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| Full name | Luftwaffen-Sportverein Hamburg | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1942; 83 years ago (1942) | ||
| Ground | Hoheluft | ||
| League | Gauliga Hamburg | ||
| – | defunct since 1945; 80 years ago (1945) | ||
Luftwaffen-SV Hamburg (literally: Airforce sports club Hamburg) was a short-lived militaryGerman association football club active duringWorld War II and is notable as the most successful of the wartime military sides.
Through the course of the war military sports teams were formed both in Germany and in occupied territories to serve as morale boosters for both service men and civilian populations. In addition toLSV Hamburg this included sides such as Luftwaffen-SV Danzig, SV derSG SS Straßburg, Mölders Krakau, and Heeres-SV Groß Born. Some military commanders sought out skilled or well-known footballers to play for their clubs. For the players this often provided a means to avoid other more dangerous service in the armed forces. Among the more well-known teams at the time was theRote Jäger assembled byHermann Graf, commander of German fighter pilots, whose team included famed national team playerFritz Walter and national team managerSepp Herberger.
LSV Hamburg was formed 8 December 1942 at the direction of Colonel Laicher, commander of the anti-aircraft artillery defending Hamburg. The club was managed by Otto Faist who had ledSchalke 04 to the German national championship in 1939 in a crushing 9–0 victory overAdmira Wien in the final.
LSV joined theGauliga Hamburg in 1943. The division had been formed the previous year out of the split of theGauliga Nordmark, one of sixteen top-flight divisions formed in the 1933 re-organization of German football under theThird Reich. The club played most of its home matches at Hoheluft which was the home field ofVictoria Hamburg.
The team played its way to the final of the 1943 Tschammerpokal, predecessor of today'sGerman Cup, where they lost 2–3 toVienna FC. LSV Hamburg then totally dominated the Gauliga Hamburg in 1943–44, winning 17 matches while drawing only one, and outscoring their opponents 117–13. They advanced through the national playoff rounds to the championship match on 18 June 1944 in Berlin where they lost 0–4 to defending championsDresdner SC, a club they had earlier eliminated from German Cup competition on their march to the cup final.
In a desperate bid to help keep up civilian morale as the tide of war turned against the country, league play was immediately resumed within weeks of the championship match rather than after the customary three-month summer break. Hamburg completed only three games before play by all military clubs was suspended in September 1944 as Allied armies began to advance on Germany.
