Transcript
BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Books by Raymond F. Toliver and Trevor
J.
Constable
FIGHTER ACES HORRIDO! FIGHTER ACES OF THE LUFTWAFFE FIGHTER ACES OF USA HOLT HARTMANN VOM HIM MEL DAS WAREN DIE DEUTSCHEN ASSE 1939-1945 by Toliver
THE INTERROGATOR by Constable
COSMIC PULSE OF LIFE HIDDEN HEROES
THE
BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY RAYMOND TREVOR
TOLIVER
F. J.
AND
CONSTABLE
AERO A
division of
TAB BOOKS Inc. PA 17214
Blue Ridge Summit,
f
i
FIRST EDITION FIRST PRINTING Printed
in
the United States of America
Reproduction or publication of the content in any manner, without express permission of the publisher, is prohibited. No liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information herein.
© 1970 by Raymond F. Toliver and Trevor J. Constable. Epilogue and revisions © 1985 by Raymond F. Toliver and Trevor J. Constable.
Copyright
Library of Toliver,
Congress Cataloging
Raymond
in
Publication Data
F.
The blond knight
of
Germany.
Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1.
Hartmann, Erich, 1922- 2. Fighter pilots3. Germany. Luftwaffe— Biography.
Germany— Biography. I.
Constable, Trevor
J.
II.
Title.
UG626.2.H37T65 1985 ISBN 0-8168-4188-8 ISBN 0-8168-4189-6 (pbk.)
940.54 '4943 '0924
[BJ
85-18663
photographs are from the Erich Hartmann collection except those otherwise credited beneath the photo concerned. All
Cover
illustration
by Harley Copic.
for
"Usch"
who
waited
Contents
INTRODUCTION by Lt.
General Adolf Galland
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xi
AUTHORS' PREFACE
xiii
A HERO Two THE MAKING OF A MAN One CALIBER OF
111.
M-
P VP i
Six
Fioht Clglll
Mi np > IIC I
Ten L CI1
OAK LEAVES
78
TVi X 11 iIIrtpp 11 ICC n T7rv ii t*"t o o m
r uuriccn
F niccii ffppn r i
Sixteen
64
OF FIGHTER 1VJ11 1 L/l\ WING v/1 X Tf 111 VJ 52 J~
FAMF AND SWORDS
HAWKS 300 DOWN AND DIAMONDS STAT TN
Flpvpn 302nH WCIVC
32
48
r
m.
15
WINNING HIS SPURS IN THE BEAR'S GRASP
Spvpn ACES AV^L lJ
1
1
w TO WAR
Pour VUl
ix
VICTORY
94 104 119
134 148
MUSTANGS
161
STTRRFNDFR
175
SOVTFT PRTSONFR
191
PFRSTIASTON
AND PRFSSTTRF
n /^DT\ /TXT A WAR CRIMINAL
ITT
A
T
209
224
Eighteen
THE SHAKHTY REVOLT RELEASE
255
Nineteen
REBIRTH
269
EPILOGUE
288
Seventeen
Twenty
APPENDIX
238
290 Erich Hartmann's Victory Record
290
Types of Planes Flown by Hartmann
294
1
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
Viii
Movements of III Gruppe/ JG-5 2
295
Personal Data
296
Tops and Firsts— Luftwaffe, Luftwaffe Aces with
WWII
Top Decorations
Hartmann's Handbook of Enemy Strength Glossary
INDEX
297 298
299 3
1
321
Introduction
By
General Adolf Galland
Lt.
General of the Fighter
en my
me
Erich Hartmann, I
am
I
to write
Raymond
pay tribute in
to
fighter pilot of all time,
who
when
I
and Trevor life story
this
way
to the top-scoring
my command
World War. "Bubi" Hartmann and I have been
We have
His desire to return to his
during
personal
from ten years of Soviet con-
he had joined JV-44 with me whole life might have been different.
remarked that
asked him in 1945, his
J.
of
for several reasons. First of
served under
friends as well, ever since his release
finement.
F. Toliver
an Introduction to the
was happy to do so
honored
the Second
1941-1945
friends Colonel
Constable asked
all,
Arm
own
if
unit on the Eastern Front led to
the personal disaster of his decade in Russian hands.
Secondly,
I
story should
find
it
especially appropriate that Erich
be presented
to the world
Hartmann's
by two American authors
German fighter pilot fraternity respect for their integrity and fairness. Due largely to their previous two books, the accomplishments of the German fighter pilots in the Second World that
we
War
have been historically recognized on an international
I
of the
basis.
Hartmann's world combat record of 352 conand his other achievements, are not only endorsed
believe that Erich
firmed victories,
but also illuminated by Thirdly, there
been
set
research.
is
down by
We
this
book.
the quality of Erich Hartmann's story as his
American
tactics,
has
friends after years of painstaking
find not only a thorough account of
developed his unique
it
but also an inspiring
how Hartmann human drama.
THE BLOND KNIG H*T OF GERMANY T
X
Wc
meet not just another fighter pilot and soldier, but a man whose character was tested for ten and a half lonely years, during which he was stripped of his soldier's rights. Behind all this is the story of a lifelong love,
something of which our troubled world
stands in need. I
a fighter pilot,
and
ing fighter pilot of ences.
I
history,
tional I
most remarkable book ever written about the more noteworthy because it is the lead-
believe this to be the all all
recommend and
good
time
this
who
book
has lived through these experi-
as a
worthy addition to aviation
as a further contribution of the authors to interna-
will
and mutual understanding.
have to say to the authors: "Please accept our thanks; we
former fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe appreciate what you have done."
ADOLF GALLAND
Acknowledgments
The
authors wish to express their gratitude to a
women whose
and
number
of
men
book was
assistance in the preparation of this
The late German air historian, Hans-Otto Boehm Munich, who introduced the authors to each other and to
indispensable.
of
Erich Hartmann, played an important part in bringing this story to the world public.
German
the
assistant to
Fighter Pilots' Association in
Munich and onetime
Hans-Otto Boehm, rendered signal
translations of
The
Herr Hans Ring, Documentation Expert of
services
with his
Boehm's work into English.
assistance of Erich
Hartmann's family has
proved of
also
inestimable value. His wife Ursula (Usch)* and her mother, his
brother Dr. Alfred
have
all
German
made
Hartmann and
his
mother Elisabeth Hartmann
substantial contributions to this book.
fighter pilots, flight surgeons
Numerous
and other personnel
of JG-
them with hundreds of questions, and prisoners of the Soviet Union supplied painful reminiscences of the Russian jails. Heinrich "Bimmel" Mertens, Erich Hartmann's crew chief throughout his combat career, 52 allowed us to impose on
many former German
contributed from his unique perspective to this portrait of the world's
A
most successful
fighter pilot.
special accolade goes to that surviving
made
member
of JG-52
who
available the Daily Operational History of III/JG-52, after
smuggling
it
out of the Eastern Zone of Germany.
main nameless, but we
are deeply in his debt for
He must
re-
documentation
that materially reduced our labors.
An years
effort to
name
all
would undoubtedly
unintentional omissions.
those
who have
several pages,
fill
To
all
assisted in the past ten
and
there
still
who have helped
would be
therefore,
we
extend our heartfelt thanks.
THE AUTHORS *
Usch
is
pronounced Oosh,
as in
whoosh.
t
»
Authors' Preface
History has treated most air heroes generously. Nearly leading
personalities
achievements
aviation's
in
recorded
in
detail
brief
new breed
a
modern
and
air heroes.
of warrior native to the twentieth
century, but also the only soldiers not effects of
their
generations,
have been accorded pride of place among
fighter pilots
They were not only mass
future
for
the
all
span have seen
immersed
inhuman
in the
warfare.
Fighter aces were able to keep alive for a few brief decades, albeit in tenuous form, the
Man-to-man encounters
in
now
archaic concept of a fair fight.
which individual martial
ing spirit could affect the
naval battles even as they
skill
fight-
outcome disappeared from land and
became the
central elements of aerial
combat. Chivalry thus found a modern echo among
Romance
and
air fighters.
inevitably surrounded the leading fighter aces of
nations, because individual
birdmen battling
it
out
still
all
had the
became mechanized mass murder— not only for the combatants, but also for women, children and the elderly. Aces like von Richthofen, Mannock, Fonck, Rickenbacker, Boelcke, Bong, Johnson, Galland and Bader
potential
for
glorification
while war
itself
have found fame, but missing from the famous until
most successful
fighter ace of all the nations
and
Hartmann of Germany. Hartmann is still practically unknown nearly century after the end of the Second World War. He
now the
all
is
the
wars-
Erich
Erich
a quarter of a is
recognized,
of course, within that devoted circle of air history buffs to
whom
the achievements of fighting airmen have almost the status of a religion,
but even among the faithful there
drama consummated Postwar events no
in Erich Hartmann's less
is
only an inkling of the
life
and
career.
than postwar attitudes conspired against
the telling of his story, even as they conspired against Erich Hart-
mann
the ex-soldier.
With
the hot war finished, he passed into
THE BLOND KNIGHT OW GERMANY
xiv
Russian imprisonment and was years.
illegally
confined for ten and a half
The postwar world went on without him. During
this ordeal
War
he became an unseen and unheralded hero of the same Cold
and change the
that was in time to touch
His
lives of millions.
lonely struggle against the Russian secret police, in the view of the authors, far eclipses anything
he achieved
His attainment of the staggering victories
as a fighter pilot.
tally of
was the ultimate achievement by an
German
scores of the
fighter pilots
352 confirmed aerial air fighter.
The high
were not well received on the
Allied side in the postwar years, because their victory
tallies
ran in
multiples of the best Allied totals. Explanations had to be found for victory totals that
were by
all
Allied measure completely in-
credible.
and misunderstandings,
Half-truths
as
well as outright false-
hoods, were widely circulated in Allied countries in this regard, so that the
man
unwary allowed themselves
scores
German victory,
to
be convinced that the Ger-
were questionable. Typical assertions were that the counted every engine on a downed
pilots
and that squadron
victories scored
by
their squadrons.
Wing
in
victory
left
tallies.
the
more
the
of the
USAF
full investiga-
middle 1950s.
no doubt of the authenticity of the German
Furthermore,
which the Luftwaffe credited to be far
CO.
England, undertook a
tion of Luftwaffe scoring procedures in the
This effort
all
Such apocrypha enjoyed wide
currency until coauthor Colonel Toliver, then
20th Tactical Fighter
aircraft as a
leaders took personal credit for
strict
the
meticulous
under
procedures
victories to fighter pilots
were found
than the confirmation procedures of either
USAAF in World War II or the RAF. The German victory con-
firmation methods have been elaborately detailed in the authors'
two previous books, Fighter Aces and Horridol Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe. The reader may therefore regard Erich Hartmann's 352 confirmed victories as a solid and verified achievement. The investigation of the German victory-accrediting procedures led in due course to a
authors and Erich sian prisons
about
fell
warm
personal friendship between the
Hartmann and
farther
his family.
As
his
decade in Rus-
behind him, he became able to
this period of privation
and
diabolical cruelty.
tell
The
more
authors
AUTHORS preface 9
XV
became convinced, as this modest man was led to talk more and more of his experiences, that his story should be told, not only as an indictment of war, but as a clear warning of what awaits the world should
it
ever
fall
under the sway of the NKVD-type mind.
COLONEL RAYMOND TREVOR
Los Angeles, California 1985
J.
F.
CONSTABLE
TOLIVER USAF
(Ret.)
f
*
Chapter One
CALIBER OF A HERO The world
is
in a constant conspiracy against the brave.
—General of the Army Douglas MacArthur
E
i
g h t years after the end of the Second
German
ciated tle
hope
ex-soldiers in
left in life.
Camp
Confined deep
World War,
the ema-
Diaterka in the Urals had in Russia
by a
lit-
vengeful
still
all rights as soldiers and human behomeland and deprived of every hu-
Soviet government, stripped of ings, half-forgotten in their
manizing influence, they were
them believed they would
men who were
ever again see
literally lost.
Germany and
Few
of
their loved
ones. Their attitude to life rarely rose above a stoical apathy in the
normal course of prison routine, but one October morning the rumored arrival of a certain
German
them with new hope. Major Erich Hartmann had the bereft prisoners. His was the
barracks at Diaterka, and
most
prisoner of war charged
special qualities of
heart that could kindle again the vital
fires
arrival
was
successful fighter ace of all time, Erich
the coveted
Diamonds
mind and
of these haunted
name whispered through
whose
in 1953,
and
the grim
The Hartmann had won
a signal event.
to his Knight's Cross of the Iron
Cross-
Germany's highest award. These external trappings of heroism
meant
little
to the prisoners.
Hartmann
to
them was the hero
of
bigger battles in their years-long struggle with the Soviet secret po-
He was a symbol of resistance. His true measure as a man and leader
lice.
that unfolded
upon
revealed
his arrival at Diaterka.
itself in
the scene
The gaunt inmates
of
T
THE BLOND KNIGHTt OF GERMANY
2
the prison
camp dashed
into the
compound and
pressed against
the wire as a prison truck pulled up in a cloud of dust. As the choking pall subsided, the
new
arrivals
watchful eyes of armed guards.
A
began getting down under the wiry, middle-sized
man
thatch of flaxen hair and piercing blue eyes stood out
shambling group of prisoners "It's
"It's
him"
with a
among
the
in their shapeless convicts' clothes.
croaked one of the prisoners hanging on the wire.
Hartmann!"
The scrawny mob behind waving and yelling
the barrier burst into a ragged cheer,
crowd at
like the
The blond man grinned and waved
a
home-town
football match.
at their spontaneous greeting
and the cheering burst out anew. Nervous guards hustled Hart-
mann and
his fellow prisoners inside the inner wire barrier.
armed Russians had heard about Hartmann,
Germans they guarded at Diaterka, they knew that a real had come among them— one of the Soviet Union's most and problematical
The
too. Like the destitute
leader
prized
prisoners.
Erich Hartmann's implacable pattern of resistance, which took
him
several times to the brink of death in personal
hunger
strikes,
had been crowned with an act of open rebellion the previous year at Shakhty. German ex-soldiers, classified as war criminals, were used as slaves in the Russian coal mines at Shakhty, and Erich
Hartmann's
refusal to
lifted the spirits of every
The
story
work had touched
German
off a little revolt that
confined in Russia.
was one to be savored by prisoners
was impossible, and whose process of resisting their
life
own
energies were
for
whom
consumed
dehumanization.
escape
in the daily
The Russian duty
crew inside the Shakhty camp had been overpowered, and Hartmann, released from solitary confinement by his comrades, spearheaded the drive for redress of the shocking condiofficer
and
his
tions in the
prisoners
camp.
He had
coolheadedly dissuaded
from escaping, and had asked instead
commission to be appointed
to investigate the
for
many German
an international
Shakhty slave camp.
The outraged Russians had not dared to kill Hartmann, but they had sent him to solitary confinement in another camp at Novocherkassk. Some of his comrades in the Shakhty Revolt had been sent to Diaterka, bringing with
them the
story of the rebellion.
A
CALIBER OF A HERO maximum
camp, Diaterka was under
security
the prisoners
managed
still
3
a roaring
welcome
rigid discipline,
for
but
Hartmann.
Located near Sverdlovsk in the Urals, Diaterka had a special
German VIPs in German generals languished behind its with members of famous German families and "war
compound,
inner
a prison within a prison, for
Soviet clutches. Twelve wire, together
criminals" like Erich Hartmann. In Russian eyes, the blond
who
got such a rousing welcome to the
no longer
own
a soldier
who had done
his
maximum
security
man
pen was
duty under the laws of his
land and under the traditional codes of military service. His
relentless
antagonism toward the Soviet secret police led to his
"conviction" as a war criminal in a Russian kangaroo court.
Turned over to the Russians in 1945 by the U.S. Army tank unit to which he had surrendered with his Gruppe from Luftwaffe Fighter Wing 52, Hartmann steadfastly refused to work for the Soviets or with their East
tinued through
He
German
six years of threats,
stooges. lures
His resistance con-
and attempted
bribes.
even resisted the supreme incentive of return to his family in
Germany
if
he would work
in his native land as a Soviet agent.
Hartmann was never going to aid their cause, and they then brought him to trial as a war criminal, sentencing him to twenty-five years at hard labor. His
After six years, the Soviets realized that
response was to ask for a bullet. Soviet confinement was a prolonged
and
debilitating test of hu-
German men from every walk of life were exposed to its soul-corroding rigors, and many succumbed. America is gathering its own experience today of these nightmares of confinement, with many of its sons, similarly branded as war criminals, in the
man
character.
Communists. Even the seemingly indomitable Erich Hartmann had his breaking point, and those who endured Soviet jails for untold years are unanimous that everyone has a power
of Asiatic
breaking point under such inhuman conditions. Senior generals in Russia proved no stronger than privates, and indeed, were strated
all
the
more
pitiful
no superiority over
NKVD.
when
NCOs
in
they broke. Officers demon-
meeting the challenge of the
Age, experience, family background or education— the
traditional forces
dominant
in the
development of character and
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF 'GERMANY
4 intellect— provided
no protection against
or
little
Those who survived the ordeal
men who drew
were
men
and
for the longest time,
from one of two main
their strength
Religion provided
sources.
in Russian prisons with a powerful per-
Whether he held
sonal bastion.
best,
disintegration.
his religious faith as
conviction or as a fanatic, the religious
man
could
an abiding
resist his cap-
The other men who could maintain their integrity were those who had known an absolutely harmonious family life, and there-
tors.
fore
had
homes and marriages would endure. These armor of love. They were at once protected arcane energy. Erich Hartmann belonged to
faith that their
men wore
a kind of
and powered by
this
this latter group.
His wife Ursula,
whom
he
"Usch," was his spiritual and
calls
moral power source while he was under the Soviet yoke. She was the light in his soul
black
when
the glory days of war vanished and the
Russian imprisonment was drawn between him and
veil of
the rest of humanity. She never failed him, and she part of his achievements.
Without
her,
is
an integral
he never would have
sur-
vived the Russian prisons for ten years, nor would he have wrought
the miracle of his rebirth.
By
the
common
mann was not heel,
consent of his fellow prisoners, Erich Hart-
only one of the strongest
but also one of an
many down
ruins
in
elite
and
men
group of natural
all
under the Soviet
leaders.
With
military regulations automatically
German prisoners recognized only those naturally among them. The cream went to the
swept away, the
who
rose
Ger-
leaders
top in
this natural process.
Rank and
decorations
meant nothing, and
neither did age or
education. Tricks and gimmicks of leadership were of no value. In
the Russian prisons there were worthless, traitorous generals and
magnificent sergeants; indomitable privates rubbed shoulders with corrupt
officers.
manhood
in
The
leaders
who emerged were
terms of character, will
Barely twenty-three years
hands, Erich
He
Hartmann
old
when he
years
German
passed into Russian
rose to the top despite his extreme youth.
was able to sustain himself and many of
more than ten
the best of
power and endurance.
his
countrymen
for
under conditions of almost indescribable
CALIBER OF A HERO
5
physical
and moral hardship. Rarely
modern
conditions, has a war hero been subjected to such pro-
in history,
and never under
tracted efforts at his degradation. His survival of such an ordeal better verifies his heroic qualities than does his decorations.
The
wellsprings of Erich Hartmann's strength were
reach of the
NKVD.
beyond the
Their source lay in his family background,
and native manhood, reinforced and overlaid by
free upbringing
the undying love of a beautiful
woman—his
wife. His personality
combines the strengths of both
his parents.
His physician father
was a quiet, decent
man
humans, and a penetrant,
feeling for his fellow
was
written,
is
from
airplanes
flew
whether
it
in
was a
gay,
quiet philosophizing over a glass of beer
his profession, while his
Germany, before
fitting
and the wisdom
to dare
living
and venturesome.
Hartmann enjoyed
as a relaxation
wisdom
still
is
young woman,
a vibrant extrovert as a
energetic, enterprising
Dr.
practical
from modern men. His mother, who
largely missing as this
with the old-time European doctor's deep
thing for a to
know
exuberant blonde wife
had quite decided
society
woman to do. The willingness how far to go—key elements
just
making Erich Hartmann the most
successful fighter pilot
ever—
are character traits derived from the qualities of his parents.
These
in
and other inherited
met and
qualities
own.
talents that are distinctively his
He
mingled with individual
has a will almost fierce in
its
drive to prevail
and conquer.
His directness in thought and word are disquieting to the pretender, inspiring to the timid
and challenging
to the valiant.
an incorrigible individualist in an age of mass formity.
To
the
marrow
of his bones he
sense of being the greatest of
meeting
all life's
all
is
and con-
a fighter, not only in the
fighter aces,
but also in terms of
challenges head-on.
"Gandy-dancing" around an incapable, even
is
effects
He
if
his life
issue
is
depended on
something of which he it.
He would
be
is
a total fail-
ure in the diplomatic service, with his punch-in-the-nose bluntness,
but he
is
honest
man
easily as fair
a sportsman
and
a lover of fair play.
A
fair
man and an
has nothing to fear from him, for he shakes hands as
he locks horns. In an age with a diminishing regard
play he
is
in
some ways an anachronism, and
for
like the knights
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
6
he would rush
of old
to pick
up a foe he had
just
knocked from
the saddle.
many enemy
In aerial warfare as a flying soldier, he killed
but he
is
another.
incapable in everyday
He
His religion
one of conscience and
is
man who
a certain type of
must not do
may be
who were
so sustained in Rus-
an extension of
is
As George Bernard Shaw once expressed
fighting heart. is
of consciously doing injury to
life
not religious in the formal sense, although he ad-
is
mired and respected the Germans sia.
pilots,
"There
it:
holds that there are certain things he
in life, regardless of the cost to himself.
called a religious
his
man. Or you may
him
call
Such
man
a
a gentleman."
Erich Hartmann's code of conduct— his religion in a sense— is that
he cannot be made to do anything he believes to be wrong, and he
will
not of himself do anything he knows to be wrong.
This variant of the golden rule
which admit
convictions,
to little gray in
moral sense, probably inherited from
pilots.
his father,
image he carried with him of
His conviction that
all
would be well
at
has an old-time
and the kind of
a
religion did for others
never wavered, and
was
it
Hartmann
Erich
fulfilled a
who
his
beloved Usch.
home, the mental picture
peaceful hearth centered around
what formal
Was
He
In the Russian prisons, his spiritual forces found
their focus in the
he held of
life.
his black-and-white
Truth that wins him the adoration of today's young
feeling for
German
from
arises
him Usch
his wife, did for
survived. His faith in
hundredfold.
then, a self-centered individual, thinking
only of himself and his Usch? Far from
it.
He
actually never
needed to expose himself to Russian
jails.
Right before the end of
the war, General Seidemann ordered
him
to take a Messerschmitt
fighter, leave
Czechoslovakia and his unit, and
Germany. His orders were
fly
back to central
to surrender to the British.
General
Seidemann knew that the Russians would take vengeance on their aerial nemesis, and the order to fly to safety was the last order from higher
HQ that Hartmann received during the war.
The young,
blond-haired major deliberately disobeyed this or-
German
der.
Thousands
old
people— most of them
of
had become attached
refugee civilians— women, children and relatives of
men
to this unit. Militarily,
serving in his Gruppe,
an order was an order,
CALIBER OF
HERO
A
7
and he should have obeyed. be
lieved to
being. cost
He
accepted instead what he beofficer
and
human
as a
stayed with the defenseless civilians, a decision that
him more than
His modesty
and blond eral
He
unavoidable duty as an
his
ten years of his
much
as
is
hair. Typically,
life.
a part of the
whole
man
as his
blue eyes
he never told the authors about Gen-
Seidemann's order in more than twelve years of friendship that
The
preceded the preparation of this book.
from
others.
When
asked about
it,
information came
Hartmann merely shrugged.
Unrelentingly hard against himself, he could find to forgive a
man had
comrade who caved in under Soviet
his breaking point,
and
for
some
others— that was Erich Hartmann's view.
it
in his heart
it
pressure.
Every
came sooner than
When
fellow prisoners
cracked up emotionally under such ultimate strain as a divorce in
Germany, he gave of his strength to them back together. He could talk soothingly to them, or them back to reality. His hard way was his own, and not for
absentia granted to a wife in pull slap
other
men
When
unless they chose, as a free act, to follow his lead.
from Russia was secured by Chancellor Ade-
his release
nauer in 1955, there were still many German prisoners remaining in Russia. Many had preceded him to freedom in West Germany,
and the occasion of
his return to his native
land was to be cele-
brated by ex-P.O.W/s and their families. At the railroad station in
Herleshausen, the there was a noisy sive celebration
first
he had touched
free soil
and exultant welcome.
was planned
He
a decade,
was told that a mas-
later for Stuttgart,
town of Weil im Schonbuch. The P.O.W.
in
near his
associations
home
had
or-
ganized the gathering, and important public figures were scheduled to attend.
Thin and gaunt, Hartmann was obviously moved. Then he surprised his welcomers by insisting that there be no such reception.
He
could not take part in such
Newspapermen asked heartfelt welcome home from
festivities.
him why he would not accept the his fellow citizens of Stuttgart.
"Because the Russians view
from
us.
They might
on hearing or reading of such a celebration, not to reany more German prisoners. I know the Russians well enough
well decide, lease
life differently
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
8
be fearful on
to
account for the continued imprisonment of
this
my countrymen in the Soviet Union. "When they are all home, then we Meanwhile, we must not
will
have the celebration.
German
rest until all
soldiers held pris-
oners in Russia are repatriated."
His ten-year duel with the Soviet secret police intensified Erich
Hartmann's native quality of
directness,
but he had
his
head-on
nature long before the Russians got their hands on him. Forthright
he speaks out loud and
to a fault,
clear in the presence of wrong.
Even Reichsmarschall Goering, standing one rung below God
when when
He air
the Nazis were in power, failed to overawe Erich the young ace visited his
felt
Hartmann
Goering had perpetrated a wrongful
mother near Juterborg
when
in January 1944,
act.
the
defense of the Reich was suffering from a severe shortage of
pilots rather
borg
when
himself, fighter
than planes.
He
landed at a fighter base near Juter-
the weather was closing
Only twenty-two
in.
he was struck by the extreme youth of the
squadron based at the
men come
pilots in the
was used to seeing young
to his units in Russia, but these flyers looked scarcely
more than high-school
When
He
field.
years old
boys.
he returned from
his visit
with his mother, he found that
the squadron had been sent up into the foul weather that had started to close in
when he landed
a few hours previously. Their
mission was to intercept a force of American bombers. ited training sters
and even
had crashed
less practical
fatally in the
The
or shooting at the bombers.
With
lim-
experience, ten of the young-
bad weather, without ever finding infuriated
Blond Knight
sat
down
a personal letter to Reichsmarschall Goering.
and wrote
Herr Reichsmarschall:
on your orders, fighter units took off in vile weather in an effort to find and shoot down American bombers. The weather was so bad that I would have been unwilling to take off myself. The fighters you sent into the air never found the bombers and ten very young pilots and planes were lost without firing a shot at the enemy.
Today from
Some
this airfield
of the
dead had
less
young
pilots
I
talked to in this squadron
than 80 hours' flying time.
If
who
we cannot win
are
now
against the
CALIBER OF A HERO bombers
9
blue sky, then to send youngsters up to die in bad weather
in
nothing short of a criminal act. should wait until the skies are blue, and the bombers come, and then send everyone up to assault them at once, with some chance of success. It is disgraceful to waste young men's lives as has been done is
We
today.
Yours
faithfully,
Captain E. Hartmann
Wing
Fighter
Erich
Hartmann
sent the letter directly to Goering by regular
The
mail, including his full current address.
gram
tone and content of
were sufficient to ensure punishment even for a lead-
this missive
ing ace.
52
The
hailing
next communication he got from Goering was a
him
as the
most
successful fighter pilot in the world.
Probably Goering personally never saw the Blond Knight's
but
it
tele-
was written and mailed with the intention that
letter,
should
it
reach the Reichsmarschall.
Because Erich Hartmann's of gruel as well as glory,
and peace, the
life
has had
and because he has been
and sense
hugely, has his mother's gaiety
gatherings of friends, old comrades
not
him
He
man, and he
is
a
boy who loves to
when he went
His boyishness
or lad.
He
was
full of
to the Eastern
fun then, and
when Bubi Hartmann clowned even
new is
play.
Front in 1942
German
his comrade-in-
arms and longtime personal friend Walter Krupinski time
life
The boy
earned him the immediate nickname of "Bubi," which in
means boy
in
at social
pilots of the
Air Force, the old tiger becomes a social lion.
far inside the
war
enjoys
humor, and
and young
measure
a fighter in
to date. of
a fair
been discussed
light side of his nature has rarely
the limited material published about
German
more than
tells
of the
in the rarefied air of
Berchtesgaden, before getting a decoration personally from Hitler.
Four leading aces of Fighter 3
March 1944
aces were
Wing
52 were
on
their
way on
to Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" to be decorated.
The
Gerhard Barkhorn, Johannes "Kubanski Lion" Wiese,
Walter "Count Punski" Krupinski and Bubi Hartmann. The reers of all these
men
interlocked with Hartmann's
and
all will
ca-
be
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
10
on the occasion
in question
Barkhorn was to receive the Swords (Schwertern) to
his Knight's
dealt with later in this book, but
Cross, Germany's second highest decoration. The other three were
Oak
to receive the
Leaves to the Knight's Cross, the order stand-
ing immediately below the Swords.
The
four
men met
each other on the
He
burg they befriended the conductor. lots
and en route
train,
to Salz-
was attracted to the
pi-
because
all
four were wearing the Knight's Cross at their
and
all
four were happy, young and friendly.
throats,
The
con-
ductor began conjuring an endless supply of beverages from his
compartment— schnapps,
beer, wine, cognac.
duced the
flyers
When
bottles, the four
them off the no condition
the conductor poured
the Eagle's Nest they were in
As
fast as
he pro-
disposed of the contents.
As they staggered into the railway
train a
to
few miles from
meet
station, they
their Fiihrer.
encountered
tall,
blond-haired Major von Below, Hitler's Luftwaffe aide-de-camp.
A
Below nearly capsized when he saw the in such an unseemly condition. They
kindly old cavalier, von
four neatly-dressed pilots
were scheduled to meet the Fiihrer in
less
than two hours. Coun-
tcrmeasures were necessary.
Typical early outside.
About
continual light
March weather
ing out of a gray overcast. heit.
blown snow
three inches of
snow blowing
Von Below
in the Bavarian Alps prevailed
fall-
temperature was 25 degrees Fahren-
ordered the driver of the waiting Mercedes
convertible to put the top down,
the Eagle's Nest in the cold, brisk
They were
on the ground, with
the nearby mountaintops or
off
The
lay
and
drive the four celebrants to
air.
driven up the road in the perishing cold, and then
allowed to get out and walk a
little.
They were then
hustled into
the Eagle's Nest a few minutes before their appointment with the Fiihrer.
They were
still
far
from sober.
As they entered the foyer of the beautiful building, Hartmann spotted a military cap hanging on a stand nearby. Seeing that it had some braid on it, he said, "Oh yes, there's my hat." He walked over and quickly plopped his fellow aces. his
They
it
on
his head, turning to
burst into laughter.
The
be admired by
hat came
down
over
ears— size seven and a quarter on a six-and-three-quarters head.
CALIBER OF A HERO Von Below
11
The
didn't join in the laughter.
pointed by Hitler to steer
visitors
harassed aide, ap-
through the maze of protocol
and procedure, rushed over and snatched the hat from Erich Hartmann's head. "Give
The
me that.
It is
the Fiihrer's hat!"
four pilots received their decorations without falling over,
but the Blond Knight's inadvertent borrowing of the is
always good for a laugh whenever any of the four
day. Because
Fiihrer's hat
men meet
to-
he excelled at a very grim business, and survived an
even grimmer aftermath, Erich Hartmann's sense of humor has
remained veiled from the public. Nevertheless part of his personality,
it
is
an
and he would not be the man he
essential
is
without
leavening force.
its
In the annals of war history there have not been
Hartmann's dimension, and even fewer. His 352
aerial victories, all
span of
heroes of
aerial history,
confirmed, are the all-time
Gerd Barkhorn, fewer than Hartmann. The Blond Knight of
world record for a fighter has fifty-one victories
in the shorter
many
His closest
pilot.
rival,
Germany downed more than four times as many aircraft as the Red Knight, the immortal Baron Manfred von Richthofen, topscoring fighter ace of the First World War. Even
in the hard-driven Luftwaffe, only a
handful of fighter
pi-
more often or entered aerial combat with greater frequency than Erich Hartmann. He took off to fight no less than fourteen hundred times, and actually entered aerial combat on more than eight hundred occasions. His physical and mental reflew
lots
silience
were such that he endured without fatigue the constant
grind of aerial
combat from the
fall
of 1942 until the
end
in
May
1945.
He was
never wounded. His ability to keep his hide intact while
taking toll of his foes was not mere blind luck. successful fighter pilots, but
all
vidual style of air fighting that
He
rejected the dogfight,
Will *
Van
The
States of
and
he developed
amounted
He
was lucky,
like
a distinctive, indi-
to a tactical innovation.
since the war, his
onetime adjutant,
de Kamp,* has said that Hartmann's success was due to
late
Will
America
Van
de
Kamp
after the war.
introduced the Volkswagen to the United
THE BLOND K N I G*H T
12
way he drove home the man. the
0*F
They were
his attacks.
GERMANY
point-blank, like
Van de Kamp once
told Usch Hartmann after the war that if had used Erich's tactics, he would never have become the world's most successful fighter ace. Van de Kamp's view
all
fighter pilots
was that Erich Hartmann's success was due to with the past, and the Blond Knight's evolved his
tactics, detailed in this
own
his tactical break
version of
how he
book, bear out the evaluation
of his onetime adjutant.
He
is
from
man
a
many
of
and
faults
his positive personality. Analytical
realistic,
he
likely to
is
and pluck out
deals
his toes.
most of them
failings,
and
arising
intuitive, as well as
go to the core of any problem with which he
He
primal seed.
its
decides and then digs in
made him a have been liabilities as much
In business, these traits might well have
tycoon, but in today's military, they as assets.
As
a youngster, his directness
showed up
in impetuousness,
often in dangerous conduct. In his maturity, astating lack of tact. In a
and fascinated by the at heart,
tomcat he
and the heart
insists
perennially romantic,
He
culture increasingly absorbed
vital,
he emerges
mobile mind has kept him
of a tiger
still
beats inside the old
he has become. In today's Hartmann, the
for-leather fighter ace
in his
manifests as a dev-
vacillations of uncertain heroes,
anachronism. His
as a vibrant
young
modern
it
and
hell-
often sloppy in dress, always venturesome, is
perilously close to the surface for a
man
early sixties. is
a
man
of
consummate
coolness under stress, and has far
more than his fair share of nerve. He often closed in to less than a hundred feet before firing at his foes in the air, a perilously close distance, and a paper-thin margin between a sure kill and a midair collision. He survived fourteen forced landings on the Eastern Front, taking off again each time as soon as a
new
aircraft
was
years— he was twenty-two years old the Diamonds—his innate qualities of modesty and
available. Despite his tender
when he won restraint
were not disturbed.
Far older
men
of the world,
than Erich Hartmann, in
sometimes
failed to
all
the military forces
wear the hero's mantle with
dig-
CALIBER OF nity
and
Corps
HERO
A
13
credit to themselves
fighter ace
"Show me
and
As U.S. Marine
their nation.
Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington once
a hero,
and
show you
I'll
a
bum." For many
Boyington's derogatory assessment has been
too true.
all
said,
heroes,
Many
a
wartime celebrity has become a peacetime emotional casualty.
Hartmann had to maintain his integrity not in the face of rewards heaped on him by a grateful nation, but against a regime that forced him to fight on for a decade in a lonely, soul-destroying Cold War. Hartmann played the cards that Fate has dealt him in war and Erich
peace with an equanimity that could even hope to emulate.
all
men
When
can admire, but which few
he returned to Germany in
1955 he had several bitter cups to drain. His son, Peter Erich, had died in 1947 and the Blond Knight never saw the boy. His beloved father
had
also passed away. His
into the medical profession his age
had
to
to follow his father
be renounced on account of
and long separation from the academic world. Nearly one-
third of his time
Old
boyhood hope
on earth had been
fighter tigers
join the
paign to
from
in Russian
him to They put on an informal cam-
his glory days continually pressed
new German Air get him back into
Force.
the military.
dim, he had to begin rebuilding his fighter piloting,
jails.
the thing he
knew
With
life
all
other possibilities
on the foundation of
best, the profession
his
he had
mastered.
He a
new
of his
checked out on the new
jets
under
USAF
instructors, started
family with a lively blonde daughter, and began the process
own
rebirth. Erich
armed forces
to
win the
was the only member of the new German Diamonds in the Second World War. His
new boss, General Kammhuber, made his appointment to command the first jet fighter wing of the new German Air Force— the Richthofen Wing— a historic and morale-building step. He became one of the most respected officers in Germany.
old glories, and his farsighted and serious
For
all
the good signs he was not yet done with enemies.
antagonists of the Blond Knight were not only the in
war and the
in the
NKVD
new German
in peace,
but also petty
Air Force. Small
men
men
enemy
The
pilots
in high places
in big jobs envied Erich
THE BLOND KNIGHT
14
Hartmann and
A
tried in various
few years ago, one such
shoot the Blond Knight
ways
man
OFT
GERMANY
to injure his career
in the
down from
that will be detailed in due course.
and
uniform of a general
status.
tried to
the ground, in a proceeding
He
survived this thrust and
fights on.
The
battered shield of the Blond Knight
honor, and
may
its
escutcheons are
emblazoned on
yet be
it,
still
for
bright. its
come
to explore
depth of
his
mance with
torment while
still
carried with
More names
fair-haired bearer
formidable participant in the tournament of
with him
is
life.
of glory is
still
The time
a
has
his story as a hero of the joust, the in
his beautiful lady.
bondage, and his unforgettable
ro-
Two
Chapter
THE MAKING OF A MAN The
fount of
manhood
has
its
source in boyhood.
—Anonymous
Al.n adventurous
keynote was struck for the
Hartmann when he departed Germany with live in
of Erich
life
his family in
1925 to
China. Born 19 April 1922 at Weissach in Wiirttemberg,
Erich was a sturdy, blond-headed infant already showing a will of his
own when
mother took him aboard
his
Orient. Erich's father, Dr. Alfred
a steamer
bound
for the
Hartmann, had found conditions
Germany difficult and unrewarding. A German Army doctor in the First World War, he had returned from that conflict only to confront new enemies— inflation, food shortages, political in postwar
and economic chaos.
When
Hartmann's cousin, who was German consul
Dr.
Shanghai, came
home and saw
in
the shambles in the fatherland, he
urged Erich's father to return with him and practice medicine in
China.
The
consul assured
Chinese. Dr.
him
of a flourishing practice
Hartmann loved adventure, and
cousin.
skeptical
A
of
ant and outgoing wife, Dr.
Compared most
him, but he was
the rosy picture painted by his diplomat
conservative and careful
to reconnoiter.
the
the prospect of prac-
ticing his profession in a foreign land intrigued initially
among
man,
in contrast to his exuber-
Hartmann went ahead alone
to
China
He was hardly prepared for what he found.
to convulsed
al-
Hartmann found the Chinese people eager they paid their bills and they rewarded him as
a paradise. Dr.
for his services;
and hungry Germany, China was
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
l6
well with
their high
Changsha, some
He
regard.
t
f
was the only white doctor in
hundred miles up the Siang [Yangtze Kiang]
six
River and another hundred up the Hsiang River,
and sent
his practice
Changsha, and
on which he
later
built a
its
He had in the
a pleasant
center on the
life
natural playgrounds, unspoiled beauty
The
island was a place
run
free.
where
Chinese people,
wooded
in
river,
island,
and secluded
coves.
a child's imagination could thrive
and
A
few
This Oriental idyl was not destined to
years later, as the
home
middle of the
new home.
memories of
Erich's earliest
with
for his family.
bought an island
when he opened
last long.
modern revolutionary stirrings began in the their course became anti-colonialist and antifirst
"foreign devil." Civil disturbances broke out.
Dr.
Hartmann had two
sources of protection as agitation
community
worse. There was his status in the
good works were not to
lost
became
as a physician.
His
on the Chinese. Secondly, he was lucky
be a German, because in the China of the 1920s the Germans
had no
status or influence,
and were not
a part of the decaying
colonial structure.
These conditions nevertheless provided only munity
for the
Hartmann
becoming commonplace.
whom
the medical
had
his
office.
By
temporary im-
1929, street violence was
Assaults on English, French and Belgian
residents were frequent. Dr.
one of
family.
a
home
Walking
Hartmann had in the
town
several English friends,
of Changsha, not far from
to his office
one morning, Erich's
fa-
ther was appalled to find the severed heads of three English friends
impaled on the picket fence around one of the British residences. doctor reacted quickly. Frau Hartmann, fiveand-a-half-year-old Erich and his brother Alfred, a year younger,
The
kindly
were packed
German off
back to Germany
for safety's sake.
For several
weeks they went jolting across Russia on the horrendous Trans-
way through Moscow, the train made was supposed to last an hour, and Elisabeth Hartmann some food and drink for her sons.
Siberian Railroad. a stop that
went
to get
On
the
"Erich," she said to her elder son, "you look after Alfred. Don't
be back in a few minutes." She disappeared into the milling throng in the Moscow station. Before she get out of your seats.
I
will
SOJOURN IN CHINA:
Elisabeth Hart-
mann and her sons Erich and Alfred spend a pleasant Sunday afternoon
in the garden
of their home on an Island in the Yangtze River near Shanghai. (1925).
ERICH'S PARENTS:
Dr. (med) Alfred
Hartmann and Elisabeth Machtholf were married
in 1919.
Their first son, Erich
Alfred was born 19 April 1922 at Weissach,
Germany.
DESTINATION CHINA:
In July 1924,
Frau Hartmann posed holding Alfred and Erich, who was just 28 months old at the time. They were preparing to leave for China.
WINTER IN GERMANY— 1928: Alfred hangs onto Erich and Erich hangs onto his father on a shopping trip.
T
f
OCTOBER
1940: The first photograph of Erich uniform of a Flying Cadet. He was I8V2 years old.
Hartmann
in the
CADET CLASS— 1
March 1941: Hartman, Cadet class photo taken before he reported Berlin-Gatow for flight training. Hartmann is the rear row, third from the right.
THE MAKING OF
MAN
A
17
returned, the train started pulling out. Alfred
doctor in Weil im Schonbuch, has a clear
Hartmann, today
memory
a
of the petrifying
experience that ensued.
was
"I
He
terrified,
and soon blinded by
me
kept soothing me, urging
would have none of was
rattling
wrong with
us,
not to cry and to be brave.
and kept bawling
on toward Germany
The people
pace.
it,
in the train
at
my
off.
my
I
train
like a frantic
trying to explain our plight.
better Chinese than
to the confusion
and
to
my
all
of which
"After what seemed like an hour of agony, through
Erich had been
The
were trying to find out what was
we both spoke
German, which contributed mounting terror.
head
what seemed
and Erich was manfully
Unfortunately, at that time
Erich was calmer.
tears.
ever-
comforter, interpreter and nurse, the carriage
door opened and there stood
my
mother, her blonde hair blown
At her appearance, even the brave Erich broke down. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he pointed to me recriminatingly. 'I told him not to cry/ he bawled, as our moth-
awry but a smile on her
er's
lips.
arms went around us both."
In later years, the cause of Elisabeth Hartmann's strange ab-
sence has been one of the family jokes. She had been buying food after standing in line,
the end of
its
when
she heard her train called, long before
scheduled hour stop.
The
departure whistle shrieked
immediately afterward. Dropping everything, the blonde young
German matron speed.
bolted along the platform as the train gathered
Grabbing at the handrail of the
last car at
the very end of
the platform, she swung aboard Hollywood-style, exhausted and panting.
Russian railways at
this
time were a long way from possessing
the luxurious rolling stock in vogue on most
Western
railroads.
This particular train had no inner corridors in the cars behind the
one
in
which Frau Hartmann had been riding with her
sons.
These
coaches were like Australian streetcars, with a catwalk along the side.
She had been forced
finally
to
work her way forward
car
by
car,
reaching the closed coach where Erich and his brother were
waiting.
After her return from China, Elisabeth
Hartmann
settled
down
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
l8
*
f
Weil im Schonbuch near
in
Stuttgart
and waited
word from
for
her husband. After six months he wrote that things had quieted
down. The
civil
had abated. "Come back
strife
he
to China,"
wrote, "and bring the boys."
The independent
Elisabeth Hartmann, however, had already
decided that enough of their "I will
now
for
an
office for
you near
and practice medicine family
lives
had been spent
in the Orient.
not return to China," she wrote back, "and
moved
Dr.
safely."
am
I
looking
down Hartmann came home. The
Stuttgart,
where you can
settle
into a quaint old farmhouse near Weil,
and three
and office at 9 Bismarckstrasse Weil im Schonbuch, where Erich Hartmann was to spend the
years later the couple built a house in
youth before going to war.
rest of his
From
his earliest years in
Weil, Erich was aviation-mad.
pacity for daring began to emerge, exemplified by his to
fly.
He
fashioned a glider out of
bamboo
shafts
first
A
ca-
attempt
and stretched
old blankets over the framework to form a fuselage. Carrying this rig,
which was
ran
and jumped
Clem Sohn and Leonardo da Vinci, he roof of the summer house. He landed in a
blend of
a
off
the
and he was unhurt, but he engineering and forthwith abandoned his
specially-dug pit filled with soft earth,
recognized his faulty
ground-hungry contraption. Erich's interest in aviation was given impetus
adventurous mother took up sport
but
ant,
young at
on the boring
a little
woman
like Elisabeth
Boblingen Airport, the
clays, just a little
in
flying. Life in
side for
Weil was
six
his
pleas-
an active and attractive
Hartmann. She joined
civil
more than
and focus when
a flying club
flying field for Stuttgart in those
miles from Dr.
Hartmann
s
office
Weil.
A
gifted pilot, Erich's
light plane, a
became
ily
Klemm
27.
mother got her
Then
private flying license
in 1930, the
on
a
happy Hartmann fam-
part owners of a two-seater, which they shared with
the meteorological director of Boblingen Airport. Erich's exposure to airplanes and flying thus became constant and intimate.
Today, but
in
IBM
has buildings on the old Boblingen Airport
the early 1930s every fine Saturday and
Hartmann boys and
their
mother
site,
Sunday saw the
flying in the little
Klemm,
or
THE MAKING OF A MAN working on
it.
After the economic collapse in 1932, the beloved
machine had
little
19
to
be
The
sold.
loss of
the aircraft was a hard
blow.
The began
came
following year, Hitler its
to power,
and German aviation
wanted German youth
resurrection. Hitler
become
to
air-minded, and urged the formation of glider clubs as a focus for
In 1936, Frau
this interest.
Hartmann formed
a glider club at
im Schonbuch
for the local boys, mostly farmers' sons,
as instructress.
The
the snappy
thrill of
but gliding had a rare charm
all
of
its
little
Klemm
own, and
it
Weil
and served
was missing,
made
for
happy
and entertaining weekends.
The
club had two gliders.
was an open
glider.
A
Zogling 38, for primary training,
For advanced
pilots, there
Every weekend Erich was taken by
He
his
took his turn with the other boys.
mother
The
was a Grunau Baby. to the gliding meets.
grueling task of pulling
the gliders into the air with a heavy rubber rope was a perfect outlet for
side,
With
youthful energy.
eight husky
young Germans on each
they would run forward, dragging the glider with
all
their
might.
Often the sailplane would
down on The hard
crunch back rope-pullers.
had
to
work hard
lift
a
few yards into the
air,
only to
the grass amid groans of despair from the pull
would have
The boys Then would come the
to begin again.
for the thrill of flying.
magic words. "Erich, you get
in. It's
your turn. We'll
His brother Alfred has a vivid
"He was an
try to pull
memory
you up."
of Erich's gliding
excellent pilot, gifted from the start.
I
skill:
used to wish
I
could do as well, but there was a vast difference in our natural ability for gliding."
At fourteen years of age, Erich was a licensed and proficient glider pilot. At the end of 1937, he passed his "A" and "B" Glider Pilot examinations, and with his "C" License became an Instructor in the Glider Group of the Hitler Youth. Looking back on those days more than forty years ago, Erich Hartmann says this of his introduction to flying:
"Gliding was a great sport, and something more besides.
me
a wonderful feeling for the
air.
