Eduard Ritter von Schleich

This article is about the German yer. For the German being dubbed 'The Black Knight'.
landscape painter, see Eduard Schleich the Elder.
Ongoing Prussian and Bavarian political arguments over a
non-prussian commanding a Prussian ghter unit caused
Eduard Ritter von Schleich (August 9, 1888 Novem- a new Bavarian Jasta to be formed and Schleich was reber 15, 1947), n Eduard-Maria Joseph Schleich was a assigned to command Jasta 32 in October 1917, with his
high scoring Bavarian ying ace of World War I. He was tally at 25.
credited with 35 aerial victories at the end of the war. He was awarded the Order Pour le Mrite in December,
During World War II, he served in the Luftwae as a gen- and after a spell commanding Jastaschule 1, on 15 March
eral.
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 wars end his score was 35.

Early life

Born in Munich, Bavaria to an artist his family soon

moved to the spa city of Bad Tlz. After he nished
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 August 1914 was badly
wounded in the Battle of Lorraine.

World War I

Scheich in his Albatros aircraft as leader of JASta 21

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
qualied in September 1915, he joined FA 2b in October
1915, and in January 1916 during an observation ight,
Schleich was wounded in the arm by an exploding antiaircraft 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.

3 Post war
Von Schleich was briey 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
The wound meant he did not see further service until able to oust the Communists the following month, returnSeptember, when he assumed command of Fliegerschule ing Bavaria once again to the Weimar Republic.
1. He joined Jasta 21 in May 1917, and commanded the After a short stint as a pilot with the Bavarian Police, von
unit from June onwards. Prior to his leadership, Jasta 21 Schleich became a liaison ocer with the Army Peace
had a lacklustre combat record and low morale, but un- Commission, responsible for the implementation of the
der Oberleutnant von Schleich within a month the Jasta Armistice terms.
had downed 36 enemy aircraft, 19 credited to Schleich Demobilised in December 1921, von Schleich worked
personally.
as a peat farmer, and later as a Lufthansa airline pilot.
When his best friend on the Jasta, Leutnant Erich Limpert Leaving the airlines in 1929, he started a ying club in
was killed in a dogght, Schleich ordered his plane to be Munich. He joined the Nazi Party in 1931, and at the
painted all black. This black plane soon led to Schleich same time became a member of the SS-Fliegerstael, a
1

paramilitary ying organization. He was given control

of the Hitler Youth ying programmes, and promoted to
General. With the creation of the Luftwae 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 the 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.

World War II

As a Generalmajor von Schleich became the commander

of the ghter pilot school (Jagdiegerschule 5) at WienSchwechat, Austria in December 1939. In late 1940
when he was sent to Romania to the Luftwae 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 Schleichs nal assignment was Luftwae 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.
Held by British forces after the war, he died in custody on
15 November 1947, aged 59 years, from a heart condition. Von Schleich was buried in Diessen am Ammersee,
near Munich.

Decorations
Iron Cross of 1914, 1st and 2nd class (4 December
1917)
Order Pour le Mrite (5 December 1917)
Knights Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph
(14 June 1918)

References
Whiteside, Darren J. (2007). Rampant Lion: The
Life of Eduard Ritter von Schleich, Germanys 'Black
Knight' of WWI. Warren, Michigan: A & S Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9791946-1-0. Library of
Congress Control Number: 2007903331

EXTERNAL LINKS

7 External links
Eduard Ritter von Schleich page at the aerodrome.com
Ritter von Schleich

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