Adolf Galland

The fighter must seek battle in the air.

Adolf "Dolfo" Joseph Ferdinand Galland (March 19 1912 – February 9 1996) was a German Luftwaffe general and flying ace who served throughout the Second World War in Europe. He flew 705 combat missions, and fought on the Western Front and in the Defence of the Reich. On four occasions, he survived being shot down, and he was credited with 104 aerial victories, all of them against the Western Allies.

Quotes

Never abandon the possibility of attack. Attack even from a position of inferiority, to disrupt the enemy's plans. This often results in improving one's own position.

• They attracted Hurricanes and Spitfires as honey attracts flies.
  • About Stukas, quoted in "Duel of Eagles" - Page 330 - by Peter Townsend - History - 2001.

• The fighter must seek battle in the air.
  • Quoted in "Duel of Eagles" - Page 330 - by Peter Townsend - History - 2001.

• The wave of terror radiated from the suffering city and spread throughout Germany. Appalling details of the great fire were recounted. The glow of the fires could be seen for one hundred twenty miles. A stream of haggard, terrified refugees flowed into the neighbouring provinces. In every large town people said, 'what happened in Hamburg yesterday can happen to us tomorrow.' Berlin was evacuated amid signs of panic. In spite of strict reticence in official communiques, the terror of Hamburg spread rapidly to the remotest villages of the Reich. After Hamburg in the wide circle of the political and the military command could be heard the words: "The war is lost".
  • Quoted in "The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle" - Page 807 - by Anthony Read - History - 2004.

The First and the Last (1954)

• During the Battle of Britain the question "fighter or fighter-bomber?" had been decided once and for all: The fighter can only be used as a bomb carrier with lasting effect when sufficient air superiority has been won.

• Never abandon the possibility of attack. Attack even from a position of inferiority, to disrupt the enemy's plans. This often results in improving one's own position.

• "He who wants to protect everything, protects nothing," is one of the fundamental rules of defense.

• To use a fighter as a fighter-bomber when the strength of the fighter arm is inadequate to achieve air superiority is putting the cart before the horse.

• Superior technical achievements — used correctly both strategically and tactically — can beat any quantity numerically many times stronger yet technically inferior.

• The colossus of World War II seemed to be like a pyramid turned upside down, and for the moment the whole burden of the war rested on the few hundred German fighter pilots on the Channel coast.

Quotes about Galland

I envy you Galland, for going into action. I wish I were a few years younger and less bulky. If I were, I would gladly put myself under your command. It would be marvelous to have nothing to worry about but a good fight, like it was in the old days. ~ Hermann Göring

• I envy you Galland, for going into action. I wish I were a few years younger and less bulky. If I were, I would gladly put myself under your command. It would be marvelous to have nothing to worry about but a good fight, like it was in the old days.
  • Hermann Göring, on 21 April 1945. His visit to Galland on that day was the last time the two men ever saw each other. As quoted in Battle over Bavaria: the B-26 Marauder versus the German jets, April 1945 (1999) by Forsyth, Robert; Scutts, Jerry; Creek, Eddie J, p. 143