The
sensation
It
gave
and subtle
pres-
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
20
wind
sures of the
around you, holding you up, bearing on your
all
glider,
attune you to the
sense,
an
air
man. Powered
nothing strange to me.
my young was
as
friends
much
"The
air
fly,
a part of
I
had flown,
I
me
right
down
kind.
I
is
came
brother and
as all
so climbing into an aircraft
me as getting into an automobile. to this day. If
and something goes wrong, often before there
my
mother,
early familiarization with aircraft that
has helped
some
my
in the true
the Luftwaffe,
flight, later in
had seen
and
You become,
environment.
I
get a
bad
I
am
got through gliding
I
sitting in
feeling.
my
pants.
aircraft
get this feeling
I
any instrumented indication of a
feel it in the seat of
an
failure of
There can be no doubt
more
that the earlier you get started in the flying business, the
highly developed your feeling becomes for everything connected
with aircraft."
same
Erich's brother Alfred practices medicine today in the
Weil built by his physician father. He is a sensitive and kindly man, who reflects strongly his father's temperament and outlook. After a brief fling as a Stuka gunner in North Africa, family
home
in
he was captured in Tunisia, and spent four years
in British prison
camps. More delicate of features, physique and manner than his
famous brother, Alfred
recalls Erich's
formative early years in these
frank terms: 'Tie was stronger than athletic
me
and accomplished
in every way.
He
was sports-minded,
in sports. In fact, there
was nothing in
the sporting line at which he did not excel or could not excel tried
it.
he was
if
he
He
was a natural athlete with wonderful coordination, and
at
home swimming,
diving, skiing
and
He
at track.
ex-
celled at gymnastics.
"In their
own
society,
Erich was a natural leader
boys elect their leaders naturally, and
among them. His
athletic prowess
only one element in this natural ability to lead.
He
was also
strong and practical— a resourceful boy. Boys his age really
spected
which
him
for these qualities.
too,
fame might obscure. He was
his later
particularly to
Then,
he had other fair
was
clever, re-
qualities
and he was
gentle,
me, because he knew he was stronger than me.
"Erich could not abide a bully, and he was a protector of
younger boys.
I
exploited his well-earned fame as a bully-tamer by
THE MAKING OF boys
telling bigger
Erich
on
they hit
if
A
who
me
MAN
21
me
threatened
that they would hear from
They
or bothered me.
left
me
Even
Weil im Schonbuch, with its population thousand people, the boys went around in gangs. Erich
in sleepy little
of three
and Alfred belonged
to the Glider
Frau Hartmann's gliding club. The fering interest,
was known
Gang, rival
a
group of boys from
gang, because of
crash
between bunches of boys
is
action
into
was revealed
its dif-
Gang. There was "bad
as the Bicycle
blood" between the two gangs because of fancied usually
severely alone
account."
this
insults, as there
in rivalry. Erich's readiness to
in
one encounter between the
gangs.
Returning
boy
home from
a
movie one evening, Alfred and another
trailed along forty yards or so
body of the Glider Gang. Members
behind Erich and the main of the Bicycle
Gang
waiting
concealment sprang out of the shadows, seized Alfred and
in
and
pal,
spirited
Gang who was
the Glider
He
them
off to their
his
hideaway. Another member of
bringing up the rear, saw the kidnaping.
followed the kidnapers and then ran after the Glider
Gang
for
help.
"The Bicycle Gang has Alfred— they've got him and they're going to beat him up."
in the old
Hard-sprinting Erich quickly outstripped the Glider
ran to the rescue.
He
hit the
barn doors
at full tilt,
Gang
barn
as
he
smashing them
open. Bursting into the barn, he confronted the shocked Bicycle
Gang. There were fourteen of them. They had Alfred and friend tied to a post. Erich snatched
barn
floor
"Get
The foes,
and
out!
up
a jack handle
his
from the
started swinging.
Get
out! All of you. Before
I
whack you with
this."
blue eyes were like burning pinpoints as he advanced on his
swinging the jack handle in a wide
arc.
The
broke and ran, bolting out of the barn for their
triumphant and panting, untied
Bicycle lives as
Gang Erich,
his grateful brother. In later years,
man would make him who outnumbered him. He was a boy who
the same fearless quality burning in the victorious over others
tackled
life
head-on.
Erich and his brother were students in the mid-i930S at a
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
22
The
national-political educational school in Rottweil.
not
this school did
He
Erich.
well with the forming character of
sit
The
loved freedom.
military-style discipline,
Much
lives.
was taught, and even leisure-time ends at
home
Weil seemed
in
young
school functioned under tight,
which ruled
all
aspects of the students'
German
polemic based on the new
silly
character of
activities
nationalism
were regulated. Week-
from
to Erich like a liberation
prison.
He carries
to this day
an unpleasant memory of Rottweil:
"Every teacher was God, and we were the ics
we had
lesson
make
to
and when time came
slaves.
Once
in a phys-
black powder from charcoal and sulfur,
for the
combined production on an
morning break, we had
iron plate.
We
to put our
were told not to play
with this material during the break.
"The teacher around the
knew
it
the classroom, and
left
pile of
contained.
we promptly
gathered
powder, fascinated by the explosive power we
A
couple of the more enterprising boys put
matches near the powder, but weren't game to actually
Everyone was daring everyone a
else to hit the
match. Someone challenged
probably a mistake.
powder.
A
I
me
powder do
directly to
took a match and shoved
it
ignite
directly
it.
with
which was
it,
right into the
and an explosion sent everyone diving under the
flash
smoke went billowing out of the room. "Within seconds, our teacher came striding back in, obviously
desks,
angry.
and
a pall of
Nobody would
my hand up to clean this
up
and all
confess to playing with the powder, so
said that
I
had
set it alight.
My
the apparatus used during lessons.
cleanup job three days later
when
I
I
put
punishment was I
was
still
doing
accidentally knocked a
heavy iron glass-holder into the cleaning sink, destroying some glass retorts.
was outright war between myself and this never forgot my prank, nor forgave me. He seized
"Ever afterward teacher.
He
it
every chance to victimize me. This vendetta typified the unhealthy
student-teacher relationship at Rottweil."
made
his discom-
to his parents. In the spring of 1937, Dr.
Hartmann
Erich chafed under the school's strictures, and fort
known
transferred
his
sons
to
the "Internat"
type
of Hochschule at
THE MAKING OF
MAN
A
Korntal near Stuttgart.
The
Hartmann boys boarded
23
school had a dormitory wing and the
there during the week. Erich's old teacher
Kurt Busch, remembers the conditions under
at Korntal, Professor
which the future ace of aces got
his education.
"Korntal School operated on lines different from the militarytype Rottweil school.
I
remember Erich
me
telling
he thought the
discipline too strict and all-encompassing at Rottweil. We allowed more freedom, and encouraged a good relationship between teachers and students. Every incentive was present for education and
study.
"In particular, the freedom they were given encouraged their sense of responsibility, as well as the development of conscience.
These kids were not
angels, Erich included, but
when they abused
their freedom, they
knew
This
something
for teen-agers,
and
it
and
I
felt it inside.
believe Erich was
really
happy
means
in Korntal
Hochschule" Thirty years ing the Erich
"He was
later,
Professor Busch
Hartmann he taught
a
little difficulty in recall-
1937-1939:
boy one liked immediately. Straightforward, open
and honest, he carried these ness,
in
had
qualities over into a certain impulsive-
but without hurting anyone's feelings or provoking them.
was aware of
his
thought was quite
winning right,
traits
and
profited
He
by them, which he
but nevertheless he was extremely
toler-
ant and never carried grudges. His temperament was to enjoy himself
and look
for the sunnier side of
courteous and respectful, and
I
life.
Toward
teachers he was
thought highly of his modesty and
tidiness."
Professor Busch, Erich's brother Alfred
that he was not the intellectual type.
who
fulfilled
ambition.
He
He
and
his
mother
all
agree
was an average student
the academic curriculum without either difficulty or exerted only such effort as was needed to pass ex-
aminations. His energies were primarily directed to the sports he loved.
Part of Korntal school activities was an occasional week of ing in the mountains.
opportunities to see at
On
these trips, Professor Busch
first
hand
ski-
had many
Erich's drive to excel competi-
tively—and also his penchant for fun.
The
professor was once
al-
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY the scene. When he emerged from his chalet
24
most too
close to
one morning, he was greeted by of
snow
completed a
as Erich
a
whooshing sound and
free ski
jump
off
a
shower
the chalet roof,
eighteen feet above the professors head.
Warnings were
became
soft, self-assured
time
laugh and the happy grin that later
Hartmann the man, were his only the next hazard. Alfred Hartmann recalls
a characteristic of Erich
response before tackling a
jumping hazards
to Erich of steep slopes, danger, or
A
futile.
when
they went to a skiing meet that featured a big jumping
event.
"Erich had never done this kind of big jump before. But he
simply said he was going to enter the event the next day.
him he was
a fool.
When
the time came,
it
I
told
was me, standing in
the audience, that was trembling, while Erich was at the top of
snow he stood
the slope as cool as the
boomed was
in
his
my
name.
Down
he came, then high
mouth. But he made
and landed
perfectly.
He
a
He
strutting or boasting.
To
world to tackle a
jump
his success,
ski
him,
it
like
loudspeakers
in the air.
smooth jump
was courageous to a
nothing of the show-off in him.
The
on.
My
heart
of ninety-eight feet
fault,
but there was
did nothing for the purpose of
was the most natural thing in the
that— to meet
its
challenge. After
he behaved with perfect modesty."
His head-on acceptance of any kind of athletic challenge
won
"Wild Boar." Professor Busch recalls it as a natural nickname. "The name is not too flattering, but it described to perfection Erich's vitality and forcefulness at this time— qualities that won him our wholehearted respect." They
him the boyhood nickname
of
were also qualities that were
and
tory,
sustain
later to carry
him through
him
ordeals almost
to a place in his-
beyond the compre-
hension of the kindly people of prewar Weil im Schonbuch.
and only love affair was also a head-on adventure. At Korntal Hochschule he met the girl who was to be first his sweetheart and later his wife— Ursula Paetsch. As a young teenErich's
ager,
first
"Usch" Paetsch was
mediately caught his eye. fell
as dark as Erich
He
was
fair,
and that im-
declares to this day that
in love with her at first sight.
Having made up
his
decided to take action. In October 1939, Usch and a
he simply mind, he girl
friend
THE MAKING OF were walking
up on
racing
MAN
A
home from his bike.
2$
off
and
the sidewalk, he looked into Usch's eyes
Hartmann." This
letting the bicycle fall to
and shyly
said,
"I'm Erich
self-introduction, typical of Erich's innate di-
was to survive the harshest
started a love affair that
rectness,
when Erich came
school one afternoon
Jumping
adversity.
Erich's parents were concerned oyer his
on one
girl.
He
was only seventeen.
Still
and Mrs. Paetsch, because Usch was only aggressor, father, initial
we knew
an engineer
that," said Usch's for a
more
were Mr.
startled
"Erich was the
fifteen.
mother of
Usch's
this time.
mining equipment manufacturer, voiced
opposition but quickly recognized that he could not influ-
ence the youngsters.
When
Erich was obviously going to
Herr Paetsch simply quit the unequal of the
sudden concentration
whole thing," he
struggle. "I
wash
persist,
my
hands
said.
Usch's mother tried to discourage the courtship, but
it
was not
Usch once said that she was going to a movie with her girl friend, which she did. Waiting in the movie by prearrangement was Erich. He undertook to see Usch home, and she was late. Frau Paetsch imposed a three months' ban on all movies, despite the appeals and apologies of the blond-haired boy who came to her door to plead his case. Usch accepted the punishment with unusual resignation, and a couple of months later her mother found easy.
out why. lady, Usch week she would dutifully attend classes. At the dancing school and attending the same classes was her fair-haired beau, Erich Hartmann. They could
In order to
become
a typically accomplished
was taking dancing lessons
not be kept apart, and
it
in Stuttgart.
gradually
Twice
young
a
became obvious
to everyone
that they belonged together. In time, both families were
charmed
by their young love in a world that was growing darker. call Usch his girl friend, Erich had to some competition. Usch's charms had captivated a dark-haired youth who was older than Erich and a head
Before he could truly eliminate lanky, taller.
—a
In later years,
sort of youthful
with sideburns.
Usch smilingly
German
When
referred to
version of Cesar
him
as
"Casanova"
Romero, complete
Erich told Usch that he wanted her to be
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
26
and go steady with him, she confessed that Casanova kept telephoning and wanting dates. his girl
'Til take care of that," said Erich.
He
called
on Casanova, who towered over him. Casanova
lis-
tened impassively to Erich.
"Usch
make
is
my
now, and
girl
dates any more.
Casanova
I
don't want you to
I
know you
call
her or try and
will understand."
sniffed disdainfully, turned
on
his heel
and walked
away, giving no sign that he had even heard this polite ultimatum.
A
few days
to
go to the movies.
little
Casanova was again
later,
and he
calling
Usch and asking her
When
Usch told Erich, his face darkened a he would see Casanova about the phone calls.
said
A few days later, he ran into Casanova. "I told
you
to stay
away from Usch," he
said,
and stood up
his rights with a couple of lefts— one to the nose
solar plexus. ray, forever
Casanova sank
and one
for
to the
to the sidewalk in blubbering disar-
eliminated from the contest for Usch's hand.
Erich and Usch were seldom out of each other's thoughts from the
fall
lives.
of 1939 onward,
They spent
and the warmth
every possible
most everything except each September 1939, but
it
moment
other.
of
young love
filled their
together, oblivious to
War
had come
had an unreal quality
Europe
to
al-
in
and Usch
to Erich
1940 and Erich's graduation from Korntal Hoch~ had to make an important decision about his future.
until the spring of
schule.
He
His intention
all
along had been to become a doctor, and this
wish had gladdened his father's heart, although Erich had no heartfelt, driving desire to
become
a physician.
When
he gradu-
ated from Korntal Hochschule a few weeks after his eighteenth
birthday in April 1940, he realized that service
some kind
was inevitable. That could mean only one thing
of military for
Erich—
the Luftwaffe.*
The war opened field
of aviation.
to Erich
Powered
Hartmann the complex and expensive flight in
prewar Europe was possible
The German military was very sensitive about being referred to as the Luftwaffe after World War II. However, after about 1962 it became the normal term throughout the world. Luftwaffe is "Air Force" in the German *
language.
THE MAKING OF
A
MAN
27
only for a few, because aircraft were expensive to acquire and operate.
men men
Certainly sport flying was beyond the reach of most young
Under the impetus
in their teens.
could become military
pilots,
ents of an education in aviation in
By 1940
and
same young
of war, the
find themselves the recipi-
which no expense was spared.
German fighter force had begun to capture the German people. Newspapers carried extensive publicity about successful fighter pilots. Werner Moelders, the top scorer of the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War, was in action again with much success. Johannes Steinhoff and Wolfgang Falck were the heroes of the Battle of the German Bight the
imagination of the
against
RAF
bombers attacking Germany. Erich's imagination was
captured by the seemingly glamorous trade of fighter piloting.
He
decided to enlist in the Luftwaffe.
His
humanitarian
chosen to be a
flyer,
father
was
disappointed
but Erich had been raised a
allowed to decide his derstood his desire to
ambitions toward the
own fly,
had
free
man and
was
future in freedom. Erich's
for she
air.
Erich
that
mother un-
had nurtured and guided
Usch was unhappy
his early
at the prospect of
being separated from Erich, but then, as now, whatever he wished to
do would meet with her Dr.
Hartmann
and that the themselves,
assent.
believed the war would end in a
conflict
boded no good
nevertheless,
The common view
they
all
German
Among
for the fatherland.
Erich's
rationalized
of the times that the
decision.
war would soon be over
become
assisted their acceptance of Erich's desire to
reasoned that he could learn to be an accomplished the anticipated short war there would
defeat,
still
They
a pilot.
flyer,
and
after
be plenty of time
for
medicine. Military
young
life
spirit
was psychologically wrong
who
for Erich.
sought the freedom of the
air.
He
was
The
a free
Rottweil
school had already demonstrated Erich's fundamental antipathy to military
life,
which had now become a
pill
to be swallowed with
the sweetness of flying. His basic aversion to military ways has
tended to adversely affect his later career in the the wartime Luftwaffe and in the
new
air force,
both in
Bundesluftwaffe, but he has
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
28
nevertheless been able to survive as an independent spirit in an
environment based on conformity.
On
15 October 1940, with the climax of the Battle of Britain
already past, the fresh-faced Erich
Regiment 10
Military Training
from Konigsberg
The
pilot
German
training of
The
March
1941,
time was not
full
impact of heavy
in-
pilot
had not penetrated the Luftwaffe
was done to accelerate the painstakingly thor-
ough courses by which the Luftwaffe produced
had not even replaced Battle
craft production
in his
or high water.
fighter pilots at this
losses in the Battle of Britain Staff. Little
was now uppermost
come hell
vested with any special urgency.
General
joined Air Force
Neukuhren, about ten miles
in East Prussia. Flying
He would become a
mind.
at
Hartmann
when Erich
reported to the Air
its pilots,
and
air-
of Britain losses
by
Academy School
at
Berlin-Gatow for flying training. Since October 1940 he had been learning military discipline,
and the manual of arms
close-order drill
activities for
which he
never developed any enthusiasm. There had also been theoretical studies
in
aviation
subjects— the history of aviation; theory of
operation, design
flight;
and construction
of aircraft
and
aircraft
engines; aeronautical engineering; strength of materials, aerody-
namics and meteorology. These subjects absorbed Erich had no difficulty with this aspect of his tive of
imminent
flying training
through his studies with
The most
a
his interest,
new
life.
The
and
incen-
was powerful enough to drive him
ease.
flying training that
began
year— indicative of the
at Berlin-Gatow
was to
last al-
leisurely attitude taken at that
toward pilot training in the Luftwaffe. Young
time
pilots later in the
on the Russian Front with barely one hundred hours total flying time— to be thrown straight into combat. Erich took his first flight in military training on 5 war would come
to Erich's squadrons
March 1941 in a type BT-NB trainer, with Sergeant Kolberg as his instructor. By 24 March 1941 he was ready to solo. When he touched down at the end of his first solo flight, it was his seventyfourth landing in a powered aircraft, although
it
was preceded by
hundreds of glider landings. Basic flying training was completed by 14 October 1941, and he
THE MAKING OF was ready
for the
Gatow had
MAN
A
advanced
29
flying course.
His instructors at Berlin-
already determined that he was fighter pilot material.
This advanced training period occupied from 15 October 1941 to 31 January 1942, after
the Fighter School.
and now
which he was posted
At
Zerbst,
in the Eastern
Zone
and
to Zerbst/Anhalt
between Dessau and Magdeburg
of
Germany, he was introduced
to
the aircraft that he would ride to glory— the Messerschmitt 109.
Erich had flown seventeen different types of powered aircraft
by the time he was ready
German
pilot
dreamed
Me-109* with
ited
for the fabled
Me-109. Every young
of flying this legendary machine.
The
spir-
powerful Daimler-Benz engine was a superb-
its
and
One
handling
aircraft,
at Zerbst
was Lieutenant Hohagen, a former aerobatic champion
a delight to
Germany, and he taught
of
secrets of aerobatic flying.
fly.
of Erich's instructors
his flaxen-haired student
maneuvers and the
of the
This was knowledge that Erich was to
use in the future, and misuse in the near future. cal
many
aircraft itself mastered,
With basic tactihe moved on in
to the business end of combat flying— gunnery. That Erich Hartmann was a superior natural marksman cannot
June 1942
be doubted. Nevertheless there
modest view of
a discrepancy
is
his aerial shooting
and the verdict of
poraries.
He
the
while experienced aces like Krupinski,
air,
action
between his
his
own
contem-
claims that he was never a good long-distance shot in
when he
first
went
who saw him
in
he was out-
to the Russian Front, say
standing at long range. Erich deserted long-range attacks early in
and hence
his
long-range marksmanship was seldom subsequently exhibited.
At
his
combat
career in favor of point-blank attacks,
gunnery school
On
his shooting ability
30 June 1942, in his
was obvious.
first aerial
gunnery
effort,
Erich fired
7.62-mm machine guns in the Me-io9D, and scored twenty-four hits. Anyone with a knowledge fifty
*
shots at a drogue with the
The
fighters at Zerbst
were the Me-i09-E4
at the time.
Known
as the
Bf-109 in Europe (for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, renamed Messerschmitt
1150 hp Daimler-Benz DB-601 Aa engine. Maximum speed was 357 mph and stall speed was 75 mph. Armament was two 7.9-mm MG-17 machine guns and two 20-mm cannon in
July
mounted
1938),
in the
it
was powered by an
wings outside the propeller
arc.
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
30 of
fighter
Many
pilot training will
achievement remarkable.
find this
and
of the top aces of the Luftwaffe spent months,
case of Erich's
comrade Major Willi Batz,*
years, vainly trying to
A shooting eye
score hits in air-to-air combat.
in the
the most important
is
Hartmann was one of those talent that came so hard and
asset of a successful fighter ace. Erich
individuals gifted with this
rare
slowly to others.
The
long grind through fighter pilot training had been arduous
and demanding.
When
he was commissioned Second Lieutenant
on 31 March 1942, Erich
He
mission.
felt
he had earned
also felt like letting his hair
his
wings and his com-
down,
young boy
like a
getting out of school in the afternoon.
On
24 August 1942, while attending the advanced gunnery
down
school at Gleiwitz, he flew
some
of Lieutenant
to Zerbst
Hohagen's aerobatics over the
buzzed and beat up Zerbst with snap flying
back to Gleiwitz climaxed
He came
rolls
and Cuban
airfield.
He
eights,
and
show with a maneuver an old James Cagney flying
his air
that might have been lifted out of
movie.
and demonstrated
howling across Gleiwitz Airfield at
thirty feet alti-
tude and upside down, while spectators stood bug-eyed with a mixture of wonder and
The
Gleiwitz
CO.
terror.
was waiting when he landed. Erich was
bawled out, sentenced to room thirds of his
arrest for a week,
pay for ninety days. His
and fined two-
show had been
air
expensive.
This potentially dangerous stunt showed that the impulsiveness discerned in him by his schoolteacher had not yet been eliminated
by military discipline. His wild aerobatics evidenced a certain immaturity that was to cause his
concern about giving him too Erich's
punishment had
commanding
much
its
of
room
the front
responsibility too quickly.
positive! side as well,
back on the incident today without
"The week
officers at
and he looks
regret:
arrest saved
my
life.
I
was scheduled
for a
Major Wilhelm Batz, 237 aerial victories in World War II. Soviet Front t On the other hand, news of his arrest preceded him to the as punishEast the to sent was he and many Luftwaffe officers heard that of them some to revealing be will ment for the escapade. In fact, this story *
as to
what
actually happened.
THE MAKING OF
MAN
A
31
When
I
this mission, in the aircraft
I
gunnery mission that afternoon.
mate took
substitute. Shortly after take-off,
was arrested, my roomhad been flying, as my
on the way
gunnery range,
to the
he had engine trouble and belly-landed beside the HindenburgKattowitz railroad.
He was killed
His impulsiveness had two
but in the beginning
As
warrior prowess.
his
placement
made
it
fighter pilots
in the crash."
sides, as
on
due course,
shall see in
his military progress lag far
behind
demand
for re-
ended, the
his training all
fronts
home
wangle a three-day leave at
we
in
was urgent.
Weil on
his
He
was able to
way
to the East-
ern Front.
A
farewell party was staged in his honor. Erich's parents' friends
gathered to say their farewells to the young the rest of the ers
men exuded
had only quiet
tears.
pride
The
fathers
known anything
quite
For those assembled, he was the
hero, going to fight. His inner feeling was that he was going to
himself, a disquieting
known
and
and confidence, while the moth-
Erich had never
like this celebration in his life.
pilot.
and almost
tipsy sensation
kill
he had never
before.
Between Erich and Usch there was
a final, tender, lovers' agree-
ment.
would
"I
you wait
for
like to
finally
I
Usch would indeed
Will
wait,
longer
than any
could reasonably be expected to wait, before Erich would
be hers to hold.
He
Krakau, 145 miles south of
had
over.
will wait."
dark-haired
woman
is
me?"
"Yes, Erich.
The
marry you, Usch, when the war
took a train the following day to
Warsaw
in Poland,
where the Luftwaffe
a large supply base for the Eastern Front. fly
Wing
52 (Jagdgeschwader 52, or JG-52).
pilot,
hot
to join the unit to
the hottest
for action, flyer.
From
there he
which he had been assigned, Fighter
would
He
was a hot rock
fighter
but conditions in Russia could cool down
In the coolness born of hard experience he would
become the most successful fighter pilot who
ever flew.
»
f
Chapter Three
TO WAR The most important thing without too much shock.
for a
young
fighter pilot
to get his
is
first
victory
—Colonel Werner Moelders
.O. of the Luftwaffe Eastern riffled
up
through
at the four "I
a pile of requisitions
fly
his head.
young second lieutenants assigned
have no request
you can't
Front supply base at Krakau
and shook
down
to
any replacement
for
Maykop
in Me-109/s.
He
looked
to JG-52.
aircraft for JG-52, so
However,
I
have some
Stukas to be ferried to Mariupol on the north coast of the Sea of
Azov, and you could
easily get to
Maykop from
there."
Second Lieutenants Hartmann, Wolf, Stiebler and Merschat changed glances with each other and nodded
ex-
their assent to the
base commander. Erich had never flown a Stuka dive bomber, but a plane
was
kind of bird.
a plane.
A
He
wasn't afraid to
few minutes
familiar cockpit of the dive
Basic controls were not kite
fly
a Ju-87 or
any other
he was clambering into the un-
later
bomber.
much
different
from the Me-109. The
was bigger and slower, with some minor differences
in instru-
mentation. Erich ran up the engine and everything checked. Wolf, Stiebler
and Merschat taxied out and took
off satisfactorily.
Erich
eased the Stuka toward the take-off point.
A
controller operated
take-off area
to skirt the little building.
He
squeezed the
brake to pull around the controller's hut.
No
response.
and Erich prepared left
from a wooden hut near the
chomped on
the binders. Full brakes!
Still
no
effect.
The
He dive
TO WAR
33
bomber kept going brake.
He
right for the hut, as Erich fought the defective
glimpsed the controller bolting out of the hut, and an
instant later the Stuka
went plowing into the structure.
Rapid loud bangs racketed peller
across the base as the Stuka's pro-
hacked the hut into matchwood.
paper and wood
splinters filled the air,
A
blizzard of shredded
and swirling around under
the propeller's blast beat like a snowstorm into the cockpit. Erich killed
engine and
the
jumped out shamefaced
to
the
assess
damage.
Two
Half the Stuka's propeller had disappeared.
splintered
wooden stumps about eighteen inches long stuck out from the propeller boss. half
its size,
duced to
The
controller's
hut had been chopped down to
and the documents and logbooks
confetti.
The dazed
inside
controller picked his
had been
re-
way slowly
amid the shambles. Officers and other personnel, headed by a livid base commander, came apprehensively out of nearby buildings to view the wreckage.
Almost fainting with embarrassment, Erich stood red-eared
and awkward beside the
As the base commander advanced
ruins.
on him, he was ready to be bawled
one of
out, but
his
young
comrades saved him.
A
second Stuka of the four destined for Mariupol came limping
in for a landing with
its
engine missing and trailing smoke. Before
the horrified gaze of the already furious base commander, the sec-
ond Stuka touched down,
rolled forward briefly,
perienced pilot hit the brakes a
and stayed young
there,
its
pilot crawled
little
too hard
tail reaching for the sky.
and
went up on
A
second
Maykop
its
nose
crestfallen
out and stared uncomprehendingly at his
Stuka. Appalled by the attrition these "baby pilots"
the base
as the inex-
commander decided
that they would
in a Ju-52 transport— with
someone
fly
had caused,
to the front at
else at the controls.
Conversation was impossible inside the Ju-52 due to the engine noise, so Erich settled back amid ammunition cases, crates of spare parts and gasoline
drums
old Berlin newspaper he found
to give his attention to a two-day-
among
the freight. Reports of the
war were optimistic. Leningrad was under
siege.
tacks were being launched against Stalingrad.
Battering-ram
The German
at-
drive
THE BLOND KNIGHT O F GERMANY
34
where he was heading now, would soon
into the Caucasus,
minate
in the capture of
Baku and
cul-
limitless oil— according to
its
Dr. Goebbels. Reports of air battles showed that at
all
points
on
the Eastern Front, aerial combat was taking place at least 750 miles deep in Soviet territory.
from the Eastern Front had spoken in awe of and high-scoring its aces. The Fighter Wing he was joining JG-52 had won great fame. Since Erich had yet to fire his guns in anger, Pilots returning
and with the Stuka
mind, he
disaster fresh in his
felt his inexperi-
ence sharply. His nerves grew taut as the transport began
down the
at
Maykop,
1
50 miles northwest of Mt. Elbrus.
its let-
Maykop was
HQ of JG-52.
The wing stiffly
adjutant was awaiting
them
as the
new
pilots
climbed
out of the transport. Captain Kuehl was a smallish man,
neat and trim, with a pressed uniform and shining boots.
epitomized the "All of you
staff officer as
he checked their names
come with me," he
said.
He
off a list.
"You're going to meet
Colonel Hrabak, the wing commander, before joining your
indi-
vidual squadrons at other airfields."
Captain Kuehl led the way into an underground bunker. Headquarters for JG-52 was
hung
a
little
huge map of the
with a telephone to
HQ
more than
front.
Two bomb
soldiers
were on duty at the
the Russian
official
R/T
one wall
cases served as tables,
the front.
tables,
One
and away
in
to the
officer
and
one corner
One
operator was keeping a running log
traffic;
the other operator was monitoring
were the radio operators.
on the Wing's
On
and another telephone connecting
three groups of JG-52 deployed along
two
a big foxhole.
conversations. Crates that once contained 20-
mm cannon shells served as chairs. This grim and businesslike setup was presided over by a short, chunky man with thinning blond hair, Colonel Dietrich Hrabak. Erich immediately noticed the difference between the wing com-
mander and
his adjutant. Hrabak's
pled and there were crusted with dried time. Erich
oil
spots
mud and
had never seen
on
uniform was soiled and rumhis
trousers.
His boots were
hadn't contacted a brush for a long
a colonel like this before.
rear areas, at the training bases, a colonel
was
like a
Back
in the
god and usually
TO WAR
35
wore a uniform to match. Hrabak was a
more ways than just his clothes. Hrabak spoke and moved softly,
in
each of them. Erich
commander
the wing
easily.
new
blue eyes looked directly at each
different kind of colonel
His penetrating, light
pilot as
he shook hands with
an immediate rapport with Hrabak. As
felt
briefly explained the
command
setup Erich
could see that while Hrabak was no old-time ramrod, he was a
competent and thorough Erich
professional. If this
you encountered at the front— a
cer that
felt
was the kind of
real old fighter
offi-
tiger*—
he could find a place with such men.
"Living to
new
the Luftwaffe," said Hrabak to the
rise in
pilots,
a question of learning as quickly as possible to fly with your
"is
head, and not with your muscles."
The wing commander
and the Knight's Cross
tories,
The
at this time
had over
of the Iron Cross
sixty
confirmed
hung
vic-
at his throat.
and others now were not taught
things he was telling Erich
back in the training schools.
"Up aircraft
to
now,
all
your training has emphasized controlling your
on operations, that
in flying your aircraft. pilots
To
is,
making your muscles obey your
survive in Russia
and be successful
will
fighter
you must now develop your thinking. You must act aggres-
sively always,
you
of course, or
will
not be successful, but the
must be tempered with cunning, judgment and thinking. Fly with your head and not your muscles.
aggressive spirit telligent
.
The R/T
." .
loudspeaker broke in on Hrabak. Erich stood rooted
to the spot as a typical front-line fighter pilot
"Keep the base
been
clear. I've
going to land immediately.
A
in-
hit. I
drama unfolded. field and I'm
can see the
." .
.
buzz of concern arose in the bunker. Then the
R/T
rasped
again.
"Goddam! Erich,
bunker
I
hope
I
and
it.
My engine's burning now.
Hrabak and the other new
just as a
duty
the end of the grass *
can make
The term
"old"
a half years
officer fired a strip,
among
pilots
red flare to clear the its
field.
Near
approach,
is relative. Hrabak was barely seven Hartmann, but an "old man" by the
fighter pilots
youthful standards of fighter pilots.
.
scrambled out of the
an Me-109 was making
older than Erich
." .
THE BLOND KNIG9T OF GERMANY
36 trailing
plume
a
down, the grass.
of heavy black smoke.
pilot stroked the stick
The machine
The
back and the crippled kite hit the
rolled a few yards, then
and flew away from the
dercarriage let go
smoking, the Me-109
made
gear was
fighter's
something aircraft.
in the un-
Burning and
and ground-looped
a swerve to the left
with a thunderous explosion. Krupinski!" someone shouted.
"It's
Crash crews went racing out to
ammunition
schmitt's shells
fight the
started exploding
fire,
and
but the Messer-
and cannon
tracer
spouted away from the pranged bird at
all
angles. Erich
stood with his gaze anchored by the fiery spectacle, fascinated by
drama and
its
violence. Bursting through the smoke, the pilot
bolted clear of the inferno. His survival seemed like a miracle. rescue truck drove
He was
him back to where Erich was
a husky, big-bodied
got
"I
some
flak hits over the
if
his face
was
pale.
damned Caucasus Mountains,"
to Hrabak.
"Krupinski, said the
we
will
have a birthday party for you tonight,"
wing commander.
Hrabak turned
awe
standing.
young man, and he was smiling
widely as he approached Hrabak, even
he said
A
to the
new
pilots,
and
at the sight of Krupinski,
whose mouths hung open with at the narrowness of his recent
escape.
"Every time something goes wrong through he's
it,"
said Hrabak,
"we
give
and the
like this,
him
pilot lives
a birthday party because
born again."
"What happens, "Then we drink
sir, if
a pilot dies?" said Erich.
his skin
(Versaufen wir sein Fell), so every-
body can forget quickly." Erich was deeply impressed by his meeting with two of the Luftwaffe's
the
manly
later,
more famous directness with
fighter tigers.
abbreviation
liked the informality,
Two
which things were handled.
on 10 October 1942, he was posted
*The
He
III/JG-52
designates
to III/JG-52,*
No.
3
Gruppe
days
which had (Group)
of
Jagdgeschwader 52 (Fighter Wing 52). Each wing consisted usually of three Gruppen. The 7th Squadron of No. 3 Gruppe would be written 7.III/JG-52.
The
7th, 8th
and 9th Squadrons of JG-52 composed III/JG-52.
TO WAR its
37
HQ at Soldatskaya,
tains,
hard by the
transport crash
on the
a little village north of the Caucasus
He
river Terek.
last leg of his
and Hrabak's
journey to war, with Krupinski's
instructions burning in his mind.
As the transport flew southward at the beauty of
Moun-
clambered again into a Ju-52
Mt. Elbrus
off to
marveled
to Soldatskaya, Erich
the right, thatched with snow,
wearing a small boa cumulus cap, and glowing whitely in the bright sunshine. Over 18,000 feet high, Elbrus at the eastern
a splendid
landmark Elbrus would be
the area. Off to the distance.
made an imposing
sentinel
end of the Black Sea. Erich thought to himself what
left,
flat
As the heavy ship
let
to
any
fighter pilot flying in
plains stretched endlessly into the
down
for a landing, Erich spotted
the airfield at the northwest corner of the
little village.
melons and sunflowers surrounded the region.
A
Acres of
pretty
thought Erich, marred only by the grim silhouettes of about Me-109/s on the airfield— a grass lots
strip lined
spot, sixty
with tents for the
pi-
and ground personnel.
At Soldatskaya, III/JG-52 was directed from another underground bunker much like the one in which Erich had met Hrabak. As Erich walked into the bunker with the other replacement lots,
a tallish
man
pi-
with slicked-back dark hair and a long, small face
looked up and grinned. "Hello there, you innocent young babies!" he
"I'm the
said.
Gruppenkommandeur, and my name is Major von Bonin. Hartmann and Merschat are assigned to the 7th Squadron, Stiebler and Wolf to the 9th. Now, what kind of news do you have for me from home?" Erich responded immediately to yet another tough old fighter tiger.
Men
like this didn't exist in the training schools.
Again the
uniform was rumpled, the trousers baggy and uncreased, the boots
something to give a
drill
Von Bonin
sergeant apoplexy.
also dis-
pensed ideas that weren't taught in the training schools.
A
Condor Legion in the Spanish War, von Bonin had downed four aircraft in that encounter, nine more flying with JG-26 in the Battle of Britain and more than fighter pilot veteran of the
Civil
forty
on the Eastern Front. Thirty-two years
the ways of fighter leadership, and Erich liked
old,
he was wise
what he heard.
in
THE BLOND KNIGHT oV GERMANY
38
"Only
On
aerial victories
we have
the ground,
element
plies to
more
combat
greatest
skill
and experience. This regulation ap-
everyone— including me. than
victories
If I fly
who
with a sergeant
has
then he leads the element. This eliminates
I,
question between pilots as to
all
trivia.
military discipline, but in the air each
always led by the pilot with the most aerial victories
is
and the
count out here, not rank or other
who
There
to lead.
is
is
never
any dispute, because only victories count. "In the
in battle, you'll say things you'll never say
air,
on the
ground— especially to a superior officer. Under the strain and tension of combat this is unavoidable. Everything that passes in the way of comments— even abuse— in the air, is forgotten the moment you land.
"You young second
lieutenants will mostly be flying with ser-
geants.* They'll be your leaders in the
you didn't follow
Von Bonin
Never
air.
let
me
hear that
their orders in the air because of rank."
clearly
meant what he
said.
The
following
month
Erich heard Lieutenant Grislawski, an accomplished and successful fighter pilot, talking to
R/T. They were engaged
Major von Bonin,
in a
his
wingman, on the
heavy dogfight with Ratas. Grislaw-
got excited, and von Bonin did not respond to his instructions.
ski
you won't
"If
me, then you can
listen to
kiss
my
backside,"
barked Grislawski into the R/T. Still
no response.
"You damned son-of-a-bitch at his group commander.
When
.
.
."
Grislawski kept hurling abuse
they landed, Major, von Bonin
Grislawski,
and
him
told
that he
came
had heard
smilingly up to
his instructions,
but
could not answer because his transmitter was dead.
"Now
your backside
The to his lived *
we
that
is
are
on the ground, you
too dirty for
pilots all roared
CO., but
it
will agree
with
me
that
me to kiss."
with laughter, and Grislawski apologized
was not necessary.
Von Bonin
practiced
and
what he preached.
The United
missioned
States
Army
officers as pilots.
as officers as pilots.
Air Corps, during
Many
World War
II,
used com-
other nations used enlisted ranks as well
TO WAR
39
As he finished
new
his informal talk to Erich
von Bonin seemed more
pilots,
of confidence, trust
mality,
He
When Master
feeling
tricks,
but Erich
felt
for-
he could follow Major
hell.
he joined the 7th Squadron, Erich met a small, black-
man
haired
warm
aroused a
and comradeship. There was no empty
no leadership
von Bonin into
an older brother than any
like
military officer in Erich's experience.
and the other three
to
whom
Eduard
Sergeant
personality to
he was to
become
debt for the
feel a
"Paule"
An
Rossmann.
improbable
Rossmann was
a fighter pilot,
temperament, with a sunny disposition and a
Second Lieutenant Hartmann was to
rest of his life-
of artistic
fine singing voice.
Sergeant Rossmann's
fly as
wingman.
On
the ground,
Rossmann was
playboy. His mercurial temperament could take
from womanlike
He
dirty joke.
him
in
an instant
death of a comrade to laughter at a
tears over the
burst into song
and
a perennial funmaker, joker
when he
arose in the
morning and
was often singing when he went to bed. In between times he
rec-
onciled antagonisms between tense pilots, dissolving animosities
with his humor.
He
was
from the
as far
stylized conception of a
dogfighter as a pilot could be, and, as Erich soon found out, Ross-
mann
wasn't a dogfighter.
The
mercurial
Rossmann once
airborne
was a steady, reassuring teacher. The things Erich learned from this
diminutive mentor would carry
him
to the top of his lethal
trade.
When most
other officers in the squadron, dogfighters and toughies
of them, heard that Erich
had been assigned
as
Rossmann's
wingman, they thumped the baby-faced Hartmann boy on the back.
"Paule
is
our best man, Hartmann.
He
is
a sharpshooter with
over eighty victories, and he always brings his
wingman home.
You'll be safe with Paule."
For two days Erich heard from every quarter what a good
Rossmann
was, a real
first class
honcho.
He
heard
it
also
man
from an-
other individual whose services were to be an integral part of his success as a fighter pilot— his crew chief, Sergeant
Heinz Mertens.
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
40 Erich
met Mertens soon
after his arrival at 7th
there was an immediate contact between the two
Chunky, dark-haired Mertens was
men
he got from Mertens, and
happy family man
in Diisseldorf,
fame and
and
it
met. Erich liked the
was mutual. Today a
Heinz Mertens
meeting with the twenty-year-old blond boy planes he serviced to
men.
a square-cut individual,
he looked right at Erich when the two solid impression
Squadron, and
recalls his first
who was
to fly the
The
personnel,
glory:
"I couldn't picture a better
young
fighter pilot.
including me, liked him very much. His first words to me when we met were that we would meet every morning for breakfast. He said we would map out the day and set everything up for briefings. He seemed like such a young youngster, with that boyish face, but he had a mature, businesslike manner. From then on, I would not let
anyone
else
touch his aircraft except under
and we were together from that day
vision,
my
direct super-
until the
end of the
war."
Mertens made a practice of using a swearword, "Gebimmel!"
when anything went wrong. Erich thought it was funny that his crew chief bore down so heavily on this one word, so he simply nicknamed him "Bimmel," and the name stuck. Between Bimmel, the good reports on Rossmann, the sound impressions made by Hrabak and von Bonin, and the dashing example Erich was desperately eager to do well
Rossmann on 14 October
1942,
on the
set
by Krupinski,
when he took first
off
with
mission in which he
entered combat.
The two Me- 109
G-4's
had
Groznyy and Digora when the "Seven
fighters
just
taken off for a sweep between
R/T came alive.
and three
IL-2's
are strafing the roads near
Prokhladnyy. Intercept and attack."
Nerves taut, Erich followed Rossmann up to 12,000 feet, and they flew down the line of the Terek River to Prokhladnyy. He tells his
own
story of his
first air
"After a fifteen-minute
R/T.
flight,
Rossmann's voice rasped over the
'Attention, eleven o'clock low. Bandits. Close in near to
me
and we'll attack.' I searched below for sight the enemy aircraft Rossmann had called out. I couldn't see any-
in fighting position
of
battle:
TO WAR
41
closed in on
my
thing.
I
him
we dived down.
as
"Still
leader to about one hundred feet behind
enemy
couldn't see any
I
we
thousand-foot dive
two dark green
leveled
off,
aircraft in front
and
and a
at high speed
My
heart leaped.
first
and
to see all
my
tracer hurtling over
There were no quickly that
all
hits.
my
"I felt desperate. I
yards.
I
alone above
had
lost
my
kill.
.
.
leader.
in beautiful sunshine.
it
power
full
position.
I
was shocked
target
grew so big so
up and avoid a collision. all sides by dark green
for the
kill.
to the left of the target.
I
.
I
aircraft,
Me!
heeled over and raced
low cloud, climbed through
for a little layer of all
to pull
were.
first
was surrounded on
I
them turning behind me
of
and
Nothing happened. The
had time
just
I
"Instantly
from three hundred
fired
we
saw
us.
thought was to get
Now! That thought took possession of me. I went to and overtook Rossmann to get in front of him in firing closed very fast
five-
first
I
higher than
little
They were about a thousand yards away from
"My
After about a
aircraft.
it
and found myself
felt a little better.
Then R/T.
came Rossmann's very quiet and reassuring voice on the 'Dont sweat it. I watched your tail I've lost you now that you ye climbed through the clouds. pick you
Come down
below the layer so
up again/ That calm voice sounded wonderful.
the stick forward and went
"When
I
about
fifteen
can
pushed
the cloud layer.
burst out underneath the clouds,
me
head-on to
down through
I
I
I
saw an
hundred yards away.
I
aircraft
panicked.
I
down and went barreling westward along the line of the river, calling to Rossmann that an unknown aircraft was following me. Back came that reassuring, quiet voice. Turn to the right so I
split-essed
can close with you. "I
turned
and got
Down
I
right,
9
but the
perilously close.
went
I
aircraft
panicked again.
to treetop height, roaring
could hear Rossmann on the unintelligible.
down
into
mortal
went hurtling
I
my
terror.
bullets into
pursuing
my
R/T
but
along,
all
I
me
cut across
my
turn
firewalled the throttle.
westward at
his voice
full bore. I
was distorted and
the while pulling
my
head
body, crouching behind the cockpit armor plate in I
was waiting
fighter.
for the crash of
enemy
shells
and
THE BLOND KNIGHT of GERMANY
42
"When me.
kept going a few minutes more, and to
I
had shaken but
dared to take a look, the other aircraft was
I
off
my
pursuer.
mentor. Climbing a
little,
I
landmark— Mt. Elbrus
clear
The
I
to
my
But now
left.
red glow of the fuel warning light told
minutes
my
tried to establish
me
I
I
garbled,
still
thrown
at having
tailing
found
relief
heard Rossmann again,
was near delirious with joy
I
my
still
my
off
tor-
position.
One
was too
late.
it
had
than
less
five
flying time.
"After the shortest five minutes in memory, the engine coughed
and blurted, then went dead. altitude.
along.
I
could see a
The
little
was going
I
in. I
kite started to fall like a stone.
than two minutes
in less
fantrymen.
I
had
bellied in
Soldatskaya, and an
army
a
thousand feet
road with military convoys moving
belly-landed in a monstrous cloud of dust.
and
had
I
I
I
flattened out
and
opened the canopy
was surrounded by German
about twenty miles from
me
car took
my
in-
base at
back."
Erich winced his way through a noisy, vehement and cold turkey
Major von Bonin. The experienced Rossmann followed up with a lecture on elementary tactics while von Bonin listened grimly. On his first flight in combat, Second Lieutenant debriefing by
Erich
Hartmann had
aerial tactics. 1.
violated virtually every established rule of
His tactical sins included:
Separating from his leader without orders.
2.
Flying into his leader's firing position.
3.
Climbing through the cloud
4.
Mistaking his leader for an enemy
from
whom
layer.
he had bolted
after
aircraft.
The "enemy"
descending through the
clouds was Rossmann. 5.
Failing to follow Rossmann's order to rejoin.
6.
Losing orientation.
7.
Destroying his aircraft without inflicting any damage on the
enemy.
Major von Bonin then
told the crestfallen Erich that
he would
have to spend three days working with the maintenance crew
punishment
for
these breaches
of
flying
discipline.
blond boy turned to in the following days with the
A
as
contrite
fitters
and
TO WAR
43
armorers. For the future ace of aces,
was an ignominious be-
it
ginning.
He
more missions with Rossmann. Each time, he learned something new. Rossmann had an injured arm, and couldn't dogflew
tough
fight like the other
the wing. Artist that he was,
tigers in
Rossmann had developed
compensating .technique that Erich
a
could see was better than the grueling and dangerous turning bat-
Rossmann was
tles.
a fighter
who
flew with his head. Surprise
attacks were his forte.
Erich noted
how Rossmann
He would
waited before striking.
enemy and wait while he made a quick study of the situaThe decision to attack was only affirmative if it could be thrust home with surprise. The other tough tigers in the squadron couldn't contain themselves if they saw an enemy aircraft. They ripped into the enemy immediately. Erich saw that Rossmann see his
tion.
was making
kills steadily,
about Rossmann's
know what it
was
He
and not taking
hits.
When
Erich talked
not seem to
tactics to other pilots, they did
this "see
and decide" was before
striking.
Erich
knew
right.
also
overcame
to see other aircraft
with Rossmann.
He
combat blindness, the inability that had bedeviled him on his first mission
his neophyte's
describes this handicap of the
new
pilot in
these terms:
"This combat blindness
on the
You
R/T to
utterly confounding.
is
Your leader
calls
take care, that there are five strangers at one o'clock.
stare in that direction,
see nothing. Unless
eyes.
You
this, it is
hard
combing the sky with your
you have actually experienced
to believe.
combat flying. The handling of the aircraft is no longer uppermost in your mind. The senses adjust to new demands, and then you see the enemy aircraft just like an experienced leader. But if the man you are as"Later on, you develop an
signed to
fly
acumen— to
acumen
for
with does not give you a chance to develop this
find yourself as a
combat pilot—you
will
be shot down
for sure.
