Hugo Wilhelm Sperrle (7 February 1885 – 2 April 1953) was a German military aviator in World War I and a Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) in the Luftwaffe during World War II.
Sperrle joined the Imperial German Army in 1903. He served in the artillery upon the outbreak of World War I. In 1914 he joined the Luftstreitkräfte as an observer then trained as a pilot. Sperrle ended the war at the rank of Hauptmann (Captain) in command of an aerial reconnaissance attachment of a field army.
The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids was a series of bombing raids by the Luftwaffe on the United Kingdom during World War II in April and May 1942. Towns and cities in England were targeted for their cultural value as part of a demoralisation campaign.
The Luftwaffe planned the raids in response to the Royal Air Force's (RAF) area bombing offensive against Nazi Germany as a result of the area bombing directive, starting with the bombing of Lübeck in March 1942. Bombers of Luftflotte 3 under the command of Hugo Sperrle attacked sites such cathedrals, health resorts, and town halls. The aim was to begin a "tit-for-tat" exchange with the hope of demoralising the British public and forcing the RAF to reduce their attacks on Germany. The name derives from Baedeker, a series of German tourist guide books used to select targets for bombing.
The Condor Legion (German: Legion Condor) was a unit of military personnel from the air force and army of Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht which served with the Nationalist faction during the Spanish Civil War. The legion developed methods of strategic bombing that were used widely during the Second World War. The bombing of Guernica was the Condor Legion's most infamous operation. Hugo Sperrle commanded the unit's aircraft formations, and Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma commanded the ground element.