Schleich, Eduard Maria Joseph Ritter von “The Black Knight”.

Schleich, Eduard Maria Joseph Ritter von, “The Black Knight”, born 09-08-1888 in Munich, Bavaria, His father, Eduard, was a landscape painter; as was his grandfather. His family soon moved to the spa city of Bad Tölz. His father In the fall of 1891, developed an unspecified mental illness, and died two years later in a psychiatric hospital. After Eduard finished school Schleich decided to enroll to a cadet program in the Bavarian Army and eventually earned a commission with the 11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment in 1909. Prior to the outbreak of World War I, Schleich was plagued with medical problems and released from active duty. He volunteered again and on 25-08-1914 was badly wounded in the Battle of Lorraine. While he was recovering from his wounds he decided to volunteer in the Royal Bavarian Air Service, and was accepted for training as an observer. After service with FEA 1 on two seaters , he applied for pilot training and qualified in September 1915, he joined FA 2b in October 1915, and in January 1916 during an observation flight, Schleich was wounded in the arm by an exploding anti-aircraft shell. Instead of returning to base, Schleich had his crewman bandage his wound while still in the air and then continued to complete his assignment. He was decorated with the Iron Cross First Class  for this action.

The wound meant he did not see further service until September, when he assumed command of Fliegerschule 1. He joined Jasta 21, Royal Saxon Jagdstaffel 21  was a “hunting group”, in May 1917, and commanded the unit from June onwards. Prior to his leadership, Jasta 21 had a lackluster combat record and low morale, but under Oberleutnant von Schleich within a month the Jasta had downed 36 enemy aircraft, 19 credited to Schleich personally.

When his best friend on the Jasta, Leutnant Erich Limpert was killed in a dogfight, Schleich ordered his plane to be painted all black. This black plane soon led to Schleich being dubbed ‘The Black Knight’.

Ongoing Prussian and Bavarian political arguments over a non-prussian commanding a Prussian fighter unit caused a new Bavarian Jasta to be formed and Schleich was reassigned to command Jasta 32 in October 1917, with his tally at 25. He was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite in December, and after a spell commanding Jastaschule 1, on 15 March he took command of Jagdgruppe Nr. 8, a collection of Jastas 23, 34 and 35, in the last month of the war he commanded Jasta 21. By the war’s end his score was 35.

Von Schleich was briefly hospitalised in Bad Reichenhall regaining his strength after many years of combat. In 1919, he was assigned to as Inspector with the Bavarian Air Service, an aviation unit of the Bavarian State Police. In April 1919, The German Communist Party  forcibly gained control of Munich, and von Schleich was marked for immediate arrest and trial. Government troops were able to oust the Communists the following month, returning Bavaria once again to the Weimar Republic.

After a short stint as a pilot with the Bavarian Police, von Schleich became a liaison officer with the Army Peace Commission, responsible for the implementation of the Armistice terms. Demobilised in December 1921, von Schleich worked as a peat farmer, and later as a Lufthansa airline pilot. Leaving the airlines in 1929, he started a flying club in Munich. He joined the Nazi Party in 1931, and at the same time became a member of the SS Fliegerstaffel , a paramilitary flying organization. He was given control of the Hitler Youth flying programmes, and promoted to General. With the creation of the Luftwaffe in 1935, von Schleich returned to military service as a Major overseeing the training of air reserve units and of dive-bombing pilots.

He was then assigned to command in Hermann Göring’s new Jagdgeschwader 234  in 1937. Von Schleich was promoted to Oberst and assigned to Jagdgeschwader 132 ‘Schlageter’, tasked with defending the western frontier of Germany. Re-designated in 1939 as Jagdgeschwader 26, the wing saw only limited service during the initial phases of World War II.

As a Generalmajor, von Schleich became the commander of the fighter pilot school, Jagdfliegerschule 5 at Wien-Schwechat, Austria in December 1939. In late 1940 when he was sent to Romania to the Luftwaffe Mission, assisting in the organization and training of the Romanian Air Force . In mid 1941 Von Schleich then became Commander of the Occupation Forces in Denmark, spending nearly two and one-half years there.

Von Schleich’s final assignment was Luftwaffe Ground Forces Commander in Norway , a post he held until late 1944. The regional command was disbanded in September, nine months after von Schleich arrived. Placed onto the reserve list in mid-November, von Schleich eventually retired as a Generalleutnant.

Death and burial ground of Schleich, Eduard Maria Joseph Ritter von, “The Black Knight”.

   Held by British forces after the war, he died in custody on 15-11-1947, aged 59 years, from a heart condition. Von Schleich was buried on the local cemetery in Diessen am Ammersee but the grave is pretty neglected. On this cemetery is also buried  the Standartenführer der Waffen SS, Jochen Peiper,

    “famous” from the Malmedy massacre, shot and burnt by French partisans after the war in his house in France. In the same family grave also buried his brothers Horst  and Hasso  who unsuccessfully attempted suicide in 1931, age 21, during high school and, he incurred brain damage in the attempt that he was left in a vegetative state. He eventually died of tuberculosis in 1942, age 32..  

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