"This happened more and more as the war dragged on, and there were fewer
and fewer good
leaders
who
cared to break in
THE BLOND KNIGHT ©F GERMANY
44
new
most
pilots,
of
whom,
to the front with but a
from 1943 onward, came fraction of the training I had been given. in the period
make up a fighter who simply said to
All kinds of fighters
rough dogfighters kill
and
to hell
"To be and
sions
with what happens to
sent out as a
perience
to you,
themselves,
the
mis-
first
have him lose you through not caring
must be
a devastating experience.
the handmaiden of panic, and panic
is
make
'I'll
of
my wingman.'
inexperienced boy on your
little,
lose your leader, or
what happens
and we had plenty
unit,
Inex-
the father of
is
mistakes. "If
had been assigned
I
mann's
qualities
and
to another leader, without Paule Ross-
skill,
I
would have followed
different
a
pathway, developed a different attitude and probably would not
have lasted
as long. In the
education of a fighter pilot
it is
what he
shown first that helps him survive, and later equips him to bring his new comrades through. "When I became an element leader and later a squadron commander and group commander, I did everything in my power to guide new men through these important first few flights. I made is
it I
ti
I
a rule of
was ie
life
to
do
this after
my
experience with Rossmann.
like a kitten.
rigid
with fear of what might happen to
He
with Rossmann's reassuring presence.
through
this critical period,
but he taught
of the surprise attack, without
become thing
On
I
Suppose they had started
with a tough and ruthless leader— we had plenty of them.
off
was
my
young boy, blind
a
just
sat 5
which
I
am
me
it
was, even
not only brought
me
me
the basic technique
convinced
another dogfighter, assuming that
on shot
as
I
I
would have
didn't get the
off first."
November 1942 Erich took
off
with First Lieutenant
Treppe, the group commander's adjutant, in a four-ship Schwann
scrambled near Digora at noon. Erich's combat sight was already good,
and he
quickly:
called
out the enemy
Germans were
periority,
counting them up
eighteen IL-2 Stormovik ground-attack aircraft with an
escort of ten Lagg-3 fighters.
the
first,
The odds were
long numerically, but
already accustomed to Soviet numerical su-
which had been growing since the summer of 1942.
In a portent of things to come,
it
was the experienced Lieuten-
TO WAR ant Treppe
45
who
could not see the
Erich to take the lead, and attack.
and from
ship elements,
enemy this time. He ordered The Germans split into two-
their perch
above and behind the Rus-
The main mission was to disrupt the IL-2 attack against forward German transport. Erich and Treppe went slashing through the Red fighter screen firing briefly at selected targets as they tore down through the enemy ships at high speed. Leveling out at about 150 feet, Erich sians,
went into
a steep dive.
took the IL-2 on the far
ning speed, he opened
the formation. Closing in at light-
left of
at less than a
hundred
yards.
Hits!
could see his cannon shells and machine-gun bullets
strik-
fire
Hits!
He
ing the Stormovik.
armor
They were bouncing
plate. All the old tigers
The Stormovik was
the toughest aircraft in the
a talk that ace Alfred Grislawski
he watched
method now. "Try
it,
air.
that heavy
IL-2's armor.
He remembered
had given him about the IL-2
his ricocheting bullets.
Stormovik. Grislawski had told lawski's
Damn
off!
had warned about the
There was
a
way
him and he thought about Erich.
Try
it."
He
as
to nail the
Gris-
was shouting
aloud to himself over the roar of his guns. Pulling up and banking around, he IL-2.
Coming
in
made another run on
in a steep dive to just a
the
few feet above the
ground, he dropped below the
enemy machine and came up under-
neath. This time he held his
fire until
two hundred
feet away.
The
the Stormovik was about
blast of his guns
brought an im-
A
long
tongue of flame came stabbing out with blowtorch intensity.
The
mediate belch of black smoke from the IL-2's
empennage
The
oil cooler.
of the IL-2 was quickly enveloped in flames.
stricken
Stormovik lunged eastward, leaving formation.
Erich followed hard behind, his throttle at in a shallow dive.
from under the
A short,
full idle,
both
sharp explosion and a flash of
IL-2's wing,
and
aircraft
fire
came
pieces of the Stormovik were
hurled directly into Erich's flight path. His Me-109 trembled from a muffled explosion under the engine cowling.
Smoke came
bil-
lowing back into his cockpit and streamed from under the engine doors.
Erich took a quick survey. Altitude: too low for comfort. Posi-
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
4^ tion:
still
on the German
Good.
side of the lines.
He went
rapidly
through the preparations for another belly landing. Power back, master switch
fuel
off,
ignition
off.
None
too soon. Flames began
leaping out from under the engine doors as he bellied
down with
fighter set
a deafening roar of crumpling metal.
parching cloud of dust swirled into the cockpit and
choking
The
canopy back he saw of
smoke and
was enveloped
Hartmann had
As Erich pulled
went roaring
his
A little
death plunge.
to earth, trailing a
and then disintegrated with a convulsive air.
scored his
would present no
kill
Erich
Crashing thunderously, the Stormovik
fire.
in flames,
explosion that rocked the
the
fire.
his late adversary take a
over a mile farther east the IL-2
Erich
left
A
as the aircraft slithered to a halt.
dust pall had smothered the
plume
The
in.
difficulty.
Confirming
first aerial victory.
Lieutenant Treppe circled the
scene of Erich's crash, rocked his wings and flew away
when he saw
the victor was alive and mobile. Infantry swarming in the area
picked up the quietly exultant Erich and took
him back
to his
unit.
Two weeks
days
later,
in the hospital at Piatigorsk-Essentuki.
mull over
to
Erich was stricken with fever and spent four
all
he had learned to
lyzed his actions in the
date.
He had
time there
Again and again he ana-
He dared to think that he was beHe had not repeated the disaster weeks previously. He had not broken
air.
ginning to learn his trade now. of his
first
mission three
flying discipline,
had held
pass against the IL-2
before
his fire better,
had taught him
a
and the second
good
lesson.
Get
firing
in close
firing.
had another important aspect that Erich had time to contemplate and analyze as he lay in the hospital. He had not lost his own aircraft through panic, stupidity and inexperience as in his first engagement, but he should have broken away more His
first
rapidly.
He
A
victory
quick breakaway would have seen him stay airborne.
could have avoided the debris from the exploding IL-2 by
breaking quickly.
months he would perfect his four-step mode of "See - Decide - Attack - Reverse, or 'Coffee Break/"
In the coming attack:
TO WAR The
47
basic lesson of this
victory.
of attack was inherent in his
His good fortune in flying
not only kept him aerial tactics that
tactics
mode
would
alive,
but had
first
him
to
with Paule Rossmann had
set the pattern for the distinctive
he would develop
carry
first
in the
coming months. These
an unprecedented pinnacle of success,
and on the way he would pass every tough old dogfighter that ever flew.
»
f
Chapter Four
WINNING HIS SPURS In war, if you are not able to beat your enemy at his always better to adopt some striking variant. .
.
own game,
Winston
When he rejoined felt
his
tempering of his
earlier
Plenty of time to do things to the
found out what your limits were, he reasoned.
mined that no enemy would protecting him. Paule would
became good enough self.
nail
fever,
Erich
impetuous aghilt
when you
He was
deter-
Paule Rossmann while he was
show him how
it
was done when you
an element and do the
to lead
nearly
Churchill, 1916
squadron after his bout with
in himself a distinct
gressiveness.
it is
.
firing your-
His admiration for Rossmann's elegant surprise attacks and
long-range sharpshooting continued to increase, but the time
soon afterward when he had to
Squadron. His education in
fly
air fighting
came
with other aces of the 7th
was expanding.
Experts with long strings of victories and
all
winners of the
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, these tough aces for the most part used completely different a
"head"
flyer
methods from Rossmann, who was
without the muscles for dogfighting. Erich's natural
analytical ability easily discerned the difference in techniques.
observation and intuition he
knew Rossmann's way was
but from each of three hardened dogfighters with
whom
By
the best,
he now
flew he learned something important.
There was rugged Sergeant Dammers, old veteran
who had won
mers was a "muscle"
a square-set, thirty-year-
the Knight's Cross in August 1942.
flyer,
Dam-
a hard-turning, aggressive dogfighter
20
YEARS OLD: Erich Hartmann on 28 Feb.
1942,
weeks before his 20th birthday. Taken at ZerbstAnhalt, this photo was his graduation picture from six
cadet school.
ZADET
HOME ON
LEAVE:
Ober-
Hartmann home on military on transfer from basic training at
ahnrich eave
Veukuhren
3atow
to flight training at Berlin-
late in
February 1941.
FATHER AND SON:
1 October 1942 at Weil im Schdenbuch, Dr. Alfred Hart-
mann and
his neophyte fighter pilot son, watch an airplane fly over the village. Erich had just graduated from the combat fighter pilot school and was being
Erich,
posted to the Russian front.
GRAF PUNSKI: Walter Krupin shown here with two JG52 pilots, sec 197 aerial victories while flying more t 1,100 combat sorties. He was and remc one of Hartmann's best friends. (Krupinski Collecti
COMBAT LEADER: Edmund
TACTICS TUTOR:
Josef "Jupp" Zwer-
"Paule" Rossman led Hartmann on his first
nemann flew as flight
leader with Hartmann,
FIRST combat
sortie,
for Hartmann.
which nearly ended
Rossman scored 93
ingia,
in disaster
From Caaschwitz
in
Thur-
victories before the
Russians caught him after a forced landing near Orel
in 1943.
He survived the
war.
(Toliver Collection)
ERSTWHILE WINGMAN FOR RALL AND HARTMANN: Lt. Hans-Joachim Birkner flew as wingman
to
both Gunther
Rail and Erich Hartmann during his early
combat
days.
He
went on
to score
117
vic-
tories before crashing to his death while
on
a flight test mission atKrakau, Poland on the 14th
of December 1944. (Toliver Collection)
teaching him that point-blank range was the best
way
to get
a
victory.
Zwernemann was
by a Mustang pilot near Lake Garda, losing his life on 8 April later shot in his parachute
1944. His record: 126 aerial victories.
VICTORY CEREMONY IN R USSIA: GuentherRall is honored by his squadron
mates
down his 200th enemy aircraft, 29 August 1943
after shooting
at
Makeevka, Russia. Left
to
right are Broschwitz, Stefaner,
Walter Krupinski and
Rail,
Frink.
(Krupinski Collection)
« mm
JVJHH
1
mm,
MUD WAS AN ENEMY IN This JG52 Me- 109 had to be dragged to drier ground after the thaws in the Spring of 1944 in the Ukraine.
RUSSIA:
(Krupinski Collection)
LUCKY EX-BOMBER PILOT TURNED FIGHTER: Giinther
Capito,
center,
Hartmann'ssole wingman shot top
was to
be
down while flying with the ace. A converted bomber
pilot,
Capito failed to horse his
Me-109
into a turn sharp enough to avoid an attack This photo taken in 1960. (Capito)
V FIRST PORTRAIT AFTER WINNING THE RITTERKREUZ: Erich Hartmann shot down enemy airplane on his 386th combat USSR, on 29 October 1943. He was awarded the Ritterkreuz and sent home on leave. Erich wears the rank of Lieutenant. Since July 5th, 1943, he had scored 131 aerial victories. Early in the war the Ritterkreuz had been awarded for just 20 victories!
his 148th sortie,
over Kirovograd,
A T HOME
14 JUNE 1984— ENGAGED: This is the official engagement photo taken when Erich was home on leave. At this time he had 1 7 aerial victories.
WITH HIS LOVED ONES: Mother Elisabeth Hartmann and father Alfred are happy whei
son came home on leave engagement during a previous leave in June. their Ritterkreuz-wir.ning
in
October 1943. Erich and Usch had announced thei
WINNING HIS SPURS who
could physically wear
kill.
Keeping Dammers's
49
down
his foe before
moving
in for the
taught Erich some of the car-
tail clear
dinal drawbacks of dogfighting, including vulnerability to other aircraft in the attacked
formation and
more
Alfred Grislawski was still
used
lots of
loss of overview.
of a head flyer than
muscles as well.
Cross the previous summer, and
it
He
also
Dammers, but
had won
his Knight's
was he who had apprised Erich
of the vulnerable oil cooler underneath the IL-2.
As
analytical as
he
was aggressive, Grislawski was one of the top Stormovik-busters in
on
JG-52 and a thoughtful tactician. Later in the war, he stepped a mine at a Black Sea beach and was badly injured, but he
survived the conflict with 133 victories
and Oak Leaves
to his
Knight's Cross. First Lieutenant Josef
head
flyer.
Zwernemann was a when Erich
Twenty-six years old
muscle and
fifty-fifty
flew with
him
as his
wingman, Zwernemann then had over sixty victories. He died in action on 8 April 1944 near Lake Garda in Italy after a wild dogfight.
One
of his conquerors ignobly shot
he bailed
These three
something that was markedly
tigers all did
range assaults were at skill
in his parachute after
out.
ent from Rossmann's tactics.
seem
him
at long range relatively
first
They
closed in to
Nevertheless,
foes.
Erich
if
the best
point-blank
no doubt of the
Dammers and Zwernemann remembered, too, that his own first
close-in strike against
an IL-2.
He
Rossmann's
aircraft in this fashion
there was
ability of Grislawski,
from a
differ-
Their short-
a surprise to Erich, because
had made shooting down
easy.
fire.
to kill
down
their
had come
found himself wondering
method might not be Rossmann's
surprise tactics plus
firing.
Flying with these experts as a wingman, Erich got few chances to shoot again himself.
easy task.
Keeping the leeches
off their tails
was no
movement
of the
Furthermore, the almost constant
7th Squadron from airfield to airfield did not allow Erich to settle
down. In January, 7th Squadron moved from Mineral'nyye
Amavir
German ground troops, but within a advancing Red Army made the new base untenable.
to protect retreating
few days the
to
THE BLOND KNIGHT
50
GERMANY
OyF
Erich watched in anguish while nine good Me-109's were blown
up because bad weather made
their flight out impossible.
Makeshift bases subsequently at Krasnodar, Maykop and Timoshevskaya tional
had
all
to be evacuated in turn. After a short opera-
period at Slavyanskaya, 7th Squadron finally shifted to
Nikolaev, where
was reunited with
it
new combat
hard, hectic times for a
III
pilot,
Gruppe. They were
and there were
signs that
conditions were getting even harder.
When
Captain Sommer, the
fiftieth victory
CO.
of 7th Squadron, scored his
on 10 February 1943 he was refused the Knight's
Cross to his Iron Cross. In the past,
Front had been
fifty victories
on the Eastern
sufficient for the Knight's Cross,
but
now
the
requirements, like the struggle against Russia, had significantly stiffened.
The
Knight's Cross seemed a remote and unattainable
goal to Erich in January
He
did not score his second victory until 27 February 1943.
new and dynamic personality appeared on the Squadron scene, an officer who was destined to give Erich
Soon afterward, 7th
and February 1943.
solid
a
impetus toward the top— First Lieutenant Walter Krupinski.
Appointed
Captain Sommer, Krupinski was the same
to replace
smiling tiger
who had
escaped so narrowly from his crash-landed
Me-109, the day Erich arrived at the front at Maykop. The new
CO.
of 7th
Squadron took over
his
command
in typical fashion,
earning Erich's immediate respect and awe.
Krupinski arrived at
Taman Kuban,
introduced himself as the
new squadron commander, and asked immediately for a serviceable fighter. He went up, was promptly shot down and bailed out. Brought back to the field by car, he demanded another Me-109, took
off
again immediately, and this time scored two
ing intact to the airfield.
commander: he was
There was no doubt about
a tiger,
kills,
this
return-
squadron
and he obviously didn't need any
tightly ordered discipline in leading his soldiers. Erich liked Kru-
pinski immediately.
The new squadron commander's to
next request was for a
wingman
be assigned to him. His hell-for-leather reputation had preceded
him, and the
NCO
pilots
were reluctant to assume the responsibil-
WINNING HIS SPURS protecting him. Paule
ity of
51
Rossmann came
to Erich as a repre-
sentative of the sergeants.
"Would you
please
Lieutenant Krupinski's wingman,
fly as First
Erich?"
"Why? Don't the sergeants want the
job?"
Rossmann appeared a little embarrassed. "The old timers say that he is a sharp officer," said Paule, "but he can't fly. They think it is better all around if an officer is his wingman. Will you do
it?"
Erich found Rossmann hard to refuse.
He
agreed to see Kru-
was unhappy about the whole thing when he offered
pinski. Erich
himself to the
of the
sergeants
new squadron commander, because many were decorated veterans and usually knew a good
fighter
lamb going
to the
from
pilot
a
bad one. Erich
felt a little like a
slaughter. Krupinski's bullish bluntness did little to ease Erich's
mind.
A
strapping, five-foot nine-inch
famous
dynamo, Krupinski was already
by the spring of 1943 as one of its outstanding characters and playboys. Walter Krupinski was a ripe, in the Luftwaffe
mature personality who looked and acted— on the military side of his life at least— far
beyond
his years. After six
months' duty in
the Reich Labor Service he was drafted as a Fahnenjunker (Cadet) in the Luftwaffe
He had been
on
1
September 1939.
a senior cadet, and later as a commissioned end of 1941 and had once flown as the great "Macky" Steinhoff's wingman. He was a successful and famous
officer,
flying as
since the
JG-52 ace with over seventy offered his services as a
victories at the
time Erich Hartmann
wingman. Krupinski was destined
to
end
the war as the fifteenth-ranked fighter ace of the world with 197 victories,
and
land's elite
at the surrender
he was a member of Adolf Gal-
Squadron of Experts
in JV-44, flying the
Me-262
jet
fighter.
Krupinski's exploits through the years
had earned him
Taman. He had
tion for toughness that preceded
him
chant for getting himself into
impossible
wounds, bail-outs and crash landings. the
Kuban
River,
coming down
in a
to
He
a reputa-
situations,
a pen-
and
for
once belly-landed near
meadow which
the
German
"
THE BLOND KNIGHT Of GERMANY
52
had mined. As
infantry
his shattered kite slid along the grass
it
tripped a series of mines, and Krupinski immediately concluded that he was being
Krupinski's for cover.
bombarded by
artillery.
first
impulse was to jump out of the plane and bolt
life
was saved by a German infantry sergeant who
His
bawled out the explosive
facts
bered clear of the cockpit.
The
about the
field to
soldiers took
him
as
two hours
he clam-
to extricate
him, walking out to him and testing the ground with sticks
as they
came. His career was a skein of similar incidents, culminating in the last
months
of the
war when he was enjoying himself on
recuperation leave at the Fighter Pilots'
Home
in
Bad Wiessee. At
SteinhofFs urging, he took reluctant leave of a big barrel of cognac
provided for the pilots and flew the Me-262 in Galland's JV-44. Krupinski's
spewing
mind
as
"Sir,
crash
live
arrival
at
ammunition
he confronted
this
Maykop, with the burning
in all directions,
was fresh
fighter
in Erich's
formidable personality.
my name is Hartmann. I am to be your wingman."
"Been out here long?" "No,
sir.
About
three months."
"Any victories?" "Two, sir."
"Who have you been flying with?" "Rossmann mainly, but
also with
Dammers, Zwernemann and
Grislawski."
"They're
all
good men. We'll get along
all right.
That's
all for
now."
Walter Krupinski
retired as
General and
a Lt.
is
living in
West Germany.His only recollection of Neunkirchen^Seelscheid his first meeting with Erich Hartmann is an indelible impression of in
Erich's extreme youth.
"He appeared not much more than full of life.
As he walked away from
myself, 'Such a
young
a
me
mere baby. So young and that
first
Guenther
Rail,
I
thought to
face.'
This same impression of Erich was shared at tain
day
this
time by Cap-
who had become Gruppenkommandeur
of
III/JG-52 in place of von Bonin, in the same shuffle that brought Krupinski to command No. 7 Squadron. Later we will make fuller
WINNING HIS SPURS
53
contact with Guenther Rail as one of JG-52's greatest aces, but
time parallels that of Krupinski.
his recollection of Erich at this
saw him [Erich]
"I
only,
first
Squadron mess, and
in the 7th
He
'What, a young boy— a baby/
stood out
first
I
thought
for his ex-
treme youth, but quickly came to everyone's attention because he
was a good marksman." Erich and Krupinski took to the air the following day with disturbing initial impressions of each other. Erich was sure that he
was
flying with a wild tiger
who
could not
fly,
and Krupinski was
The first mission was sufficient to change Erich's mind about his new leader. The new squadron commander waded into the enemy like a barroom brawler, a batteringly aggressive and fearless pilot who sure
he was
flying
could not only
with a baby on his wing.
fly like
a
demon, but
Krupinski's purported inability to
also
fly
keep a clear
tactical head.
was obviously a yarn without
foundation. Nevertheless, Krupinski could not shoot straight and
ammunition went wide.* Krupinski's weakness was therefore supplemented by Erich's strength as a marksman, for Erich had been a natural sharpshooter from the day he riddled his first drogue in training. Together, Krupinski and Erich formed a most
of his
winning combat team. Erich began by sticking close to Krupinski, and as they entered shooting range, decreased his air speed and went to his leader's reverse as
he pulled up or broke. This gave Erich
shoot, "filling in the holes Kruppi
had
left."
A
a few seconds to
couple of additional
victories came this way. Soon they realized that they could depend on each other, and as Krupinski coached Erich they began to
read each other's minds in combat, as have
teams in
When
all
the great fighter
history.
Krupinski went into an attack, Erich would stay "on the
and telling him what to do if another enemy aircraft intervened. During Erich's attacks, Krupinski stayed on the perch and called out instructions to Erich to
perch," watching his leader's back
improve
his attack or take evasive action. Erich
voice on the
R/T
rasping the
heard Krupinski's
same order over and over
* Straight shot or not, the indomitable Krupinski shot aircraft in slightly over
1100
sorties.
again.
down 197 enemy
THEBLOND
54
"Hey, Bubi! Get in
KNIGflT
You're opening
closer.
GERMANY
0*F fire
too far out."
Erich was emulating Rossmann, with long-range attacks. hitting
well
time he
every
shooting Krupinski, but if
he closed in on
many young air that
it
fired,
come
was
which impressed the poorer-
was obvious he would do even better
his targets.
pilots
He
As Krupinski
who
to us
later said:
could not
"We
had
so
hit anything in the
Erich stood out immediately with his accurate long-range
gunnery."
From
him "Bubi"
Krupinski's constantly calling
Erich's nickname,
which he has retained
in the air
to this day.
came
The whole
squadron was soon calling him "Bubi," and the name stuck. Krupinski's steady urgings, "Hey, Bubi, get in closer," encour-
The closer he got to his foe, the when he fired. Few shots went wide.
aged Erich to close his ranges.
more devastating the Often the other
effect
aircraft
could be seen to stagger under the multi-
gun blast at close range. Even more often, there was an explosion in
the air as the other machine disintegrated.
down
that way, they
Soon Erich had
would never come back up
fully
developed the
When
they went
again.
tactics of air fighting
from
which he would never subsequently depart. The magical four steps were: "See - Decide - Attack - Reverse, or 'Coffee Break/" In lay terms, spot the enemy, decide surprised, attack
or
if
if
he can be attacked and
him and break away immediately
he spots you before you
strike,
after striking;
take a "coffee break"— wait-
enemy and don't get into a turning battle with a foe who knows you are there. The rigid observance of this tactical sequence carried Erich Hartmann to the top. pull off the
Erich's
successful
warm
partnership in
the air with
Krupinski led
on the ground. Krupinski's nickname, "Graf Punski," was not something conjured out of thin air, but was appropriate to a debonair ladies' man and social lion.
naturally to a
friendship
"Count Punski" enjoyed life in the huge fashion which his physique, stamina and dashing manner united to make possible. All guts and claws in the air, he was all charm and polish on the ground, a happy, handsome fighter pilot. Flying
came
first
with Krupinski, but the second requirement
was the construction of a bar wherever the squadron was quar-
WINNING HIS SPURS tered.
Every
eligible
55
German
within thirty miles belonged to
girl
the zestful Krupinski. As Erich says of
Punski
eagerly learned
I
many bad
Sinatra type, charming, sharp
both in the
air
after the war, like
and
him
a lover.
A
and on the ground, he grew
but inside
the old
lies
today:
He
things.
"From Graf
was the Frank
gentleman
'criminal'
serious
Kruppi—a
tiger
on the outside without teeth,
me."
Under Krupinski' s guidance, Erich ran his score to five by 24 March 1943. His first five kills were scored as follows:
Down
Nov 1942
Missions Flown
1
IL-2 Shot
27 Jan 1943 9 Feb 1943 10 Feb 1943 24 Mar 1943
Missions Flown
1
MIG-i Shot Down
5
Erich's
Cross,
fifth
Missions Flown
1
Missions Flown
1
Missions Flown
1
him
victory entitled
2nd Class—his
first
Lagg-3 Shot Down Douglas Boston Shot U-2 Shot Down
Down
to the award of the
decoration.
He
was not yet
under the Luftwaffe system, to the honorary status of
Germans adhered
victories
at this time to the First
World War
Iron
entitled, ace.
The
criterion of
ten aerial victories for acedom.
Near the end
of April 1943, with 110 missions as a
wingman
to
his credit, Erich
was well qualified to become an element leader
(Rottenfiihrer) *
With
eight victories at the time he was given an
element, Erich added three more by 30 April 1943. Flying with
Krupinski had been an unforgettable experience, but Erich had his
own
ideas about tactics, based
on
his first missions with
Rossmann
and enlarged by dozens of missions flown with experienced dogfighters.
As an element
leader,
he could
at last
do things
his
own
way.
Erich already had his lethal four-step attack
mind.
He
set in his
was resolved on one other aspect of leadership that he
* In the Luftwaffe
In the U.S.
a Rotte consisted of 2 aircraft a
method
Schwarm was had 12 Gruppe had 3
2
Rotten (4
a Staff el
aircraft
a
Staffeln
a Jagdgeschwader had 3
aircraft)
Gruppen
= = = = =
element flight
squadron group division
THE BLOND KNIGHT oV GERMANY
$6
w ould never change or modify. Like his attack method, it had been born of his first experience with Paule Rossmann: "Never lose a
wingman."
known Erich Hartmann, and
In the years the authors have
the hours they have spent discussing his
all is
life
and
career, there
only one aspect of his military achievements in which the
himself takes pride.
Russian Front
air
war to
wingman." The long
up
to the
That was live
up
to his
own rule— "Never
lose a
string of victories, the decorations all the
Russian
jails,
man
his ability during the worst of the
Diamonds, even the moral triumph
a half years of
in
he can
of surviving ten
way and
discuss with detachment, ob-
and modesty. His ability to keep his young and inexperienced wingmen alive— and never lose one of them— is a memjectivity
ory and an achievement he rightly cherishes.
Only one wingman who flew with the ace
of aces was ever shot
down, and he survived the experience uninjured.
bomber
named Major Guenther
pilot
Capito,
He was a former who was sent to
Gruppe near the end of the war without any conversion training. Aged thirty-two, Capito was making his transition to fighter piloting rather late, but it was the only way for him to avoid being grounded. In Capito's own words: "It was
Erich Hartmann's
not an easy adjustment to make."
The
men to each other was to have many new German Air Force in the 1950s and 1960s.
reaction of the two
echoes in the
Capito gives his 1945 impression of Erich Hartmann in these terms:
"The
first
shattering.
had of Bubi Hartmann was not earthstood in front of me was a dangling, sloppy
impression
What
I
young man with untamable blond hair under kled cap.
He had
he deserved to
his
a tedious slow drawl.
nickname, and
I
I
a completely wrin-
thought to myself that
asked myself, This
is
supposed
be a commander?'
"During the next few days these thoughts were not dispelled, except for the fact that he did have some sort of temperament.
When
one spoke about
flying, fighter pilots or
combat, then he
and spoke up, loud and clear. Then one could feel that he was a wholesome person, and thanks to his youth, com-
came
to life
WINNING HIS SPURS pletely uninhibited.
mander, and
57
However,
I
still
him
couldn't see
as a
com-
impression never changed until the end of the
this
war/'
A
bomber
well as a unit. life,
his
man to boot, as home with a fighter
peacetime-trained professional and an older
The
Capito was not at
pilot,
freewheeling informality of the front-line fighter pilot's
which Erich had found so much to
temperament, tended to
jar
his liking
and so suited
to
on Guenther Capito.
The former bomber pilot was nevertheless eager to fly as Erich's wingman and asked him every day for this opportunity. Erich's response was to try and dissuade Capito, telling him that the war would soon be
over,
and that a bomber
an Me-109 would
pilot in
inevitably have grave difficulties. Capito continued to press for his
chance to
The
fly
as Erich's
wingman.
ace of aces finally agreed, and to better orient the former
bomber
pilot to the greater pace
and heavier demands of
him on
seat fighter piloting, specifically briefed
close to his leader. Capito
single-
the need to stay
was warned of the tight turns that
were an integral part of fighter action. In an air battle with Airacobras,
Hartmann and Capito were
bounced by two higher Russian elements. Erich the ensuing action in his
the story of
tells
own words:
"I let the Russian fighters close in to firing range, calling to
Capito to stay close to me. cerning which I
I
It
was
had briefed him
just the
kind of situation con-
When
earlier.
the Russians
fired,
broke into them horizontally in a very steep turn, but Capito
could not stay with me.
He made
a standard rate
bomber
turn.
After a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn he and the attacking
Airacobras were opposite me. "I
now
called to
sandwich the Red turn he got bail
hit. I
him
fighters,
and
his
but in
his second, standard-rate
saw the whole thing and ordered him
out immediately.
aircraft
to turn hard opposite, so that
To my immense
relief I
parachute blossom, but
I
to
I
could
bomber dive and
saw him leave the
was brassed
off at his
inability to follow instructions. "I got
burst the
behind the Airacobra, closed right
enemy
fighter
in,
and
after a short
went down and crashed with a tremendous
THE BLOND KNIGBT
58
GERMANY
T
F
explosion about two miles from Capito's touchdown point by
parachute and about a mile from our base. this
Airacobra down, but
my intuition
not to
I
mad
was
was happy
I
to get
at myself for not harkening to
with Guenther Capito."
fly
Erich flew back to base, got a car and picked up the crestfallen Capito.
They drove
The
over to the crashed Russian fighter.
pilot
was a captain, and he had been hurled out of the ship on impact
and
killed.
He had
a
huge amount of German money on him,
something close to twenty thousand marks. This was the only occasion in fourteen hundred
combat missions that one
Hartmann's wingmen met with
a mishap.
Guenther Capito survived uninjured, and retired as a colonel in the
feelings after being shot "I
was
terribly
of Erich
like
Erich Hartmann,
new German Air Force. He
describes his
down:
humbled and
felt
that
I
should be on
my knees. my spirits.
Not even a visit to the crash of my enemy could lift The dead Russian had twenty-five victories, and I was his twentysixth.
"My
conqueror was therefore not such a rabbit as
I
was.
the evening, at the 'birthday party' traditionally given to
who survive
death, did
I
Only
in
all pilots
slowly begin to recover."
Colonel Capito was taken prisoner at war's end with Erich
was transferred by the American Army to Soviet custody. -He was in Russian jails until 1950. Today he re-
Hartmann, and
later
sides in Troisdorf, near
Bonn.
Although Erich's chances to score began leading an element to
keep
his
wingmen
safe.
kills
were multiplied once he
in the spring of 1943,
He went
he was determined
through a period of running-in
an element leader while he developed his distinctive attacking style and maintained a constant eye for his wingman's safety. For
as
a time, the impress of the ebullient
Krupinski could be seen on his
This emulation of Krupinski was only natural in a young and impressionable man who deeply admired another, and leadership.
especially his quality of leadership. Events, experience responsibilities
soon caused Erich to abandon
and new
his efforts to
be
like
Krupinski.
He
couldn't be like another
man and
still
be himself. As
his
own
WINNING HIS SPURS man
going his
own
59
own quality of leadership BimmeFs devotion on the ground
way, he developed his
and men followed him
naturally.
exemplified this
In the
spirit.
his regard for the safety of his
air,
wingmen not only helped temper his natural impulsiveness, but also evoked confidence and devotion among those who flew with him. He always brought them back. By 25 May 1943 he had added another six victories. He took off at dawn on that day and within minutes had driven home a bounce on a Soviet Lagg-9. Breaking off the attack he went climbing into the sun, and while half-blinded, collided in mid-air with another Lagg-9. Cautious flying and an old
glider-pilot's skill
him to get his crippled Me-109 back into German territory. He made his fifth belly landing just inside the German lines. His
allowed
nerves were jangled enough by this encounter to warrant sending
him home for a on his way to his
brief leave.
issued orders
personal idea of luxury—a
Germany
Getting back to the Russian
Hrabak
month
and he was soon
in Stuttgart.
and hardship of Erich's morale. Usch
after the discomfort
Front was a big boost for
looked lovelier than he could ever remember. There were deep armchairs to
sit in, soft
beds with clean sheets at night, and none
of the incessant pressure of the front.
Once
at night
he snapped upright and awake
imaginary cry of "Break! Break!"— the warning Feeling foolish, he slumped back
down
hundreds of miles away. Or was
it still
in
bed to the
yell of a
in the bed.
wingman.
The war was
so far? Lying quietly in
the gloom, he thought about events as they were unfolding.
Until the spring of 1943 the Allied bombing raids on Germany were not alarming. The German night fighter force had been fairly successful
and the
effectiveness
of the
RAF
at night
had not
been cause for too much alarm. Nevertheless, the enemy was unquestionably getting stronger, dropping ing bigger raids.
When
a
damage was massive. The previous spring had started this trend.
at once, the
German propaganda minimized recent
Whole
RAF
attack
villages
more bombs, and conduct-
thousand bombers tackled a target
RAF
assault
on Cologne the
Allied attacks, especially the
on the Mohne and Eder dams
in the Ruhr.
had been wiped out by the rampaging water
re-
THEBLOND KNIGHT
60 leased
these attacks,
in
British radio
ers
it
was
and part of Kassel had been
propaganda was promising an increasing
Germany. For Front,
OF GERMANY
a fighter pilot battling his heart out
a disturbing
flooded.
air assault
on
on the Russian
thought that thousands of Allied bomb-
ranged over the fatherland every day and night.
The next day Erich walked into the living room of his parents' home in Weil during a radio speech by Reichsmarschall Goering. His father sat listening to Goering's ranting fantasies with a quizzical expression
on
his face.
Turning down the volume
control,
he
looked directly at Erich. "Listen,
Him on
my
boy. Today, 'hosanna in high places.
we win
the Cross/ Never, never will
Tomorrow, put
this war.
What
a
mistake and what a waste." Dr.
Hartmann knew the world
too well, with his rich back-
ground and knowledge of human beings, ever by propaganda.
He had been
to
be hoodwinked
saying similar things to Erich since
theme was constant— the war would end in disaster for Germany. Goering's reassurances meant nothing. Word about the massive new bombings was spreading through Germany, and Dr. Hartmann met many people in his medical practice who had seen the damage in other cities. 1939. His
For the
first
time, Erich felt the disquiet of the
German
civil
population. His parents were anxious about his safety. Usch could
not conceal her unhappiness. For
all
the gaiety of the final days of
felt
by
no longer be concealed. Hardened
to
his leave, the
and
felt at
his vigor.
depth of concern
do
home, he hurled himself back
On
5
his best
fighters, his best single day's score to date.
Marring
airfield,
in for
craft
With
this
triumph
Erich saddened.
strikes
in
Me-109 the
only partial control of his rudder, Krupinski
oil
came
an immediate landing, knowing that the damage precluded any kind of go-around. Just as he made
emergency landing, the
all
four Lagg-5
Krupinski's
was heavily hit in the empennage, including cooler area.
war with
downed
disaster that left
In a wild battle over 7th Squadron's
could
by what he saw
into the air
July 1943, in four missions, he
was another typical Krupinski
home
his loved ones at
to his air-
alert flight
took
off at
his
ninety degrees to his
landing direction. Fighting his stricken ship down, Krupinski could
WINNING HIS SPURS see that
he would have to make a ground loop or collide with the
departing alert
flight.
Around he went, and
much
6l
The
outer brake.
swung
as the kite
fighter
laterally
nosed over onto
its
he applied too
back, the violent
motion smashing Krupinskf s head into the gunsight. ing half-conscious in his safety belt
him two minutes
Smothered
later.
when
in
He
was hang-
the crash crews reached
blood and drenched in gaso-
he almost panicked because he thought the gasoline was
line,
clammy blood
in his clothes.
and he was whisked away his skull
and was out
of
for
The
crash crews dragged
medical attention.
combat
for six weeks.
He had
him
clear
fractured
His departure hit
the squadron a heavy blow, and left Erich anxious for his comrade.
Erich kept flying hard.
Good comrades were
being lost
all
the
time. Five other pilots, one-third of the entire squadron, were lost
the
same day
Two
count.
as Krupinski.
days
later,
and three
Erich's guns
The war
four
more
IL-2's as
now had twenty-two confirmed
could not stop on that acLagg-5's
well—seven victories
went down under
kills in
one day.
He
and the 7th Squadron
total rose to 750.
The
next day, four more Lagg-5's went down. There was no
longer any question in Erich's
and
effective
mode
'Coffee Break/
99
His shooting eye continued to improve and in ac-
tion after action firing.
he deliberately went
At the point where most
that he was
still
too far out.
He
sion of getting too close to his
opening the
fire,
mind that he had found a sound - Decide - Attack - Reverse, or
of attack. "See
the
in closer
and
closer before
attackers broke away, Erich
found
down his natural apprehenenemy. The closer he got before
fought
more devastating the
effect
and the more
certain
kill.
August 1943 ne na d forty-six confirmed victories. Two days later at 1830 hours near Kharkov, a Lagg-5 went down in flames and brought his tally to fifty kills. At one time, this would have
By
been tories
1
sufficient to
win him the Knight's Cross, but now more
vic-
He had conquered much of his earlier imnow clearly a young leader of promise and
were required.
maturity and was ability.
Guenther
Rail, as
Gruppenkommandeur
of III/JG-52,
had
care-
THEBLOND
62
watched Erich's
fully
progress.
K N I &H T
T
F
GERMANY
There had been times when Rail
could have given Erich a squadron, but he refrained from pushing the promising
newcomer too
By August
fast.
that Erich could handle a squadron,
mand
Squadron
9th
the
and appointed him
the
after
The
squadron— the
tories—and
it
had
first
man
to
com-
to
squadron leader,
previous
Lieutenant Korts, was killed in action.* Graf's old
1943, Rail decided
9th was
Hermann
win two hundred
aerial vic-
a fighting tradition.
Erich rose to his responsibilities. Four missions a day was com-
monplace, and with the Russian offensive
5
ten
more
August 1943 Erich raised
eighty
added and by 17 August 1943 ne na ^ tying Baron Manfred von Rich thof en's First
World War record. By the end of September
his score to sixty victories,
the
lifetime
1943, with 115 victories, Erich
victory
tally
"Daddy" Moelders, who had been the
down 100
to
aircraft in aerial
warring power, Erich national hero.
common win
truly
his
On
the
of
first
combat. In the
Hartmann by
this
had
immortal Werner
fighter ace in history air force of
any other
time would have been a
the Russian Front, 100 victories was a relatively
achievement, and before his spurs
flaxen-haired
and days
to find.
in the next three days,
victories,
surpassed
on the south-
enemy was not hard
ern sector of the Eastern Front, the
On
in full cry
a
young knight of the
he would have to reach 150
air
victories.
could
The
young squadron leader kept racking up the triumphs,
of multiple
downings became more and more frequent
as
confidence grew. However, Russian aircraft and pilots were
came much harder, now. Lt. Erich Hartmann scored
getting better too. Victories
On
29 October 1943,
his 150th vic-
tory. He was all but level now with Krupinski, who had scored his 150th kill on 1 October 1943. But Krupinski had been in combat
since 1939-1940. Since 27 February 1943, Erich kills,
had scored 148
an outstanding achievement in eight months.
This feat
won
Erich
Hartmann
the Knight's Cross of the Iron
Cross, the coveted badge of achievement
among German
fighter
Lieutenant Korts had been on leave most of August, was awarded the Knight's Cross on 29 August and disappeared with his element leader in *
combat that same
day.
WINNING HIS SPURS pilots. When news of the Mertens was exultant. "If
63
award reached squadron
HQ, Bimmel
He pumped his young chief's hand.
you keep going
like this, I
know you
are going to be the
greatest of all the fighter pilots—none will stand
above you/'
Bimmers enthusiasm knew no bounds, and Erich thought to himself, as his crew chief wrung his hand,
owed
quietly
how much he
to this devoted comrade.
"Bimmel/' said Erich, "you are completely reach the top
it
will
be because
my aircraft never
crazy, failed
but
if
I
me— thanks
to you."
On
29 October 1943 Erich had the formal trappings of a Knight
of the Air.
He
waffe
who won
flyers
was one of approximately thirteen hundred Luftthe Knight's Cross. His escutcheon was a
bleeding heart painted on the fuselage of his fighter.
big,
red,
The
heart was labeled "Usch" and an arrow pierced
he was Karaya One (Sweetheart One) and coveted Knight's Cross.
and with them
a prize
with his beloved Usch.
it.
In the
at his throat
air
was the
The Blond Knight had won his spurs, he valued far more— two weeks at home
Chapter Five
THE BEAR'S GRASP
IN
Only he
who
lost
is
gives himself
up
for lost.
—Anonymous
T
he thunder
of the Russian artillery throughout the night of
19 August 1943 was heavy enough to keep Erich awake for long
He had
periods.
flown his three hundredth mission that day and
was bone-tired, but the rolling timpani of the guns denied him sleep.
A
big
Red push was
afoot. In the uneasy
predawn minutes
the bad news spread through the 7th Squadron's base at Kutey-
nikovo
in the
Donets Basin. The Russians had broken through.
The encirclement
of large
German Army
units
was threatened.
Erich rolled off his cot and pulled on his clothes as the squadron
prepared for a panic scramble.
and forth
as the sleepy pilots
the half-light.
The
base
came
Rumors were being babbled back came boiling out of their tents in alive with the shattering roar of
fighter engines bursting into action. Since Krupinski's crash in July,
Erich had been acting as
commander
He strode Kommodore of
of 7th Squadron.
over to the hut where Colonel Dietrich Hrabak,
JG-52, was directing operations.
Cool and precise
as always,
Hrabak quickly apprised Erich of
the situation.
"Your squadron be
will take the first mission,
flying overlapping missions all
Hartmann.
day to keep the
We will
air clear of
Rus-
sian fighter-bombers." .Hrabak's finger stabbed down on an area map. "The main breakthrough is here. Rudel's Stukas will be giv-
ing
them
hell.
Protect the Stukas and
make
the Russian fighter-
IN
THE BEAR'S GRASP
bombers your primary
6$
no enemy
target. If
opposition appears,
air
Red Army. Get going and Hals und Beinbruch"* him and briefed them.
strafe the
Erich gathered his seven pilots around
They would "If his
I
in
fly
open
wingman
give the order to attack, every
element leader.
is
If
own
leader fights his target
battle formation.
give the order to attack, every element
I
on the perch, and when
stays
element attacks while gaggles, then every
nobody blames
element attacks on
me
attack
I
any breaches of
for
If
own
its
first,
the sec-
pull up, the second
I
watch from the perch.
I
Number One
with his element.
air battle
the fighter-bombers and bombers. If
ond element
stays like glue to
we run
into
initiative. I
huge hope
Hals und
air discipline.
Beinbruch!"
Minutes
later,
with Karaya
Erich strode up to Bimmel, waiting anxiously
One all
ready.
"All O.K.?" said Erich.
Bimmel nodded. Erich knew
his
crew chief was always ready.
Probably Bimmel had been up for a couple of hours fussing over the aircraft. As he scrambled into the cockpit and tucked his para-
how
fortunate he was to
his ship.
Erich hooked up his
chute under him, Erich thought again
have the trusty Bimmel in charge of
but
safety belt
let it lie loosely
comfortably in the tight cockpit.
Fuel selector open three, four, five times
automatic
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
on
his lap, so
he could operate
He ran through the drill.
throttle
one-third open
water-cooling closed
master ignition on both.
...
while two mechanics cranked the inertia
.
.
.
.
.
.
prime
propeller to
went smoothly
All
starter.
The
whirring
grind rose in pitch.
"Free!"
The
mechanic's cry signified the propeller was
Erich pulled the clutch and the prop began turning.
caught immediately, blurting into
life
and
filling
clear.
The
engine
the air with
its
smooth thunder. Erich checked his *
German
oil pressure, fuel pressure,
sporting term used by
flyers,
skiers
ammeter and
and others
in
cool-
hazardous
work. Literally, "break your bones," but through usage a valediction of good luck.
The
superstitious flyers thought
luck, so took the opposite approach.
it
bad luck
to
be
directly
wished good
THE BLOND KNIGHT ot GERMANY
66
ing system, then each of the solidly.
two magnetos
The rpm
in turn.
held
Taxiing across to the take-off point, he gave Bimmel a high thanks for a well-serviced
sign, a pilot's silent
a final all-around check.
seat belt,
aircraft.
His bird was ready to
he gunned the Messerschmitt into the
went racing
fly.
Erich
made
Tightening his
soft
wind and she
across the grass. Lifting easily to his touch, she soared
aloft as the first fingers of
sunshine stroked the high cloud.
His landing gear came up and locked in with a gentle thud.
checked
his
switches.
The
flaps
and moved the trim and turned on
electrical gunsight
was ready to
his bird
and
his
R/T
Climbing away from the
fight.
began turning east into a bloody
sunrise.
his
were operative. field,
He gun
Now Erich
Black palls of smoke
up into the heavens to the northeast marked the battle "Not more than ten minutes flight, Erich." He spoke aloud
roiling
zone.
Then he craned
to himself.
around, looking again at the rest of his
fighting flock.
Quickly he counted them. Lieutenant Puis on his
own
wing.
Lieutenant Orje Blessin leading the second element, with Sergeant Jiirgens as his wingman.
The second
section was in
good
shape, too. Lieutenant Joachim Birkner was leading, a pilot Erich
own wingman.
Birkner was a head
and
had broken
in as his
good shot.
Sergeant Bachnik led the second element with Lieu-
tenant Wester on his wing.
Battle-ready
flyer
a
and confident, eight
Me-109's with the Blond Knight leading went racing to their rendezvous with Rudel's Stukas.
smoke and the stabbing flashes of shellbursts over a wide area below showed the line of the barrage and the heavy, front-line fighting. As Erich and his squadron closed in on the batPillars of
scene,
tle
plastering
was
a
they could see about forty dive-bomber Stormoviks
German
infantry with bombs. For every Stormovik there
Russian fighter over the area, about forty Lagg-5's and
YAK-a's
circling warily.
Erich went diving
down through
the fighters, firing briefly at
on the way through. Then the Messerschmitts fell on the low-level Stormoviks. Every one of the hated steel-clads they downed would take pressure off their comrades in the in-
selected targets
fantry.
THE BEAR'S GRASP
IN
Coming up
67
into firing position behind an IL-2 at high speed,
Erich carefully watched the closing distance. .
.150 yards
.
.
.
Looming
kling.
.
Two hundred
yards
100 yards ... the range diminished in a twin-
Stormovik
in a vast black mass, the
filled Erich's
windshield at 75 yards or less. A short burst from all guns. A massive explosion blasted downward from the Russian machine and its
port wing sheared
off.
went racing at high speed
Erich broke away instantly after firing and after another low-flying Stormovik.
The second Stormovik was with in
Karaya
fire.
an
One
"Not
to 100 yards.
toughest bird in the
from
for a stiff burst
The Stormovik
on
ground
his
Ob-
targets.
closed the distance to firing position astern
out
instant. Erich again held
Down
tail.
intent
he was hosing the German infantry
livious to Erich's presence,
all
the last possible
moment.
close enough, Erich. This IL-2
At 50
air."
till
the
is
yards Erich squeezed his triggers
guns.
sagged, shuddered and flared alight from nose to
Erich pulled up hard over the stricken IL-2, ready to swing
back into the other ground-strafing Stormoviks. Explosions backfires
banged and
like
under the fuselage of Karaya One.
jarred
Erich saw one of his engine doors
fly off
and whip away astern
smoke came
the slipstream. Choking blue
in
belching back into the
cockpit.
He was
talking aloud to himself again.
pened, Erich? Flak, ground
fire,
"What
in hell has hap-
from the
stray shells
air battle?
