World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseAxel von Blomberg was the son of Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg of the German Army. He was assigned to be a part of a German Luftwaffe mission to Iraq to set up an unit there to aid the Iraqi effort to fend off the British invasion that began in the previous month. On 15 May 1941, en route to Baghdad, Iraq for a planned 17 May conference with the Iraq government, the He 111 transport aircraft which he was aboard was shot down by Iraqi anti-aircraft fire in an incident of friendly fire. The aircraft successfully made its emergency landing after the incident, but Blomberg was found to be already dead.

Axel von Blomberg Timeline