenberg Memorial, where von Hindenburg was buried too. When the Russians arrived, his body was exhumed and buried with his wife Maria, on the Friedhof Bergstraße in Steglitz, Berlin. Paul von Hindenburg
became his last resting place in the church of Marburg.


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