Which? Never mind! Get out of here and head west while you can. Quick! Before this damned bird goes in." He made a steep turn to the west and pulled his throttle back. Ignition and fuel switches
off.
"Yes, she's going
large one, lots of sunflowers
ease her down, Erich
you to
The
.
.
.
.
in.
.
.
But where? There's a
head
for
it.
just like the gliders
a
field,
Ease her down
.
.
.
your mother taught
fly."
fighter
came down
easily,
and bucked
its
way
a grinding of metal. Erich
would walk away from
buckled his parachute and
made
Reaching forward retaining studs
this one.
He
un-
ready to leave the "bent" fighter.
to the instrument panel,
on the
to a halt with
aircraft clock.
he began undoing the
Standing orders required
all
THE BLOND KNIGIT of GERMANY
68
pilots surviving belly landings to take these precision
instruments
with them, since the clocks were in short supply. Struggling with the milled studs that anchored the clock, Erich felt a little
"Damn
let-down from the action.
get any breakfast this
morning—" He broke
it,
Erich.
off his
You
didn't
monologue
as
movement caught his eye through the dusty windshield. A German truck came rumbling into view. He felt relieved. He didn't know how far he had flown west before the belly landing, but the German truck was reassuring. Luftwaffe pilots landing behind Sowere seldom heard from again.
viet lines
He went on
battling with
the clock, and glanced up as he heard the truck brakes squeal.
He
did an alarmed double take.
Two
down from the truck bed wearing a strange-looking uniform. German infantrymen wore green-gray tunics. These soldiers were clad in yellow-gray uniforms. Then the hulking soldiers jumped
men
two
turned in the direction of the crashed fighter and Erich
skin crawl with fear.
felt his
The
These Russians were using
faces
a
they were about to capture a
were
captured
German
Asiatic.
German
to go with
truck, it.
cold sweat as the two Russians approached.
out
in a
get
out and escape, they would shoot
remained.
He must
feign
injury.
and now
Erich broke If
he
tried to
him down. Only one choice He would deceive them into
thinking he had been injured internally in a crash landing. I
Ie
feigned unconsciousness as the soldiers
jumped up on the
wing and gawked into the cockpit. One of them reached down under
his
armpits and tried to
lift
Erich out.
siekeningly sour. Erich cried out with pain,
The Russian
smelled
and kept crying and
The Russian let go of him. The two men jabbered in Russian and then called to Erich. "Comrade, comrade. The war is finished, Hitler is finished.* It
sobbing.
doesn't matter now." "I
am wounded,"
abdomen with lowered *
The
lids,
sobbed the Blond Knight, pointing to
his right
hand and cradling
it
with his
Erich could see they had swallowed the
left.
his
Through
bait.
Russians do not say "Hitler," but "Gitler." Thus, in this instance,
they said: "Gitler kaput"— Hitler
is
finished.
THE BEAR'S GRASP
IN
The
69
Russians carefully helped
him out
of the cockpit, while
Academy Award perground, unable to stand up. The Rus-
Erich blubbered and sobbed through an
He
formance.
"wounded"
on the
fell
went back
sians
pilot
the truck, got an old tent, and laid
to
the
on the folded canvas. They toted him over
the truck like a bundle of wet washing and laid
him out
to
carefully
on the truck bed.
The
soldiers tried talking quietly to Erich, in friendly fashion.
mood was
Their
won them his belly.
a big victory. Erich kept
A he
on groaning and clutching
at
Exasperated and unable to alleviate his pain, the Rus-
sians finally got
nearby
happy, because the previous night's action had
back in the truck and drove him to their
HQ
in a
village.
doctor appeared.
He
could speak a few
make an examination. The
tried to
German
words, and
physician stank of a sour
perfume. Every time he touched Erich, the Blond Knight cried
Even the doctor was convinced. His captors brought him some fruit, and he made as though to eat it. Then he cried out again, as though some penetrating strain had been placed on his
out.
organism by the act of biting.
For two hours the theater continued. Then the same two diers
came
again, laid
him out on the
tent
sol-
and carted him back
out to the truck. As they went jolting eastward back behind the
Russian
lines,
Erich
soon— or spend the
knew he would have
rest of the
war
to
make
a
in a Soviet prison.
break— and
He
weighed
The truck had gone about two miles back into Russian territory. One soldier was driving, the other was in the truck bed guarding the injured German captive. As Erich's thoughts raced, from the western sky came the characteristic whining roar the situation.
of Stukas.
The German
dive bombers passed low overhead,
and the truck
slowed, ready to ditch. As the guard in the back of the truck stared
apprehensively upward, Erich sprang to his feet and charged the
Russian with his shoulder.
The guard slammed
into the back of
the cab with his head and collapsed in the truck bed.
Dropping
went bolting into a field of man-high sunflowers beside the road. As he made their cover, off
the
tail
gate, Erich
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
70
screeching truck brakes told
him
had been
his escape
discovered.
Plunging and staggering deeper and deeper into the sea of sunheard the crash of
flowers, Erich
as his captors fired at the
menace, but Erich maintained
five
He
minutes.
his lung-bursting
Gasping
out of the sunflower sea and into a lifted
out of a
Trees, green grass
seemed out
to
a place that might
and wildflowers grouped around
and how
his thinking clarified,
a little stream
He
threw
and he began
German territory. walking westward. From the
to get back to
stood up and started it
little valley,
he suddenly burst
the grass and gulped the cool air into his lungs.
assessing his plight
judged
for breath,
his ex-hosts
fairy tale.
his heartbeat subsided,
He
him and
of character with a life-and-death escape.
down on
himself
As
pace for at least
hadn't run like this since the athletic meets at
a yard closer to safety.
have been
soon ceased to be
rifle fire
Korntal Hochschule. Every yard between
was
of bullets
waving indications of his passage.
Diminishing to a distant popping, the a
and the whine
rifle fire
sun,
he
be about nine o'clock. Half an hour's cross-country
trudging, almost pleasant in the
out by a road leading into a small
summer morning, brought him village.
Screened by some bushes,
he began gathering intelligence that would ensure his escape.
On
the other side of the road, not far away, he saw several peo-
He watched them
ple wearing fur clothing.
for
some minutes, and
saw that they were- Russians. There was no question now that he was
on the wrong
still
side of the lines.
Moving
carefully along
the line of the road for half a mile, he reached a spot where he
could see a
hill
in the distance. Soldiers
were up there digging
and trenches. That meant the front
foxholes
line
was not
far
away
—perhaps on the other side of the hill.
The now.
icy coolness of his
He
and work
combat head was
ruling his thinking
fought down the temptation to keep going in daylight his
way around the digging
Russians.
The German Army
might be on the other side of the hill, but there was no gunfire. Furthermore, Russian soldiers and peasants seemed to be everywhere as the morning wore on. He talked to himself quietly, as he always did in a tight spot.
"One
thing
is
sure, Erich.
You can
never go through here in the
THE BEAR'S GRASP
IN
71
daytime without being captured. till
to your valley
and wait
retraced his steps to the security of his fairy-tale valley, with
stream and
trees.
Picking out a
stream, he piled up sand lay
back
dark."
He its
Go
down behind
this
to a dying afternoon,
meander near the
dry
little
and stones into an unobtrusive
low screen and went to
sleep.
ridge.
He
He awakened
and made ready to move out with
nightfall.
Bimmel had waited on the line after Erich took off into the dawn. He always waited. The other crew chiefs went in and drank coffee or sat around and swapped yarns until the fighters came back. Bimmel preferred to wait on the line, alone, his gaze never long removed from the sky. That morning, Bimmers chief didn't come back with the others. Apprehensive and worried, he paced up and down, watching the eastern horizon, or sound of the returning Me-109.
alert for the first sight
Appearing progressively more distraught, Bimmel maintained his vigil for
No
hours after
Erich's fuel
all
one among the returning
would have been exhausted.
knew for sure what had happened to Erich. Lieutenant Puis saw him going down trailing smoke, but he himself was jumped by Russian fighters at that moment and could watch Hartmann no longer. The rest of the pilots were too busy,
pilots
Red aircraft, to see what happened to Erich. Bimmers pacing grew more rapid. His visits news became more and more frequent.
for
with eighty
in their every-man-for-himself battle
HQ
to the Still
bunker
no word. His
crew-chief comrades next saw Sergeant Mertens in his tent, rolling
some food in "Where are you going, Bimmel?"
up
a blanket
and
stuffing
"I'm going behind the Russian
a rucksack.
lines.
To
find
my
chief, that's
where I'm going." "You'll be shot "I
if
you're caught."
speak Russian.
The people
Bimmel Mertens asked from the base.
He
bring
him
back.
help
me find
Erich."
no leave or permission
simply took a
the direction of the front
him and
for
will
rifle
to
depart
and disappeared on foot
line. If his chief
was
alive,
in
he would find
That was the bond between the Blond
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
72
Knight and
faithful
his
crew
chief,
evoked from the
a loyalty
depths of the heart, and as the square-shouldered
Bimmel
disap-
peared frgm view, the other crew chiefs watched and shook their heads.
air and tracer and star shells laced way through the sky as Erich pressed on toward
Gunfire punctuated the night
and bobbed the front
their
lines.
Rattles of
rifle
and machine-gun
fire
sounded
nearby as he stumbled through the August half-dark toward the
it
He made
with the entrenchments he had seen that morning.
hill
up the
hill,
way
picking his
among
carefully
On
the diggings.
the other side, he descended into a sprawling valley verdant with
sunflowers in full bloom.
Erich waded into the sunflowers, heading west, and disturbing
them
as little as possible.
Frequent pauses made good sense.
He
conserved his strength and could listen for enemy movements. Slogging through the sunflowers for an hour, he paused for a longer
The
rest.
him
metallic rattle of an infantryman's
web
gear brought
to full alert.
Crouching down, Erich watched a Russian patrol of ten pressing through the sunflowers. patrol,
he reasoned. They would
front line lay, or be going
He weighed
Chances were likely
this
know where
men
was a recce* the
somewhere near the forward
German positions.
the chances and decided to follow the patrol.
Keeping a respectable distance behind them, Erich watched their progress in the
gloom
as the towering sunflowers
bobbed with the movements Russians had led in
its
fringe,
him
of the patrol. In a few minutes, the
to the edge of the sunflower belt.
he watched the ten
two small houses on
soldiers cross a
their right.
moments behind
a
clump
disappeared up the hillside into the gloom. *
hill
and
disap-
of trees, Erich sprinted
meadow and flung himself under the wooden steps of the houses. He watched from concealment as the patrol
across the
one of
Crouching
meadow, passing
As the Russians went stumbling on up another peared for a few
waved and
Recce
is
military slang for "reconnaissance."
THE BEAR'S GRASP
IN
A
storm of automatic
The remnants
down
the
back into the sunflower
He
and some grenade
fire
of the patrol, crying
stumbling back
German
73
front line
hill.
belt.
Erich
felt
he had a good break. The
must be at the top of the next hill.
German
song.
other blast of automatic hilltop.
air.
Their ragged figures disappeared
ran up the slope, and as he neared the
whistling a
bursts rent the
and shouting, came bolting and
He fire.
didn't
want
hill's crest,
to
he
started
be cut down by an-
In a few minutes he stood on the
There were no Germans, no entrenchments, no
His shoes clicked against a pile of cartridge cases.
sign of
He
life.
was at the
scene of the skirmish he had heard. Erich estimated the time as
around midnight. Erich started walking westward again. For two hours more he
down
skidded and staggered and stumbled enclosed by
hills.
He headed up
the western slopes of the valley,
near giddy from hunger and tension. in the distance. air
The
into another valley
Rumbling
only other sound was his
was almost deathly
artillery
own
crumped
breathing.
The
still.
"Halten!" Blam!
The
challenge merged with the muffled bark of a
rifle fired
at
close range. Erich felt the bullet rip through his trouser leg.
"Damned fool!" he your own people."
yelled.
"God Almighty, man,
don't shoot
"Stoppen!"
"Damn you
to hell,
I
am
a
German
pilot.
Don't shoot,
for
Christ's sake."
Standing no more than twenty yards away, the sentry was lucky
he missed. His bad marksmanship was due fear.
erally
As Erich gingerly drew
closer,
he could see the soldier
quaking with fear in the gloom.
even than Erich,
who
from the bullet hole
could
feel
to his almost paralytic
He
lit-
was more frightened
the air washing around his leg
in his trousers.
Erich shouted into the area behind the sentry at the top of his voice.
"I'm a here. I've
German
pilot
who
been walking
For God's sake
let
has been shot down.
for hours
I
am happy
from behind the Russian
me come through."
to
be
lines.
THE BLOND KNIGAt
74
A
"Let him come."
GERMANY
sharp order from the rear sounded to Erich
redemption.
like a
Glaring at the sentry in the darkness, the young ace stalked past
him toward the voice. The sentry was not relaxing for a minute. Moving in behind Erich he jammed the muzzle of his rifle into the Blond Knight's back. Erich could his
One
brow.
would put
feel
the darkness and this lunatic
slip or a stagger in
The
a bullet in his back.
to the top of the
the sweat beading out on
and poked him
sentry pushed
hill.
The entrenched
infantry shoved
him roughly
into a foxhole.
A
command of the unit began interrogating the bone-weary Erich. He had no identification. The Russians had emptied his pockets. He gave the suspicious German officer his second lieutenant in
name and rank, and the approximate position where he had been shot down the morning before. It was now about 2 a.m. and he couldn't blame the infantrymen for being cautious. "Please, Leutnant, telephone
The
officer
my wing HQ."
was convinced, but he had no telephone, and couldn't
leave the line during the night. their nervousness
"Two
He
also explained the reason for
all
speaking perfect German, and
and caution.
days ago, six
men
came,
told us they were escaped P.O.W.'s.
When
they got into the posi-
whipped out submachine guns from under their coats and killed and wounded ten men." Erich pondered the hard and dirty war of the infantry, as he
tions of a neighboring unit, they
settled
down
in the line.
to
spend the remainder of the night with the troops
His countrymen gave him a
little
food,
into an exhausted sleep in a foxhole. After
and he slumped
what seemed
like a
minute or two, he snapped awake with one of the infantrymen shaking his arm.
"Come
with me.
It's
an
alert."
was 4 followed the soldier out into the trench where a machine
Erich looked at the luminous dial of his wristwatch. a.m.
He
gun was mounted. His stomach tightened into
The sound
of yelling
and singing came
floating
a
It
compact
up the
ball.
hillside.
Erich sneaked a look over the parapet. Dimly he could see a bunch of Russian soldiers staggering
and weaving up the
hillside.
They
IN
THE BEAR'S GRASP
75
looked like they were drunk. Talking and joking in groups, their progress was
unannounced by any
be drunk or
could be a trap.
it
The young
lieutenant
artillery or tanks.
commanding
They might
Germans was
the
giving
last-minute orders to his men.
"Wait. Don't
until
fire
I
them come on and
give the order. Let
get so close you cannot miss."
how
Erich thought his
own, high
The
in the sky.
came on up the The Germans in
Russians
Russian songs.
The
taut nerves. trench.
resembled
closely this infantryman's tactics
hill,
whooping and bellowing out
the trench crouched in a fever of
Russians were reeling within sixty feet of the
They must see
their foes
any second, drunk or sober.
"Fire!"
Every weapon in the German platoon opened up.
and
blast of lead
steel lifted the
Russians off their
A
withering
feet, felled
them
where they stood, or bowled them dead back down the
hill.
Caught cold and drunk they had no chance. In a welter of blood and rags the savage ambush was over in half a minute. Not a single Russian survived.
This was Erich's in
first
exposure to the brutal war of the infantry
Russia. This chilling experience etched itself indelibly in his
memory. Twenty-five
years later, recalling
The infantrymen and
the airmen
had
it
little
would
in
chill his spine.
common
in the
way
they fought. After the ambush, in the
Erich
down
first
a corporal escorted
back by car to
and a telephone were
was confirmed and he was sent
at Kuteynikovo. Erich's identity
in search of
dawn
availcompany HQ. A company commander soon contacted Colonel Hrabak
radio
to
able and the
light of
his base. After telling his story to
Hrabak, he went
Bimmel.
when he learned Bimmel was still
Erich was aghast rescue expedition.
from the hospital during Erich's
impromptu gone. Krupinski had returned absence and he recalls the Blond of his crew chief's
Knight's return to the 7th Squadron:
"The day Bubi Hartmann returned from lines in
Russian
territory,
is
a day
I
his sojourn
will always
behind the
remember.
He
was
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
76
one happy boy to get back to
by
really frightened
squadron
his
but he was
safely,
His tired eyes were very wide
his experience.
and he was obviously exhausted. "He had lived through an experience very few of our men survived. It seemed to me that in these few harrowing hours he had grown much older." and
big,
The cloud of concern that settled over Erich when he learned Bimmers absence dissipated the next day. The erect, unmistakable figure of Mertens came plodding back across the airfield the following morning. Dark circles surrounded Bimmers eyes, and of
his
cheeks were sunken.
He
was obviously near collapse
trudged dejectedly back to the base.
Bimmers haggard
as
he
Then he saw Erich.
face blossomed into a
happy
smile. His chief
him he could see that the Blond Knight was unwounded. The two men wrung each other's hands in a silent expression of the deep bond men feel who will lay down their lives for each other. To this day, Bimmel Mertens says that the happiest moment of his life was when he saw Erich Hartmann safe and well after his crash behind the Soviet lines. had got home. As Erich strode over
Erich's grueling experience
was
to
rich in lessons. His instinctive
adoption of the wounded-man role undoubtedly saved him from
imprisonment or death. The Russians
either
and lowered
ruse of internal injuries
fell
for the
their vigilance.
cunning
This was the
The experience of other pilots in Russian hands that German airmen were usually heavily guarded, with three armed men in attendance. Most of them were im-
key to his escape. reveals
two or
mediately handcuffed after capture.
Quick thinking sets,
and
is
one of the successful
in this case
fighter pilot's
prime
as-
prevented the Blond Knight's career from
it
ending in August 1943, when he had but ninety victories. He conveyed the essence of his experience in Russian hands to the young pilots
he led
Richthofen
later in the war,
Wing
own summation
is
"I always told
and able
in the
new German
my men is
Air Force. Erich
Hartmanns
appropriate.
to escape, to
daytime. There
and again when he commanded the
the
that
if
they were prisoners somewhere
move during the unexpected encounter with the enemy to
move
only by night. Never
THE BEAR'S GRASP
IN
77
contend with, and the ever present
possibility that
who
spotted without seeing the person
you
has spotted you.
will
be
You have
many surprises to deal with in the daytime. "When you move by night, you cannot be surprised. The advantages are with you. You know you are a stranger, and that all too
around you are enemies. still
At
have a
If
you are challenged
moment—enough
in
any language you
time to jump away into the darkness.
night, the majority of your enemies are asleep, so that all those
pairs of eyes
and hands
are not
escape, or pull the triggers of "I
emphasized to
the war that
all
the
around to obstruct you, spot your
rifles.
men
commanded
I
during and since
takes self-discipline not to try escaping during the
it
daytime. That burned
itself
into
my
brain that day as
dry wash in the stream bed. Don't be in a hurry.
The
darkness
One
is
I
Wait
lay in that till
night.
your friend."
of the strangest anomalies of the
anomalous career
is
that
when he was
Blond Knight's often
cast entirely
on
August 1943, he made analysis and self-discipline.
his
own
resources as a Soviet captive in
his escape
through good
When
instinct, clear
was conveyed to the grasp of the Bear by 1945, there was
no
possibility of escape
his
American captors
from
he in
a situation created
by agreements between governments. Another agreement between governments, ten and a half years
later,
the Blond Knight from the Bear's grasp.
was needed then to
free
Chapter Six
OAK LEAVES War
is
not exactly a
life
insurance.
—Col
O
nce
Hans-Ulrich Rudel
Erich reached 150 victories in the autumn of 1943, his
climb to fame proceeded rapidly on both sides of the
man propaganda
lines.
Ger-
broadcasts began occasionally mentioning his
name. His photograph appeared sometimes in newspapers, usually with other leading fighter pilots of JG-52.*
To
the Russians he be-
came known first as Karaya One, his R/T designation. Later he became infamous on the Soviet side as the "Black Devil of the South."
The
legend of the Black Devil began
nose painted on his petals.
when Erich had
aircraft, a distinctive pattern
shaped
a black
like tulip
His fighter was easily distinguishable in combat, and the
Soviet flyers quickly realized that the pilot of this black-marked
German
fighter
was a foe to be avoided.
He
never missed.
German
The
pilot
was nick-
named "Black Devil of the South" by the Russians. The Soviets had their listening posts and monitored ground-to-air communications, as did the Germans in
Luftwaffe
feared but as yet otherwise unidentified
intelligence
about their
foes.
gathering
These monitored broadcasts made
One and the Black Devil same man. He was cutting a swath
obvious to the Russians that Karaya
it
they had
come
* Erich's
to fear were the
Gruppenkommandeur, Guenther
Rail, reached
200
victories
on
28 August 1943, and 250 victories on 28 November 1943—both occasions for
much
publicity for Rail
and JG-52.
OAK LEAVES
79
through their formations, and most of the Black Devil's victories
were over single-engined
fighters.
A
price of ten thousand rubles
was placed on the Black Devil's head. The Russian pilot
him down would win fame,
bring
These inducements proved ing
and identifying the Black
glory
who
could
and wealth.
Red
insufficient.
pilots encounter-
Devil's distinctively
marked
aircraft
quickly left the scene of battle. Erich found that his black markings,
and black image
in the
minds of the Soviet
pilots,
were work-
ing against him. His scores began to diminish, as contact with the
enemy enemy
He
declined.
was lucky to get
first
one
strike before the
and the fortunes of every Schwarm
fighters dispersed,
which Erich flew with the black Erich countered
in
in
aircraft declined sharply.
by giving the -black-marked
aircraft to his
green wingmen. These youngsters could have had no better pro-
The Red
tection.
fighters left the pilot of the
tulip-pattern nose severely alone, but
As long hard to
as the black petals
find.
it
were in the
was
machine with the
still
the
same
story.
Red opponents were
air,
Erich concluded that the black petals had to go.
Bimmel Mertens was
up the pretty black
overjoyed. Keeping
him that he didn't particularly He knew that the trophies of the
paint job was an extra chore for enjoy.
Bimmel could
also count.
hunt had declined since the pattern was chief's ship.
ing
Red
Bimmel
pilots,
first
painted on his young
erased the black tulips and to the unsuspect-
Erich became just another Me-109 in a typical
Schwarm. The difference in scoring heartened not only Erich and Bimmel, but the whole squadron. The victories began coming thick
and
fast again as
Erich
lit
into the
Red
formations with the
advantage of anonymity. In January and February 1944 Karaya
One seemed
to
be every-
where, and always on the victor's end of the battles. In this
day period Erich ran up a staggering nearly one
downings an enemy
kill
per day.
Actually,
fifty
sixty-
victories— an average of
the average was about two
Bad weather was almost as serious Force, in spite of all the Germans had
for every flying day. as the
Red
Air
learned from their Soviet enemies about contending with the weather.
The Germans were
astonished in Russia
when Red
fighters
THEBLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
80
swarmed over their airfields early on sub-zero mornings when they had been unable even to start their own aircraft. When Erich's squadron captured a Russian airman, he showed them with typical Soviet directness
how
tional effectiveness at
The
the Russian Air Force maintained
its
opera-
40 below zero.
cooperative prisoner was proud of knowing something per-
haps the Germans didn't know. gasoline in a can.
and
serschmitts,
He went
He
called for half a gallon of
over to one of the grounded Mes-
to the horror of the watching JG-52 personnel,
poured the gasoline into the
aircraft's
backed away twenty yards or more. The turned on the ignition and attempted a
oil
sump. The Germans
moment start,
that
Dummkopf
there would be an
explosion.
Apprehensive mechanics began cranking the motor by hand, while a line
German
pilot cringed
down
in the cockpit. After the gaso-
was thoroughly mixed with the congealed
ignition.
The
oil,
he turned on the
The big The Russian airman
engine started. There was no explosion.
Daimler-Benz burst into
life
and ran
solidly.
Germans that the oil congealed at sub-zero temperatures and made it impossible for the starters to budge the engine. The gasoline liquefied the oil, and then evaporated as the engine warmed up. The only necessary precaution was to change engine oil more often when using gasoline for sub-zero explained through interpreting
starting.
Erich also watched another captured Russian demonstrate a sub-zero starting gimmick.
He tells
the story in his
own words:
"This prisoner called for a spare-parts tray. Again, there was a
While Bimmel and others watched, the Russian stalked over to a nearby Me-109 and set the tray on the ground underneath the engine compartment. He filled the tray brimming with gasoline. Then he lit a match and sprang back. "The gasoline vapor flared alight despite the sub-zero temper-
call for gasoline.
ature,
wide tongue of flame licked at the underside of the opened engine compartment. For a full ten minutes the
and
fighter's
a
blaze continued.
"One
of the mechanics said that the electrical system
ruined— the insulation
all
burnt
away—as
would be
the flames died down.
OPS! The
tricky
Me- 109 earned
ound-looper, usually ending up on is
one
did.
quite a reputation as a its
back or on
its
nose, as
(B. Steinhoff Collection)
GUNTHER RALL:
1ST. LT.
Rail was
Erich Hartmann's second Gruppenkom-
mandeur(the first was Major von Bonin). Rail had just been awarded the Oakleaf
when
this
photo was taken on 26 October
1942, after his 100th aerial victory.
(Rail Collection)
a b c
d e
MG
131
Doppelschufigeber DSG Gurtkosten 131 Linker Abfuhrschocht
MG
Lafette St.L. 131/5
Zundspule ZS
Schlitzverkleidung
h i
k I
MG
AL
C
A
f
g
1
3
151
Motorlafette MoL 151/1 Gurtkosten 151 Zufuhrschacht
MG
m KG n
o
THE BEST WEAPON— 20MM CANNON:
MG
151 cannon (item h
in the drawing).
13 A Revi 16 B Selbstschalter
A
15
The most effective weapon on German fighter aircraft was the hit with it was worth ten with the smaller calibre ma-
One
chine guns.
TWO SARDINES IN AN ME- 109: Heinz Mertens, TWOBUBTS: Bubi Dose and Bubi Hartmann, offriends, shared the °oy,
lad,
youthful
best
same nickname, "Bubi" means baby in Deutsch. Both lads had such a appearance that the name "Bubi" was a
natural for them.
and Erich how two can get into
crew-chief on Hartmann's fighter plane, jovially
show
the photographer
the cockpit of the Me- 109. Erich 's first aircraft sport" ed the Bleeding Heart with the words "Dicker Max. "Ursel. Later he changed it to
FLYING
BATHTUB— Th
"STORMOVIK":
IL2
T)
Soviet ground attack Ilyush
IL2 was shot down byLuftwa^ pilots just north
of Jassy, R
mania on 12 August 194 Hartmann's first aerial victo was over an IL2. (Now an
BLITZKRIEG VICTIM: IL2 'tormo vik caught on the ground y y
German troops was blown up Russian
troops.
Airplane
as up on jacks being repaired )
was not flown
to safety.
(Nowarra)
OAK LEAVES FROM THE FUEHRER: On this occasion, Erich aerial
*
:/
•*
11
Hartmann and onetime warfare
tutor
Walter
Krupinski received their Oak Leaves personally from Adolf
The ceremony was at Obersalzberg on 4 April 1944. The officers at the investiture are from left, Dr. Maximilian Otto, Reinhard Seiler, Horsi Hitler.
Adameit, Erich Geiger.
Walter
Krupinski,
Hartmann and Augus, (Obermaier Collection
i
,
THE KEYS TO SUCCESS: Colonel Dietrich
Hrabak
(left)
Kommodore of JG-52 had under his command the most
as
successful fighter wing of all
With 125
time.
self
victories
Hrabak appears
him-
here with
four ofthe Luftwaffe's outstanding fighter pilots— Erich Hart-
mann (352 Gratz(138
victories), Lt.
victories),
Lt
Karl
Fried-
Obleser (127 victories) and Major Wilhelm Batz (237 erich
victories).
HAPPY YOUNGSTER-
Relaxing
in
a
deck chair and fondling a pet dog, the Blond Knight takes time outfrom the Eastern front air
was
in
war in 1944.
a Soviet prison.
A year later,
he
WEDDING GUEST: This snapshot of Gerd Barkhorn was made at Erich Hartmann's wartime wedding on 10 September 1944 in Bad Wiessee. Barkhorn was official witness at the ceremony,
along with
another JG-52 ace, Willi Batz. Barkhorn and Hartmann, acedom's two top scorers, had remained close friends until Bark-
horne was killed in an automobile accident 6 January 1983.
OXYGEN
INDOCTRINA-
TION: The Grupe Flight Surgeon shows Hartmann the results
of
patability
his
oxygen
test
while
com-
amused
squadron-mates look on.
(JG-52)
(AJOR '
GUNTHER RALL,
No. 3
ear the end of the war.
ACE: With 275
thumb to a P-47 Rail commanded the new
dories behind him, Rail lost his
left
uftwaffe as a Lieut. General.
COLONEL JOHANNES One of the most
"Macky" STEINHOFF:
of the Luftwaffe, Steinhoff scored 1 76 aerial victories before an Me-262jet crash burned him badly. In the new Luftwaffe, Steinhoff rose to Lieut. General rank and commanded the brilliant
Luftwaffe for several years.
iPTAIN WILLI BATZ: 22 i
victories in
12 months!
combat and good
instructor pilot for years, Batz started
?wly but when he caught onto tactics
ooting he became the best of all at aerial gun-
MAJOR JOHANNES WIESE:
This
JG52
ace had
and may have had over 200. Became Kommodore ofJG77 but was shot down and 133
official victories
carttured bv the Soviets two
months
later.
OAK LEAVES
8l
The Russian simply that
said, 'Start it/
The
instant,
smooth roar of
motor convinced everyone. Fighters could be
zero weather—once you
knew how.
started in sub-
We all felt indebted to the Red
Air Force for this scheme, which helped us get into the air to meet their early
morning
sorties."
The same Russian prisoner how to keep their armament
gladly
showed the awed Germans
functioning in sub-zero climates.
Luftwaffe manuals recommended careful lubrication and greasing
gun mechanism. The grease congealed on the Russian Front and froze the breech mechanism shut. The Russian took a German for
machine gun and dunked the grease and lubricants, the
oil
out of the weapon. Minus
With Bimmel rack
up
firing, a
two winters
perfectly at
recommended 40 below zero. Thanks
Germans were not only
to Russian advice, the
first
in a tank of boiling water, flushing all
gun functioned
but also to keep in the
it
its
able to keep flying,
problem that had dogged Luftwaffe units
in Russia.
using
all
these tricks
and more, Erich was able
to
his impressive string of kills over the January-February
period in 1944.
He
flew a normally camouflaged fighter,
and
its
only distinguishing mark was the bleeding "Usch" heart on the
The
fuselage.
Russians nevertheless matched up the plane and
pilot through radio interceptions. This led to Erich's being singled
out one morning by a Russian determined to
down him.
Erich was flying with his wingman, Lieutenant Wester, far back in
German
on the Rumanian Front. Behind the
territory
there was normally
little
lines
likelihood of encountering Russian
air-
HQ
but reports had come into JG-52 of ground attacks behind the lines. Erich was ordered to make a sweep. craft,
With
over five hundred combat missions under his belt, Erich
had acquired something that he considered even more valuable than the 150 victories standing to his credit— an intuition for the
enemy
presence.
The
blue sky seemed empty, save for some cumu-
lus insufficient to conceal
an
aircraft for long.
showed no evidence of the mortal
The
struggle seesawing across
ESP rang the little danger signal that was to save him many times. He looked back. face.
Then
Sitting
Erich's
on the perch
six
earth below
in his
its
mind
hundred yards behind and above him
S2
was
a single,
make
a pass
THE BLOND KNIGHT Of GERMANY red-nosed YAK fighter. The Russian was about to
on Karaya One.
"Pull ahead of me, climb
up and watch!" Erich
told Wester.
As they went racing along, the Russian every few seconds would
open
try to
fire.
Watching
then did the
pilot
last
broke away each time,
carefully, Erich
him on
trying to get the Russian to overtake
the outside.
The Red
thing Erich expected. Pulling up, he turned
and came head-on. Erich
fired
and the Russian
fired.
No
hits either
way. Twice they fired their way through a head-on encounter.
Neither of them could get a better
firing position.
After two near-misses at high speed, Erich began his out-loud talking to himself that he resorted to in tight spots.
"Erich, this Russian acts like he
mad.
is
He
is
probably trying
ram you. Break away from him, come on, with negative G's." The Blond Knight pushed his stick forward and sent Karaya One down in a negative G maneuver instead of continuing his turn. He called to Wester to escape down in a steep dive. As his to
went plunging down, Erich watched the Russian continue
fighter
Ins turn.
From underneath,
making
pilot
a
Erich below for
German
him
in the
home, no doubt
Firewalling his
full
throttle,
his adversary.
of his tale of
Climbing
Throttling back
Without
spotting
less
.
.
.
how he
almost bush-
the Black Devil.
Erich followed at low level directly steadily,
open, in two minutes Erich had
YAK.
antagonist.
dead zone, the Russian turned east and
whacked the infamous Karaya One under
now confused Red
couple of quick turns, obviously rattled because he
could no longer find his
headed
Erich could see the
come up under
than
machine, Erich
lifted the nose,
windshield with
its
with the 109's engine wide
and
fifty
feet
as the
bulk, he pressed his
the unsuspecting
below the Russian
enemy
fighter filled his
gun buttons.
Clunks of jagged metal flew off the Russian fighter in a deadly hail
and thundered against the wings
of Karaya One. Fire blow-
torched out of the Russian's engine compartment and a pall of black
smoke
was done
trailed
back behind the stricken
fighter.
The
YAK
for.
machine and bailed out. His chute billowing white against the morning sky, he hung there
The Russian
pilot inverted his dying
OAK LEAVES
83
The
as his aircraft
went barreling down
thunderously.
Smoke came climbing up from
in flames.
YAK
crashed
the wreck as the
Russian went floating down. Circling the scene, Erich watched the
down near his shattered fighter and begin gathering German infantry from a nearby village were already on
Russian touch in his chute.
their
way
to the scene.
Fixing the location in his mind, Erich sped back to base, and piling out of
Karaya One, clambered immediately into the squad-
The
ron's flying jeep, the Fieseler Storch.
was used
downed feet,
pilots.
and
forward
reconnaissance,
for
A
Storch could land in a
air
versatile little aircraft
minimum
carry three people including the pilot.
ready on the base at
Erich took
off,
Rumanian
He
hundred
Storch was kept
later
landed in a small
field
from which he had seen German infantrymen
the Russian pilot. Sure enough, the infantry had
captured his late opponent.
kind face.
A
of six
times.
and a few minutes
close to the village
move out toward
all
and rescuing
control
The Russian was
was obviously happy to be
civilians
who knew
Russian interpreted for the two
a captain, with a
alive.
a smattering of
A
couple of
both German and
pilots.
Erich congratulated the Russian on his "birthday' —surviving a
downing and a
crash.
"For you, the war
is
over.
The Russian nodded and
"Why
The Russian earlier
smiled happily.
me
in maneuvers,
flying alone?"
wingman in why he didn't look back, the Russian The situation was akin to that summed
captain explained that he had lost his
battle.
As
to
merely shrugged ruefully.
up
Erich.
didn't you look backward after you lost
and why were you an
You are lucky," said
American expression "Don't look back over your someone might be gaining on you." As the young Russian talked, standing there in his dark tunic, with leather cap and boots, Erich could see he was just like any in
the
shoulder,
other fighter pilot— a
a care-
free
member of his own fraternity. He was young man. He made wings out of his hands when he
talked.
But
for his language
and uniform, he could have been German.
Erich took his prisoner out of the custody of the infantry and
THE BLOND KNIGHT CF GERMANY
84
together they walked out to the Storch and flew back to the
With
squadron's base.
gestures
and smatters
of Russian Erich led
the young
Red
captain into a mess tent. Inside were young Ger-
man men
just
like
some schnapps and
One
himself.
To
food.
The Germans
offered the Russian
Erich's surprise, the Russian
became
German pilots spoke a little Russian and discovered the cause of the enemy pilot's obvious rage. 'They told him that all Russians captured by the Germans
angry.
of the
would be shot!" Erich handed the captain some more schnapps and food, then
took sian
him out and
him examine
let
the
Me-109
close up.
The Rus-
was allowed to wander without an escort around the base
for
HQ
for
two days before the squadron had
to
send him on to wing
proper processing. Enterprising enough to single out Karaya One, the Russian pilot had no ambition to escape, although he was left practically unguarded.
Air battles like his encounter with the lone Russian brought
Erich into contact with every conceivable situation in
combat.
He was
which no
not only confident of
fighter pilot could ever
skills
through experience.
enal
distances,
He
own
his
succeed— but
air-to-air
abilities— without also
could spot aircraft
now
sometimes minutes before anyone
with him, and often intuit his foe's intentions.
extended
his
at
phenom-
else
airborne
He
avoided the
dogfight in favor of the lethal efficiency of hit and run.
The "See -
Decide - Attack - Break" was a sequence never to be broken. Following
it
meant
success, departing
from
it
meant
failure
and even
doom. For joining and breaking combat Erich developed practical that kept
him
continued to
mode vailed,
and unwounded while the Russian Under blue-sky conditions, he found the best
alive
fall.
his strike
wherever possible for
under
and
of attack the high
he made
less
rules
aircraft
this
fast
low and
one
fast
Where
approach. fast.
He
overcast pre-
waited whenever and
blow rather than make
his attack
than ideal conditions. This was his "coffee break."
Surprise was the crucial element of the successful bounce.
In winter, with Karaya
One camouflaged
white and the sky
overcast, the low-to-high attack pass proved extremely successful.
OAK LEAVES He in,
conquered
85
his earlier
tendency to slacken speed when closing
going right to his foe at the shortest possible distance before
From
firing.
fifty
devastating. Kills were scored with
The
armament was
yards the power of Karaya One's
minimum ammunition.
traditional tactic of turning with
an enemy was something
Erich had abandoned. Dogfighters could do
it their way, and most them loved the dogfight. Erich preferred his own methods. After his brief and violent attack, he would roll over wing deep and dive
of
about two thousand feet under
his foe
altitude permitted, pull-
if
ing up from behind and below for a second attack. In this posi-
he could stay with any turn the enemy might attempt, and
tion,
after firing, the
Blond Knight was on
his
way
upstairs for a third
Each pass was a repetition of the "See Decide Attack Break" cycle. In the Eastern Front air battles, the Germans were almost al-
pass should his foe survive the second assault.
ways heavily outnumbered. Consequently, Erich himself was often In the same way as he evolved his
bounced by Russian
fighters.
deadly attack
he developed a defensive
tactics,
methods
his attack
rolled
up
set of rules. Just as
his score past all the old dogfighters,
so did his defense tactics keep
him from being wounded. The two
went hand in hand, and led to his being consistently Luck was almost always with him, but his penetrant
sets of tactics
in action.
analytical ability vival
and
was ever Lady Luck's bridegroom. Physical
sur-
a high score were the children of the union.
When a Russian bounced him from behind, above— from "the perch"— Erich would go into turn, turning into his enemy's firing pass.
Where
from below and behind, Erich would go hard
down, again breaking into
his
to
one side and
a hard climbing a
Red
pilot
came
left or right
enemy's pass, then immediately
and us-
ing negative G's to lose the enemy. Erich's coolness soon
him.
He
attack
became
a legend
among
all
learned to observe his Russian foes as they
and meet
who
flew with
came
in to the
their thrusts with appropriate parries. Resisting
the urge to turn while an attacking Russian pilot was firing
range required coolness.
while an
enemy
aircraft
The concept
still
outside
of simply sitting there
rushed in with a battery of guns charged
was hard to accept in theory— and even tougher to execute in
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
86
actual combat. Flying straight
and waiting
slip
for the
and
enemy
level,
using the rudder for slight
commit
to
himself, soon convinced
the Blond Knight that he could avoid being hit under these
cumstances. Vital information could often be gleaned in the
seconds before the attacking Russian opened
cir-
split
fire.
Inexperienced or inferior pilots always gave themselves away
by opening
too early. Erich discovered that in such instances
fire
he could soon change
Red
his role
from defender to attacker, but
and kept
pilot held his fire
closing in, then
that an old-timer was at the controls.
A
battle
it
if
the
was certain
was then
in the
offing.
Erich developed only one rule for breaking away as a last-ditch
maneuver, and that was to execute with negative G's. tighter
and
An
to
try
a
movement where
possible
attacking pilot expects his quarry to turn
him— the
out-turn
dogfight.
classic
The
at-
tacking pilot must turn even tighter in order to pull firing lead on his quarry.
As
a
result, his
quarry disappears under the nose of
moment
the attacker. At that
the quarry can escape by shoving
forward on the stick and kicking bottom rudder. aircraft
change from plus G's.
a-half
five
The
on
forces
his
G's to minus one or minus one-and-
This escape maneuver
attacker to sec or follow until
it is
is
too
almost impossible for the late.
Erich
made good
use
which threw the attacker instantly from ad-
of this escape tactic,
vantage to complex disadvantage.
The
attacker was
first
of
all
placed at the psychological disad-
vantage imposed by negative G's— weightlessness. Physically he was disadvantaged, being lifted from his seat to hang against his belt—
an impossible situation in which to track a
target,
due
to
the
higher negative attack angle. Finally, the erstwhile attacker lost his
overview of the area and steering the aircraft in the right
rection for continued pursuit
became guesswork.
Erich reserved these tactics for last-ditch situations. In attacks, his rule
G's.
He
was to turn into
called these
"My
taught them to his young tactical skill in attack
di-
all
other
his assailant's turn, using positive
Personal Twist Regulations," and he
wingmen
to help
keep them
alive.
His
and defense took him through more than
OAK LEAVES hundred
eight
87
aerial battles
without a scratch— too stunning an
achievement to be attributed to blind luck.
Once he kill
tally rose
among
and got some experience, Erich's so quickly that he became a subject of discussion
clarified his tactics
other pilots. His consistent string of victories and seemingly
charmed
life
made him
a focus of competitive attention as 1943
wore on. There were even some
who thought
pilots
must
that there
be some trickery involved in Erich's success.
who had
Sergeant Carl Junger of the 7th Squadron, Erich's
wingman, was invited with two other
flown as
pilots to visit the
nearby 8th Squadron mess. This social gathering had a noteworthy
During
sequel, arising out of squadron rivalry.
heard Erich Hartmann's
name mentioned
in
festivities,
some
Junger
of the noisy
who
conversation. Second Lieutenant Friedrich "Fritz" Obleser,
had come
to
JG-52 about the same time
at the outset of his career, while Erich
and learning the
fever
Once Erich
settled
tricks of
down
as Erich,
had scored well
was conquering
Rossmann and the
own
to lead his
buck
his
dogfighters.
elements, he rocketed
past Obleser in the scoring. Fritz was expressing his skepticism
about Erich's consistent skein of
kills.
Junger as Erich's wingman had been witness to
He was annoyed
kills.
by the implication
many
of Erich's
in Obleser's remarks.
The
next day, Junger told the Blond Knight what Obleser had said.
Erich thanked Junger and
made up
his
mind
in a flash
about what
He went straight to Major Guenther Rail, the Gruppenkommandeur, under whose command both the 7th and
should be done.
8th Squadrons were operating. "Fritz Obleser of the 8th pilots that
Rail's
he doesn't believe
tions,
all
I
the details.
know
they are genuine.
What
do you want
sir.
like to
That is,
have Obleser
if it
fly as
wingman on
A
see
to
do
a few opera-
can be arranged."
Rail nodded. Pilots locking horns was nothing
"Of
me
I
it?"
would
"I
my kills are genuine."
eyebrows went up. "Well,
the witness reports and
about
Squadron has been saying to other
new
to him.
I'll issue the orders. He can come down tomorrow." somewhat embarrassed Obleser duly reported the following
course,
THE BLOND KNIGftT OF GERMANY
88
day
for
duty
as Erich's
wingman. Since
for observational purposes,
temporary transfer was
his
he was assigned
to the better vantage
point offered by the second element in Erich's Schwarm.
two missions and saw two of Erich's devastating ings, in
On
which the Blond Knight blew up
close-in
opponents'
his
the ground, the convinced Obleser signed the two
firmation claims as the
official witness. Fritz
He
flew
down-
aircraft.
con-
kill
apologized in manly
fashion for his earlier criticism and was allowed to return to the
8th Squadron with his story.
about Bubi Hartmann's
Behind Erich's
No
victories
further expressions of skepticism
came from any neighboring
tactical skills,
unit.
which he evolved and polished
through experience, lay yet another important talent of the successful fighter pilot— a hunter's nose. his foes,
He had an
even during periods of relative
instinct for finding
inactivity.
As the downing HQ, he
reports kept reaching Rail's desk for forwarding to wing
could see that Erich was getting
kills
when
other pilots were
coming home empty-handed. So Bubi was a hunter. On the evening of 1 October 1943, Erich was
called to the
telephone. Major Rail wanted in on tomorrow's hunt.
"What time are you going out in
the morning?" said Rail.
"Seven o'clock or thereabouts."
come with you in the second element." Erich Hartmann now tells the story of the only operation "Good.
I
will
the
two great aces flew together. Zaporozhe every morning early to catch the worm, but with no success. I had been flying later and having success, but I had a special route there. I flew down from "Rail had been flying
Zaporozhe I
to Nikopol,
had kept
my
down
to
and near there was
find quiet, but every day
down in this area. "Rail came with me on
I
a big Russian air base.
was able to knock an
aircraft
flew south.
We
were
the morning of 2 October 1943, and
sight, Rail "
'What
and the
line of the
thirty minutes' flight with
nothing in
circling along the front
Dnieper River. After about
came on the R/T. are you doing screwing around
There's nothing here. I'm taking trovsk.'
we
my
down
here in the south?
element up to Dneprope-
OAK LEAVES "And
a couple of far
Lagg
"
fighters as escort.
enough away, so
Then I 1 have
P-2.
Gruppenkommandeur
so the
lit
out. Barely
two minutes
spotted a P-2 recce plane at eighteen thousand feet, with
later, I
yet be
89
I
I
was afraid that Rail would not
waited until
I
was closing in on the
called Rail.
a bogey* south of Zaporozhe,
and you can watch
it.
Turn around/ "Back on the R/T came Rail's frantic response. " Wait! Wait! Wait till I get there/ "By then I was only fifteen hundred feet from the P-2. I closed in and shot him down, then broke into one of the Laggs and sent him down, too. Rail saw them both go down burning." Rail's conclusion that the
was thus proved
The Russian tion
as well as a shooter
and the incident shows
correct,
impishness that Erich
boy was a hunter
a certain quality of
Hartmann maintains to this day.
fighter pilots
were the most formidable
on the Eastern Front, but the toughest bird
have
opposi-
air
in the air, as
we
was the redoubtable IL-2 Stormovik. The Russian
said,
YAKs, MIGs and could absorb quantities of bullets and
fightex-bomber was not as maneuverable as the Laggs, nor as shells
fast,
but
that often left
Cannon
shells
and
it
German
pilots
pop-eyed with incredulity.
be seen bouncing away
tracer could actually
from the heavily armored cockpit area of
this incredibly
tough
machine.
A
Stormovik had been Erich's
first
victory,
and he learned
from experience how to bring these rugged birds to
earth.
The
IL-2's flew low, thus protecting the vulnerable oil cooler under-
neath the fuselage, and a rear gunner harassed attacking Erich's tactic for tackling an IL-2 with a rear gunner his attack at
an angle of
fifteen to
He
IL-2 straight or pulled over one after firing.
and damage by
rolling
was to make
twenty degrees, closing
thus keeping the defending gun moving.
fighters.
fast
and
never attacked the
He
avoided wounds
hard over one wing and diving under the
Stormovik, a maneuver that no gunner could follow with his
weapon and *
Bogey
is
score hits.
military slang for "target" or "stranger,"
that an unidentified airplane has been sighted.
and
is
used to indicate
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
90
Erich found that there were two main methods by which an IL-2 could be successfully attacked.
low and behind,
way
down
to
cooler
would
the "concrete bombers." Hits in the vulnerable
on the wing Repeated
wooden
tail
down
either force
method, Erich closed
area.
lightning strike from be-
the Stormovik's underbelly, was the best
firing at
deck-level operations
fire
The
in
Stormovik
the
of
the IL-2 or set
from behind and
root, avoiding the
cannon
hits
it
ruled
on
out
When
this
attack
tried to concentrate his
armored cockpit and engine
would
cause
the
heavily-loaded
and the Stormovik would
to shear off,
oil
fire.
