The Luftwaffe was the German air force, which began to form in February 1935 by special order of the Nazi dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler. The commander of the Luftwaffe from its very beginning, in fact until the end of World War II, was Hermann Göring. From 1935 to 1939, the number of Luftwaffe equipment grew both by leaps and bounds, and the number of ground personnel. This trend continued until the end of World War II. It is believed that in 1939-1945, a total of about 3.4 million people served in the German armed forces, the lion's share of which was ground personnel. At the beginning of the September campaign, the Luftwaffe numbered approximately 900,000 people, and in the summer of 1941 this number increased to 1.5 million people. However, by early 1944 the Luftwaffe had already numbered around 3 million men, the maximum it reached during World War II. This number (3 million men) included, among others, 600,000 men serving in the anti-aircraft artillery and 530,000 men in auxiliary units. It is estimated that from the start of the war to January 1945, the Luftwaffe's losses amounted to around 140,000 killed and around 155,000 missing.
