Originally, the German military high command, for their air warfare forces, decided to use an organizational structure similar to the army and navy, treating the aviation branch as a strategic weapon of war.

One train of thought subordinated the air force to the army in support of land operations and to the navy for maritime tasks.

Multiple political acts and the consequent need for a show of strength forced the Luftwaffe to be in a perpetual state of readiness.

Since the Luftwaffe was organized in a geographical fashion rather than on a strategic functional basis, it had independent administrative as well as operational command structures.

[6] Strategically, all three German military forces were part of a single service called, "The Defensive Power" (Die Wehrmacht; from wehren (Verb), to defend; and die Macht, the Power, Might) controlled by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW); the head of the OKW was part of the Cabinet.

They were self-contained units equipped with all types of aircraft and their own supply elements, maintenance staff, administration and legal departments.

[12] Each Geschwader within the Fliegerkorps was roughly the size of an RAF wing or United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) group, with about 90 to 120 aircraft under its command.

(The assumption that a Staffel was the exact equivalent of a squadron sometimes caused Western Allied leaders to overestimate German air power.

A retired navy officer, Konrad Zander, was similarly promoted and put in charge of Luftkreis VI supporting the naval units.

Two Luftwaffe officers, Colonel Hugo Sperrle and Major General Karl-Friedrich Schweickhard [de] were put in charge of the remaining two Luftkreise without being promoted.

The Gruppe would be commanded by a Gruppenkommandeur, that would be a Major or Hauptmann, who would have a small staff including administration, operations, medical and technical officers.

[citation needed] Gruppen organized within a combat geschwader were designated with Roman numerals: I, II, III and IV.

[citation needed] The Staffel usually had a few vehicles allocated to it, and a mobile Fliegerhorstkompanie (air station company) to carry out minor repairs.

[citation needed] There were a few types of Staffeln acting in specialized autonomous, or semi-autonomous roles, if integrally attached to a Gruppe or Geschwader for differing duties from the main unit.

Some of these were: After the mid 1942 successes of Operation Barbarossa, Soviet VVS nocturnal harassment bomber units such as the Night Witches, used obsolete Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes against the invading Germans.

The Heinkel He 46, Arado Ar 66, Focke-Wulf Fw 56 and even the standard training biplane, the Gotha Go 145, were all deployed in their efforts at attempting to emulate the success of the Soviets.

[citation needed] During the Spanish Civil War, Luftwaffe aces Werner Mölders and Günther Lützow created a new formation strategy for fighter geschwader.

[48][49] In this formation, where each aircraft flew in positions similar to the fingers of an open hand (hence the name), the leader (Rottenführer) was at the front, while on his left wingtip was his partner from the Rotte.

[55] Over the course of the war, the continuous attacks by first RAF, then USAAF bombers on German cities led to increases in the number of flak units deployed in Germany.

As of 28 October 1943, the 1st Luftwaffe Field Division reported an effective strength of 6,429 consisting of Officers, NCOs and enlisted men.

Instead of being used on quieter sections of the various fronts to relieve army units for use elsewhere, they were put into action where the Germans were hard pressed and suffered accordingly.

From 1933 to 1935, civilian aircraft were painted with a bright red horizontal band with a black swastika in a white circle superimposed, shown only on the vertical stabilizer.

[citation needed] During the Spanish Civil War, where the Luftwaffe participated through the Condor Legion, aircraft were repainted with a white Andrea's Cross in a black circle.

In Germany itself, the Balkenkreuz was once again used as the national insignia on the fuselage and wings in six locations, initially with a very narrow set of four white "flanks", which were widened around 1938–39, with the usual swastika on the vertical tail surfaces, usually on the fixed fin, but sometimes instead on the rudder (as done on some Arado-designed aircraft) and on airframe designs that either had a small fin or one braced with struts.

After 1935, military planes carried, on the fuselage, an alphanumeric four-character Geschwaderkennung code with the Balkenkreuz after the first two characters, always consisting of one letter and one number in a unique combination for a specific Geschwader or Gruppe.

The irregular lines were meant to match the intricate patterns of ocean waves (usually called "wave-mirror" camouflage) as seen from the air, especially for interceptions of RAF night bombers over the North Sea.

[citation needed] Later-deployed examples of both night fighters defending the Reich, and Heinkel He 177 heavy bombers used for night raids over England such as with Operation Steinbock, often returned to using flat black undersurfaces replacing the light blue previously used during the mid-war years, while retaining the skyglow-based light gray base color/darker gray "wave-mirror" irregular lines or irregular splotches on the upper surfaces.

At one point, a color scheme that painted the rudder in white, similar to what had been done during the North African Campaign, was trialled for units dedicated to Defense of the Reich duties,[65][69] which also included the aforementioned Reichsverteidigung wing-code rear fuselage stripes for each individual Jagdgeschwader.

The full four-character code was usually shown on the fuselage sides, sometimes with the individual aircraft letter repeated under the wings.

Late in the war, the first two characters of the Geschwaderkennung code (designating the geschwader) were depicted on the fuselage sides in a much reduced size, possibly as a "low-visibility" security measure.