The
crash.
two-seater version of the IL-2 proved vulnerable from ten degrees
and below,
as a full burst at short range
would
find
its
way through
the cockpit armor.
The
IL-2
tougher and literally
was followed
much
faster
1944 by the IL-10, an even bird. These aircraft had to be almost late
in
"hacked down." Before the appearance of the IL-10 and
during his prolific scoring period in 1943, Erich scored what were
probably the most unusual victories of his combat career against [L-2'S.
Erich's analytical ability served battle.
He
him
well in the prelude to this
noted that IL-2's generally came from the Russian side
of the lines in balls-out, straight-for-the-target droves at low tude.
These gaggles often contained up
rarely flew
above 4500
to
sixty
aircraft,
alti-
and
feet.
Carrying at least two five-hundred-pound bombs under their wings, these aircraft
moved
relatively slowly,
and could therefore
be easily overhauled from behind. Erich's tactic was to climb to 1
5,000 feet after take-off,
the
enemy
and from
this
height he could pick up
gaggles at a considerable distance. Spotting an
enemy
formation, Erich began a shallow dive, aimed at passing high over the
enemy and going
in the opposite direction,
with at least eight
or ten thousand feet between them.
Russian pilots looking up could see the
German
fighters passing
above and heading east at high speed. Erich's element would give
no indication
it
had spotted the Soviet formation, whose
pilots
were lulled into thinking they were unobserved. Erich kept going cast for several seconds, after
which he would
roll his fighter
over
OAK LEAVES
91
back and smoothly stroke the stick back, executing a half-
on
its
roll
or split-S maneuver.
Reversing his direction and gaining speed in the dive, he would
down
drop If
to a little
below the altitude of the IL-2 formation.
the sky were covered by clouds, he would approach from behind
and much below the Soviet
With his superior speed, Erich hammer blows that usually meant
aircraft.
could close in for the lethal
Many
destruction for any aircraft.
Soviet pilots were caught nap-
ping by this maneuver.
Such
tactics
were studied on the Russian side of the
lines, as
the
account of the career of Soviet ace Alexander Pokryshkin
later
will reveal.
Each new
tactic
often by counter tactics.
was met by increased
When
alertness
and
Erich pulled off this kind of inter-
ception near Kharkov on a formation of IL-2's, the Russians were
ready for
him— or so
they thought.
Four Stormoviks howling along below Erich
passed
in
echelon-Tight
he implemented
as
maneuver. His speed built up
his
well-tried
in a split-S
The Russian
pursuit
and from two hun-
rapidly in a dive,
dred feet astern of the fourth IL-2 he opened ploding in the IL-2's cockpit.
formation
fire,
the burst ex-
leader rolled to the left
maneuver, followed in hair-trigger succession by the
other two Stormoviks that had not been hit.
The
altitude-consuming split-S attempt at evasion had disas-
The bombs
consequences.
trous IL-2's
sharply diminished
slung under the wings of the
the maneuverability of the concrete
bombers, and they had barely 1500 feet of altitude when they took evasive action.
The
split
S consumed this altitude in sec-
onds.
Four
fiery blasts
crashed with
which
it
shook the sky
its full
had been
flying.
debris-strewn craters, single, swirling pall
Four
victories
The
bomb
as the entire
Four ghastly pyres
and four
pillars of
legend of Karaya
flared in four huge,
black smoke united in a
above the scene. Erich had
had followed
Russian formation
load in the echelon-right formation in
fired
one
full burst.
in seconds.
One and
the Black Devil grew out of such
encounters, so devastating to the materiel and the morale of the
Red
Air Force.
The
7th Squadron history for the period 10 Janu-
THE BLOND KNIGHT Of GERMANY
92
ary 1944 to 22 February 1944 refers to the
Blond Knight
in these
"The most successful marksman during this time was Lieutenant Erich Hartmann. Once in one day he downed five, on
terms:
another day
six."
Erich's tactics
up
Despite frequent changes of operational base,
and consistent entry into
battle continued to build
Uman
on 22 February, where a
his score.
The
7th Squadron
moved
to
Royal Hungarian Fighter Squadron was assigned to III/JG-52.
March, these two units were transferred
2
moved on
to Kalinovka, then
again within hours to a base at Proskurov, where they
scored fifteen victories before 7 March.
The
ron refers to this period: "Of these [fifteen
mann
On
alone
downed
ten enemies in air
history of 7th Squad-
kills]
combat
thereby achieved his 193rd to 202nd victories.
Lieutenant Hart-
one day, and
in
On
March 1944
2
the Fiihrer awarded Lieutenant Krupinski and Lieutenant Hart-
mann
Oak Leaf." The Oak Leaves were the
generally always bestowed personally by
the Fiihrer. Erich and Krupinski were ordered to Berchtesgaden for the investiture.
Happily they formed an
own, and squelching through the off for
the flight
home
mud
elite
in a high state of elation.
For a few minutes they circled the Erich could see the morass of
war was being slugged out
field,
and away
and snow in which the ground inhuman hardship. His thoughts
he had seen barely two weeks ago,
littering a
German
bodies
snow-covered valley
the Shanderovka-Korsun salient. Russian cavalry with sabers
and Red tanks had hacked the trapped German unit to Erich shuddered at the memory. lie
to the east
mud
in
turned back for an instant to the twenty thousand
in
Rotte of their
of the Proskurov base took
More
similar things
ahead, for rumors had reached 7th Squadron
Russian
"mud
offensive." Hell
Erich to himself, as his
They fought
surely
of a pending
over the infantryman's war.
in a frozen purgatory over
He
HQ
must
was not necessarily hot, thought
mind ranged
flew in their fast fighters.
pieces.
was glad
which he and
to
his
be going home.
comrades
With
the
ebullient Krupinski flying beside him, he turned westward with a
profound feeling of
The
relief.
riotous journey to Salzburg in the train with
Gerd Bark-
—
OAK LEAVES
93
horn, Walter Krupinski and
Hannes "Kubanski Lion" Wiese, has
The quartet of aces from the Oak Leaves in the cere-
already been recounted in Chapter One.
JG-52 joined twelve other recipients of monies at the Eagle's Nest. Winners of the decoration included Maj.
fighting
Kurt Buehligen of the Richthofen
Col.)
(later Lt.
on the Channel Coast, and the veteran night
August Geiger, who was
RAF night
fighter ace
The
down and
later shot
and
was the youngest winner of the
Oak
fighter ace
killed in action
"Bob" Braham. There were
slender, boyish
of Infantry.
Wing
also
two
slightly tipsy Erich
by
colonels
Hartmann
Leaves and the lowest-ranked
recipient of the coveted decoration at this investiture.
As Second Lieutenant Hartmann he stood near the end of the reception line looking like an overawed teen-ager.
On
the Russian
Front he had already acquired rank and fame of a different kind
Oak
than that bestowed by the
infamous Black Devil. his enemies. In his
those
who had
stood ahead of
he was the year.
own
A
Leaves.
He was
Karaya One, the
legend had begun around
fraternity,
he had qualified
him among
for the elite
reached two hundred victories. Those few
him
in the deadliest scoring
aerial jouster to
watch
as the
game
of
all,
war rolled on
who
knew in
still
that
its fifth
1
f
Chapter Seven
ACES OF FIGHTER WING 52 In a
company
of heroes, only a Titan stands
tall.
—Anonymous
Jt\.
vigorous
competitor since boyhood,
Erich
Hartmann
found JG-52 an environment in which he could thrive. His climb to the award of the Oak Leaves had been hard, but his progress had been stimulated by the hot
pilots
who were
vying with each other
every squadron of JG-52. This steady competition resulted in
in tlic
development of many exceptional aces who won the Knight's
Cross and the higher orders of that decoration.
The most
successful Fighter
Wing
in the Luftwaffe,
JG-52 was
credited with over ten thousand aerial victories in four years. roll
call
of
leading personalities begins with the three top-
its
world— Erich Hartmann with 352 Gerhard Barkhorn with 301, and Guenther Rail with
scoring aces of victories,
A
Germany and
the
The dozens of other accomplished air fighters who served with Erich Hartmann in JG-52 at one time or another include Willi Batz with 237 victories, Hermann Graf with 212, and Helmut Lipfert with 203. The Blond Knight and these five contem275.
poraries accounted for the staggering total of
Hard behind
this stellar six
came
ranging from 100 to 200 victories,
all
1
580 aerial
victories.
a covey of aces with scores
of
whom
spent a consider-
combat time with JG-52. These notables included Maj. Walter Krupinski with 197 kills, Maj. Johannes Wiese
able portion of their
with 133 victories, First Lt. Friedrich "Fritz" Obleser with 120, and First Lt. Walter Wolf rum with 126 victories. These are the
ACES OF FIGHTER WING 52
95
scores of the pilots as they stood at war's end. rivalry in
During the
conflict,
squadron, group and wing was constant. Scoring leader-
ship often changed hands,
and competition brought out the best
efforts of every pilot.
The
man was
urge to be top
cessful. Rivalry
was keen but
a driving force in all
who were
friendly, in the tradition of sports-
manship, and the nightly gatherings of
pilots to listen to the
and see how the scoreboard stood was one of the events. Success
high
level,
and ever-mounting
and played
Germans held
the
their
suc-
tallies
news
day's chief
kept pilot morale at a
a key role in the psychological superiority
in the air in Russia until the end,
even
when
Me-109's were technically outclassed and buried under the
blizzards of Soviet aircraft.
JG-52 was fortunate part of
its
in the high-caliber leadership that
Colonel Dietrich Hrabak has already been
tradition.
Kommodore
introduced as the wing's
mann's baptism of
became
fire,
at the time of Erich Hart-
and Maj. Hubertus von Bonin has been
introduced as a memorable Gruppenkommandeur. Other exceptional leaders
who
left their
names
Condor Legion veteran Herbert Johannes "Macky" Steinhoff.
A
in the wing's records include Ihlefeld,
distinguished career as a squadron leader
penkommandeur with ents of Steinhoff,
Guenther Rail and
and
later as a
Grup-
JG-52, proved the flying and leadership
who once
led the
new German Air Force
tal-
as
Lieutenant General Steinhoff. Joining JG-52 as a squadron leader in
February 1940, he was Gruppenkommandeur of II/JG-52 two
years
Some
later.
of
Germany's most successful
fighter
pilots
passed through Steinhoff's units in JG-52, including the immor-
Captain Hans-Joachim Marseille, top-scoring Luftwaffe pilot
tal
against the
Western
Allies,*
who
flew in Steinhoff's JG-52 squad-
ron during the Battle of Britain. Major Willi Batz was Steinhoff's adjutant in Russia, and Walter Krupinski flew as Steinhoff's wing-
man
in
most
of
*
his
early career.
Steinhoff himself scored 176 victories,
them with JG-52.
One hundred and
flown aircraft.
fifty-eight
victories
in
World War
II,
all
British-
THE BLOND KNIgAt OF GERMANY
96
With
leadership of this character, success in fighting the
and continual exposure
to aerial combat, conditions in JG-52 en-
couraged and inspired ambitious young fighter
sponded with
enemy
pilots.
They
re-
a level of success never previously achieved in the
history of aerial warfare. In the highly competitive scoring race,
Bubi Hartmann rose the score of
To
to the top, exceeding
Gerd Barkhorn,
fifty-one victories
his closest rival.
convey the unique
accurately
by
human environment
that
brought out the best in Erich Hartmann, a few sketches of his fellow aces in JG-52 are appropriate. Since there were dozens of high-scorers, these sketches can quality,
be only a sampling of JG-52 pilot
although they are typical of the Luftwaffe's most success-
A
Wing.
ful Fighter
list
of JG-52 aces appears at the
end of
this
chapter.
Erich friend
Hartmann
and onetime
tribute:
"Gerd
would gladly the best
is
kill
rival
Gerd Barkhorn evokes from him
the one leader
I
know
for
whom
his
this rare
man
every
himself. Father, brother, comrade, friend, he
ever met." This unstinting admiration
I
but
rarely gets excited over old comrades,
is
is
typical of the
Gerd Barkhorn's name evokes among his comrades of the Second World War, for his personality and character made a
reaction
deeper impression on them than did his 301 aerial victories.
There
is
more
of the ancient knight in
any other ace the authors have met.
and generous;
strong, merciful
He
Gerd Barkhorn than is
in
chivalrous, honorable
and magnanimous— a
truly heroic
gentleman. Four years older than Erich Hartmann, Barkhorn in his glory days was an arrestingly handsome man with thick, dark
an olive complexion and penetrating blue eyes remarkably those of Erich Hartmann. The five-foot nine-inch Barkhorn
hair,
like
975 as a Major General. He and his wife, Christl, died in auto accident on 6 January 1983. A daughter, Ursula, lives
retired in
a tragic
near
1
New
York
City.
Lieutenant General SteinhofT says of Barkhorn: choice of a
good
firmed."
all
is
my
World War fighter pilots. Steady, reliable, he never made a victory claim that wasn't con-
the Second
leader,
To
"He
the old aces of the Royal Air Force with
horn has formed friendships,
as well as to
NATO
whom
Bark-
officers
with
ACES OF FIGHTER WING 52 whom
he has served, he
his are the
When
ways of
man's success expressed
he would
his
such that he enjoys another
is
own. In combat
his chivalrous spirit
frequently in a heroic quality that
disabling a
machine
stricken
side his foe lost his
Soviet aircraft,
Gerd
in the scoring race,
is
often forgot-
ten—mercy. Hartmann and others have told of Barkhorn's after
and
grace.
for his character
as
itself
a throwback to the days of chivalry,
Hartmann passed him
Erich
was delighted,
is
97
efforts,
persuade the pilot of the
to
to forsake his plane for a parachute, flying along-
and gesturing
humanity
but did not hate.
for
him
jump. Gerd Barkhorn never
to
in the bitter Eastern
To
his
Front struggle.
comrade Erich Hartmann he
He is
fought
the most
unforgettable character of the war.
Major Johannes Wiese was one
of Erich
Hartmann's celebrant
comrades at the Oak Leaves investiture at Berchtesgaden, and a fellow ace of JG-52. Called the "Kubanski Lion" by the Russians
because of his success in the heavy
air battles
Bridgehead, Wiese was a professional officer
who
above the Kuban entered the Luft-
waffe in 1936.
He came
to JG-52
in
the
summer
of
1941
as
adjutant of
II/JG-52, after a long spell as an instructor and reconnaissance pilot.
He made
a specialty of
downing the IL-2 Stormovik, and
about seventy of the heavily-armored ground-attack machines to his guns. kills in
five
On
his big
day in 1943, Wiese got twelve confirmed
the Orel-Kursk-Byelgorod area, and on the same day
forced landings himself.
mand
of 1/ JG-52,
fell
He ended
and was promoted
his
to
made
JG-52 career in com-
Kommodore
of JG-77 as
SteinhofFs replacement at the end of 1944.
Ruhr against damaged para-
His war career ended with a wild battle over the Spitfires.
Forced to
bail out, the
Kubanski Lion's
chute failed to open properly and he was seriously injured in the resulting heavy
fall.
He became
a prisoner of the U.S. after the
surrender.
When
Wiese was released by the U.S. in September 1945 and returned home, he was recognized by Communist-sympathizing Germans. As
a highly decorated
German
professional officer
who
had fought against the Soviet Union, he became the victim
of
THEBLOND KNIG»T
9^
OF*
GERMANY
some postwar political intrigue. The police picked him up and handed him over to the Soviet government. Wiese joined Erich Hartmann in the Russian prisons, and was released in 1950. He moved to West Germany in 1956 and joined the new German Air Force, and when he was assigned to the new Richthofen
Wing
in 1959,
new Luftwaffe under
the
he found the
the
command
first jet-fighter
wing of
of his former JG-52
and
Russian prison comrade, Erich Hartmann.
Dynamic Guenther
Rail, with
275
aerial victories, has
found
his
Hartmann since Erich arrived at the Russian Front in the autumn of 1942 as a fledgling. A prewar professional officer, Rail made a brilliant war record, not
career intertwined with that of Erich
only as an ace and leader, but also as a
power and courage.
He
man
of surpassing will
flew in the Battle of Britain, the Battle of
France, the Balkan campaign, in the Battle of Crete, on the Eastern Front, and in the final defense of the Reich against the Anglo-
American
air assault.
He is best remembered by his war comrades man of uncanny gifts, capable of hitting and from incredible angles and distances. The
whose 225
included
victories
as
an
aerial
marks-
destroying his foes
late Lt. Col.
Heinz Baer,
120 over British- and American-
flown aircraft, was a superb judge of fighter pilots as well as one of
the Luftwaffe's greatest aces. Before his untimely death in a
light plane crash
1957, Baer told the authors he considered
in
Guenther Rail the
greatest angle-off shot in the
perior even to the legendary
Aggressive
in the air,
Luftwaffe— su-
Hans-Joachim Marseille.
a fine leader and excellent administrator,
man of sixty and a retired He was Lt. General who once led the new German Air Force. perhaps the keenest competitor among all the top-scoring German Guenther Rail
is
today a vigorous, friendly
pilots during the war,
time.
had
He may well
his luck not
and he held the top spot
for a considerable
have ended the war as the greatest ace of all time,
run out on two crucial occasions.
Following a Russian flamer near dusk he momentarily forgot his victim's
wingman, and seconds
later the fair-haired
young German
dead engine. The ensuing
found himself riding an Me-109 with
a
freak belly landing broke Rail's back,
and when German
infantry-
ACES OF FIGHTER WING 52 men
99
dragged him out of his wrecked aircraft hours later one side
was paralyzed. Condemned by the doctors never to
fly
again, Rail
fought an epic battle back to health and strength, aided by a beautiful
young lady doctor
Consumed by
whom he later married.
the thought of his squadron mates at the front
running up large scores while he lay prostrate in the hospital, Rail broke
down
combat
all his
doctors' objections
flying after nearly a year
and forced
on the
his
way back
sidelines. Flying
into
with a
cushion under his leg and another at his back, he began piling up a
tremendous
score,
of the Luftwaffe.
and by April 1944 he was the top fighter pilot this time he had to leave the elite formation
A{
with which he had found fame. Transferred to the Western Front, he shook hands with Erich
Hartmann
at the farewell party staged in
honor of the departing
CO. "Now, Bubi,"
You will be
said Rail, "I
won't be in your way any longer.
the top scorer."
"Sir," said Erich, "all
our doings are kismet."
Rail was proved right by events, and they never saw each other
again until after Hartmann's return from Russia in 1955.
Not long with
after leaving JG-52, Rail lost his
USAAF
thumb
in a battle
Thunderbolts over Berlin, and subsequently had to
fight a different
kind of battle.
The enemy
this
time was infection.
thumb took nine months to heal, while he flirted again with paralysis. Erich Hartmann and Gerd Barkhorn both passed him His
in the scoring while
he was out of action, but Rail himself has no
"The attrition of Western Front pilots at this time was fierce. If I had flown on, I probably would have been killed. I was glad to trade my thumb for my life." regrets concerning this period:
For many months Erich's role in the
new German
Knight began
CO.
in Russia, Rail again filled this
Air Force in the 1960s.
his service as a Tactical
When
the Blond
Wahn
Evaluation Officer at
Air Base near Cologne, General Rail was his boss. Rail contrasts
with Erich because he
is
chosen military career.
man attuned, He exemplifies a
suited
and devoted
the best type of
to his
officer,
keen, energetic and thoroughly professional, while Erich Hart-
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
100
y
mann's basic antipathy toward conventional military
formed
tural attitude
When
in
life is
a struc-
boyhood.
Erich came to the Eastern Front in the
Guenther Rail was already a mature, experienced
of 1942,
fall
officer
with an
outstanding combat record. Erich's boyishness, inseparable from his
made his rise make some hard
then extreme youth,
had
Rail
difficult.
but the two
men
sights into Erich
to
to responsibility slow
and
decisions involving Erich,
have been friends for
years.
General Rail's
in-
Hartmann's problems have helped the presenta-
tion of his life story,
and within the German Air Force, Rail has
been one of Erich's defenders in the controversies that have sometimes boiled around Rail,
him
since 1959.
Barkhorn and other top aces were the
men
to beat in the
scoring race.
They were
tive pressure
from below, provided by the upcoming young
Among
the pacesetters. There was also competipilots.
the lesser-known but talented youngsters of JG-52 was
Hans-Joachim Birkner, who was broken
wingman
in as Erich
Hartmann's
in the fall of 1943.
somewhat after Erich Hartmann, Birkner downed his first enemy aircraft on 1 October 1943. One year later he confirmed his one hundredth victory and had won Modeling
his
fighting style
the Knight's Cross in a career of brilliant promise. Birkner was a
squadron leader with 117 sion
kills
and
a second lieutenant's
by mid-December 1944, when he was
commis-
killed in a test-flight
crash at Krakau, Poland.
Some pilots appear to have led charmed lives in combat, which may be due to luck, but can be due to skilled piloting and tactical savvy. More often than not, the ability to stay in one piece rests on a combination of luck and skill. Erich Hartmann admits he was lucky, but his battles
own
emergence unscathed from over eight hundred
aerial
triumph than consistent luck,
as his
was more of a
earlier
tactical
account of his methods
reveals.
He
paid strict atten-
tion on a methodical basis to the business of keeping himself alive
and unwounded. JG-52 ace who survived multiple crashes and extensive combat without injury was Captain Helmut Lipfert. He
Another
brilliant
ended the war with 203 confirmed
aerial victories,
and
is
today a
ACES OF FIGHTER WING 52
101
schoolteacher near Cologne. Lipfert was shot
down
fifteen times,
twice by Russian fighters and thirteen times by the deadly Russian flak.
Helmut
Lipfert joined JG-52 shortly after Erich
Hartmann, and
they flew together frequently during the ensuing two years. Scoring
January 1943, Lipfert racked up two hundred victories in the next twenty-seven months, ending the war with his first victory in
the
Oak
Leaves to his Knight's Cross as Captain
Hartmann
In later years, Erich
likened
him
temperament, perennially happy and on top of
A
Helmut Lipfert. Rossmann in
to Paule life.
young contemporary of Erich Hartmann
in
who was
JG-52
and Usch Hartmann was First Walter Wolfrum, who joined the most deadly wing in the
later to figure in the lives of Erich
Lt.
Luftwaffe about ninety days after the Blond Knight.
handsome Wolfrum had
haired and eye,
and did not score
The
dark-
trouble finding his shooting
months
a victory until six
after his arrival at
the front.
Between July 1943 and June 1944, Wolfrum ran up a hundred kills, but the following month was shot down and seriously wounded. Forced to leave the front cuperating, he
had 137
kills.
mann who
among
is
insist that
tastic distances,
not
behind in the scoring
fell
He
for over six
those pilots
race,
who
months while reand by war's end
flew with Erich Hart-
the Blond Knight could hit targets at fan-
on occasions when
his point-blank attacks
were
feasible.
Walter Wolfrum was leading
a
squadron in Erich's Gruppe at
went into Russian confinement with his CO., even though he had been wounded a short time before the end of
the surrender, and
the war.
A
month
later,
cause of his wound.
He
Wolfrum free out of prison camp
the Russians turned
smuggled a
letter
Erich in the lining of his coat, and this missive was the
first
befor
un-
censored contact between Erich and Usch after the Blond Knight's
Wolfrum and owns his own
capture.
is
today a prosperous
light plane.
He
is
West German
goldsmith
one of Germany's top
trick
flyers.
Even an
outline sketch of JG-52 aces cannot be complete with-
out reference to Major Wilhelm "Willi" Batz, whose 237 aerial
THE BLOND KNIGH^T OFtGERMANY
102
make him the fourth-ranking living ace of the world. Erich Hartmann was for a time a squadron leader in the Gruppe commanded by Batz, and they have been friends for years. Batz by his own admission was for years a "lousy fighter," until a period in a hospital turned him from dove to hawk and saw him write one of
victories
the most amazing personal records of the air war.
A his
peacetime-trained professional Luftwaffe pilot, Batz forced
way
into
combat
flying in
December 1942
He was
after
thousands of
months getting his first victory, so disquieted was he by the successful and competitive atmosphere of JG-52. He had an inferiority complex.
hours of flying as an instructor.
He added
a
few more
eleven
victories at the painful rate of
one or two
per month, and was then hospitalized with a minor infection.
He
returned to combat with his perspective renewed, and in a year
between March 1944 and March 1945 he ran up a staggering 222 victories. There is no other achievement like it in the history of fighter piloting.
He
finished the
war
in
command
of II/JG-52 as
Major Batz,
with 237 victories and the Swords to his Knight's Cross.
With
ad-
mirable foresight he was able to extricate his Gruppe from the Eastern Front, sparing his
men
the pain of Russian confinement
by getting them back to Germany.
The most famous personage in JG-52 during the war was Lt. Col. Hermann Graf, whose misfortune was to be selected as a typical hero for Dr. Goebbels's
propaganda build-up.
A
onetime
blacksmith, Graf joined the hard-fighting 9th Squadron of JG-52 in July 1942.
Cross,
Oak
Eight months
later,
he had been awarded the Knight's
Leaves, Swords, and the coveted Diamonds.
In one savage, seventeen-day period he scored forty-seven confirmed victories, and by October
Erich first
Hartmann
joined
that boyish
JG-52— Hermann Graf had become the
pilot in history to reach
to the
1942— the month
two hundred
Western Front, Graf came back
to
kills.
JG-52
Transferred later as its
Kommodore
was with Erich Hartmann when the remnants of the once-proud JG-52 surrendered to the Americans in Czechoin
October 1944.
He
ACES OF FIGHTER WING 52 Graf and Hartmann went into Soviet confinement
Slovakia.
gether
week
A
103
when
the Americans turned
them over
to the Russians
to-
one
after the surrender of JG-52.
of leading JG-52 aces follows.
list
testify to
history.
These impressive
tallies
won JG-52 its place in air demonstrate the challenging and competitive
the long and hard fighting that
They
also
environment from which Erich Hartmann emerged successful fighter pilot of
them
all.
Gerhard Barkhorn
301
Wilhelm Batz
237 117
Hans-Joachim Birkner Hubertus von Bonin Adolf Borchers
77 132
Hans Dammers
113
Adolf Dickfeld
136 152
Peter
Duettmann
Otto Foennekold Adolf Glunz Hermann Graf Karl Gratz Alfred Grislawski
Gerhard Hoffmann Dietrich Hrabak
136 71
212 138 133 125
125
Herbert Ihlefeld
130
Gerhard Koeppen
85 113
Berthold Korts
Walter Krupinski
Friedrich Obleser
196 203 101 120
Guenther Rail Heinz Sachsenberg
275 104
Franz Schall Heinz Schmidt Leopold Steinbatz
137
Helmut
Lipfert
Rudolf Miethig
Johannes Steinhoff Heinrich Sturm Rudolf Trenkel
Hans Waldmann Johannes Wiese Franz Woidich Walter Wolfrum Josef
Zwernemann
173
99 176 158 138 134 133 110 137 126
as the
most
Chapter Eight
FAME AND SWORDS The
sterner the challenge to
man, the
finer the response.
—Arnold Toynbee
Immediately
before the
Oak
Leaves investiture at Berch-
tesgaden, Erich and the other pilots had been instructed not to give Hitler
any bad reports concerning events at the
ons, tactics or other matters that
cussed in response to Hitler's probings.
"The
not the best," was the excuse given to the Hitler from unfavorable tidings. Erich soon of insulating Hitler against reality er's
front,
weap-
might properly have been
dis-
Fiihrer's health
is
pilots for protecting
saw what
this process
had done to the German
lead-
mind.
After awarding the decorations, the Fiihrer spent half an hour
with the blond-headed second lieutenant from Stuttgart and the other pilots. Hitler's powerful presence soon dissipated what
mained
of the celebrations
found himself dictator.
a thoroughly sober
train to Salzburg,
young man
Pacing the huge main room
one whole wall of drop,
on the
as
re-
and Erich
he listened to the
at the Eagle's Nest, with
glass providing the snow-crested alps as a back-
Hitler exuded a personal
dynamism
that riveted Erich's
attention. Strongly positive personalities like General
Heinz Gu-
derian have testified to Hitler's power over even mature officers of
high rank.
He
ruled
them by the
sheer power of his will.
Now
the
twenty-one-year-old Erich got a brief but unforgettable insight into Hitler's personality.
The
Fiihrer
showed
a detailed grasp of the air situation
on the
FAME AND SWORDS
105
Eastern Front— circa 1942.
He knew
all
about the superiority of
Me-109 over Soviet aircraft— circa summer 1941— when most Russian machines were of older design and inferior performance. Hitler knew the caliber of the armament and numerous technical the
details,
but it was yesterday's knowledge.
Erich
became evident that comprehend the facts,
felt distressed as it
possessed of the power to
Hitler, obviously
nevertheless
had
no grasp of the true situation facing the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front. All precautions were being taken to ensure that the facts were denied him on the basis of the unavoidable questions:
formed, and
When
if so,
his health. Erich
Was
asked himself
Hitler being deliberately misin-
why?
Hitler turned his talk to the
Western Front, he asked the
assembled pilots for their views on attacking the American bomber boxes.
man
The
Fiihrer frankly admitted to the weakness of the Ger-
air defense.
Ace Kurt Buehligen and others who had fought
hard on the Western Front asked for long-range weapons rockets with
which
formidable
USAAF
armed
Fortresses.
fighter escorts.
Hitler listened carefully fighter
They beat down the far-ranging and
to tackle the heavily
asked also for more fighters to
like
and comprehendingly.
He
said that
production was being increased rapidly. Rockets were be-
ing developed and improved.
He
then summarized the war situa-
tion for his assembled fighting officers:
"When
the Anglo-Americans launch their Second Front,
we
will
push them back into a Second Dunkirk. The submarine arm getting
new U-boats to cut the Atlantic supply we are building a big defense system
lines.
ern Front,
On
is
the East-
against which the
Russians will bleed themselves to death."
The
Fiihrer spoke quietly
and
which so many who knew him have
positively. testified
The magnetism
was so powerful
be almost physical. Erich found himself enveloped in flux,
this
to
as to
arcane
being carried along by the confidence the Fiihrer exuded.
His impression as he shook hands with Hitler before departure
was that he was in the presence of an
idealist
surrounded by ugly
and opportunists. That the Fiihrer was walled off by lies from reality was beyond doubt. The situation was hardly inspiring
lackeys
THE BLOND K N I G H*T OF GERMANY T
106
to a front-line soldier,
but Erich was not the only one who was
troubled by the war. In Stuttgart he found his sweetheart anxious
and
upset, despite
her obvious happiness at their reunion. Usch's lovely face clouded as conversation returned again
that kept eral days
and again
them apart and rationed
between Erich's
flirtations
"Erich," she said, "the war
is
war— the
to the
their happiness to a
tyrant
few ephem-
with death.
getting worse
many. Even the propaganda cannot hide the
come by day, and the British by bombed again and again."
and worse
truth.
Even
night.
for
Ger-
The Americans
Berlin has been
Erich tried to reassure his sweetheart.
"The Fiihrer told us about new weapons that are being and tested. Perhaps they will turn the tide and end the war."
built
Erich spoke the words, but his heart wasn't behind them. Usch
knew
it.
we don't know how it will all end. Shall we get married now, while we have the chance, and take what happiness we can "Erich,
even while
this
awful war goes on?"
Erich wanted desperately to say yes, but the experiences of the
Good pilots time. He might
grinding Eastern Front were too raw in his mind.
were being shot down, killed and captured
be next. That was no way to begin
life
all
the
together— with Usch per-
widow, or worse— possibly the wife of a crippled or maimed ex-fighter pilot. When he took her lovely face in his hands, he al-
haps
a
most caved
in,
but he managed to say what he
"Usch, darling.
We
must
felt
wait. Perhaps in a
was
right.
few months
all will
change." Erich was not quite twenty-two years of age and this
may have been
a factor in his decision.
Erich found no stimulus for his shaky optimism in the outlook of his wise physician-father.
When
he walked into the house at
Weil, his mother was delighted to see the
Oak
Leaves at his throat.
"See, Papa," she said, "look at the beautiful decoration your
son has won."
A
glow of pride beamed
in the
briefly
happy scene of Erich and
took a look at the
Oak
Leaves,
out of Dr. Hartmann his
mother smiling
mumbled
as
he took
together.
He
something about their
FAME AND SWORDS
107
being handsome, and then sat
became
sion
"It
is
down
in
an easy
chair.
His expres-
grave.
good that you do well
as a pilot, Erich, very good.
you must know that Germany
is
already beaten.
But
Irretrievably
beaten."
Dr.
Hartmann picked up
"Even the
the Stuttgart newspaper.
fantastic writings of
Goebbels can no longer hide
the facts."
"But Papa, the Fiihrer said "Erich, the Fiihrer has said
them proved
many
things since 1933,
most of
untrue. Goebbels has our armies in Russia 'advanc-
back to our own borders. Surely you believe what your eyes
ing' tell
.
.
you when you look down from the
Which way are we going,
air
over the Eastern Front.
Erich?"
Erich threw up his hands.
"You are right, Papa. We are retreating everywhere." "Then be prepared for the end of all this. I am making ments
for
you to study medicine at Tubingen, because
believe this terrible struggle can go
on much
longer.
arrangeI
don't
Mankind has
gone mad."
The two weeks
in Stuttgart flew by,
farewells to his family
there might not be
haps his father was
and
to Usch, he felt for the
many more right.
leaves or
As he flew back
on the Eastern Front, the words of his
mind with the
and when Erich first
much more
time that
flying. Per-
Gruppe of JG-52 and Usch mingled in
to III
his father
confident predictions of the Fiihrer.
not decide between
said his
He
could
optimism and pessimism, and when he
touched down at the 9th Squadron's base at Lemberg the mental debate ended.
The stern business
of duty
came first.
His return to the front on 18 March 1944 opened with good news. As Erich slid back his canopy the squadron adjutant was waiting. Erich clambered out
mel.
and turned the
fighter over to
Bim-
He took the adjutant's outstretched hand.
"Welcome back,
Bubi, and congratulations."
"Congratulations on what?"
"You
are
now
First Lieutenant
Hartmann, and
official
confirma-
THE BLOND KNIGlfT
108
come through
tion has
hundred and second
for your
two hundred and
first
and two
victories."
At the promotion party that
mood
GERMANY
OF*
night, Erich
found the somber
of his last leave permeating the festivities as the pilots sat
The
drinking his health and good fortune. Shoptalk didn't help. pilots
were discussing the disquieting
ers to fly all
towns
tory
the in
ability of the
American
fight-
Germany with the Allied bombers. Facnorthern Germany were being pounded. Pilots' way
into
seemed
relatives in these areas
in
more danger than the men
combat every day on the Eastern Front. The snatches
flying
of conver-
sation contributed to Erich's gloom.
we could
wish
"I
tough they fire
are.
.
tackle the Mustangs. ."
.
.
.
down Muncheberg
."
in
".
When
was over, the
pilots
.
.
Did you know that Mustangs "Jd, and I heard they
.
.
."
The
shoptalk dragged on
went stumbling back
to their tents in the rain. if
Mustangs ap-
field.
The makeshift slippery,
in-
the final round of congratulations and drinks
There would be no operations tomorrow— even peared over the
how
North Africa?"
got Oesau near Aachen, too.
terminably.
I'd like to see
"Rail says that they are faster than the Spit-
and more rugged.
shot
...
sodden
the Me-109, with
strip at grass. its
dawn was
a mass of waterlogged ruts
and
Conditions were perfect for accidents in
narrow undercarriage and tricky
landing characteristics. For at least
six
take-off
and
months 7th Squadron had
been operating under conditions of extreme pressure, constantly
moving from
base,
dogged by the Red Army, the weather and a
They had operated from no fewer than thirteen different bases in the final four months of 1943. The JG-52 War Diary describes the conditions at Lemberg in the spring
straitened supply situation.
of 1944:
March-23 March 1944: "Due to the bad weather, the 12
field
is
very soggy. Since the tank
trucks cannot get through, the planes have to taxi to the filling station.
This
affects
operational readiness adversely and consid-
erably, because the oil coolers
water to prevent overheating."
must be continually sprayed with
FAME AND SWORDS And "On ski.
later:
22
March
However,
The
IO9
the
Gruppe was
The
Kamenets Podol-
was impossible because of weather conditions.
this
staff flight tried,
snowstorm.
to transfer to
but had to come back because of a heavy
transfer
was actually carried out 23 March with a
cloud ceiling of 100 meters [328 feet], and in a heavy snowstorm. In the meantime, the
own
artillery
So much
had
to
move
enemy had come
into position
for the Eastern
on the
so close that our
field."
Front fighting conditions that have so
often been depicted as easy for fighter pilots.
Operations continued sporadically throughout March, and the
major attainment was by five
hundredth
III
Gruppe. This unit scored
on 21 March 1944. Gruppe had left Soviet territory
aerial victory
March, the entire
%
thirty-
to join the 9th
Squadron at Lemberg, where Erich had added a few
on 18 March 1944. The jam-packed Lemberg
its
tne en ^ of
kills after his
return
than
fighters
its
Long
support.
hard-pressed
taxiing times
strip
was playing host to
facilities
and
and waiting
duced operational range and made an
single
for take-off sharply re-
early return
from
only a few minutes in the action zone, because he tion at the field.
He would
have
knew
to wait ten to fifteen
field
was
little
air situation
more than
tacks
a treacherous bog.
German
The Americans mounted
on Rumanian
targets.
retreat,
four-engined
knowing that American bombing missions from
in
became worse
bomber
Colonel Dieter Hrabak, JG-52's
modore, had often cast an apprehensive eye to
inevitable.
the
itself,
on the Eastern Front, already precarious
February and March during the early in April.
the situa-
minutes in
the pattern before he could land. Aside from the runway
The
strikes
Erich was often compelled to return from the hunt after
essential.
Lemberg
more
far
runway could
at-
Kom-
his southern flank,
Italian bases
were
Mustangs would come with the bombers. The Ameri-
can offensive led to orders for the transfer of JG-52 squadrons to
Rumania.
Accustomed his 9th
to crash transfers to makeshift airstrips, Erich
Squadron
initially
viewed the
shift to
Rumania
and
as routine.
THE BLOND KNIGHf OF GERMANY
110
The 9th was assigned to the town of Roman. Flying the aircraft down proved no problem, but the movement of ground personnel and
essential
maintenance equipment proved hazardous and time-
When
consuming.
Ju-52 loaded with equipment tried to
a
burned on the heights. The other via
fly
machine iced up, then crashed and
across the Carpathians, the
were accordingly routed
Ju-52's
Vienna, Belgrade and Bucharest when the bad weather per-
sisted.
The is
had begun
pell-mell situation that
to rule in the Luftwaffe
Command's next decision. Having sent Roman, including Erich's 9th Squadron,
exemplified by the High
111
Gruppe
of JG-52 to
Command
the High
units to the Crimea.
was forced to immediately retransfer these
A
last-ditch effort
had
to be
made
to stop the
rout in the South and provide protection for the retreating Ger-
man Army against
the hordes of strafing Russian aircraft.
Operating from Zarnesti near
squadron began taking a heavy supply
difficulties. Erich's
Command tories
ordered that a
toll
by mid-April 1944, Erich's
of the
some with
They were hurled
Red
Air Force, despite
burdens were increased when the High
number
of pilots with five or
be transferred to the Reich Defense.
in their place,
time.
Zilistea
Raw young
into the air at odds of
up
but Erich kept intact his record of never having
These young in flying,
pilots
came
pilots
than a hundred hours'
less
more
vic-
came
total flying
to thirty to one, lost a
wingman.
to the front not only inexperienced
but also steeped in the old tradition of dogfighting. In
the brief time available for such instruction, Erich would pass on
them the quintessence of his own experience. you see enemy aircraft, it is not necessary for you to go straight to them and attack. Wait and look and use your reason.
to
"If
See what kind of formation and tactics they are using. See is
a straggler or
if
there
an uncertain pilot among the enemy. Such a
pilot
will always stand
out in the
portant to send one see the loss
down
and experience
air.
in
Shoot him down.
is
more im-
enemy
pilots
psychological effect— than to
wade
flames— so that
its
It
all
the
into a twenty-minute dogfight in which nothing happens.
"There are some things that are more important in the
overall
FAME AND SWORDS
111
picture than just scoring a cally large
and getting
The Russian
kill.
Air Force
you score a
larger all the time. If
numeri-
is
kill
and
Anyone who does this will not lead an element after it happens. From the day you make your first flight here at the front you must think, think, think, as lose
your wingman, you have
the battle.
lost
never before. Fly with the head and not the muscles. That's the best advice
That
On
can give you."
advice,
when
young Germans
followed, kept a lot of
alive.
18 April 1944, orders were received from Galland's
transferring fense.
I
Guenther Rail and Walter Krupinski
They were two
fighters.
Rail
still
of JG-52's best leaders
now behind him.
West, he would secure
in the
275
kills,
over
fifty victories
Erich Hartmann, but his best scoring days were
As Kommodore of JG-11
Reich De-
and most formidable
held a scoring lead of about
victories to bring his tally to
to the
HQ
a
few more
but another wound and
ensuing infection virtually put him out of the war. In his farewell to Erich, tively that the
it
seemed
as
though Rail knew
intui-
dynamic youngster would reach the top of the
Rail was right; Lt. Willi Batz took over as
tree.
Gruppenkommandeur
from Rail, and Erich was temporarily assigned to direct Gruppe operations in the Crimea.
More scoring was
in the offing.
In April 1944 Erich ran up another nine victories. Three, four
and even
five sorties a
streak into his
He continued his May 1944, Erich and
day were commonplace.
May. Between 10 April and 10
former wingman, Technical Sergeant Joachim Birkner, each
scored twenty-one victories. Erich's success did not blind the writing on the wall.
The Crimean
JG-52 was ordered out. Eight
aircraft
Erich's orders as a rear guard, but
attacks left only
retreat
by 9
was becoming a
were
May
him
left
to
rout.
behind under
1944, incessant Soviet
one Me-109 operational. Evacuation was essen-
tial.
The Me-109 proved tions tional,
itself a veritable
work horse under condi-
of emergency. Several battered fighters were
made
opera-
and then the R/T's and armor plate were removed from
behind the
pilot's seat.
Ground personnel who had made
emergency modifications then crawled into the pencil-thin
these fuse-
THE BLOND KnIgHt'oF GERMANY
112
lage— two to an aircraft— and were flown out in
and
his 7th
Erich
Squadron
Hartmann
pilots.*
personally provides a reminiscence concerning
emergency evacuation, a useful addition
this
by Erich
relays
to the history of the
Me-109: "After pulling out the cockpit armor plate and radio, you have a
baggage compartment perhaps four to four and a half feet long.
A
small
man
can crouch in there, with
his
head alongside the
pi-
head.
lot's
"During the emergency evacuation from the Crimea
men
in the fuselage after
I
put two
removing the radio and armor, saving
them from capture by the. Russians. The inspection plate for the R/T, when removed, provides a hole big enough for men to crawl inside.
"If they lay
men
in the
on top
Me-109
of each other,
fuselage.
There
I
carried a couple of
wings, and two available,
I
men
in
my
lift
aircraft,
firmly believe the
no problem with power, be-
them with plenty of spare 30-mm cannon slung under the
cause the engine was big enough to capacity.
is
you could actually put four
and
if
the cubic space were
Me-109 could have
carried five or
men."
six
Erich got his squadron out of rally of sorts
and
I
Gruppe staged
a
out of Zarnesti to keep the ever-present Stormoviks
the backs of the
off
Zilistea,
mean venture was
German
over,
and
infantry.
By
18
May
1944 the Cri-
Erich's squadron was again ordered
Rumania, where an advance commando unit had prepared the base. From Roman, operations began against the
Roman
to
in
American B-17's and B-24's that were pounding Rumanian to
targets
knock that country out of the war.
By two
the end of
victories
May, Erich had confirmed an additional
beyond the nine scored
in April.
sion, his intuition again saved
him from
of an aggressive Russian pilot.
North of
On
one
thirty-
May
mis-
destruction at the hands
Jassy, the
Luftwaffe moni-
Hartmann, Rail and Krupinski have all recounted to the authors details of crowding two mechanics into the after-fuselage of the Me-109. The emergency measure saved ground personnel from capture by the Russians. *
HUNGARIANS WITH THE LUFTWAFFE: Hungarian pilots to
VORLAUF1GES B E S TZ Z E U G N I
I
JG-52
in
1944
against Russia.
S
to
From
aid left,
were attached
in the struggle
the officers here
102nd Hartmann of JG-52,
are Captain Pottjondy (Hungarian Brigade), Lt. Erich
Captain Gerhard
DER FUHRER UND OBERSTE BEFEHLSHABER
DERWEHRMACHT
Barkhom of
JG-52,
Major Kovacs of the Hungarian Forces, Captain Helmut Lipfert oj JG-52 and Captain
Heinz Sturm ofJG-52.
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY:
HAT
Debonair Erich Alfred Hartmann shortly
DEM
Oberleutnant Erich
Hartmann
after being decorated with the "Schwer-
tern" (swords) by Chancellor Hitler. Erich
DAS
EICHENLAUB MIT SCHWERTERN
ZUM
RITTE RKRE U
DES EISERNEN KREUZES AM
2. Juli 1944
Hauptqiiartier d.Ob.d.L. L '
']>sr
,
DEN
VERLIEHEN.
20. Jul:
1944
Chef des Luf twaff enpersonalants
Generaloberst
CERTIFICATE: This lorzer,
is the certificate signed by Generaloberst Chief of Luftwaffe Personnel, on 20 July 1944 to accom-
pany the Swords
award
to
Erich Hartmann.
had scored his 239th aerial combat victory to win the honor. Boyish "Bubi" posed for this photo
about
1
August 1944.
MOMENTOUS OCCASION 24 August 1944: Radio operator Carl Junger,
wearing
met, listens as Erich
hel-
Hartmann
reports shooting dow n his 299th victim, an Airacobra. "One more makes 300!" says Junger holding his finger up. At left is War Correspondent Heinz
Erkert.
BELOW lets
(JG-52)
LEFT: Sgt Junger Hartmann re-
out a yell as
ports "Bull's eye" for his 300th aerial victory.
(JG-52)
victories.
SAFELY DOWN! Hartmann shuts
down
Me-109G-14 (Werk number 166221) and ground crewmen await his arrival.
whirls his
the engine. Other pilots
(JG-52 into parking position
ana
(JG-52
')
CELEBRATION WREATH: 0\
The ground crews have
prepared a wreath offerns and flowers. They throw around his neck! It has some needles in it.
CEREMONY: Hartmann to
it
tries
brush the needles out of his
collar as he gets ready to receive the plaudits
of the 9th Gruppe
personnel.
3AC
ENROUTE TO THE EAGLE'S NEST:
Lt KruMajor Barkhorn, Major Wiese and Lt. Hartmann pose in the brisk temperatures in the
pinski,
mountains at Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden enroute to Hitler's Eagle Nest on 4 April 1944. All
except Wiese, a non-drinker, were soused on cognac fed them by the conductor on the long overnight train ride to the mountains.
CONGRATULATIONS!: Commanding General of visited the 9th
tations to
Gruppe
Hartmann
in
General Seidemann,
Lt.
the VIII Flying Corps,
Russia
after his
to
convey his felici-
300th
victory. Seide-
mann was only one ofmany generals who came to see (JG-52) this "Richthofen " of WWII.
ADJUTANT ADJUSTS THE MEDAL:
Major von
Below, Hitler's Luftwaffe adjutant, adjusts the Dia-
monds award
at
Hartmann
s collar.
DIAMONDS FROM A. HITLER: Erich Hartmann salutes
Adolf Hitler when he
schanze on 25 August 1944 highest military award.
reports to the Wolfto receive
Germany's
FAME AND SWORDS tors
113
had determined that approximately 375 Russian
fighters
and
370 ground-attack aircraft faced JG-52's atrophied formations. On 29 May Erich had flown a successful mission against these Russian concentrations, and was returning to his base at with Lt. Orje Blessin on his wing. Erich was a let his
little
Roman
weary, and he
thoughts roam to the party that was planned that night for
new Gruppenkommandeur\ Willi had shot down fourteen planes in three missions. Good comrade Willi had been several years finding himself as a fighter pilot, and now he was turnWilli Batz, the
ing into one of the best.
Droning along over
friendly territory, Erich happily
the forthcoming party
and the relaxation
it
would be schnapps, singing and some Rumanian would be
a relief
mulled over
would provide. There girls.
The
party
from the incessant grind of operations. These
days, thought Erich to himself,
we
are having less
and
less
to
celebrate.
