Thomas, Erwin

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Thomas, Erwin, born 1899, was a General of the Anti Aircraft Artillery. The Luftwaffe  installed massive batteries of anti-aircraft batteries called Fliegerabwehrkanone. The Allies began calling the resulting shells and shell fragments tearing through their planes Flak. One innovation introduced by the Germans as the air war escalated was the Flak Tower
  . They were built in large cities like Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna. They were large virtually indestructible structures rising high in the cities and built with reinforced concrete. They were topped with four heavy guns, either 105 mm or 128 mm guns. They were built in pairs to support each other. They also served as effective bomb shelters. These weapons were in great demand as early in the war it was discovered to be a very useful artillery piece and especially effective against tanks. Thus these weapons were needed on the Eastern Front to stop the steadily increasing Red Army armor driving the Wehrmacht east. This particularly concerned Albert Speer
   who took over as Armaments Minister (1943). He saw how desperately 88s were needed on the Eastern Front.

Death and burial ground of Thomas, Erwin.

Thomas after the war retired in Frankfurt am Main. He died at the age of 73, in 1971, in Frankfurt am Main and he is buried on the Central Cemetery of Frankfurt am Main. On the same cemetery are buried Generalleutnant der Panzertruppe, Küstenverteidigungsabschnitts Friesland, der ehemaligen Division zbV. 172, Dr. Hans Boelsen  General der Infanterie, Kommandeur 7th ArmeekorpsHans Gustav Felber. Generalmajor der Artillerie, Special Duties with Air Fleet Command ReichFriedrich KunzeSpecial Duties with Air Fleet Command Reich, Herbert Schröder, a General of the Luftwaffe.


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