| abstract | - Koller was born in Glonn in Bavaria. An exemplary officer, he graduated valedictorian at the Air War Academy. He was the Chief of Staff for Hugo Sperrle during the Blitz. For Operation Sea Lion, the planned invasion of the United Kingdom by the Wehrmacht, Oberstleutnant Koller was to serve as the Operations Officer of Luftflotte 3, in coordination with the German 9th Army. Although Koller supported Göring against the Heer and the Kriegsmarine, he was one of Göring's harshest critics, writing that "one had the feeling that he [Göring] had no interest in bringing about an atmosphere of smooth cooperation, that he was almost afraid that this would lead to the establishment of a phalanx against himself. Koller became the Chef der Luftwaffenführungsstabes ("Chief of the Luftwaffe Operations Staff") in October 1943, which essentially made him as assistant to the General Staff. On the morning of 20 April 1945, when Berlin came under Soviet artillery fire for the first time, he informed Hitler that the shells hitting the city were not from long-range cannons, but from a battery in Marzahn - a suburb which is (as Hitler noted with rage) only 12 kilometers away from Berlin's center. After the war, Koller spent several years in British captivity, was released at 1947 and returned to Bavaria. In 1949 he published his wartime shorthand diary as the memoir Der letzte Monat (The Last Month, Mannheim), which provided information about Hitler's last days during the Battle of Berlin. Koller also served as the chairman of the Verband Deutscher Soldaten in Bayern. He died in his hometown of Glonn in 1951.
|