Erich's lifesaving intuition overrode these pleasant thoughts like
a small, insistent, electrical shock.
Snapping back to attention,
wingman was still with him. Blessin was in position, just fine, but lancing in on him was an uninvited No. 3— a Red fighter about to hold his triggers down on Erich swung his head around to be sure his
Erich's
wingman.
"Break
right!
Erich into the
Break right and go into a steep dive," barked
R/T.
Lieutenant Blessin was a sharp young
pilot,
and he took imme-
diate evasive action as a stream of Russian tracer sliced through the air
where
his
fighter
had been
plunged after the diving German right
and went racing
instants fighter.
before.
The Russian
Erich immediately broke
after the Russian. All three aircraft
went
hurtling toward the deck at full throttle. As Erich began closing in
on the Russian, the Red
He had
pilot never looked
back or took evasive
The Russian was so utterly determined to shoot down Blessin he forgot about his own tail. Erich knew he could shoot down the Russian if the right ma-
action.
target fixation.
neuver were executed. Blessin could be relied on to follow orders.
"Karaya Two. Pull up. close the
enemy."
Make
a shallow turn to the right so
I
can
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
114
Blessin obeyed. Erich
went
slicing across the Russian's pursuit
turn and was soon approaching point-blank range on the
Red
fighter's right quarter.
"Look back now, Karaya Two. See what happens when you don't watch your
tail."
Erich pressed his gun buttons and the cannon and machine
guns roared in a
Red
fighter.
A
and
full burst. Shells
blast
shook the
hammered
bullets
the Russian machine blew up
air as
and went tumbling down, shedding burning
Watching the
black smoke.
How
and
pieces
trailing
impact, Erich shook his
final
fiery,
into the
him and Karaya One to have gone down the same way. The Russian had both him and Blessin cold. But for that sharp intuitional warning— the dread feeling in the backside— the smoke might well have been climbing
head.
easy
it
would have been
up from Erich Hartmann's funeral
more
By
in gratitude
flew back to
Roman
than triumph.
He
twenty months of combat. sians than to
most of
Germany's
immortals in the
needed 250
He
pyre.
the end of June 1944, Erich
air
for
that score, and with
it,
still
victories,
better
known
gained in
to the Rus-
his Luftwaffe contemporaries, for to join
On
victories.
was
had 247
1
final year of
the war, a fighter pilot
Hartmann reached fame. Once more, the
July 1944, Erich
permanent
rugged Stormoviks figured in the
historical
life
Blond Knight.
of the
Flying above a layer of ragged cloud, Erich spotted three IL-2's
doing
their
devil's
work on German
artillery
positions.
The
Stormoviks were intent on their victims, as they circled at low altitude
strafing passes.
The
stick forward, Erich
went
and made
Russians neglected their
tails.
Pushing the ing
up from behind and below the Stormoviks
ing his
fire
until the last fifty yards.
a full burst,
strike
The
first
and Erich breaking away was
on the second Stormovik.
Down
at full
tilt
com-
and hold-
Russian exploded from
in perfect position for a to point-blank range
he
and again the Russian staggered and went down burnAnother pass on the third Stormovik, a full burst, and another
went ing.
into a shallow dive,
again,
explosion. Speeding
away from the scene of
battle,
Erich looked
FAME AND SWORDS
115
back and saw three smoke
palls
marking the crashes of the
Stormoviks.
When
he landed, the Blond Knight was the
JG-52 since of aces
Guenther Rail
had reached
first.
250
this level of success.
soon to die in the Me-262
been
to reach
fighter pilot of
first
victories.
Only
a handful
Major Walter Nowotny,
jet against
the American heavies, had
Rail had been next, then
Gerd Barkhorn and Otto
"Bruno" Kittel of JG-54— only five fighter pilots all told, of Erich was the last. No others would share their company.
Bimmel Mertens and
his
back and took care of the
whom
crew thumped their young C.O. on the aircraft.
Other squadron mates chaired
the shyly happy Blond Knight from the airfield to the mess.
had
celebration
just got
under way when Bimmel burst
The
in, his
momentarily cooling the exuberance of the
obvious agitation gathering.
"What is "It's
it,
Bimmel?"
the armorer,
said Erich.
sir."
"Anything wrong?"
"No
sir,
no.
Nothing wrong. But you
twenty rounds,
A
sir.
For three
kills. I
fired
only one hundred and
thought you should know."
roar of admiration erupted from the throng of pilots
and the
schnapps began flowing. Willi Batz, the Gruppenkommandeur, celebrated with them. Just as proceedings began to slow down, advice
came from
Hitler's
HQ
been awarded the Swords to
that First Lt. Erich
his Knight's Cross, the exalted de-
gree of the Iron Cross standing above the
Only one other
first
Hartmann had
Oak Leaves.
lieutenant had qualified for the Swords in
the history of the decoration. As a squadron leader with JG-52,
Hermann Graf had won the Swords on 18 May 1942— more than two years previously. The fighter pilots who had won the Swords were the Luftwaffe's men of legend, classical heroes First Lt.
like
Galland, Moelders and Luetzow; daredevils like Heinz Baer
and "Guile" Oesau; dedicated
leaders like Rail, Ihlefeld
and Gerd
Barkhorn; and the world-famed Marseille and Nowotny.
The award
of the Swords placed Erich
Hartmann among Ger-
The The pilots boosted
the Blond Knight on
many's famous
soldiers.
party fresh stimulus.
dazzling news gave the celebration
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
Il6 their shoulders
once more and chaired him around the dugout
bar.
"Karaya* One! Karaya One! Schwertern (Swords) for Karaya ."
One!
.
.
The
chanting, cheering and singing dinned into Erich's brain.
Somehow, he
out of place amid the uproar staged in his
felt
The whole
honor.
thing seemed almost unreal.
His thoughts
turned to the devoted Birnmel, probably out there on the this
One
minute, sweating over Karaya
never
fail
him.
Then
his heart could find
his thoughts raced to Stuttgart,
what
The Swords were
to ensure the ship
it
really
sought from
supposed to be playing
where alone
life.
How
crazy this war was.
deadly scoring
this
game day
He
meant medals, adulation and parties. He chased and kill him in turn. That was
To
those
wanted from
who were
life
was to be with
his
was
after day.
Russian boys and they tried to All he really
would
wonderful, yes, because their award meant
another brief leave with Usch.
Success
field
killed
crazy.
Usch.
there that night in the dugout bar, Erich
Hartmann seemed detached and withdrawn. The smile that flickered occasionally on his handsome face was happy enough, but the cast of his features was sad. As the young
flyers
celebrated
the award of the second highest decoration of the Third Reich,
Erich was with them but not one of them. Generals and
marshals had
won
The honor was
front-line soldiers.
young man,
cited
as
great,
visit to Hitler's
burg in East Prussia, to receive the to
On in
lift
but Erich was not an
ex-
he had been when he won the Knight's Cross
and the Oak Leaves. His ensuing
little
field
the Swords, together with a handful of valiant,
HQ
Swords from the
at Inster-
Fiihrer, did
his spirits.
August 1944 Erich entered the wooden barracks building which Hitler had survived the 20 July bomb plot against his
life.
3
The
walls,
structure
beams out
still
of
showed the
plumb and
effects of the blast. Splintered
the scorch marks of an explosion
were the backdrop against which a changed Hitler moved to greet * Karaya
He was second
was the radio
or identification of Erich's
combat
One and his wingman was Karaya Two. The was Karaya Three and his wingman was Karaya Four.
Karaya flight
call sign
flight.
leader of the
FAME AND SWORDS
117
a group of ten Luftwaffe heroes.* Erich
was shocked at the ap-
pearance of the Fuhrer. Hitler
moved
slowly, the compelling quality of personality that
had struck Erich cal
tended
his left
few months before immersed now
a
When
awkwardness.
in his physi-
he shook hands with Erich, Hitler
hand, while the right hung slackly at his
ex-
His
side.
by the explosion, the Fuhrer had to turn his ear toward whoever spoke. He was a shadow of the man Erich
right ear deafened left
had met
he nevertheless had
at Berchtesgaden, but
men. To the best of
his front-line fighting
mann remembers
would put
bomb
a
Any
to escape himself.
it
possible that a
in this building to kill
who was
officer
German
he was taught
to all
German
looked in the pockets of
am
men
me, and
reactionary cowards.
Schoerner.
step
find
I
tell
is
to
my
day
have never
am
left alive
God
while
has de-
hunt down these counter-
my General Staff my generals, except
furthermore that
me
have them running to losses,
I
the truth. Most of Rommel, do not understand Model and
do not
officers
first
I
try
officers.
were killed and badly wounded.
my
then
in this building that
sorry that through this cowardly act
other good livered
officer
as a soldier,
me and
could have drawn his pistol and shot me, face to face.
"I
message for
like this:
it
"Never would I have believed would be so cowardly, so untrue that he
a
his recollection, Hart-
HQ
their jobs.
crying about heavy fighting
I
and
but never are these generals killed or wounded with their
men. "For the future
American invasion are will
new weapons
I
am
will
optimistic.
I
expect that the Anglo-
be turned into another Dunkirk. There
of incredible
power coming
my
life
on July
20, so that
I
I
think
why I believe God may lead Germany in this
change the whole course of the war. This
spared
to hand, that is
hopeful period ahead." Erich
left
the Wolf's redoubt overborne by a dark intuition.
The Fuhrer on one
side
was deeply enraged, and on the other
full
same ceremony was Major Heinz- Wolfgang Schnaufer, the top Luftwaffe night-fighter ace, who ended the war with 121 night *
Decorated
victories.
in the
1
f
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
ll8 of
hope
in
what seemed
like a hopeless situation.
His speech had
been slow and quiet, but not reassuring— not something that the Fiihrer could have
the front.
mentum Erich
umph
The
in Hitler,
knew
you believe
in spite of
forces of disintegration
Germany, and even
what could be seen
were
clearly gaining
in the Luftwaffe itself.
that the Swords had brought
him fame. Every
henceforth would be studied and celebrated.
dated by
his
new eminence, but deeply
could see engulfing Germany. periences of the past year, steadiness he could
summon
He
felt
He
tri-
was un-
disturbed by the ruin he
older and wiser for the ex-
and he knew he would need for
at
mo-
what lay ahead.
all
the
Chapter Nine
HAWKS
STALIN
Seek out your enemy!
Do
not ask
how
strong the
enemy
is,
but where he
is
to be found.
—Motto
tively exceeded the
American
1939-1945
totals
of
Erich
career,
Front exceeded one hundred
and
of recording
conclusion
Hartmann
the top-scoring British and
fighter aces. Sketches already presented of
fellow aces in JG-52 reveal that
scoring
combat
early in his
of the Soviet fighter pilots
many German
victories.
aces
Since the
Hartmann's
on the Eastern
German methods
verifying victories were accurate
and
reliable,
the
seems inescapable that Hartmann and other high-
Eastern
Front aces faced inferior opposition— both in
planes and pilots. This conclusion can be justified only in a limited
way, because
on
many
aspects of the Eastern Front air war bearing
fighter operations are
Germany.
If
but
little
known
in the
Russian inferiority in planes and pilots
as a universal explanation for the success of the
Russia,
West is
outside
accepted
German
aces in
then the notable achievements of Soviet industry and
Russian fighter aces will be obscured. Dislike for an ideology or a
regime must be set aside in assessing the historical facts of Soviet air
power.
Germans, Americans and
British alike
have long shared a
fatu-
ous conceit concerning Russian achievements, and the disasters that have befallen the
German
people since 1941
may be deemed
to have originated in their leaders' underestimation of the Soviet colossus.
For the Americans, the space race should have deflated
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
120
now
by
the sense of universal superiority held by America in
attitudes toward things Russian.
of a
low standard of
living
The
its
Soviet Union's combination
with brilliant technical achievements
confounds the conventional Western mind and leads to massive errors of
judgment.
In evaluating the Eastern Front
achievements, an error
is
air
committed
ourselves that he was shooting
enemy could and did shoot
war and Erich Hartmann's
we
if
down ducks
back, with
perior in performance to the Me-109.
uncritically convince
The
over the Steppes.
first-line aircraft
Some
often su-
of these machines
were flown by the top-scoring Allied aces of the war— Russian lots
who
handily outscored the British and the Americans.
and unbiased view of Erich Hartmann's victory fore focus primarily
tally
A
must
pifair
there-
on the quality of the Russian opposition, both
and human.
technical
Published engineering data* precludes the theory of inferior Russian aircraft as a blanket explanation of high
From had
German
scores.
the beginning of the Russo-German conflict, the Russians
at least
As
respects.
one
fighter that
was superior to the Me-109
m
most
the war progressed, the Soviet aircraft industry not
only produced other types of fighters superior to the
many
vari-
ants of the Me-109, Du t also accomplished prodigies of aircraft
production, far outstripping the
The
Germans
in this sphere.
authors in their previous book, "Horrido!" Fighter Aces of
the Luftwaffe
7
\
dealt extensively with the character of the East-
ern Front air war and the differences between this vast conflict
and the
air struggle in
Western countries
Germany
as the
the West. There
to regard the
major arena of
craft losses sustained
is
a natural tendency in
Anglo-American aerial conflict.
assault
In truth, the
on air-
by the Soviet Union were approximately
twice those suffered by the Anglo-American gest air
air
air forces.
The
big-
war was fought on the Eastern Front.
* See
Asher Lee, Soviet Air 'and Rocket Forces (Garden City, N.Y.:
War Planes of the Second World War, (London: Macdonald & Co., 1961); and Famous Fighters of the Second World War (London: Macdonald & Co., 1961). Doubleday, 1961); William Green,
Vol.
t
Ill
New
York: Macmillan, 1968.
STALIN HAWKS
121
Reorganized in 1939 to gradually become a separate service from the in
Red Army,
the Soviet Air Force had previously been hampered
development through
its
army
tight
control.
The
Air Division
under the reorganization became the largest unit, each Air Divi-
from three to
sion consisting of
or five squadrons per regiment.
six air
regiments
German
made up
of four
estimates of Soviet air
strength, at the time of the invasion of Russia in June 1941, con-
cluded that the Divisions
Red
Air Force had between forty and
containing approximately
fifty
Air
162 regiments. Overall nu-
merical strength was estimated at about 10,500 airplanes.
Red or
fighter forces
later variants, the I-151
its
and
I-153.
biplane introduced to
seat, gull-wing
Civil
were equipped primarily with the I-16 Rata,
War. Obsolescent
MIG-3 and
in 1941, the
air
The Rata was combat
a single-
in the Spanish
Rata was being replaced by
when
Germans struck. Less than a quarter of the Russian conversion to modern monoplanes had been achieved when the Luftwaffe arrived to make bonfires the
Lagg-3 fighters
out of the Soviet
parked on bases along the front.
air fleets
virtual eradication of Soviet air
Russia in the
first
the
power
The
as a factor in the defense of
ninety days, was one of the Luftwaffe's most
complete triumphs. Tactical ground support remained the primary mission of the
Soviet Air Force even after the 1939 reorganization. As a conse-
quence,
nearly
to carry
fitted
every
periority fighters that
bomber
strikes
available
aircraft,
including
fighters,
was
German
air su-
accompanied Luftwaffe bomber and
fighter-
bombs. In
early encounters, the
took terrible
toll
of bomb-carrying Soviet fighters
the invaders. Subsequent Soviet Air Force orders forbade Russian pilots of fighters carrying bombs to engage German air superiority fighters, so that combat was often refused by intercepting
the Russians. ness,
The Germans
until interrogation of
attributed this to a lack of aggressive-
downed Russian
pilots revealed the
truth.
The
Soviet
Union was
in
many
respects better prepared for the
challenges of the air war than were Britain in 1939 1941. Special attention
and America
and planning was devoted
in
in Russia to
building up a reserve of trained pilots. Similarly, preparations for
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
122 large-scale
were so
production on a twenty-four-hour-a-day basis
aircraft
advanced by 1941 that the Russians were able to recover rapidly from the air blitzkrieg of June and July 1941. The Russians maintained a steady flow of pilots from their training far
schools to
man
the flood of fighters that poured from Soviet fac-
tories.
Russian losses were severe throughout the war, but their fighter
improved steadily
pilots
as the
war progressed, in contrast to the
degeneration of pilot training that plagued the Luftwaffe fighter strategic bomber allowed armament factories and flying schools Luftwaffe. As a consequence, all this ma-
Germany's lack of a four-engined
force.
the U.S.S.R. to operate vast
beyond the reach of the teriel
and personnel had
From
late
to
be dealt with
1942 onward, Russian
aerial tide that
grew
air
reached the front.
it
power became an
irresistible
in strength with the passage of every
By mid- 1944 the Russians dominated Front and were
after
far superior tactically to their
these facts, the legend that
all
month.
the air over the Eastern
Russian Front
1941 status. Despite air
combat was some
kind of easy picnic for the Germans has enjoyed such long currency that rule out
it
has
become almost
The facts the Red Air
a historical doctrine.
any blanket conclusion that
flying against
Force was easy.
Hartmann
Front combat to the fighter asin the West. The hails of bomber streams on lead and steel that filled the air made it inevitable that a pilot constantly in action would fly into some stray projectiles someErich
likens Eastern
the Allied
saults
time. "Often there were ten of us against three
Those
are long odds.
being shot down, too.
A
hundred Russians.
mid-air collision was almost as likely as
We
had
to plan our attacks against these
we never would have survived." quality, the experience of German
hordes with great care or
As
to Russian pilot
aces
on
the Eastern Front varies widely. In day-to-day operations over long periods, the logically.
Germans
felt superior,
both technically and psycho-
This was especially true of the top
theless there
is
German
pilots.
Never-
virtual unanimity concerning the quality of the
Guards Fighter Regiments, the
elite
These Russians earned the Germans'
of the Soviet fighter arm.
respect.
STALIN HAWKS Crack Soviet
They were the fearless
and
123
pilots
were concentrated in the Guards Regiments.
real fighter types, aggressive, tactically formidable,
some
flying
of the finest fighter aircraft in existence.
Their operations were vitalized by the same kind of unquenchable
morale that characterized the immortal "Few" of the Battle of Britain.
The
aggressive spirit of these Soviet pilots
is
illustrated in a re-
markable incident near Orel, involving a young Stalin Lt.
An
Vladimir D. Lavrinekov.
downed an Me- 109 in a flat field.
The
in battle,
ace with thirty
Hawk named
kills,
Lavrinekov
and watched the German
pilot land
Luftwaffe pilot scrambled from the cockpit and
dashed for cover in a nearby gully
filled
with trees and underbrush.
Red Army
Circling low over the scene, Lavrinekov saw that
would probably not locate the German, and that he might fore escape.
The young Russian
to the crashed ets in
units there-
lieutenant landed his fighter next
Me-109, and led the searching infantry to the thick-
downed German, and pouncdeath with his hands. The Russian
the gully. Lavrinekov found the
ing on him, strangled
him
to
ace returned immediately to his fighter and took off in a cloud of dust, leaving his
dead foe at the
feet of the
open-mouthed Russian
infantrymen.
The Guards Regiments produced the pilots of the Second World War. The
top-scoring Allied fighter desire to denigrate every-
thing Russian on account of ideological enmities
cording of history. There
is
a widespread
and
ill
serves the re-
irrational prejudice
against considering the Eastern Front air war as comparable to
the Western Front
air struggle,
pilots in history ever faced the
of the
Germans on the Eastern
but the
facts are that
were half
life
Front. Similarly, the Soviet Union's
The
top Russian
as large again as the best
have remained in obscurity
fighter
odds that were the daily way of
outstanding fighter aces have not been accorded a chroniclers of the conflict.
no
fair
pilots,
American and
hearing by
whose
scores
British scores,
for a quarter of a century.
German aces on the Eastern Front were either shot down or forced down many times. The exposure rate of these pilots was the highest in history. Using Erich Hartmann as an All the leading
example, his fourteen hundred sorties and eight hundred aerial
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
124 battles,
most of them fought against high numerical odds, made
inevitable that
he would be
He
tion of his encounters.
at a tactical disadvantage in a propor-
estimates that approximately two hun-
dred times he found himself under the guns of Soviet
While Hartmann,
Rail,
were probably the most
fighters.
Barkhorn and the other top German aces skilled air fighters of all time, the
numeri-
odds against them, the law of averages and sheer chance
cal
it
re-
downed one way or another. Wherever the Guards Regiments were operating, the Luftwaffe
sulted in their being
The
could be sure of solid opposition. stood below the Guards in
skill,
but
masses of Russian pilots
still
took their
toll of
the
Germans in the long battle of attrition. The top Soviet ace of the Major General Ivan Kozhedub, scored sixty-two aerial vic-
war,
more
credited with
Major Richard
ace,
and seven other Soviet pilots are than the top-scoring Anglo-American
against the Luftwaffe,
tories
Pacific
victories I.
Bong, with
his forty victories scored in the
Theater of Operations.
Ivan Kozhedub was born in 1920 in the Ukraine, the son of a
He
factory worker.
got into flying through one of the
many
avia-
tion clubs that flourished in the U.S.S.R. during the 1930s. His
career with the
Guards Regiments
three awards of
of the
Red
Hero of the Soviet Union,
Air Force led
him
to
a decoration approxi-
mately corresponding to the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor.
Kozhedub
is
reported to have
commanded
the North Korean
Air Division of fighters in 1951-1952 during the Korean
equipped with MIG-15
units were craft
which were
lighter air-
USAF
F-86E and F-86F "Sabres" with which they Whether Kozhedub flew any combat sorties in Korea is
than the
did battle.
jets,
War. His
an unanswered question nearly twenty years that he did so since he was at that time a
United States military authorities
later,
but
young man
it is
possible
of thirty-one.
feel certain that skilled
Russian
possible that
did fly combat in Korea, and believe it Kozhedub added to his sixty-two kills of the Second World War. is
pilots
Kozhedub's autobiography, ern
Zone
historical
count of
of
Germany
work of
in 1956.
interest
his life, the
I Attack,
is
was published
What should
in the East-
and could have been a
instead a turgid, highly polemical ac-
supreme experience of which
is
his admission
STALIN HAWKS to the
Communist
12$
Every aspect of
party.
from
his career,
early
school days through to his winning his country's highest decoration,
is
seen through a red prism, which distorts even as
it
colors a
brilliant flying career.
The most famous
Soviet fighter ace, and one
quently opposed JG-52,
is
Star as
aerial victories,
Hero
is
credited with fifty-nine
and during the war he
of the Soviet
units fre-
Colonel Alexander Pokryshkin of the
Guards Regiment. "Sacha" Pokryshkin confirmed
whose
Union
also
won
his
Gold
three times. Pokryshkin's career
many common elements with those of numerous German and Allied aces. The international fraternity of old aces could recount many similar stories. Regardless of the uniform worn or the flag has
served under, most fighter aces have been through the
much
same
fires in
the same way.
Pokryshkin was inspired during his Siberian boyhood by the
He
left
at Novosibirsk to seek his fortune via aviation school,
but
achievements of Russian pioneer aviator Valery Chkalov. his
home
his
enthusiasm turned to dismay when he found that the aviation
school was strictly for mechanics and not for flying training.
He began ing,
but
superiors
his
filing
semiannual requests for transfer to pilot
train-
mechanical aptitudes were so outstanding that his
consistently
denied his
requests
to
become
Pokryshkin, however, would not be put off or put down.
a
He
flyer.
joined
the Krasnodar Aviation Club, which operated under the Soviet
Ossoaviakim scheme, and
like
Erich
Hartmann
in
Germany, he
learned glider flying. Pokryshkin also learned parachute jumping,
and then graduated to powered flight. At the age of twenty-four he took his first hop in October 1937 in a lumbering U-2. Still
serving as an aircraft mechanic, Pokryshkin soon soloed suc-
cessfully,
and passed
his pilot's examination.
requests for transfer to piloting, superiors
He
persisted in filing
and eventually he wore down
by sheer persistence. His transfer was
finally
his
approved.
Pokryshkin joined a fighter training unit at Kacha, and was shortly afterward assigned to a regular fighter unit of the
Force.
Whatever sense
might have induced
Red
Air
of egalitarianism the Russian Revolution
in Pokryshkin
joined the fighter squadron.
was given a rude
He was
still
jolt
when he
wearing mechanic's
in-
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
126 signia
on
him.
and
his uniform,
He was
would barely
his fellow pilots
talk to
stigmatized in their eyes because he was an ex-
mechanic, while they considered themselves legitimate
The undaunted Pokryshkin soon proved than
just
an upstart mechanic. His
able,
and
his detailed
knowledge of
pilots.
himself to be
was undeni-
fine piloting skill
aircraft construction
gines far exceeded that of his fellow pilots.
more
and en-
They soon accepted
him completely, but the range of his knowledge would normally have diverted him into service as an instructor. Pokryshkin was able to avoid
dynamic and avid
this sidetrack largely
interest in aerial tactics.
favor during this period
He
by keeping a diary and
setting
concepts as they developed. His Bible was
tactical
bats, a classic
book on
First
World War
through his
did historians a
My
down his Air Com-
fighter tactics, written
by
Captain Rene Paul Fonck of France. Fonck was the top Allied fighter ace of the war, with seventy-five confirmed aerial victories.
and studious, Pokryshkin practiced Fonck's
Serious, determined
theories
and maneuvers
tending them to
the
fit
mock aerial combat, modifying and new generations of fighter planes. He
in
exin-
troduced innovations. His mechanic's training in mathematics had
endowed him with diary
his tactical
all
maintained
The
a drive for precision,
and he sketched
maneuvers and those of
this routine
his
was looked on
as
throughout his combat career.
of a
had been
fight the
something inherently bad and bourgeois. This
Second World
War
for Russia.
substitute.
young Russians. Dogmatic
The
experience of the
that the Russians for the
was
modern
aircraft design.
with the former.
steel
nerve was the usual
Germans who fought them
most part had
to
veri-
overcome a psycho-
more challenging than the techniques They conquered the latter, and battled
logical barrier as pilots, far
of
result
quick decision, hair-trigger initiative— were blunted in
millions of
fies
The
men who
fighting—high indi-
that the qualities essential to success in air viduality,
to-
mass psychology in which individualism
outlook became structural in the generation of young
were to
He
opponents.
trends of post-revolutionary culture in Russia
ward the production
in his
STALIN HAWKS Born
127
in 1913, Pokryshkin
was through
childhood
his formative
before the compulsive elements of Soviet education had
years
time to work on him in depth.
He became
a great ace because
he
comprehended from the outset the importance of the individual in aerial combat. Through his endless sketches and persistent studies of maneuver, he could see how an exceptional pilot in an inferior aircraft
might well defeat a
less
competent opponent
superior machine. This conviction was reinforced by
mock combat. Hartmann on the German
all
in a
the experi-
ence he acquired in Like Erich
a devotee of the sudden, swift in developing this
Sokolov,
who
flew
mode
and violent
Pokryshkin became
attack. His early guide
of attack was a veteran fighter pilot
with him
in the first
insisted that the sudden, savage strike
immediately, leaving the
tle
side,
enemy
won
the psychological bat-
and ready
pilot rattled
shot out of the sky. Pokryshkin wrote in his diary: victory are
maneuver and
named
squadron he joined. Sokolov
"The
to
be
factors of
firel"
Pokryshkin had devoted himself primarily to aerobatics and maneuvering.
When
of bringing the other still
to learn.
he turned
man down by
gunfire,
he found he had much
When
he prac-
firing pass after
another
Sacha couldn't shoot to save himself.
ticed with a drogue target until his
his attention to the actual business
he made one
ammunition was exhausted. Hundreds
of rounds flew off
into the blue while the drogue suffered three or four hits.
A
puzzled Pokryshkin could not understand his inability to hit
the target in the
air.
His approaches were perfect, and he followed
the gunnery instructions in the Air Force manuals to the
letter.
He resorted to his mathematical background for the answer. He sat down and figured out trajectories, bullet velocities and the problems of point.
many
He
air-to-air
shooting from a mathematical stand-
covered pages with involved calculations, and drew
graphs.
These labors brought him
to the
reached by Erich Hartmann in actual combat
Wrote
same conclusion
many
years later.
the elated Pokryshkin: "Success depends on firing from
close range."
Convinced that the problem was position for point-blank attack,
compute the proper initial Pokryshkin drew more maneuverto
THE BLOND K N I G if T O
128
ing diagrams for this purpose of anticipation.
"The
nite angle
as follows.
the next day in a fever
approached the cone from a
I
and attacked, pressing on the
when, according to aside.
off
GERMANY
He wrote of his experiment: was
secret
and took
1?
For a young
inaccuracy and
all
the rules,
pilot, that
I
firing
defi-
buttons at a time
should already be swerving
was taking a big
risk.
The
slightest
should be pumping lead into the towing plane
I
instead of the cone.
"When we 'What
in hell
landed, the pilot
who towed
made you crowd
in
But neither
fellow that way'/
continued is
what
firing
the drogue was furious.
on me like that? You could kill my hand nor eye deceived me.
a I
from short range, and with deadly accuracy. That
in-fighting in air
combat means."
Pokryshkin through mathematical analysis had found the same basic tactical formula that Erich
would
ity
find for
him many
Hartmann's native analytical
years later.
The
abil-
similarity of their
concepts and findings seems remarkable. Both found the validity of their conclusions verified in actual combat.
In over six hundred sorties and in fifty-nine victories, Pokryshkin
found no reason to question the accuracy of
At the time was
of the
German
his
prewar findings.
invasion of Russia in 1941, Pokryshkin
a fully-fledged fighter pilot serving in the Ukraine.
after the first
German
area in
which the
fighters
many
assault,
fighters of
Two
he flew a recce mission to
JG-52
later
days
Jassy,
an
encountered Pokryshkin's
With MIG-3
times during the period of Hartmann's service.
Lieutenant Semyonov as his wingman, Pokryshkin in a
and two above his Russian element. Pokryshkin hauled back on the stick and began a
sighted five Me-ioc/s, three at lower altitude
German element. German fighter zoomed and Pokryshkin
swift climb toward the higher
The
pilot of the leading
countered with a
man's the
tail.
stall
turn that brought
him around on
the Ger-
Closing in to point-blank range, Sacha sent a burst into
Me-109 from
all
guns.
The German
fighter burst afire
and went
roaring earthward, trailing smoke.
Exulting over his error that cost
many
first kill,
the young Russian
tyro fighter pilots their lives.
made
the same
He watched
victim plunging downward, fascinated by the fiery spectacle.
his
The
STALIN HAWKS
129
German's wingman bounced Pokryshkin while he watched the show. Sacha snapped back to business as his port wing was
stricken
riven by a series of
cannon
shells
and
went lancing past
tracer
his
canopy.
Pokryshkin put his
MIG-3
and
into a dive to deck level,
half-
crouching in his cockpit behind his armor plate— like Erich Hart-
mann on His
first
escape.
combat mission— he went hedgehopping home. triumph had been tempered by the narrowness of his his first
Fighter
aces
Guenther Rail confess could not
resist
the
of
eminence of Adolf Galland and
when they
to being similarly clobbered
watching a spectacular crash. Galland almost
lost
and was wounded. Rail ended up in a crash that broke his back and put him at death's door. Pokryshkin thus learned this his life
fundamental lesson
in the
same way
as
two of Germany's
finest
pilots.
The bold
Pokryshkin, with his
mode
proved in hot war, nevertheless got fighter-to-fighter
combat
until
of attack
now
clearly
opportunity for more
little
the autumn
of 1941.
He
flew in-
numerable reconnaissance missions, but seldom tangled with Ger-
man and
fighters.
He
never ceased studying the art of aerial maneuver,
in later battles
he found that
was prompt and appropriate.
moves so much
his response to
a part of his existence that
doing the right thing in
enemy
He had made moves and he was
combat— and staying alive as
attacks
counter-
instinctively
a result.
Pokryshkin's innovations were largely responsible for breaking the Soviet Air Force out of the strait jacket of horizontal maneu-
which all prewar Soviet fighter doctrine had been confined. Taught to fly and fight in horizontal planes before the war, the ver in
Russians were rapidly re-educated to the
1942
aerial
tors to
He
realities
by 1941-
combat. Improved aircraft performance and the new
low-wing monoplane era tactics,
new
opened
vertical
maneuver
and Pokryshkin was among the most
to
fighter
significant contribu-
Russian tactical development. used the climbing
spiral often for evasion.
Against the advice
more conservative comrades he practiced the snap-roll as a speed-killing maneuver to make pursuing Germans overshoot and thus become his victims. His leadership, knowledge of aircraft of his
THE BLOND KNIGlfT OF GERMANY T
130
him
design and engineering, and his abilities as a tutor brought
to
the front rank of Russian fighter pilot personalities.
What
Pokryshkin taught others he had himself wrought in the
memory permitted him
of war. His photographic
fires
details of every in sketch form,
maneuver
and performance
combat.
in
and hung
down many
times.
down
set all these details
dugout walls with diagrams,
his
Like the top
charts.
Pokryshkin was shot
He
to recall
graphs'
German pilots he He made numerous
faced,
forced
landings and his comrades were often aghast at the shattered condition of his fighter
when he
staggered back from battles with the
Luftwaffe.
enemy was
Pokryshkin's passion for knowing his
He
insatiable.
not only kept detailed records of maneuvers, but also flew captured
German
He
these maneuvers
and wrote
ciencies of the
German
put himself in the place of a
He
Me-109.
superior to the rugged
at length
on the
qualities
to be
pilot in
and
defi-
considered the best Soviet fighter planes
German bird.
Over the Kuban Peninsula, where a
what he believed
carefully noting
fighters,
their weaknesses.
regiment again mixed for
his
protracted period with JG-52, Pokryshkin developed his basic
formula for
aerial
combat,
into four words: "Altitude, Speed,
With good
and
aircraft
knowledge and experience
distilling his
Maneuver,
leaders
Fire/'
Pokryshkin, the Guards
like
Fighter Regiments were afraid of no one in the
Many
air.
times
JG-52 radio monitors were startled to hear Russian R/T transmitters switch on to German frequencies. The Russians would throw
down
the gauntlet with a challenge in
"Beware,
all
German
pilots.
The
German. ace Pokryshkin
is
in the air!"
This kind of fighter pilot morale was probably exceptional on the Russian side, but
it
was the
common
possession of the Guards
Regiments. They painted their aircraft in wild colors, favoring brilliant red patterns,
and
in every
way were the counterparts
of
the best fighter units in other air forces.
Pokryshkin resembled Erich Hartmann in yet another way. believed in the careful guidance of as a
to
fundamental accomplishment
new
pilots, to
of leadership,
making them aces by experience and
tutoring.
keep them
and
He
as a
He
alive
prelude
took pains to
STALIN HAWKS
131
explain the art of maneuver, using his profound knowledge backed
up by
his
beloved diagrams.
number
ing eye, and a
Hero
who
Alexander Klubov,
is
owed
their
credited with
over the Luftwaffe, was broken in and trained for
leadership by Pokryshkin. Star as
taught them to bring in their shoot-
of the top-scoring Russian aces
success to his tutoring. fifty victories
He
Klubov was twice awarded the Gold
of the Soviet Union.
As Russia's best-known
Pokryshkin thus fought
ace,
and
like,
to
Hartmann. Pokryshkin
a great degree tactically thought like, Erich
more with Colonel Werner Moelders than with any other Luftwaffe pilot and fighter leader. The Russian was about the same age as Moelders, and his tactical insight and perseverance in developing new methods are strongly reminis-
nevertheless can be equated
cent of Moelders,
who was
largely
responsible for freeing the
Luftwaffe of old-fashioned tactics inherited from the First
World
War. "Daddy" Moelders had the same kind of precise mentality as Pokryshkin, and the German leader's careful direction of young pilots has, by their own present-day admission, allowed them to enjoy a prosperous middle age in contemporary Germany. Propagandist distortions of the Russians should not be permitted to
obscure Pokryshkin's achievements as a fighter ace, leader and tactician.
nize
him
His fame
is
well-earned,
and
it is
appropriate to recog-
book since he fought so frequently against Erich
in this
Hartmann's units
There
is
in JG-52.
no firm evidence that Pokryshkin and Erich Hartmann
ever fought each other aloft, but nor can
it
be said with certainty
more than
eight
against formations
com-
that they were never direct aerial antagonists. In
hundred
aerial
manded by
battles,
Pokryshkin,
many it is
of
them
possible that the
Blond Knight did
encounter the famous Russian, but no one can say for sure. Both aces were shot
For
down
historical
fighter aces
down many times.
purposes the authors include a
with thirty or more aerial
with the Soviet via
or forced
air historian
victories.
M. Mosskov, and
Miss Jean Alexander of London, British
Cassidy
Group
of researchers with
whom
This
list
of Soviet
list
originated
reached the authors
air historian,
she
is
and the
associated.
As of
THE BLOND KNIGHT* OF GERMANY
132
November 1967
it is
believed to be the most accurate
aces available.
Soviet
Aces of World
War
II:
Kozhedub, Ivan Nikitch
62
Pokryshkin, Alexander Ivanovich
59 58
Rechkalov, Grigorli Andreevich Gulaev, Niklaev Dmitrievich Yevstigneev, Kirill Alekseevich
57 52
Glinka, Dimitri Borisovich
50
Klubov, Aleksandr Fedorovich
50
Pilipenko, Ivan Markovich
48 46 46 46
Vorozheikin, Arsenii Vasil'evich
Kubarev, Vasilii Nikoleevich
Skomorokhov, Nikolai Mikhailovich Kostilev, Georgi Dmitrievich
Morgunov, Sergei
43 42
Popkov, Vitalii Ivanovich
41
Alelyukhin, Aleksei Vasil'evich
40
Golubev, Viktor Fedorovich Golubev, Vasilii Fedorovich Luganskii, Sergei Danilovich Pivovarov, Mikhail Yevdekimovich Gul'tyaev, Grigorii Kapitanovich Dolgikh, Anatoli Gavrilovich Kuznetsov, Nikolai Fedorovich
39 38
Koldunov, Aleksandr Ivanovich Babak, Ivan Il'ich Kamozin, Pavel Mikhailovich Lavrinekov, Vladimir Dmitrievich
37 37 36 36 36 36 35 35
35
Pavlushkin, Nikolai Sazonovich
35
Gnido, Petr Andreevich Kotchekov, Aleksandr Vasil'ovich Lukyanov, Sergei Ivanovich
34 34
Sytov, Ivan Nikitich
Chislov, Aleksandr Mikhailovich
Chubkob, Fedor Mikhailovich Borovykh, Andreii Yegorovich Zelenkin, Mikhail Mikhailovich
34 34 34 34 32 32
Komelkov, Mikhail Sergeovich Krasnov, Nikolai Fedorovich Ryazanov, Aleksei Konstantinovich
32
Stepanenko, Ivan Nikifirovich Golovachev, Pavel Yekovlevich Kirilyuk, Viktor Vasil'evich Akmet-Khan, Sultan
32
32 32 31 31
3°
list
of Soviet
STALIN HAWKS
133
Arkhipenko, Fedor Fedorovich Bobrov, Vladimir Ivanovich
30 30
Glinka, Boris Borisovich
30
Likhobabiyi, Ivan Dmitrievich
30
Likholetov, Petr Yakovlevich
30
Makharov, Valentin Nikoleevich
30
Pokryshev, Petr Afanas'evich
30
Khlobystov, Aleksei Stepanovich
30
Chapter Ten
DOWN AND DIAMONDS
300 If
Aye be
Jousting's rightful King, then Sov'reigns be
my
Peers.
—Anonymous
en week
Erich returned to the Russian Front during the third
in July 1944,
Air Force aircraft
he found the numerical superiority of the Red
more evident than
were present
in
ever.
American and
about the same numbers
MIGs
hordes of YAKs, Laggs, Stormoviks and at
an alarming
sharper
ment
now than
aircraft
ace-leaders
most
rate.
as always,
were
tactically
ever before, and their red-painted Guards Regitalent.
The Guards had
Kozhedub, Pokryshkin, Rechlakov and
like
but the
were multiplying
fighter pilots
were manned by top-grade
whom
of
The Russian
British lend-lease
had
fifty
or
more
others,
victories against the Luftwaffe.
These men were dangerous.
An
German
aggressive
targets
on
his
pilot
on the Eastern Front could
doorstep in the
abounded within
fifteen
summer
minutes of
of
1944.
take-off,
numerous rhubarbs and continuing success
and
for Erich.
Red this
find
aircraft
meant
Between 20
and 22 August 1944, he shot down another thirty-two With 282 victories to his credit, he had obliterated more
July 1944 aircraft.
than fifteen squadrons of Soviet
aircraft.
His only
rival
now
for top-
Gerd Barkhorn. Uncertain communications and confirmations of victories had Erich and Gerd—
scoring honors was delays in official
the
man he admired most
and neck
for several weeks.
in the entire
Luftwaffe— running neck
300 DOWN AND DIAMONDS
A
135
great dogfighter, Barkhorn stood out in
what the Germans
called the "circus" type of air fighting. Consistent his scoring
more
once he found
shooting eye, he
his
and steady
owed
his
in
eminence
to this quality than to wildly spectacular days of multiple
downings. Like Rail before him, Barkhorn suffered wounds that kept
him out
of the air for long periods.
of Ploesti against the
USAAF in
ing the ceiling of his hospital
away
at the
On
Red Air
Badly wounded in the defense
June of 1944, Gerd was kept study-
room while Erich kept hammering
Force.
23 August 1944, Erich had a big day. Eight victories in three
He had
missions brought his score to 290 victories.
passed Gerd
Barkhorn and was now the top-scoring ace not only of the Luftwaffe, but of all the air forces in all the wars.
When
Barkhorn was
transferred soon afterward to the Reich Defense, all challenge to Erich's leadership
was
over,
but a challenge of a different kind
still
lay ahead.
A
fever of anticipation gripped Erich's squadron mates as the
incredible total of three historic
hundred
aerial victories
drew
The
attainment lay within his grasp, but a lucky Ivan or an
accident might rob
him
became more marked Moelders had
first
of the prize.
the gifted Colonel
went on
Germany had been proud and almost 100 victories now seemed a remote an imminent
When
tension in the squadron
Werner "Daddy" exceeded von Richthofen's First World War
when
record of 80 victories, and then
victories
The
as the days rolled on.
Barely four years ago,
to pass 100 victories,
incredulous.
By comparison,
historical oddity,
possibility for Erich
the brilliant but underestimated
other historic
new mark, but
were hot on Gollob's
heels.
with 300
Hartmann.
Gordon Gollob
Moelders's record to 150 victories on 29 August 1942
Front,
near.
aces like Luetzow,
it
Oesau and others
the 200 victory mark, but within
a short time there were others to share his distinction. of
mando, had
JG-54 and
was an-
In a blaze of glory on the Eastern
Hermann Graf had broken
Nowotny
lifted
later of the
raised the record to
Me-262
250
jet
victories,
Walter
Nowotny Komonly to be out-
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
136 stripped by
Guenther
Rail,
Otto
Kittel,
Hartmann. The magic 300 mark
Gerd Barkhorn and Erich
glittered tantalizingly
now, a
scant eight victories away for Hartmann.
The high excitement
of this time has fortunately been preserved
contemporary account. Master Sergeant Carl Junger, onetime
in a
wingman and long-time squadron mate of the Blond Knight, had the presence of mind to write down his version of events the day after Erich's greatest triumph.
A
own right, Carl Junger was an aggressive, black-haired dynamo who fought hard and lived hard. Hartmann recalls one occasion in Krakau, Poland, when a furious binge JG-52 fighter ace
until three in the for
morning preceded the squadron's
Warsaw. Junger
pair of sunglasses,
morning.
Two
on
lay poleaxed
and incapable of
The squadron
left
his cot, stark
early departure
naked save
for a
rising to the challenge of the
without him.
hours later in Warsaw, Junger appeared in a lone Me-109,
bringing up the rear.
came
in his
While Erich and
in for a landing. Just as
he was
uncomprehendingly crossed the
his pilots
letting
watched, Junger
down,
grass strip after
a Polish farmer
making
a
sudden
change of direction with horses and two huge hay wagons. Junger hit the bucolic convoy with a tremendous crash, and the scene disappeared behind a huge pall of dust and straw, out of
which an innocent horse came
flying
pling noises subsided as the pilots cloud.
When
fighter
was
went sprinting over
they got to the crash
site, all
when
how
stirrings
sorry
to the dust
that remained of the
a pile of twisted metal, unrecognizable as
Erich was about to say accident,
end over end. Loud crum-
an
aircraft.
he was that Junger had to
sounded from under the
die
by
pile of twisted
structure. Junger suddenly crawled out of the shambles, stood up,
and with sunglasses
still
in place, said,
"Thank God the Earth has
me again." Next day, he was back flying combat. Carl Junger later sent the story he wrote on 24 August 1944 to
Usch Hartmann. He wanted her
to
have
it
was uncertain that Erich would ever return prisonment.
as a keepsake,
alive
when
it
from Soviet im-
DOWN AND DIAMONDS
300
137
THE EDGE OF AN ADVANCED AIRFIELD
"AT
24 August 1944
by
Master Sergeant Carl Junger "Yesterday was a great day for
combat
history of
holder of the eleven
enemy
tories to three
Oak
flying.
My
A
us.
day unprecedented in the
Chief, First Lt. Erich
Hartmann,
Leaves with Swords, in two missions shot
and with
planes,
He
and therefore
three hundred mark,
is
is
number
the
this raised
hundred and one.
the
first
down
of his vic-
to have passed the
the best fighter pilot in the
world.
"Even
The
yesterday,
good
spirits
were in evidence
all
over the
field.
question that buzzed from lip to lip was: 'Will the three-
hundred mark topple today? Can Bubi do with excitement and anticipation. sent eight Ivans into eternity
it?'
The day
and had
All of us were tense
before, our Chief
raised his figure to
had
two hun-
dred and ninety. Yesterday morning the weather did not look
Not
promising.
noon did
until
it
clear up, thus reducing opera-
tional time to half a day. After lunch
came the
first
mission,
and
our squadron leader did not waste the chance. Right after he lifted off
with his
wingman we started counting the minutes.
"Exactly one hour
later,
two
aircraft
appeared on the horizon
The familiarly-marked Me-109 of our twenty-two-year-old 'Old Man' wagged its wings, pulled up, made another pass and wagged again. And then another and another and came toward our
.
.
.
with
five joy.
and then
six times.
Everyone cheered and shouted, wild
The Chief had two hundred and
Only four more
"We
field.
to go.
ninety-six kills
now.
Hals und Beinbruchl
could hardly wait for the two ships to become operational
again. Refueling
and rearming seemed
there were arguments
we
to take forever.
and bets amongst the
rest of us.
Meanwhile
Can he do
it
today or must
is
ordered. Everyone scrambles to the machines, the blond-haired
Chief in the lead.
wait another day? Suddenly another mission
THE BLOND KNIGHT Of'gERMANY
138
"He clambers
easily into the cockpit.
He
buckles himself
in, as
steady and unexcited as ever. His features do not betray his emo-
Only
tions.
A
mouth.
about the corners of
a slightly harsh line plays
cool one,
this.
his
Quietly and with deliberation he begins
the cockpit check for this decisive and historic mission— one that
him
will bring
there,
it
"At
was
a
to the
For those
all fighter pilots.
who were
unique experience.
his sign, the
and then ever
RPM. Then
head of
crew begins to
start the
faster until the starter
is
machines. First slowly,
running at the highest
and
a slight jerk, a turning of the propeller,
finally
the
They smooth down and the Chief starts, easing his fighter to the runway with his wingman behind him. "They pause faced into the wind. The roar of a final run-up reaches our ears. Then comes take-off. Billows of dust swirl up engines are running.
from the sun-dried earth lift
gracefully into the
next hour bring?
air.
With
where already everyone
man
with earphones
between the listen.
The
ships.
as the slender fighters race forward ships, course east.
a reporter is
we
What
is
will the
drive to the advanced area,
in a fever of anticipation.
who
He
Two
and
We
R/T
listening to the
walk to a
conversations
hands us earphones and we plug
in
and
." .
.
reporter with Sergeant Junger
correspondent Heinz Eckert,
on that
who plugged
historic
in
day was war
headphones during
the epic mission and gave this contemporary account of the en-
suing action.
"The other,
air-to-air
is
communication, by which the
very terse.
Only the most
essential
is
pilots said,
inform each
and even
this
by words of certain meaning, where one word may stand for a whole sentence. Sometimes, there are long breaks between the sometimes address and reply follow each staccato counterpoint, and often in dramatic crescendo
individual
other in
dialogues,
when within
a
few minutes one enemy
aircraft after
another
is
being shot down. Then, two words, sometimes only one, characterize this happening, but the listeners on the ground are wholly
absorbed by the breath-taking excitement.
