Early life and First World War Bodenschatz was born in
Rehau,
Kingdom of Bavaria in 1890. He enlisted in the Royal Bavarian 8th Infantry Regiment (
Königlich Bayerisches 8. Infanterie-Regiment „Großherzog Friedrich II. von Baden“) and was a cadet at the War Academy in
Metz. He was commissioned a
Leutnant on 28 October 1912. Following the
German entry into World War I he saw active infantry service on the
Western Front and participated in the
Battle of Verdun. After being wounded four times, in 1916 he transferred to the Deutsche
Luftstreitkräfte. He served as an adjutant in
Jagdstaffel 2 ("Jasta Boelcke") and then in
Jagdgeschwader 1 based at
Avesnes-le-sac. He was adjutant to
Manfred von Richthofen and later, after the deaths of Manfred von Richthofen and his successor
Wilhelm Reinhard, to
Hermann Göring, who took over command of the fighter wing in June 1918.
Between the wars After the war, Bodenschatz was carried over into the
Reichswehr as a regular officer and served in the 21st (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment from 1919 until April 1933. In 1939, he warned the Polish military attaché in Berlin that
Nazi Germany was planning to invade Poland by the end of the year. and
Wilhelm Keitel in 1939.
Second World War During World War II he was the liaison officer between Hitler's headquarters and the Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe until he was seriously injured in 1944 by the
20 July plot bomb at the
Wolf's Lair headquarters in
Rastenburg,
East Prussia. He was fortunate to survive the explosion as two officers immediately to his left and one to his right were killed.
Post-war He was captured at
Reichenhall on 5 May 1945 and served two years in prison. In 1946 he was called as a witness at the
Nuremberg Trials of major
Nazi war criminals. He died in
Erlangen,
West Germany, in 1979, aged 88. ==Decorations and awards==