Wilhelm Süssmann (16 September 1891 – 20 May 1941) was a German general in the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

(Air Force) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

who was killed in action during the

Battle of Crete The Battle of Crete (german: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta, el, Μάχη της Κρήτης), codenamed Operation Mercury (german: Unternehmen Merkur), was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island ...

. Süssmann was the first commander of the 55th Bomber Wing, from its formation on 1 May 1939 to 6 March 1940. He commanded the 2nd ''Fallschirmjäger'' Regiment and later the 7th Flieger Division during the

during which he was killed in action when the

DFS 230 The DFS 230 was a German transport glider operated by the Luftwaffe in World War II. It was developed in 1933 by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS - "German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight") with Hans Jacobs as the head ...

glider carrying him and his staff crashed on the island of

Aegina Aegina (; el, Αίγινα, ''Aígina'' ; grc, Αἴγῑνα) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born ...

.Mrazek, p. 56. A

Ju 52 The Junkers Ju 52/3m (nicknamed ''Tante Ju'' ("Aunt Ju") and ''Iron Annie'') is a transport aircraft that was designed and manufactured by German aviation company Junkers. Development of the Ju 52 commenced during 1930, headed by German aeron ...

aircraft was towing the glider when a sudden maneuver generated a

slipstream A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or mustard) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving fluid, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is churning. The term slip ...

, sending the glider into an uncontrolled dive.

References

* de Zeng, H.L; Stankey, D.G; Creek, E.J. ''Bomber Units of the Luftwaffe 1933–1945; A Reference Source, Volume 1''. Ian Allan Publishing, 2007. * Shores, Christopher, Brian Cull and Maria Malizia. ''Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete: 1940–41''. London: Grub Street, 1992. . * Mrazek, James E
''Airborne Combat: The Glider War/Fighting Gliders of WWII''
Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sussman, Wilhelm 1891 births 1941 deaths Luftwaffe World War II generals Lieutenant generals of the Luftwaffe German military personnel killed in World War II