"Now, everybody two poor
is
gathering around the operator and those
receivers of his headset. It
might happen any moment.
300 DOWN AND DIAMONDS The
operator
is
139
fingering the buttons of his set
.
.
.
he
is
a
little
nervous, as though afraid of missing the call of victory.
"15:44: tions?'
Hartmann
to ground: 'Have
'None/ 'Why the
Ground
you any enemy observa-
do they chase us up, then?' 15:50: Hartmann: 'Enemy echelon over Sandowiez approach-
to
hell
ing/
damn!
.
Squadron watch out!
'Eighth
"15:51:
.
.
Airacobras
.
/ 16:00: 'Bull's-eye!'* 16:03: 'Bull's-eye!' 16:06:
.
.
.
.
'Watch
out backward and upwards! Airas to the right! Bull's-eye!' 16:07:
'Watch out upwards!' 16:09: 'We'll get this one!' 16:10: 'Attention! Bull's-eye!' Call of wingman: 'Congratulations on the three hundredth!'
Ground
Hartmann: 'Congratulations
to
"During the next
five
!'
minutes, the operator cannot take any
more messages. Everything goes crazy. He cannot understand a word because of the ensuing hubbub. Then it goes on. "16:15: 'Six kilometers west of Sandowiez. Six light bombers, height 2000 meters, circling.
.
.
Ah
.
.
.
.
another echelon,
there's
they're P-2's.' 16:17: 'Eight kilometers east of Ostrowiez, height
3000 meters,
fighter echelon.
them!
16:19:
'Get at
16:23:
Wingman
behind us to the
'Roger!'
16:37: 'Go
One
left.
16:35:
down for a
fighter
front
open
We can't get at them, dammit!' 'Bull's-eye!
for
burst!'
two
aircraft
with them/ 16:27: 'Single
is
.
landing,
I'll
rock the wings five times.'
sat with us in front of a tent, shirt
we had been
and daydreaming
talking about his bride-to-be.
Her photo stood on the table. He had looked down and laughed the merry laugh of a youth.
"He
said:
'There
is
air-
.
to a cooling wind, looking thoughtful
same time,
Impact
out, there are
one of our own. / 16:29: 'Look out Wing to Hartmann: 'Congratulations!'
"Only an hour before he at the
.
16:20:
/
.
.
Hartmann: 'Look
to
craft to the left! That's
back!'
.
.
a hair
on
my
chest,
now I'm
going to be a
man!' At that moment, he was called for take-off on mission; the curtain closed over a
little
at his chest
this historic
piece of insight into his
ego, uttered lightly
and laughingly, with self-irony—a joke and
knowledge of himself
all rolled
* Bull's-eye
Hartmann
means
into one."
"direct hit" in the fighter language
at this time.
—Authors
employed by Erich
1
THEBLONDKNIG HT
-p
OF GERMANY T
Master Sergeant Junger again takes up the narrative at the
on the squadron's
frenetic scene
'The news
airfield.
and 301st
of the 300th
came upon us like a busy. Wreaths are being
victories
redemption. Everything becomes wildly
rapidly braided in the final few minutes before the Chief's return.
Shields are painted, inscriptions are painted, rough banners fash-
The ground crew is milling around like a swarm of bees, with Bimmel proud and square among them. "Soon the ships must come back. Everyone who can leave his ioned.
post streams toward the parking spot of the Chief's plane. There
and captains and lieutenants mixed cheek-by-jowl with
are majors
mob
the
ground personnel, united by
of
pay homage.
my
I
desire to
glasses
under
arm.
'To avoid being flies
through the
the opening.
late in the uproar,
air in a great curve.
Not
drop
is
the crowd. Everyone
is
a
Chief comes soon.
"My ming on
common
have a bottle of champagne and two
open the wire around the
I
top of the champagne bottle now. There
in
their
happy.
hope he comes
I
clap
am
tion that
lie
"After the
behind
The
can only think,
and we wait eagerly will
and with nostrils.
The
this
hope
my
soon.'
Hartmann
taxies his
One comes drumand concentra-
his
pulls his
machine up, and
crowd of comrades, makes a
machine
easily to
its
waiting berth,
moment when he will stop his engine. quickly. He runs the big motor up again,
for the
not favor us so
his
'I
can be understood only by a few.
amidst the exultant cheering of
He
over
the sorrowful one
resources of energy
this feat
fifth pass, Lt.
perfect landing.
my palm
This time, Lt. Hartmann waggles his wings
five successive passes.
.him at
I
I
I
wish was seemingly his command. Karaya
in over the field.
But he
Quickly
Suddenly,
lost.
and the cork
a bang,
is
canopy open,
lets
the slip stream play about his
who can squeeze his hand and congratulate Bimmel Mertens, his crew chief. Without envy,
only one
time
is
everyone else stands and waits.
"As the engine roar dies away into a turns for the last time, there
Gruppenkommandeur, Willi
is
hiss
no more
Batz, jumps
and the propeller
restraint.
up on the
The
acting
ship. JG-52's
300 DOWN AND DIAMONDS
141
Kommodore, Colonel Dieter Hrabak, pump the Chief's hand. We lift him he
gets out of the cockpit,
and he
lei
off
sits
on the shoulders of two
that was fashioned at the last minute
neck. For a
moment, the
moment
the aircraft the
Bimmel Mertens.
comrades, one of them the proud
"A
up beside him. They
springs
reporters intervene
hung around
is
his
and momentarily take
charge as they get their photographs. As they shoot the Chief
from various it is
angles,
we know
impatient, even though
a one-time occasion.
"The Chief and
we become
as his feet
asks to be put
No
his shoulder-high perch,
touch the ground, everyone
him on the
to shake his hand, pat
glance.
down from
one who was present
is
crowding in on him
back, or at least to capture his
will ever forget those minutes.
the peak of excitement passed, the crowd began to thin a
and we
all
As
little
walked toward our quarters.
"In the meantime, chairs and tables had been brought, and
without restraint we Colonel Hrabak
all sit
sitting
is
down around our beside him and is
Chief. This
is
his day.
joyfully toasting him.
At the Colonel's prompting, the Chief must recount the last suspenseful moments of his aerial battle. Everyone listens intently, suppressing their excitement as he
tells
the story.
"After an enormous feast, preparations for a
bration are made.
Bimmel and sight
is
The Chief wants
his technicians.
put on
ice.
around the Chiefs
A
little special
to hold a special party with
Every bit of alcoholic beverage in
semicircle with straw as cushions
tent.
mined hour, everyone is Only the moon and stars
A
cele-
built in the middle.
fire is
present.
A
At
deep, black night
are our spectators.
The
is
placed
a predeter-
spreading.
is
fire is lit.
The
leap-
ing flames give the faces a unique expression.
"The
bottles are passed,
and we
all
drink with the Chief until
shortly after midnight.
When
ashes, deeply impressed
and moved by the
up, bid the Chief good night day,
which none among us
Next day Erich was
wood falls into occasion, we all stand
the last piece of
and go
to bed.
will ever forget,
So
this
came
adventureful to
called to Colonel Hrabak's tent.
its
close."
There had
been comradeship between them from the day Erich arrived at the front.
When
the time
came
for
Hrabak
to get
some
additional
THE BLOND KNIGHT
14in order to
victories
Keeping such a his leader.
fine
Now
comrade
things
to fly as his
safe
had come
Hrabak reached out and pumped "Bubi,
was a
Wreathed
in smiles,
Erich's hand.
The
has
Fiihrer
to report the day after tomor-
the Wolf's redoubt at Insterburg, to receive the award
to
from the
Fiihrer."
known
Erich had victories
his
fighter's finest tribute to
Congratulations!
congratulations.
at his
Kommodores wingman.
full circle.
awarded you the Diamonds. You are
row
GERMANY
win the Oak Leaves that now hung
had been proud
throat, Erich
*OF
along that
all
he reached three hundred
if
he would be awarded the Diamonds.
mind
He was
prepared in
for the exalted decoration, but the official advice
the Fiihrer's
HQ
still
hit
him with
terrific
from
impact. Hrabak was
still
talking.
"Only seven
monds
day-fighter pilots*
whole war.
in this
.
have been awarded the Dia-
.
own thoughts. One thought came uppermost. He would see Usch again, because there would be home leave after the visit to the Wolf's redoubt. ". before you go, Erich, we must of course have a big celeHrabak's words mingled with the whirl of Erich's
.
.
bration party for the Diamonds. It
is
a rare honor,
and JG-52
is
proud of you."
Hrabak wrung Erich's hand again and he stumbled back out of the
Kommodores
believed that he a short time.
He
tent.
would
Two
years ago Erich
excel all
Germany's
air
would never have heroes within such
thought of poor Paule Rossmann,
now
in Russian
And Bimmel, what would one man got the award for the
hands. Paule was a part of this success.
he have done without him? But only
work of many; that was the military way.
The
celebration party
went boomingly,
as the pilots replenished
the squadron's supply of alcoholic beverages by cajoling, borrow-
and bargaining. Another joyous night passed around the fire. Erich's head was still pounding when he climbed into his Me-109
ing
* Moelders, Galland, Gollob, Graf,
and Hartmann.
Nowotny, Marseille (posthumously),
300 DOWN AND DIAMONDS
143
maps that he would use
the following day and checked the
navigate to Insterburg. As his fighter leaped into the of his elated
to
an escort
air,
comrades flew around him, keeping watch over the
lone Me-109 until
was well behind the
it
Then with
lines.
a final
wing-waggling salute they flew back to war, while Erich droned
westward to the Wolfs redoubt.
bomb
Since the unsuccessful July 20 to quickly eliminate the plotters
had moved
and everyone remotely connected
The
with those directly involved.
plot, the Fiihrer
terror Hitler
had unleashed was
changed atmosphere of the Wolf's redoubt
reflected in the
as
Erich reported to receive his Diamonds. Fear and suspicion were evident on
all
Fuhrer's aides
sides.
The
Security precautions were ultra-tight.
HQ
had divided the
into three zones of security,
with an absolute prohibition against sidearms in the third, or inner zone.
To
get his
Diamonds, Erich would have
to enter the third
summoned
decorations
zone.
Most
soldiers
and take
regulation felt
to
receive
would have been glad enough
Hitler
off their pistols.
to
high
comply with the
Erich
felt
from
security
himself balk.
He
humiliated by the suspicion inherent in the regulation. Con-
trolling the rage that surged inside
SS security "Please
him, Erich spoke coolly to the
officer.
tell
the Fiihrer that
I
do not want to
receive the Dia-
monds if he has no Vertrauen* in his front-line officers." The security officer went pale. "You want me to tell the Fiihrer that you will not Diamonds? Because "Yes, please. Tell
receive the
of the pistol regulation?"
him what
"Wait, please, Hartmann.
I
I
said."
will see
Colonel von Below."
"Please do."
As
Hitler's Luftwaffe aide,
Colonel von Below had already en-
countered Erich Hartmann before.
He had been
up the Blond Knight when he arrived in a tipsy condition.
award.
The
* Literally in
at Salzburg the previous year
He had met him
long-suffering
forced to sober
again prior to the Swords
von Below had a
lot of experience
German, "true-believe"— roughly equivalent
personal faith in the integrity of another.
in
with
English to
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
144
young
fighter
Now,
pilots.
would have
cavalier
Hartmarm
for
this
brave blond boy the old
to be a modifier of security regulations. If
refused the Diamonds, Hitler would probably go
on
a
rampage.
The
tall,
blond Colonel von Below stalked out to the security
officer's desk, a
weary expression of resignation on
"Hartmann, you can wear your
come
in
Erich
pistol if
you
his face. insist.
Now
please
and get your Diamonds/' felt
down
himself cooling
as
he walked into the Fuhrer's
reception room. In the normal way, he took off his cap and pistol belt
and hung them on the stand provided. Hitler came
in
and took
no notice of the presence of the weapon. Erich noticed that the Fiihrer was markedly
hung limply at Hitler's eyes
more stooped, and that the
right
arm
still
his side.
were sunken and
dull.
His face was haggard and he
looked completely exhausted. As the tired old
man who had once
held the world in thrall handed Erich the Diamonds, the Blond
Knight saw that the "I
one good arm was trembling.
Fiihrer' s
we had more like you and Rudel,"* said Hitler. some coffee and brief inquiry after Erich's family,
wish
After
Fiihrer indicated that they
would go
lunch. Erich walked across the it
to
the
an adjoining building
room and got
his pistol belt
for
and put
on. The Fiihrer said nothing. Together they walked to another
building containing the dining room.
They
sat
down, and Hitler
began discussing the war. This time, he spoke in different terms
from those he had used on the previous two occasions when Erich was
in his presence.
"Militarily, the
war
politically, there are
is lost,
Hartmann. You must know
this.
But
such vast differences between the Allies— the
and Americans on the one hand, and the Russians on the other— that we have only to hold on and wait. Soon the Russians
British
will
be fighting the British and Americans
only alternative
is
for us to
and you know what that
will
as well as ourselves.
The
be overrun by the Bolshevist hordes,
mean
for the fatherland."
Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel, leading Stuka pilot of the Luftwaffe, and Kommodore of Schlachtgeschwader-2 (SG-2). *
"CONGRA TULA TIONS" Hitler
congratulates
mann as
the World's
Hart-
most suc-
cessful fighter pilot (301 aerial victories
at
that
moment of
meeting) on 25 August 1944.
(Hoffmann)
PICTURE FOR POSTERITY:
Erich Hartmann and
Major von Below pose togetherjust before Hartmann has discussion with Hitler.
A HAPPY FIGHTER PILOT: After his 301st victory,
Goring grounded Hartmann from
further combat. The General of the Fighters, Adolf Galland went to bats for Hartmann and
talked the Reichs-Marschal into rescinding the order.
HITLER INTERROGATES HARTMANN: decoration ceremony, Hitler sat with
After
Hartmann and
queried him about conditions at the front.
BLACK D&VIL OF THE UKRAINE:
The black ofHartmann's ME-109 is clearly visthis photo taken late in 1944. Note spiral on
tulip-petal nose ible in
propellorhub, a feature believed by Luftwaffe pilots to
confuse enemy ground gunners. Also note Hart-
mann's 1000-mission flight cap.
23
NOVEMBER 1944:
Mertens cockpit.
sits
on canopy
(Luftwaffe Photo)
Crew chief Heinz "Bimmel" sill with Hartmann in the
Hartmann had just landed after scoring
327th aerial
OBERLEUTNANT AND HUNDE: Hartmann cuddles a leave.
his
victory.
1st. Lt.
neighbor's pet while
Erich
home on
300 DOWN AND DIAMONDS The Fuhrer had heard many
145
about
stories
on
guerrilla activity
the Eastern Front.
Hartmann,
"Partisans,
partisans.
My
generals
What
everywhere and do tremendous damage.
"When I
I
tell
me
they are
your experience?"
served in the Central Sector of the Eastern Front,
came down twice
as occupied
is
in a heavily
wooded
by partisans. Both times
I
sir,
marked on our maps walked out and never saw area
an enemy." "I see.
Then perhaps my generals misinform me?"
"Perhaps, mein Fuhrer,
bothered us at any time.* materiel depot where
the Americans, and
it
I I
many
don't know. But partisans have not
know
Rumania an air was bombed by
that once in
aircraft
were stored
was reported as due to partisan
activity."
"How do you know this, Hartmann?" was common knowledge in our Gruppe, sir." "Common knowledge? Hmmmm. Then I am more sure than ever before that a lot of my generals do not give me accurate "It
information." Hitler then abruptly changed the conversation to the air
war
over Germany.
"You have flown only on the Eastern Front, Hartmann. But what do you think about these bombing attacks on Germany by the Anglo-Americans?"
"From what problem
I
have seen and heard, we do not approach
correctly, in
"Why
this
my opinion."
not?"
"Reichsmarschall Goering has ordered that
bombers come— day,
night,
good
we
any time the
fly
good weather or
visibility or not,
bad."
"And "In
this
my
*
mein Fuhrer.
by forcing them to take
that a crash
that
wrong, Hartmann?"
opinion, yes,
necessarily
strument
is
is
flyers
we should
a certainty.
To
We
off
convert
all pilots
would take too long— at save
all
our
efforts for
lose too
and land
many
in
to
competent
least a year.
hard
So
I
flying against the
Hartmann had not heard that two fighter pilots returning by Germany had been killed by the partisans.
leave in
pilots un-
weather so bad in-
believe
Amer-
train
from
THE BLOND KNIGHT Of GERMANY
146 icans in blue-sky
weather— daylight operations. Then
bombing could be
deterred."*
The
think the
I
Fiihrer fidgeted with his lunch as they spoke.
Hartmann, you think
"Tell me,
training
insufficient
is
now
for
fighter pilots?"
know
"I
squadron
it
is
insufficient,
with
in Russia
less
get young
men coming
than sixty hours'
and only twenty hours of that
combat with such slender
I
sir.
my
to
total flying time,
Me-109. They have to
in the
fly
This accounts for most of our
training.
Eastern Front fighter losses."
assumed an absent expression. Erich went on with
Hitler
his
story.
"These young boys come immediately.
They come and go
mein
and
Fiihrer,
I
and are shot down
to us in
waves
like this. It
think our home-front propaganda
is
practically is
criminal,
to blame."
At this, Hitler sat up and showed some life. "How?" he said. "They know they are not ready to fly combat. They can barely get the Me-109 up and back safely as it is, without fighting. But they come to the front pleading fanatically, suicidally, to be allowed to go on operations." Hitler looked incredibly tired,
"Hartmann, As
said, the
I
me
all
war
slumped
you say may well be is
From
lost militarily.
But now
all sides
it is
too
one who must decide.
the
time.
late.
people come to
every day with ideas for rockets, tanks, guns, submarines,
operations, offensives, withdrawals,
am
in his chair.
true.
new
and with crazy inventions.
Now
there
is
I
no longer any
." .
The
up abruptly, and Erich knew the interview an end. Hitler's handshake was slack and perfunctory. Erich left the Wolfs redoubt that twenty-fifth of August Fiihrer stood
was at
When
.
he knew he would never see Hitler
alive again.
* Unbeknown to Erich Hartmann, this was the course of action being urged almost daily on Goering by the embattled General of the Fighters, strikes when conwhen he was permitted
Adolf Galland. His concept was to mount massive fighter ditions were to use
it.
favorable, a devastatingly effective tactic
300 DOWN AND DIAMONDS He
flew back to Russia
and
spect the beautiful decoration
his
147
comrades crowded around to
and congratulate him yet
in-
The mind the
again.
brave gaiety of his fighting pilots could not drive from his
conviction that the fatherland was disintegrating, and that final defeat could not
now be averted.
Orders for ten days' leave came through the following day.
was to
fly
He
back to Berlin-Gatow for an interview with General
Adolf Galland and go on leave to Stuttgart from there. In the cavernous interior of the Ju-52 transport he lost himself in his
him home. Usch was only hours away now. He had 301 victories. Usch would be his 302nd victory. They would marry now, and damn the war. thoughts while the big motors thundered, carrying
Chapter Eleven
302ND VICTORY Looking ahead
is
part of the challenge of living.
—Captain Eddie Rickenbacker
ch's interview with General Galland
at his
Berlin-Gatow
HQ
of the Fighter
land wanted to transfer Erich to the Me-262 Test
This unit was combining fighter with limited
jet
and had
fighting record in
Arm
Adolf
was brief and to the point. Gal-
Commando.
flight testing of the revolutionary twin-
combat
operations. Erich's piloting skill
undoubtedly suited him to the task Galland
mind, but the Blond Knight did not wish to
transfer.
Explaining to Galland his deep attachment to JG-52 and his comrades, and his conviction that he was best serving his country
on the Russian Front, Erich followed with his
transfer to the Test
Commando
commander had an uncanny
a direct request that
be canceled. Galland
instinct for detecting
as a
hidden mo-
and Erich's request rang true. Galland vital to the Fighter Arm's morale, and he
tives in his subordinates,
valued comradeship as
saw the merit of Erich's
request.
He
canceled Erich's assignment
and rescinded an order that had taken the Blond combat operations after he had received the Diamonds.
to the
jets,
Knight
off
Galland then cut orders assigning Erich to the Fighter
Home
(Jagdfliegerheim) in
Bad Wiessee,
for rest
Pilots'
and recupera-
tion prior to return to the Russian Front. Erich left Galland's greatly
relieved
that he
HQ
would remain with JG-52, and more
eager than ever to see Usch.
On
the train journey from Berlin to Stuttgart, Erich
made up
302nd victory
149
mind that previous marriage plans would be set aside. A year ago, when they had become officially engaged, he and Usch had
his
decided to wait until he was promoted to captain before getting married.
last
Just
favor of a
wedding
month they
that arrangement aside
set
at Christmas, 1944.
changed by the war
Now
in
everything had been
and by Erich's receipt of the
situation,
Diamonds.
Usch was waiting when Erich
piled out of the train in Stuttgart.
He embraced her and kissed her, his "Usch
Christmas.
men
now, on
this leave.
to wait any more."
Hartmann looked at him in surprise. we just decided last month that we would wait
future Mrs.
"But Erich,
"I
all smiles.
darling, we're going to get married
We're not going
The
face
.
.
know. But things have changed. in
my Group
"But Erich,
I
Usch looked
have
many They
probably won't even get
I
married will get
home
then."
don't even have a dress to get married in." a little
"You can buy married while
We
at the front— men with families.
Christmas leave.
priority for
until
."
unhappy.
one, Usch.
Today
if
you
like.
But we must get
have the leave and the opportunity. Getting the
I
Diamonds has changed things, too." As they walked out to the car, Erich explained they could get married down in Bad Wiessee, at the rest and recuperation center for fighter pilots. He had been ordered there, and that meant they would not be able to get married in Weil or Stuttgart. Erich saw that Usch's face got a
Traveling about inside cult
little
longer as he delivered this news.
Germany was becoming
and hazardous. Sensing her
kissed her again as they sat
"You
will
be
my
down
three
disquiet,
increasingly
diffi-
he leaned over and
in the car.
hundred and second
he
victory,"
whispered.
Usch's face lightened. "Is that
That Usch
what you're saying is
"No, not
just
just
to everyone
now, Erich Hartmann?
another victory?"
another victory.
The
only one that matters.
.
.
."
THE BLOND KNlfcHT OF GERMANY
150
Erich kissed Usch again, and he
Wiessee
Two
for the
knew she would come
Bad
to
wedding.
whirlwind days followed, which included a
citizens' re-
ception for Erich at the Sports Palace in Weil, then Erich was off to the Fighter Pilots'
Home
in
Bad Wiessee. He
left
Usch
prepar-
most important day of her life. The wedding would take place on the following Saturday. Usch would
ing frenziedly for the
come down by train via Munich on Friday, arriving at noon. This give them time to conclude final details together. The plans
would
were one thing, the actual events were something
Things went smoothly enough
Home tral
was
for Erich.
else.
The
Fighter Pilots'
and rambling building, with a
a comfortable
banquet hall—a perfect place
for the reception.
large cen-
Plenty of
were on hand to assure a gay atmosphere. Tea dances
fighter pilots
were held every weekend, to which young
women
flocked from
the surrounding areas for the attentions of the dashing young
men. Manicured grounds and
completed an
tired fighter pilots,
air-
a nearby lake with sailboats for the idyllic
backwater in which the
war could be forgotten. Bad Wiessee was a perfect place
for a
honeymoon. Installing himself in the Fighter Pilots'
He went
organizing.
Home, Erich
started
and arranged
for the
to the local courthouse
marriage license and other necessary documentation. Reception
arrangements were lined
and an orchestra revocably volved.
for
committed
He
up— food, champagne,
general catering
dancing at the reception. Erich was soon to
wedding,
a
with
much
expense
ir-
in-
telephoned his father in Weil in a fever of appre-
hension.
"Everything here
is
set,
Father. All the arrangements are
fi-
Usch has got to come." Dr. Hartmann's voice was reassuring.
nalized.
"Of course
she'll
come," he
said.
want you to be sure that she gets the train out of Stuttgart on Friday. Could you telephone the Luftwaffe provost there and explain to him? Perhaps he will help her get to the "Father,
I
railway station."
"Certainly there to
I
will,
meet her."
my
boy.
Now
don't worry about
it.
Just
be
302nd victory
151
As Erich hung up the phone, he
reflected
on the
solid
and quiet
support he had always received from his father.
Usch was
just as
make
for her to
determined to get to Bad Wiessee
the
An
trip.
irresolute
woman would
have abandoned a journey fraught with the fronted Usch. out.
The
as
Erich was
probably
difficulties that
Stuttgart railway station
con-
had been bombed
Checking into the makeshift railway timetables, Usch found
she would have to get an early morning train from Kornwestheim in north Stuttgart in order to reach
Bad Wiessee by noon. The
Luftwaffe kindly sent a motorcycle and sidecar to collect her at 9 a.m., but by that time the dark-haired bride was well on her way to Munich, change-point for Gmiind, the closest railway station to
Bad Wiessee. As the
train pulled into
Usch had
Munich, the
air-raid sirens
were wailing.
to run to the nearest air-raid shelter as soon as she got
out of the
Three hours
train.
in
pletely disrupted her schedule for
bride on her wedding eve
At the Fighter with the Diamonds at ordeal.
an oppressive hotel
cellar
com-
meeting her bridegroom. For a
was an unexpected and nerve-clanking
it
Home
Pilots'
his throat
meanwhile, the bridegroom
was undergoing a different kind
of ordeal. "Elf's
Night"
prenuptial
is
a
German
celebrations
tradition corresponding to similar
other
in
Western
nations.
The
bride-
groom's bachelor friends concentrate on getting him drunk for the last
time as a bachelor.
The
celebrants then hurl old pottery
and
china into a fireplace, and the bride and groom clean up the mess the following day as their Elf's
first
domestic task as
man and
wife.
Night began rather early for Erich.
Shortly before noon, Erich drove to
Alfred
Rossbach,
resident
physician
Gmiind for
station with Dr.
the
Fighter
Pilots'
Home. The doctor enjoyed the wartime luxury of a small car. Wreathed in smiles and bursting with anticipation, Erich strode quickly down the length of the train, looking for Usch. Disembarking passengers were soon all off the train, but Usch was not among them. As the train whistle blew for departure, Erich quickly
checked the train again, compartment by compartment. Usch was not aboard.
"Usch must have missed her
train connection,"
he
said.
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
152
Dr. Rossbach's professional manner was soothing.
"She
meet
will get the
when we can
next train, Erich. Let's find out
it."
The
next train was due in two hours. Erich was upset.
even more upset when he tried to
He was
The bombing
call Stuttgart.
had knocked out the telephone exchange and he was unable to complete the call. Dr. Rossbach rose to the professional challenge inherent in the
crisis,
and prescribed the proper
"Let's go back to the Fighter Pilots'
Home
palliative.
and have a drink/'
said the doctor.
Erich nodded his agreement and off they went, chugging back over the country roads to
home, in
Elf's
Night began
West Germany,
Bad Wiessee. When they got back to the for Erich. Today a successful physician
Dr. Rossbach describes the ensuing events:
Night started very
"Elf's
early in the afternoon in
my
happy alcoholic mood.
We
Gmiind
sta-
in a short
time we were
broke
proceedings briefly to drive again to the
off
tion to
meet Usch
all
in a very
no Usch. The dilemma champagne and cognac, and
at the next train. Still
was fought with large quantities of after a while things did
had
not seem anything
like as serious as
they
previously.
"Two more trains arrived, which we bride. The mood of the Elf's Night critical. it,
room, and
dutifully met,
party
but
is
backing out'
And
for
no
became even more
Walter Krupinski spoke up. 'She has thought the
Bubi, she
still
one awful
better of
moment
Erich
looked as though he believed him."
At the
last train,
after midnight, Erich
had almost given up
hope, but this time the bride arrived. Usch was exhausted but
happy, and they drove back to Bad Wiessee.
A
few
fighter pilots
goggled approvingly through their alcoholic haze at the shy Usch,
who was into
quickly taken to a nearby guesthouse. She was glad to
bed and leave her beaming bridegroom
to the
mercy
fall
of the
elves.
Erich did not feel very strong the next morning, but he rallied to the challenge of the day,
and put on
made
its
uniform for the
rounded up and way to the courthouse. Erich's comrades from
wedding ceremony. Witnesses and the party
his best
friends were
302nd victory
153
JG-52, Gerd Barkhorn, Willi Batz and Walter Krupinski, were present,
and Batz
recalls the
"Gerd Barkhorn and myself were Bubi's wedding Here we were, bride and groom
me on
and
we
the right as
all
wedding:
at the head,
Barkhorn to the
entered the church. As
church in the same formation, we were
all
witnesses.
we
left
left
the
surprised at the portal
to find a formation of Luftwaffe officers in full uniform, with
swords drawn and held aloft in a saber arch. Bride and groom and then Barkhorn and myself that
it
all
had
to go through
it. I
can say today
was a memorable and successful wedding."
The simple civil ceremony climaxed a great love. Under normal German custom, Erich and Usch would have immediately gone and repeated the ceremony Protestant church in
Bad Wiessee.
to wait until later— much later as
ment
in
but there was no
in a church,
A church it
ceremony would have
turned out. Erich's imprison-
Russia imposed an eleven-year delay on the church
wedding.
A
couple of hours
the Fighter Pilots'
later,
the wedding party got under
Home. Champagne flowed fighter pilots made
mann's expense, and the
way
at
freely at Dr. Hart-
the most of
it.
A
band played for dancing, but as the evening wore on, Elf's Night and the day's events began to have their effect on Erich. The Blond Knight and his lady bade their guests good night, and small
adjourned to a luxurious suite prepared for them in the nearby guesthouse.
While they
slept, the party of reeling fighter pilots
celebrated the 302nd victory far into the morning.
Honeymoon days in the tranquil countryside around Bad Wiessee made the war seem incredibly remote— until the Ardennes offensive flooded Germany with new hope. Newspapers were splashed with victory headlines as the Allied forces reeled under the
German Army's
ities
assault. Berlin
Radio blared out the probabil-
of a second Dunkirk, with the British
and the Americans
pushed into the sea together.
Even the
spell of the
honeymoon was broken by the good news.
Sugar-coated bad news had long been a steady diet in Germany.
As a
fighting airman, Erich
knew
the odds against the fatherland
were long, but he heard the Ardennes news with soaring enthu-
THE BLOND KNIGBT
154
He wanted
siasm. a
man's
to hear
news
O tF
GERMANY
Such success could change
like this.
life.
These thoughts were racing Dr. Rossbach's
"This
room
mind
as
he stepped into
to listen to radio reports of fresh triumphs.
wonderful," said Erich. "We're going to have a big
is
and that means
victory,
in Erich's
possible for
it's
me
to have a family."
Dr. Rossbach was aghast. "Erich, in times like these you a family.
"No,
would be wiser
.
.
don't have to wait, Doctor.
I
Erich was
Not now.
I
can have a family/'
the impulsive boy, not yet master of himself.
still
Eight days after the wedding, when they to
to wait to have
."
left
Bad Wiessee
to return
Weil, Usch was pregnant and the Ardennes was being written
down
German
in the catalog of
the families at
failures.
The happy reunion with
home was overshadowed by
Erich's
imminent
re-
turn to the Russian Front. As the days passed he grew restive. "Erich, something
is
wrong. What's bothering you?"
Usch already knew Erich better than he knew himself. "It's
them
my
all
Gruppe, Usch, back at the
the time.
I
don't feel
I
front.
I
keep thinking about
have any right to be here in such
happiness while they are out there fighting. I'm going to go back." Usch's face
fell.
"But Erich, your leave know. But
"I
still
I've got to
has two weeks to run."
You understand why,
go back.
don't
you?" Tears were welling up in her eyes as Usch nodded and smiled wanly.
"Do what you have
A
few hours
He
taxied the
from which he had taken
in his mother's
wind, he
felt
Klemm
her
lift
I'll
help you get ready."
Erich was clambering into a Storch at
later,
Boblingen Airport. field
to do, Erich.
little
off so
two-seater.
ship to the end of the
many
same
times in his gliders and
Gunning
the Storch into the
beautifully to his touch.
moment
As Usch's lovely
wave and then she was gone. He set course for Krakau, where an Me-109 would be waiting to speed him back to the front. Under his breath he face
went
flashing by below, there
cursed the war blackly.
was
a
to
302nd victory The newlyweds
155
did not see each other at Christmas 1944. As
Erich had feared, he was unable to get away from the front, but
men
the married
as
with families returned to their units after
Christmas, others were released for a brief struck
lucky, but
it
when he
New
Year's leave. Erich
arrived in Stuttgart
New
on
Year's
Eve, the air-raid sirens were wailing and he and Usch had to run for
There was time only
it.
plunged
The
into the shelter of the
pressure of war
Usch looked under a
on two
bombs thundered
Erich as
for
a
brief
fronts reached
home
no doubt that she was
She was three months pregnant, and
Hartmann home
sharply to
into the city of Stuttgart overhead.
well enough, but there was
strain.
embrace before they
Wegenburg Tunnel.
living in the
Weil under Dr. Hartmann's good
at
care,
but
that could not eliminate the larger tensions of the times. Sleep was fitful for
the whole family, she told Erich. Every night they went
to the cellar.
The
roar of the planes, the crash of
barking of the flak kept them
all
sleepless.
bombs and
the
Weil had not been
bombed, but Boblingen and Stuttgart had both been pounded. Weil im Schonbuch was twenty miles from Stuttgart and only four miles from Boblingen but the bombers never touched the little
town.
These somber left
tidings clouded the joy of their reunion, as they
the shelter of the tunnel and headed
deeply disturbed and was
silent.
home
Usch broke
in
to Weil. Erich felt
on
his disquieting
thoughts.
"How long is your leave, Erich?" His face brightened.
"Ten
days.
Ten whole days.
It's
going to be wonderful."
Less than wonderful was the telegram that
came four days
later.
Erich was ordered to a special instrument course at Konigsberg
Neumark. The good-bye was hard
this time, after only four days.
Erich consoled himself with the prospect of another leave after the
instrument course.
The
Russians crushed that dream with their
offensive into Hungary.
The day orders in
after
he arrived at Konigsberg Neumark, emergency
came through
reassigning Erich to JG-52. His
the thick of the action
down
in
Gruppe was
Hungary, and instrument
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
156
courses were not necessary to find
and shoot down the hordes
of
Russian aircraft involved in the offensive. In the ensuing wild days
Blond Knight ran up
of battle, the
his score to
336
victories, far
ahead of Gerd Barkhorn,
his closest rival.
hard in March
received another urgent telegram.
when Erich
JG-52 was
fighting
still
CEASE OPERATIONAL FLYING IMMEDIATELY REPORT LECHFELD FOR CONVERSION TRAINING ON ME-262 TURBO
Erich was convinced as he flew back to Lechfeld that the war
was irretrievably teriel
lost.
with which the
He had seen the vast flood of men and maRed Army was going to inundate Germany.
Real fear welled up in him as he thought of the Russian hordes
swarming into the fatherland. Getting Usch to to
somewhere
safer
than Stuttgart, was uppermost in his mind.
The baby was coming
He had
soon.
confided his fears to his adjutant, Captain Will
Kamp, whose of Lechfeld.
move
safety, or at least
family had a
Van
de
home
Kamp
in the country at
Van
de
Schongau, south
had immediately suggested that Usch
there until after the baby was born. Erich gratefully ac-
cepted his adjutant's
offer.
After reporting at Lechfeld, Erich borrowed a Storch and flew over to Boblingen.
With
his father's help
he managed to borrow an
old truck, which he drove over to Usch's place in Rottenbuch. shirtsleeved ace of aces piled their furniture truck,
and drove Usch and
Kamp home
in
all
their worldly goods to the
Schongau, a charming old castle
far
country. Invading troops would be unlikely to go near
was remote from the main
The
rural surroundings
old castle
The
and belongings on the
Van
de
out in the it,
since
it
arteries.
and sense of
security conveyed
would help keep Usch happy
until the
baby
by the arrived.
him subside as the Van de Kamp family made Usch welcome in her new home. Concern for her welfare had given him more bad moments than the Red Air Force as the war burned inexorably westward. When they said good-bye in the German countryside, Erich's heart was happier than when he had left the front. Things in Schongau made it seem like the happy prewar years had returned. Erich
felt
the anxiety that had been burning inside
302nd victory
157
Verdant peace surrounded them. For a few precious moments
now
they felt like carefree kids in love again, except that
their
Usch
hearts sang with the thought of their child. Erich kissed tenderly.
"Be
brave, Usch.
His
lips
And
don't worry for me/' he said.
would not touch hers again
for ten
and
a half years.
As
dark-haired and radiant loved one disappeared from view,
his
him
Erich turned his thoughts to the challenge waiting
at Lech-
feld— the revolutionary "Turbo" fighter— the jet-propelled Me-262 that he would learn to
The
airfield at
fly
in the
coming weeks.
Lechfeld was hardly a place to inspire confidence,
The
despite the presence there of the fastest fighter in the world.
base was
bombed
until after the
early every
morning, and flying could not
runway was patched, which usually took
until
start
about
10:30 a.m. Flying was only possible for about an hour and a half,
USAAF
because at 12:30 every afternoon formations of
P-38's
swept in at treetop height and hosed the base down with gunfire.
Mosquito fighter-bombers sometimes followed up with ten or fifteen tons of air
high explosive.
night,
more Mosquitos
filled
the
with the smooth but terrifying thunder of their Merlin en-
gines.
that
The
RAF
birds
came swooping down
showed near the Lechfeld
In charge of of
By
jet transition
training
air heroes,
was not
known
as well
Hartmann, Hermann Graf of his fellow pilots, sized
man
hero's hero.
any
lights
base.
Germany's greatest
"Pritzl"
to strafe
amid
this
Lt. Col.
to the
shambles was one
Heinz
German
"Pritzl" Baer.
public as Erich
or Adolf Galland, but in the estimation
none stood above him.
A dark-haired,
medium-
with a hawkishly handsome face, Heinz Baer was a
He
wore the Swords at
have worn the Diamonds. to his credit at this time,
Two
his throat,
and by
hundred and four
rights
should
victories stood
and he had fought on every front where
German fighters met the enemy. In the Me-262 he would bring down sixteen more British and American machines* to end the war with 220 confirmed * Lieutenant Colonel II
with sixteen
kills in
of Experts, JV-44,
victories,
120 of them aircraft of the
Heinz Baer was the top-scoring the Me-262.
He was
the last
formed by Adolf Galland.
jet
ace of
CO.
World War
of the
Squadron
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
158
Western Allies. Only the immortal Marseille would down more Anglo-American machines. Baer's job now was to prepare the finest pilots in the
Luftwaffe to take the Me-262 into battle as a
fighter.
A for
was being assembled
stellar collection of fighter pilot talent
Adolf Galland's JV-44— an
later
fighter
all-jet
unit
that
would
be called the Squadron of Experts. Nearly every pilot selected
JV-44 ne W some degree of the Knight's Cross, which was said to be the JV-44 squadron badge. Galland had fought a bitter and for
exhausting battle to get the Me-262 into action as a fighter plane, over the irrational edict of Hitler that the machine was to be used as a
bomber. The young
in his struggle,
had made many enemies including Goering and Himmler, and the bureaucfighter general
racy behind the Luftwaffe General Staff
had been a
frustrating
drag on progress.
For
years, Galland's strategic
which history already blocked,
frustrated
tactical
recommendations, to
the stamp of genius, had been
assigns
and
and
nullified.
After a series of increasingly
acrimonious confrontations, he had been relieved of his command.
and Goering then gave him permission
Hitler
unit
and prove
his
to
form a
jet fighter
contentions about the machine. Their expecta-
tion was that Galland
would be
killed.
This political intrigue and Galland's struggles lay outside the
ken of the young Blond Knight.
He
was too busy battling on the
Eastern Front while the drama of the Me-262 was being acted out
behind the scenes. Checking out in the
most
fun for Erich, with the witty
and
aircraft
was therefore
irrepressible "Pritzl"
al-
Baer
making laughter out of even the hard conditions at Lechfeld. Galland came to the base at the end of March, and Erich was ordered to report to his
office.
In his fourth wartime meeting with Adolf Galland, Erich found
him
little
changed on the
surface.
The black-maned former
General of the Fighter Arm, with his penetrating thin mustache arresting figure.
and overpowering aura of personality was He greeted Erich with characteristic humor.
"Hello, Erich.
"So
I
eyes,
I
am now a squadron commander," he said.
have heard, mein General" said Erich.
pencilstill
an
302nd victory
159
"I'm getting some top
pilots together to take the
Me-262
action as a fighter. Colonel Luetzow, Colonel Steinhoff,
into
Major
."
Krupinski, Major Hohagen.
.
.
Galland was glowing with enthusiasm. "I
want you
to join
my squadron,
Erich."
Baer had told Erich during his Me-262 check-out that Galland
would probably want him
to
fly
The
with JV-44.
prospect
dis-
turbed Erich deeply.
"What
will
I
do
in such a squadron, with all those big aces with
long service and senior rank, mein General?"
"Why,
you'll fly with
You
of course.
us,
are the top-scoring
fighter pilot of the world."
"But mein General,
wingman, and that
I
do not wish
will certainly
to fly again as
happen
if I
someone
else's
join your squadron."
Galland hardly seemed to notice Erich's lack of enthusiasm,
and
moment later a telephone was thrust into the young hand. He waved Erich away. The interview was over.
a
eral's
Walking back
to his quarters, Erich
Experts idea. Steinhoff, Luetzow, Baer
gen-
pondered the Squadron of .
.
.
they were
men, much older and more experienced than
all
senior
colonels, lieutenant colonels
They were and majors and many of them had
commanded
He
been
a
Fighter Wings.
he.
was a young captain and he had
long time getting to be captain.
He had
the most victories,
that was true, but beside Galland's experts in JV-44 ne was a httle
boy of twenty-two— and he knew
it.
Erich kicked a piece of shattered brick out of his way as he
walked along, and cursed
his
luck.
He'd rather be back with
I/JG-52 on the Eastern Front, where he felt he belonged. There he was a Gruppenkommandeur, and had some control over his fate.
He wondered how he was
going to get out of the Squadron of
Experts.
The following day an urgent Hermann Graf, Kommodore of in
telegram
came
to Lechfeld
from
JG-52, which was now operating Czechoslovakia. Graf requested Erich's urgent return to com-
mand
of
I/JG-52.
The
unit was under heavy
combat
pressure.
Graf's request proved a timely intervention in Erich's dilemma.
Two
days
later,
Colonel Gordon Gollob made a fortuitous
THE BLOND KNitHT OF GERMANY
160
Lechfeld.
visit to
He
was Adolf Galland's successor
as
General of
Arm, and an accomplished fighter ace in his own right with 150 victories. Like Erich, he wore the Diamonds, and was one of the nine Luftwaffe fighter aces to win the coveted decoration. Gollob had intense interest in new aerial armament, and wanted to see how the Me-262 training program was progressing the Fighter
knew Gollob was the officer with the authority to send him back to JG-52. He managed an interview with the new General of the Fighters. "I would like to request transfer back to my Gruppe in JG-52
at Lechfeld. Erich
on the Eastern Front,
sir*'
"Why? Don't you like the Me-262?" 'The Me-262 is fine, sir, but I have been with the men in my Gruppe ever since I went to the front. I am proud of my unit and I believe I can do more there than flying the Me-262 here." "Any other reasons?" "Because we fly so seldom in the Me-262, due to the constant bombing and strafing, I feel as if I am doing nothing to help my
With JG-52 Kommodore, Colonel
country.
Gollob nodded.
seemed "All
I
will
be doing something
Graf, has requested
An
positive.
And my
my return, sir."
Austrian with a good leader's intuition, he
know what was going on in right, Hartmann. You may to
Erich's mind.
return to your Gruppe.
I'll
sec that the orders are issued."
Within hours, Erich had an Me-109 headed back to the Eastern Front. In his
in his
hands again and was
later years,
precipitate desire to return to JG-52,
he would curse
and through the grim
had stayed with Galland in JV-44. But these ideas were far from his mind in the spring of 1945 as he elatedly sped away from Lechfeld. Awaiting him was a prison years he often wished that he
final scries of battles that
would include
Mustangs and the Americans
of the
a
USAAF.
new
struggle with the
Chapter Twelve
MUSTANGS The Mustang
created records from the day of
—William Green
Famous
ying
back to
his
vakia, Erich
found
battles with
American
his
Gruppe
its
inspired conception.
.
.
in
World War
Fighters of the Second
at
.
Deutsch Brod
in Czechoslo-
thoughts turning constantly to the earlier fighters in
maneuverable and rugged
bird, as
Rumania. The P-51 was a
fast,
good or better than the Soviet
YAK-9. The old model Me-ioc/s used on the Eastern Front, which JG-52 had been forced to send up against the Mustangs in Rumania the previous year, suffered by comparison with the P-51.
These older Me-ioc/s, without methanol injection
emergency
for
high-altitude power, or for escape, were at a serious disadvantage
combat with the Mustangs. Some good men and many aircraft had been lost by JG-52 in the struggle to defend Ploesti and Bucharest. Now that the Ameriin
cans were ranging into Czechoslovakia with their inexhaustible
Mustangs, Erich
felt certain
he would have to
fight
them again mind his
soon. As he flew closer to the front he reviewed in his first,
fierce
encounters with
Orders leading to the
USAAF fighters.
first
clash with the
Americans came
the disastrous Sevastopol battle and subsequent pell-mell
evacuation of the Crimea. pressure fields
on the Luftwaffe
The USAAF to begin
its
after
German
chose this time of heavy attacks
on the
Ploesti oil
near Bucharest. Crash orders pulled I/JG-52 out of the
Eastern Front battle and assigned the formation to
oil-field pro-
THE BLOND K N it H T OF GERMANY
162
tection
on the Rumanian Front. Erich's squadron was ordered
to
operate from a grass strip at Zilistea, a few minutes' flying time
The date was 23 June 1944. He flew down to Rumania with his squadron, found the Zilistea strip and led his pilots in for a landing. Ground crews sent on from
Ploesti.
ahead to the makeshift base were waiting. Refueling of Erich's squadron had barely finished when the order came to scramble.
He
and the warm engine caught immediately. Bimmel was missing from the Zilistea advance party, so
clambered back into
was
it
a
Schwann
his bird
who
strange technician
taxied to the
Junger was flying
end of the
as Erich's
signaled
strip.
all
clear.
Master Sergeant Carl
.wingman, with Lieutenant Puis and
Sergeant Wester composing the second Rotte. They in
good
order, closely followed
all
took
off
by the second Schwarm. The squad-
JG-52 fighters while they the "Fat Dogs"— the bombers.
ron's mission: protect other
through to
Erich's
tried to get
The Americans had been running their bombing operations over Rumania as if their intention was to make interception of their formations by German fighters as easy as possible. Every day the Americans came over at the same time. Between 1100 and 1300 hours, the
USAAF
heavies hove into view with the precision of a
American
well-run
Kommodore, was
railroad.
Colonel
Dieter
Hrabak,
JG-52's
delighted by the American penchant for ac-
curate timing, even
if
a little incredulous at
standing patrols," he told Erich.
"We
first.
"We
need no
maximum force to and cause them maximum
can bring
them with minimum effort, damage, because of the way they plan their operations." Erich could hear Hrabak's words ringing in his mind
bear on
as
he went
The German flak was over the sky. The barrage
racing with his squadron toward Ploesti.
banging and puffing
its
black bursts
was massive. Boring through the tresses,
in
had scored
on
came
gaggles of B-17 For-
staggered horizontally and vertically in formations of ten
to fifteen ships. flak
all
flak
Ploesti
Smoke a
trails
couple of
reaching earthward showed that the
kills.
Four miles farther back, droning
from the west, came
a
second huge gaggle of B-17's.
Erich was on about a level with the Fortresses. altimeter.
Twenty-one thousand
feet.
No enemy
He
checked
fighter escort
his
was
MUSTANGS
163
That meant he would
in sight.
soaring upward, climbing
south into the sun in a wide curve. Erich friend, especially
The
when
it
was
He drew
get a shot at the bombers.
One went
the stick back and Karaya
felt
the sun was his
at his back.
altimeter needle spun up to 25,500 feet as he finished his
climbing turn in an ideal position to attack the formation of
A
bombers.
quick glance around
Schwarms were
intact.
He
him showed him
that both his
eased the stick forward to dive
down on
the bombers.
A
Mustangs suddenly
tight formation of four
line of vision three
thousand feet below,
sliced across his
a target too
tempting to
ignore.
"Attack the fighters," he said into his R/T.
The Me-109's went screaming down on
the Mustangs. Erich
judged his bounce perfectly, closing in rapidly behind the rear ship in -the unsuspecting
the
two
meters touch.
.
.
shrank
fighters
250 meters
.
.
.
American formation. The distance between rapidly.
Three hundred meters
200 meters— "closer, Erich"— 150 meters
.
.
.
.
.
100
.
the white and blue star insignia was close enough to
.
The
P-51
filled
his windshield.
His guns roared for two
seconds. Pieces
flew off
Erich's wings.
the American fighter and thundered against
Smoke and
fire
billowed from the Mustang as Erich
pulled left and up, the Messerschmitt easing around to his touch.
More
debris
empennage
from the disintegrating Mustang showered against the of Erich's kite.
A
quick glance back.
A
big,
black and
red fireball engulfed what was left of the fighter, while smoking
chunks of wing and
tail
went tumbling earthward.
Erich snapped back to business. said aloud to himself.
windshield. this time.
a
Down came
Mustang
sag
watch
No
his
fires,"
he
filling his
more
rapidly
gun buttons. Again he saw
explosion.
No
matter, Erich.
The
the P-51 and inside Erich could see the red
an inferno. Emitting
can fighter snap-rolled and P-51 was a goner.
to
the distance again, even
and wobble. off
"No time
next Mustang was already
At 100 meters he pressed
engine door peeled glare of
The
a
fell
plume
of black smoke, the Ameri-
into an uncontrollable spin.
The
THE BLOND KNIGfiTot GERMANY
164
Pulling up, Erich watched his second element flame two other
Mustangs ers
quick succession. Looking
in
down he saw
droning along below them, and nearby but
still
bomb-
the
two
closer,
other P-51's in a turn away from his position. Another perfect
bounce beckoned. "Attack the fighters again/' he said on the R/T.
The Blond
A
tangs.
Schwann went sweeping American wingman
Knight's
the distance
.
.
.
200
.
.
.
150
.
.
.
100 meters.
A
buttons and half the Mustang's wing sheared
As the
flash.
Musdown came touch on the gun
perfect attack on the
stricken
after the .
.
.
with a bright
off
machine went spinning down, Erich could
see the pilot clambering out of the cockpit.
Get the leader." The American leader had spotted
"Don't watch crashes,
Erich.
Erich, but
it
was too
late.
He
pulled his P-51 around to the left in a standard rate turn. Erich
thought the
it
was an incredibly clumsy maneuver until he saw that
American
pilot
One
pulled Karaya
still
carried
external
hard as he could and clamped
fighter right as
fuel
The
and
flew right into the burst of
down on
P-51 rolled over to the other side, as Erich
"He should have broken hard sparkled
Erich
tanks.
inside the Mustang's left turn, then pulled his
gers.
Hits
his
brilliantly
the
trig-
had expected,
fire.
"Fool!" said Erich aloud.
the
Mustang's
left."
on
propeller
and
spangled their way back through the engine compartment and the full
length of the fuselage to the
Erich's get.
ammo, but
it
looked
as
tail.
A
long burst,
it
though every round found
Red and black smoke came billowing from
finished its tar-
the Mustang, and
seconds later a thick, white stream of glycol added contrast to the color pattern.
Diving under his foe and looking up at the riddled P-51, Erich
saw
a ten-foot
nage.
tongue of flame licking backward along the empen-
The American
pulled up and stalled, then went tumbling
earthward. Erich watched the burning wreck for a sign that the pilot
might
still
be
alive.
"Jump! Jump! For God's sake, jump!" Erich was calling out as though the American pilot could hear him. The Mustang's canopy flashed clear of the cartwheeling fighter
and the
pilot struggled
MUSTANGS
165
clear of his coffin.
A
sense of relief arose in Erich as the American's
chute blossomed. Erich glanced back and saw
wingman Carl Junger was with him
watching the crash. There was no point without any ammunition.
High
Mustangs were coming. Time "Back
to
in stooging
contrails
around here
were showing. More
to get out.
home base at Roman/' he
As they went barreling back
said
on the R/T.
triumph to refuel and rearm, he
in
to himself. "You were lucky today, Erich. Next maybe you won't be so lucky." At Roman, Bimmel was waiting to guide him into the parking area after touchdown, all smiles as usual. Switching off, Erich pulled back the canopy and held up four fingers of his left hand for Bimmel to see. Bimmel beamed as he saw the sign for four victories. "Mustangs?" Bimmel bellowed the question, knowing Erich would be partially deaf for a few minutes. Erich nodded and Bimmel whistled a little as he set to work once more preparing
was quietly talking time,
One for battle. He made sure there were
Karaya oil,
the ship with fuel, checked the
filled
full belts
windshield and canopy and
made
for all guns.
He
wiped the
a thorough visual inspection of
the fighter.
Three more missions
in the next
few days were long on fighting
but short on success. The Americans came winging in each day on
bombers was
their railroad timetable, so finding the
ing the heavies was a rugged task.
taken in the
first
battle
The
easy. Attack-
beating the Mustangs had
had put the American
pilots
on
their toes.
They were sharply alert, aborting Erich's attacks on the bombers. Hard dogfighting and whirlwind battles with the rugged Mustangs produced no results either way. Erich's Schwarm had some damaged
aircraft,
and there were
hits
on the enemy, but no confirmed
The Mustangs were doing a solid job of protecting bombers, and a single Schwarm of Luftwaffe fighters heading
kills.
the
bomber stream would draw whole squadrons
of
the for
Mustangs
in
vigorous defense of the heavies. Erich's
fifth
others, with a
held his
mission
against
good interception
Schwarm
the
Americans began
like
at 20,000 feet in clear skies.
at 23,000 feet as top cover for the
the
He
attackmg
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
i66
Schwarm
assigned to assault the bombers.
Watching the
four 109's
going in to attack, Erich spotted a gaggle of Mustangs plunging
down on them from
He
above, probably from 28,000 feet or higher.
hadn't seen the Mustangs, nor had anyone else in his Schwarm.
They were lucky
them either, or the German top cover could have been bounced and shot down. the American fighters hadn't seen
The Mustangs were sand feet
intent
now on bouncing
the Me-109's a thou-
below Erich. Far beneath the bombers, Erich could
two more
109's
from another squadron, climbing at
heading for the bombers. Behind
Mustangs
full
German element were
this
climbing hard and closing
in loose trail,
unsuspecting Messerschmitts. Erich snapped on his
see
boost and
fast
four
on the
R/T.
"Look back! Mustangs! Look back! Mustangs!"
The climbing couldn't hear.
pair
Damn
of
friendly
He
them.
fighters
never wavered.
couldn't do anything
more
for
They them
now. His job was to protect the other Schwarm, with the Mustangs about to attack. Pushing after the P-51's, taking
his stick forward, Erich
went lancing down
them from above and behind.
"Dive down and watch from below," Erich told wingman Junger.
The Mustang
Me-109 bore-sighted and was pouring fire into the German fighter. Three more Mustangs were lined up ready for a firing pass. "Four against one!" Erich saw red.
He
leader already
had
a lone
swept in on the American four from behind at
Smoke was pouring from
dive speed.
American leader kept
the stricken
maximum
Me-109
as the
Small pieces of the Messerschmitt were
firing.
being blasted clear and whipped backward by the slipstream.
American .50-caliber guns were deadly, but not the
20-mm cannon on
Four hundred tance
came
checkered P-51 as he
.
flashing
tail
.
the Me-109.
300
down
looked
gun buttons.
.
.
.
200
.
.
.
100 meters ... the
in split seconds.
The
as big as a barn. Erich's
came rushing
and behind, as the P-51
.
in
dis-
Mustang with
its
windshield was
all
on the rearmost American from below
at a perfect thirty-degree attack angle.
A
The
as devastating as
blast of fire
He
pressed his
and an explosion shook Karaya One
blew up.
Erich switched instantly to the third Mustang, whose pilot
a
MUSTANGS
167
seemed momentarily paralyzed. The Mustang took an all-guns volley of hits from Karaya One and began burning. The American kept
flying,
"Bubi,
and now
it
was Erich's turn to
behind you!
Bubi,
feel the lash.
Break!"
Break!
Sergeant Junger's
alarm rasped in his headphones.
down
Erich stroked the stick forward, diving
and
eyes bulging in their sockets,
his
heavy
left spirals at full
him hard
"Back
to base
on your own.
make
I'll
felt his
against his
power, the Blond Knight
went plummeting down, the Mustangs hot on wingman. That would
He
helmeted head bounced
against the canopy as negative G's boosted safety belt. In
hard.
his tail.
alone," he radioed his
it
Junger a chance. There were too
give
damned many American fighters for him to deal with anyway. The horde of them strung out behind Erich now were determined that this
would not escape
lone Messerschmitt
vengeance.
their
Erich looked in his mirror and quickly to each side.
Mustangs were tearing
of the deadly
after
Damn! Eight
him. His negative-G
break had momentarily foiled them, and he'd gained some tance as a result, but he was in a tight spot.
aloud to himself, as though acting as his
own
head now, and
"All right Erich, keep your
fly.
He
dis-
began talking
guardian angel. Fly like you never
flew before."
The
two four-ship elements and sandwiched
P-51's split into
Erich neatly.
"Hard
They were
turns, Erich.
he was. That made
as fast as
it
rough.
Real hard turns, or you'll have bullets in your
whiskey stomach."
He
One around
reefed Karaya
game began, with blast of gunfire
hard
left
and the
the Blond Knight as the ball.
from two of the Mustangs
of tracer from the other side
.
.
.
.
.
.
aerial baseball
Hard right—
hard left— a storm
hard right— more gunfire.
"You're lucky, Erich. They're not top shooters. They open too soon, too far out. You're lucky again, Erich.
you know you'd be dead.
Hard
right
.
.
.
hard
they
knew what
." .
.
left
.
.
.
and
in the blood-draining turns
where the Mustangs sometimes swung close
own guns. "You know you won't
If
fire
hit
them
to
him, he
like that, Erich,
but
fired his
they'll see
THE BLOND KNlfcHT OF GERMANY
168
May
them a bit. Besides, the sound of your own when they've nearly got you." The eight relentless Americans and the lone German went ratracing across the Rumanian sky, the roar of the American fifties ringing out at intervals and Erich dodging the tracer. In seconds
the tracer.
guns makes you
he could
rattle
feel better
feel the perspiration
down
running
his
body under
his
uniform. His adrenalin-charged body was pouring out sweat. His face
was streaming
and
his vest
shirt
though he were
as
were saturated. Even
Amid
uniform was becoming
his
damp. Hauling the Messerschmitt round was an ordeal of hard
steam bath, and
sitting in a
murderous turns
in these
labor.
the periodic
hammering
American guns and the
of the
groaning of his overstressed Karaya One, thoughts of the past
poured through Erich's head. The sports of before his mind's eye.
Gave you the is
"Good
his
boyhood swam
thing you liked gymnastics, Erich.
Your coordination
strength to keep your hide whole.
saving you now."
He made
another try with his guns
when
there was a slight
chance of hitting a P-51 in one of the tight turns, but
this
time his
guns were dead. All through the numbing turns Erich had kept
way back toward
slowly working his
his base.
gaining slightly on the Mustangs, beating
He was
them by
actually
a hair in each
turn and drawing away a few yards each time.
The Americans might have been
losing a
were staying glued to the Blond Knight's wildly.
They
few yards, but they
tail,
firing often
but
couldn't quite pull enough lead on their quarry to
score a hit, but they were keeping
going to be theirs even
if
up the
they had to split
"Keep going, Erich. Keep going. The these leeches off your
flak
pressure. it
The
kill
was
eight different ways.
near the base will take
tail."
Erich swung into another grinding turn.
"Damn!" The fuel warning almost out of fuel fighter
even
"Make but easy."
if
on the dash glared red. Karaya One was and he was too far from the base to land the light
he dared.
a fast bailout, Erich. Flip her over
on her back, quick
MUSTANGS He
169
released his safety belt.
As he came out of the next
tripped the emergency release for the canopy.
went whipping away tore
in the slipstream
The
turn,
he
plexiglas cover
and the wind howled and
around the cockpit. Coming out of the next turn, Erich sucked
back on the
stick
of his belly.
As the 109 went soaring upward and
with
all his
strength, hauling
and shot clear of the doomed aircraft. Sky, earth and trees; wheeling Mustangs and
back into the
it
over,
pit
he released
the stick
flashed before
earthward.
He
him
in a wild kaleidoscope as
his
own booted
feet
he went tumbling
pulled the D-ring. There was a rustling of silk and
cord followed by the plumping sound of the opening umbrella.
A
bone-bruising jerk shook every joint in his body as he was jarred
He
upright in the parachute harness.
was swinging helpless
in his
chute surrounded by eight angry Mustangs.
For German fighter pilot
fighting
between
soldiers,
may have seemed out by
pilots
was unthinkable to
it
strafe
an enemy
hanging in his parachute. They regarded that not as war and
this
but as murder. This chivalrous tradition
of place in total war, but the Luftwaffe lived
code to the end. Swinging under his
silk
umbrella, the
Blond Knight wondered if his American foes would act the same way. He thought how horrible it would be if they defenseless
didn't.
Was
he going to die by mid-air
strafing,
and
fall
to earth as
a bundle of bloody rags?
A
Mustang
lined
up on him
as
though
entrails contracted into a tight ball.
thought of Usch.
few yards away.
Then
An
for a firing pass. Erich's
For one blinding instant he
the American fighter went roaring past a
ugly face under a white and yellow helmet
glared at Erich through huge goggles that
describably malevolent.
made
the pilot look in-
The American's hand went
up, there was
manly wave, and the Mustang banked around.* Erich felt happy to be alive. He felt even happier as the eight Americans formed up on their leader and went streaking off to the north. As he came floating down to the good green earth he told himself again and. again, "You are lucky, Erich. You are a lucky a
boy.
By God, you'll have
a birthday party tonight."
* In general, victorious pilots of
ing airmen.
all
nations avoided shooting at parachut-
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
170
He came down
a
little less
army truck took him back
than four miles from the base, and an
to his squadron.
bad news. Nearly half the Gruppe's
of
Two
down.
pilots
Without methanol
The
air at
aircraft
HQ was full
had been shot
were killed and a number of others wounded. injection, the old type
Me-109 would not cut
against the Mustangs, even with experienced pilots. Higher
it
HQ
ordered an immediate halt to fighter attacks on the Americans
because of these heavy
become
losses,
and the
certainty that they
would
worse.
Erich Hartmann's
Captain (now
Gruppenkommandeur during
Lt. Col.) Willi Batz, a long-time
this period
was
comrade and ad-
mirer of the Blond Knight. Batz recalls the struggle to defend Ploesti in these terms:
"In the latter part of
May we
were forced into combat on two
Fighters were direly needed everywhere, both against the
fronts.
Rumania guarding the Ploesti oil I remember well those hard times, because they not only called upon all our resources as fighting pilots, but also placed heavy demands on our Russians and in the south in
American four-engined bombers.
against
fields
ground support
forces.
"In defending the Ploesti
own
request, the
head
oil fields, I
fighter pilot.
We
always
made
Bubi, at his
always went up together,
the whole Gruppe, and Bubi would take his squadron and protect
the rear against the Mustangs. liantly.
He
accomplished his tasks
bril-
This type of four-motored aircraft was not familiar to us
Eastern Front
pilots,
He
but because of Bubi we suffered relatively
managed to protect us, hold the Mustangs abeyance and keep them off our necks. Only because of Bubi's experience were we able to find success against the bombers. Today [1967] I do not recall how many Bubi shot down in Rumania minor
losses.
always
in
but
I
know he was
from greater
successful against the
Mustangs and saved us
losses."
Erich reviewed these
had taken place
five battles
with the P-51 Mustangs, which
in the spring of 1944, as
he droned through
his air
journey back to Czechoslovakia. Almost a year had passed since
Rumania. By now, they would he landed at Deutsch Brod, his com-
he had battled the Americans certainly
be stronger.
When
in
MUSTANGS
171
rades in I/JG-52 confirmed his apprehensions.
were penetrating into Czechoslovakian
American
fighters
Within
skies regularly.
a
few days, the Blond Knight was again tangling with the Mustangs
USAAF.
of the
A
Russian bombing raid was reported headed for Prague. Erich
got the order to scramble. cept the bombers.
He
Bimmel had
was to take up a Schwarm to
inter-
everything ready and Erich was
air-
borne in minutes, heading for Prague and climbing hard. At 21,000 feet he leveled off and began scanning the skies for the
enemy.
The Russian
force soon
bombers, a mixed formation of lend-lease A-20 Douglas
thirty
Bostons and Russian twenty-five fighters, ers
hove into view. Erich counted about
Pe-2's. Flying
top cover was a force of about
YAK-n's and P-39
were at about 12,000
feet.
Airacobras.
The Red
Erich switched on his
fight-
R/T.
"Attack in two elements."
With
the sun at his back, Erich was ready to push the stick
down on the enemy force. He hesitated. His him. Then from the corner of his eye he caught
forward and go diving intuition pricked at
sight of a line of contrails, a little higher than his element, descend-
ing and closing in from the west. His
first
thought was that more
were coming in to join the attack, but a
109/s
series
from the incoming strangers eliminated them
flashes
of silver
as friends.
Polished metal surfaces had long ago been done away with on
German
fighters. All
flash
the sun. Polished surfaces usually meant one thing-
in
Luftwaffe ships were painted.
They
didn't
Americans. Soon the strangers could be recognized. Mustangs!
The and
silvery craft
his
wingman
came
in
about three thousand feet below Erich
as they held their altitude.
circling slowly three
The Mustangs began
thousand feet above the Russian top cover.
The Americans hadn't seen Erich above them. With the sun behind him and an altitude advantage, he was perfectly set up for a classic bounce. Russians and Americans were now obviously watching each other instead of their tails. The timing was perfect. Erich switched on his R/T. "We'll make one pass only. Down through the Mustangs, on
THE BLOND KNlGHT OF GERMANY T
172
down through
top cover, and
the Russian
down through
the
bombers."
At
power the two Me-109's went screaming down on the
full
upper
circle of
shook
briefly
never
Mustangs. Closing
like lightning,
Erich's fighter
with a burst of gunfire and the rearmost Mustang
knew what
hit him.
of control, tumbling
The
P-51 staggered and went
and smoking and dumping
low turn Erich found the next Mustang rushing
down out
debris. In a shal-
in to
fill
his wind-
shield at point-blank range. Erich's burst thundered into the P~5i
,
s
engine compartment and the American ship nosed up suddenly.
With down
a rolling-out
beside Erich, out of control,
chunks of
as
movement, the
structure as
its
it
rushed to
Mustang went diving smoking heavily and shedding stricken
final
impact.
Erich's engine was screaming
and Karaya One was shuddering
he tore on down at
through the Russian fighter cover.
No
chance to
fire
rushing up like
full throttle
on the
hell.
He
fighters.
Going too
squeezed
blasted
away from one bomber.
mortal.
On
his
fast.
Now the
Bostons,
gun buttons and saw
Hits!
Hits!
pieces
Yes, but nothing
and down through the bombers and then the
brain-
glazing pull-out.
The
awful suck of gravity on his body drew Erich into a mo-
He
mentary gray-out. stick to
maintain his
released
some
of the back pressure
As the 109 moaned through
vision.
on the its
pull-
out curve and came up near level with the bombers, Erich checked his
His wingman was
tail.
element?
He
still
bailed out
Timing
and Erich saw the
his turn,
pulled out, and aircraft all
What
of the second
down through the Allied Another Mustang came down blazing, but its pilot
The second element came formation.
with him.
searched the sky. slashing
silk
billow behind the tumbling
flyer.
Erich joined up with the second element as
all
it
four 109's went racing away, their camouflaged
but indiscernible from above.
Looking back, Erich saw an unexpected and savage consequence of his lightning attack. The Russian YAK's and Airacobras were
The Russians were watching the home his attack. The suspicious Red
dogfighting with the Mustangs!
Americans when Erich drove pilots
must have thought the Americans had attacked them. Panic
MUSTANGS
173
bomber pilots. They jettisoned their bomb loads, blasting a stretch of empty countryside, then swung around on a reverse course. They were abandoning their mission. gripped the Russian
The Russo-American From the milling droves
dogfight
continued at a furious pace.
of planes Erich
saw three YAK-n's come
flaming down, while a Mustang went limping off to the south
belching glycol. Erich shook his head with incredulity. As Allies, the Russians and the Americans seemed to have
little trust
in each
Hartmann could not restrain a hearty belly laugh as his Me-109 nosed down and streaked for home. There would be no more battles between Erich and the Mustangs. The end of the war was imminent. The Americans seemed to know they had won the war, and were confident, other.
numerous and sure of themselves. In big gaggles they they ranged over Europe at
will,
felt safe as
pouncing on every enemy they
could find. Sometimes their confidence led to diminished lance, as in the battles with Erich
Today Erich
hundred
I
my
landing on 8
last
May
my own
1945,
I
first
idea that
when
I
was or could be better than any other
moment.
I
My
recognized
stomach
my
foes.
felt
From
bad during that
crash in train-
never slept in the
always had a bad feeling after take-off, because
at this
basis of his
aerial battles:
"In a kind of auto-suggestion, from ing until
on the
writes of vigilance in the air
better than eight
vigi-
Hartmann.
I
air.
never had the pilot in the air
flight to the instant
moment,
I
had the
feeling
of absolute superiority. "I
was afraid
eighty per cent of fire.
My
my
kills
my
dogfights were fast
factor always
spot
unknown factors. Clouds and Today I am sure that never knew I was there before I opened
in the air of the big
sun were hate and love in
enemy
worked
for
planes long
feeling world.
and simple on that account. But one
me more than any other. I found I could before my comrades— sometimes minutes
before them. This was not experience or
skill,
but an advantage
My rule for airfighting this: "THE PILOT WHO SEES THE OTHER FIRST READY HAS HALF THE VICTORY."
with which
I
was born.
In battling the Americans, Erich
is
Hartmann
AL-
redressed a technical
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
174
and experience, and downed seven of the formidable Mustangs, whose demise was confirmed. When the
disadvantage by
skill
odds in combat were eight to one against him and the Mustangs
had him
cold,
he triumphed over
and shoot him down.
He
their best efforts to outfly
can pursuers had not forgotten their sportsmanship, fought
and did not stoop
him
lived to tell the tale because his Ameri-
to murder.
fairly,
Chapter Thirteen
SURRENDER We
are
still
savages at heart, and wear our thin uniform of civilization
awkwardly.
—George Bernard Shaw
15 y
8
May
1945, operations by I/JG-52 were clearly
an end. The German
effort in
and the Russian juggernaut ant Colonel
Czechoslovakia had
rolled
on
Hermann Graf and
Deutsch Brod with Erich's
I
virtually
the JG-52
Gruppe, and
it
coming
to
lost all cohesion,
unopposed. Lieuten-
Wing
Staff
was Graf
who
were at ordered
the Blond Knight's final war operation.
how
Mission: Find out
far the
Russian spearheads were from
Deutsch Brod. Karaya One's instrument panel clock read 0830 as Erich took off
with a wingman, and climbing to 12,000
Using the main road
feet,
headed
as a line of reference, Erich flew
east.
toward the
nearby town of Briinn, the closest main center to Deutsch Brod.
A
smoke pall hung over Briinn like a big black mushroom. The enemy was probably already in the town. Circling around the
the town.
The
smoke
cloud, Erich could see heavy
fires
in
Russians were either bombarding the place or had
already begun occupation.
On
the eastern outskirts, he could see
columns
and
vehicles
ter of
of Russian troops
swarming toward the cen-
the town. Erich stiffened in his seat.
gaggle of eight
YAK-
7 's
flying around the
He
spotted a loose
same smoke
cloud.
The
Russians were below him. Intent on the blazing scene in Briinn, the
Red
pilots did
not see Erich and his wingman on the perch, and
THE BLOND KlflGHT OF GERMANY
176
they were jinking around the sky as
if
they were taking part in an
show.
air
Army on the ground, one right below Erich. The Blond Knight
Seemingly in a victory salute to the Red
YAK- 7
pulled up into a loop
flicked his
wing to
signal "attack" to his
forward and sent Karaya
stick
One
wingman, pushed
lancing
down
tion just as the Russian reached the top of his loop inverted.
The
YAK
feet.
The
tons
and seconds
strike.
The
came winging down
range
filled Erich's
and hung there two hundred
rapidly to
He
pressed his
YAK
home
solidly into the Russian fighter.
began burning and went tumbling down
out of control, gushing black smoke. Exploding in a the town, the wrecked
gun but-
broke away in a smoothly coordinated
later
short burst struck
Snapping over, the
windshield.
his
into firing posi-
Red
fighter
burned
fiercely
field outside
and added
its
smoke to the thickening cloud over Briinn. The YAK- 7 Hartmann's 352nd victory. Erich was in the "See - Decide" phase of another attack on the wheeling YAKs when he caught sight of a flash in the air high above him. Twelve aircraft were flying in tight formation. More flashes from their polished surfaces left no doubt as to their identity— Mustangs. In a potential sandwich between Russians and was Erich
Americans, Erich put Karaya One's nose down, and with his wing-
man
close beside
him plunged
into the sanctuary of the
smoke
pall.
Bursting out of the smoke cloud on the west side and heading for
Deutsch Brod
to be sure
at full throttle, Erich looked
he had eluded the Mustangs.
Russians were
less fortunate.
Once
He had
again the
back immediately lost
them, but the
USAAF
Air Force had mistaken each other's identity.
and the Red YAKs and Mus-
tangs were whirling in a savage dogfight over Briinn. Erich saw
no
aircraft go down, but he had no intention of going back to assess the damage the two Allies were doing to each other. The situation
was not without humor.
As he
set
Karaya
One down on
the improvised airstrip at
Deutsch Brod, he knew he had flown
down
his last foe.
He had downed
and 91 twin-engined
his last mission
and shot
261 single-engined fighters,
aircraft in slightly over
two and
a half years
ILYUSHIN
IL2
"STORMOVIK."
Erich Hartmann's
first aerial
Stormovik on 5 November 1942 over Digora in the Caucasas.
combat
was over a 19th
sortie.
MIKOYAN& GUREVICH MiG-1. January 1943 and on his 41st combat
Hartmann's second victory, which came on 27 sortie, was a MiG-1, over Annavir.
LA VOCHKIN— GORB UNO V— G UDKO V La GG-3. On 52nd LaGG-3. his
victory
He was flying his
sortie,
9 February 1943 and on
Erich Hartmann scored his third aerial victory,
this
one over a
DOUGLAS A-20 "BOSTON. "Hartmann's fourth victory was on lOthFebruary 1943 on
his
54th
sortie.
POLIKARPO V U-2. U-2 above
the
Hartmann became an ace with his fifth victory, which was over a Kerch Peninsula. He was flying his 68th sortie.
BELL 39 "AIRACOBRA. " Hartmann 15 April 1943.
It
was
shot
his seventh victory
down
and
his
his first
91st
American "Airacobra" on
sortie.
POLIKARPOV R-5. light night
bomber.
It
Hartmann's 8th victory was over an R-5 used by the Soviets as a was Erich's eighth victory and his 1 13th sortie.
LAVOCHKIN La-5.
Hartmann's 13th victory came on 7 May 1943, over a La-5 (Lavochkin dropped the LaGG designation after the LaGG-3). This was on Erich's 1
3
1 st
sortie.
YAKOLE V YAK- 7. 1
August 1943 on
Hartmann encountered the Yak-7 a few days before the Yak- 1 On
his
.
244th
sortie,
he scored his 44th victory
this
one over a Yak-7.
YAKOLE V YAK-1 On 6th August over Kharkov, Erich scored his 6 1 st victory. It was his
262nd
sortie
and the victim was a Yak-1.
*
£=* — >
I
g
o
_
l
P£TL victories,
On his 264th sortie, Hartmann scored his 64th, 65th and 66th knocking down two Pe-2s and a Yak-1, all over Kharkov.
YAKOLEV YAKS.
YAKOLEV
YAK- 9.
Hartmann encountered
A
the Yak-3s after January 1st of 1944.
few of these Yak-92
fell
to
Hartmann's guns
after
May
of
1944.
NORTH AMERICAN P-51 "MUSTANG. " Hartmann matched wits with Americanflown Mustangs near Bucharest and Ploesti on June 23rd and 25th, 1944.
SURRENDER
177
The end
of combat.
of the war was
now
only hours away for
I/JG-52. As Karaya One's engine hissed into silence, Erich dragged
back the canopy to hear bad news from Bimmel.
"The Russians have been are
no holes
shelling the field.
in the runway," said
As Erich swung down from
We
are lucky there
Bimmel.
Me-109
his
f° r the last time, the
Bimmel made ready to refuel and rearm the fighter. Erich caught Bimmel's eye. The Blond Knight shook his head. They both knew Karaya One would never fly again. Lieutenant Colonel Graf was looking glum and strained when Erich walked into the Kommodore's tent to make his mission reever faithful
port.
"The Russians
are already occupying Briinn,
sir."
Graf nodded. "I figured that,"
he
said,
"but
I
had
to
be
sure.
We're
in a pincer
here."
Graf's finger pointed to the
town
of Strakonitz
on an area map
spread out before him.
"American Army tank units are occupying Strakonitz, one hundred kilometers to the West. Small advanced tank units are
re-
ported in villages right up to the demarcation line— that's the
Moldau River—between the American and Russian the Russians are in Briinn. For us, the war
"Do you mean we surrender, "Yes. that
is
I
have the order. But
is
zones.
And
over, Bubi."
sir?" first,
you and
I
must make a decision
for us alone."
Graf handed Erich a radio message.
GRAF AND HARTMANN BOTH FLY IMMEDIATELY TO DORTMUND AND
SURRENDER TO BRITISH FORCES ALL OTHER JG-52 PERSONNEL WILL SURRENDER AT DEUTSCH BROD TO SOVIET FORCES.
GENERAL SEIDEMANN AIR FLEET
Hermann
Graf's face was twisted into a wry grin.
COMMANDER
He
looked
di-
rectly at Erich.
"The General
doesn't
want you and
me
to fall into Russian
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
178
He knows
hands.
that things will go hard with two winners of the
Diamonds." Graf
flicked the decoration at his throat.
"You and me, Bubi, nearly five hundred and fifty Russian airdown between us. They'll probably stand us up against
craft shot
and shoot us on
a wall
"Then we
sight."
are going to obey General Seidemann's order?" said
Erich.
Graf stepped over and threw back the tent
flap.
"Look out there, Bubi. Over two thousand women, children and old people— relatives of wing personnel, refugees fleeing from the Russians—all of them defenseless. Do you think that I can go and jump in a 109 and fly to Dortmund, and just leave them?" "I agree
can't
do
with you,
It
sir.
would be wrong
for us to leave.
We
it."
"I'm glad you agree. So we forget the order, and stay with our
We
people.
also forget
Graf plunged into
would
try
about surrendering to the Russians."
details
and reach Pisek
in the
American zone, where they would
He
then assigned Erich the responsi-
surrender to the U.S. Army. bility of seeing that
about a convoy with which they
the aircraft
Erich strode out on the
burning up what was
left
field
and munitions were destroyed.
and
of JG-52.
nition for the Messerschmitts, but sian
artillery
would
would have the
the hundreds of
kill
packing up for their "Collect
all
final
set
about the grim business of
There was if
field
still
fuel
and ammu-
they took off again the Rusbore-sighted
women and
children
move. Their safety had
and a barrage
who were now to
come
first.
munitions at the armorers' hut. Break open
all
ammunition boxes ready to destroy munitions. Open all fuel lines of the aircraft and assemble the aircraft as closely together as posCollect
sible.
all
fuel.
We
are going to destroy everything."
Erich rapped out the orders and personnel sprang to comply.
The
109's stood with their long noses pointed at the sky.
would fighters
fly
They
no more. Airmen slopped gasoline over the once-proud
and made ready
Messerschmitts would
Bimmel opened
to put
make a
JG-52 to the torch. Twenty-five
hell of a bonfire.
the pet-cocks on Karaya One.
The
area reeked
SURRENDER
179
of gasoline as the twenty-five aircraft
drained,
on the
field
and drums of gasoline were upended
were similarly
to spill their con-
to be sure that all the women and children were gone. The column of civilians was moving away, tents
on the ground. Erich checked
shepherded by the personnel of JG-52. The sad Erich jumped into the cockpit of Karaya One.
"Keep back, Bimmel! I'm going
to fire the
moment had come.
ammunition
off into
the woods."
Bimmel sprang
clear as Erich pressed
Karaya One's gun buttons
was astonished by
for the last time. Sitting in the cockpit, Erich
At high speed
the size of the flashes from the gun muzzles.
combat they never
flared like that.
gasoline vapor was ignited by the
One was
A
mighty
gun
flash
flashes.
in
followed as the
In seconds, Karaya
enveloped in flames and Erich scrambled wildly out of
the cockpit.
Damn! He
could be burned alive on the ground! Out!
Out!
Bimmel stood made to dash for
transfixed as the fighter exploded into
fire.
He
the ship, but the smoldering figure of the Blond
Knight burst out of the flames. Singed hair and two burned hands were Erich's souvenirs of Karaya's
fiery farewell.
Bimmel
ran and
jumped aboard a departing truck as soon as he saw his chief was unharmed. That was the last Erich saw of Bimmel.* As the fire went leaping through the dump of fuel, ammunition and aircraft, it was a hard moment for the fighter pilots of JG-52. Their beloved Me-109's were quickly engulfed in
fire.
Seeing their
mounts burning on the ground by their own hand undermined even some of the tough guys who had ridden them into battle. Defeat had scaly wings. As Erich piled into a waiting staff car, the ammunition and cantrusted
non
shells
began exploding, punctuated by heavier
blasts as
drums
A pillar of smoke swirled up into the morning, and the heavy, black cloud formed an appropriate marker for the
of fuel detonated.
pyre of Germany's most successful Fighter last
Wing. Erich took one
backward glance. Karaya One was sinking to earth on
* Sergeant
its col-
Heinz "Bimmel" Mertens rode the truck to the American lines, and afterward continued hitchhiking westward. He was at home in Kapellan within three weeks, and thus avoided Soviet captivity.
THE BLOND KNI&HT OF GERMANY
180 lapsing undercarriage,
and
as it hit the
peared behind a consuming curtain of Erich this
made
odd and
his
way
to the
He
fire.
head of the strange column. Leading
straggling assemblage
the Luftwaffe.
ground, the fighter disap-
was
his last act as
an
shared this unusual duty with Lt. Col.
Graf and Major Hartmann Grasser,
had joined them with
his
wing
Kommodore
staff just
officer of
Hermann who
of JG-210,
before the end at Deutsch
Brod. Grasser was a steadying professional presence at a
difficult
time.
A
wore the
fronts, Grasser victories. cer,
who had flown with distinction on all Oak Leaves and was credited with 103
Battle of Britain ace
Trained before the war
as a professional Luftwaffe offi-
Grasser was for a long time adjutant to the immortal Colonel
Werner "Daddy" Moelders. As Kommodore been organizing the air against
German
the
side
Red
of JG-210, he
had
flying training of refugee Russians to take the
Air Force. These Russian air units flying on the
were envisioned
forces fighting with the
as air
support for the Russian rebel
German Army under General
Vlasov, one-
time hero of the defense of Moscow. At the end of the war, the
Americans immediately turned Vlasov over to the Russians and he was hanged, taking with him in the Kremlin.
his intimate
knowledge of the
Such was the lunacy abroad
in the
men
world at that
time.
In the late afternoon the
column was nearing
Pisek. Erich
saw a
moving cautiously down the road. The American drivers stopped their vehicles when they saw the Germans streaming toward them across the open fields. Graf and Erich approached the leading tank and saluted the American officer watchfew U.S.
Army
tanks
ing the scene from the turret.
am Lieutenant Colonel Graf, Commanding Officer of Fighter Wing 52, German Air Force. This is Major Hartmann, Commanding Officer of No. 1 Group of my wing. The people with us are the "I
personnel of that unit, together with
German
civilian refugees.
We surrender to the United States Army." The American turret of his tank
officer
plucked a walkie-talkie from inside the
and began talking
to his
few minutes, a truckload of American
HQ
in Pisek.
GFs from
Within
a
the 90th U.S.
SURRENDER
l8l
Infantry Division pulled
up beside the
tanks.
out and began herding the Germans into a
The Americans
Germans
relieved the
were permitted to retain their
pistols
field
The GFs
piled
beside the road.
of their weapons. Officers
and were charged with main-
taining discipline.
German
wristwatches were highly regarded as souvenirs by Al-
and the captured personnel of JG-52 had to relinquish their captors. The Americans already had wristwatches of
lied troops, theirs to
own, and
their
this
puzzled Major Hartmann Grasser. Erich heard
the ultra-correct Grasser speak to a fresh-faced American second lieutenant
who
took his watch.
"Surely you have sufficient wristwatches in a rich country like
America?"
The young American grinned and nodded his head. "Sure we do. But these are souvenirs. That makes them
differ-
ent."
While the Americans were organizing the German captives, Czech civilians and a few American soldiers pounced on the Ger-
man
staff cars
and other
vehicles.
Everything worth taking was
and
at this time, Erich lost his log-
seized by the souvenir hunters,
book, photo albums and other records.
The
fate of these items re-
mains unknown. treated some of the German women to admiring them alone with their families. Erich felt a prorelief. To lose wristwatches and other personal
The Americans glances,
but
left
found sense of
souvenirs was a small price to pay for the security of being in
American hands. In areas of Germany already under Soviet occupation, the Russian troops
against the
had indulged
in sexual debauchery
German women hardly paralleled in modern men and their families would be
Erich gave thanks that his this
debauchery, as the American
officers
had given
their
times.
spared
word that
JG-52 would not be turned over to the Soviets.
What vision
Erich did not
know was
that the U.S. 90th Infantry Di-
and the U.S. 16th Armored Division working with
executing
unauthorized reconnaissance
eastern limits imposed
by
thrusts
their orders. Pilsen
objective of the U.S. Third
far
it,
were
beyond the
was the easternmost
Army. In high Allied
councils, Russia
T
f
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
182
had been selected
as Czechoslovakia's liberator.
Germans captured
all
handed over
who had
was a firm Soviet
professional
extended to cover any
later
and
Stalin
German
officers
What
came
soldiers
German officers. The punishment of these goal. The extermination of fifty thousand was joshingly referred
Roosevelt at the Teheran Conference, ston Churchill.*
German
fought against the Soviet Union, but was aimed
primarily at professional
men
by the U.S. Army had to be
east of Pilsen
advancing Russians.
to the
This doctrine was or airmen
This meant that
was passed
the postwar years,
when
be seized
officers to
it
by Stalin and
Win-
between Roosevelt
becoming an
was not
to
to the horror of
off as a joke
perilously close to
German
much
uncommon
in the night at their
active project in for professional
homes and
spir-
ited off to years of slavery in Russian prison camps.
Strangely enough, forces,
was the professional
it
officers of
the
German
forbidden by law to belong to any political party— including
the Nazi party— who were largely innocent of political involve-
ment. The idea that prisoners of war should be conveyed to the
Union
Soviet
by the forces of another
after legitimate capture
Allied power, such conveyance being for the specific purpose of
punishment, was a sharp departure from prior procedures. Precedents were established in
P.O.W. treatment by
that have in latter years brought hardship to
icemen captured Erich's in
a
in
column
Asian
these processes
many American
conflicts.
of refugees
and surrendering
soldiers
was placed
chicken-wire enclosure near Schiittenhofen in western Bo-
hemia.
Thousands more refugees and
banded German
units
poured
into
soldiers
contained over ages, ranging
fifty
thousand
from children up
soldiers
to old
from other
The
and
open-air
camp soon
civilian refugees of all
men and women.
Conditions soon became deplorable and sanitation problem.
The
The American
officers
by Houghton
major
were hard put to maintain order at times.
who
simply drifted
Sec Closing the Ring by Winston
lished
a
guards began to close their eyes to the large
bers of "prisoners"
dis-
the compound, which was
guarded at each end by an American tank.
*
serv-
S.
off
westward, seeking to
Churchill, pp.
Mifflin Co., Boston, 1951).
num-
373~374 (pub-
SURRENDER
183
way home
find their
vice to the escapees,
as best they could.
and
Many
Americans gave ad-
many of them with maps and and GI rations. The action of the
assisted
meager handouts of chocolate
Americans was not sanctioned by any military order or decree, but was essentially the most practical course of humani-
their attitude
The
tarianism open to them. gees would be better
way home, than
guards simply figured that the refu-
off foraging for
themselves and finding their
on
practically starving to death while they slept
the ground in the Schuttenhofen pen.
The
situation at this
eral region,
camp, and
in
many
others in the
accounts for the large numbers of
same gen-
Germans who
say
today that they were prisoners of the Americans for only a few days.
Most
of
them managed
to get
hitchhiking and foot-slogging. Erich
Rumors went around
mann and
after
men would
his
the Americans told Erich, that the entire burg,
column
Germany,
home
within a few weeks by
Hartmann was not
about a week
be moved to the
so lucky.
in captivity that Hartrear.
On
16
May
Hermann Graf and Hartmann They were
Grasser
be delivered to Regens-
of prisoners was to
for processing.
1945,
told they
would be mov-
ing out by truck at 4 p.m. that afternoon. For eight days in
American hands they had been without food, subsisting on meager dry foodstuffs they had carried with
them
into captivity
and on
minor donations of food and chocolate by friendly individual GFs. Erich was glad to be moving out to an area where organization
would be
better.
The Germans were loaded
into trucks
and driven away from
the Pisek area. After a drive of a few miles, the convoy stopped,
and Erich and were in a
his
companions were ordered
meadow surrounded by
Russian
hensive
Germans tumbled out
diately
began separating the German
to get
soldiers.
down. They
As the appre-
of the trucks, the Russians
women from
imme-
the men.
Before the Americans could drive away, they were given a glimpse of the fate to which they had unwittingly delivered Ger-
man
civilian
women and
girls,
innocent of any crime save being
born in Germany. The Americans found that their Allies were quite capable as individuals of descending to the worst excesses
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
184
human
of
The young GFs from Keokuk and Kokomo
savagery.
got a good close-up of the Bear in action.
The unarmed German men were lined up and a row of halfdrunk Red Army soldiers swayingly covered them with rifles and machine guns. Other Russians hurled the women and
girls to
the
ground, and ripping the clothes from their bodies began raping
them
in front of their Russian comrades, the agonized
and the GFs standing bug-eyed with wonder
Germans,
in the U.S.
Army
trucks.
When
two
stripped bare, ran crying to their trucks
and
The Americans seemed young German
girls,
paralyzed by the spectacle.
clawed their way up the sides in search of sanctuary, the American guards had the presence of
This chivalry did not the air
and shouting
sit
mind
to haul
them
into the truck beds.
well with the Russians. Firing wildly in
at the Americans, the Russians
moves toward the U.S. trucks. The GFs let in gunned their vehicles away down the road. The full
indulgence removed, the Russians
fell
made ominous
their clutches
and
last threat to their
on the German women.
A young German woman in her early thirties, wife of a sergeant and mother of a twelve-year-old girl, begged on her knees to a Russian corporal, and alternately prayed to her God, that the
and spare her
Soviet soldiers should take her
went unanswered. Tears pouring down her appeal while the watching rels
German men
prayers
stood with gun bar-
corporal stepped back from the
One
contorted by a sneer.
Fascist pig!"
gasping.
The
single
rifle
The age.
soldier
he
woman, his face him slammed his force. "You
of the four soldiers with
boot into the woman's stomach with
damned
of
Her
thrust into their bellies.
The Russian his
child.
her cheeks, she wept out
yelled.
who had
all
The young mother
rolled over
killed her with a
kicked her then
shot through the head.
Russians grabbed every
The
German female
twelve-year-old daughter of
dragged behind a tank by her mother's
in sight, regardless
the slain killer.
woman was
Other Russians
joined him. Half an hour later, crying and croaking, unable to
stand and completely nude, the ravaged child
around the tank. She collapsed
like a
broken
came crawling back
doll.
SURRENDER
185
Against the backdrop of the unspeakable scene in the once peaceful
meadow,
child's plight.
to let
a
there was nothing prominent about the crippled
The
Germans urged their Russian guards Burp guns at the ready, the Russian let
powerless
them help the
girl.
German medic through
an hour, her
and
his
final
to attend to the child.
in
men.
Eight- and nine-year-old
time by hulking Russian than hate and terrified
She was dead
whimperings tearing the hearts out of Erich
lust.
were
girls
soldiers.
As each brute
pitilessly
raped time after
They showed no satisfied
feelings other
himself amid the wildly
screams and groans of the women, Erich and his
stared into the muzzles of
With blood on their lusts
their uniforms the Russians
came grinning
men
machine guns. to relieve the
who had
slaked
machine gunners standing
guard over the Luftwaffe men. Mothers
who
tried to protect in-
fant daughters were clubbed senseless and dragged aside, then
who had survived hundreds of air battles and many wounds broke down and wept unashamedly. Sick to heart in a way he had never known in his life, Erich fought down an overpowering impulse to retch. raped as they lay unconscious. Hard-case pilots
A
debauch of such violence could not maintain
wrenching
intensity.
Gradually
lusts
its
soul-
were quenched, and some-
thing akin to sanity began to settle over the scene. Sometimes smirking, sometimes stolid, occasionally even a
the Russian soldiers returned the
women and
little
girls as
crestfallen,
they finished
Some were driven away in trucks, never to be seen again. Those who came back collapsed in the arms of their distraught husbands and fathers. The full measure of misery and degwith them.
radation had been
meted out
to
them
already, but
more was
to
come.
The Germans were herded into a rough encampment in the meadow. They were allowed to go down to the lake and wash. Then a ring of thirty tanks was drawn up around the meadow and the area secured
for the night.
Russian soldiers came again
and again among the Germans, dragging the women and what
little pitiful
husbands and
girls
from
comfort they had found in the presence of their
fathers.
The
rape went on throughout the night,
THE BLOND KNICfHT
l86
The women were
abating only in the predawn hours. like
rag dolls
when
of
many
them made
When meadow,
the
the Russians had finished with them.
of
number
of
dawn rayed into the armor-ringed Germans did not stir. Those who
awoke found themselves involved saw
itself
a sergeant
empty wife's
into their
and
stiffness
wrist
of death.
artery
far
somber death scene that
in a
memories
The
As Erich awoke, he
forever.
and daughter
his wife
sergeant
lying near
had
him
in the
quietly slashed his
with an improvised dagger, disposed of his
eleven-year-old daughter the artery. Life
The
it.
shafts
first
a large
would burn
hurled back
JG-52 had a hard decision to make that night, and
soldiers
of
GERMANY
(Jf
same way, and then
had quietly drained out
of
slit
own
his
them while Erich
wrist
slept not
away.
Other men had suffocated
their wives
and
children,
and then
hung themselves with improvised ropes from the sides of trucks. They chose death as the alternative to a living death. Erich began quietly talking to himself as the emotional impact of the scene
bludgeoned
"You must
at his fighting heart.
matter what happens.
You must
survive to
hardly believe yourself, now, as you look at
it.
stay alive, Erich, tell
You
others
no
what you
will never forget
what kind of things men can do when they descend beneath the level of animals."
The debauch ended
A
day
a
later just as abruptly as
it
had begun.
Russian general arrived and took in the scene in an instant.
needed no reports
to
know what had happened. He
He
issued im-
mediate orders forbidding these excesses, in accordance with a new
Red Army
directive.
The plunder and
rape of eastern
Germany
had already become infamous around the world.
The
German NCOs and enlisted men sepaother officers. The women were placed in
general ordered the
rated from Erich
and the
the custody of the officers and the Russian soldiers were ordered to stay
away from
this area.
order by coming to the
kidnaping and raping a pitiless to
When
officers' girl,
Russian soldiers violated
compound during
the night, and
Russian punishment proved
the native son as to the late enemy.
this
itself as
SURRENDER The raped diers
187
girl
was asked to identify her
were picked out of a
line-up.
assailants.
There was no court
Three
sol-
martial,
no
appeal and no further question that the Russian general's orders
were to be obeyed. The hands of the three soldiers were bound
behind
hung
their backs with telephone wire,
both of the Germans and of their fellow
in full view
The lesson
and they were promptly
in discipline
went home with singular
soldiers.
force.
This, too, was the Russian mentality, as Erich was to under-
stand in the years that lay ahead. Russian literature arresting barbarism,
and hanging became
a
way
of
full
is
life
of such
during and
immediately following the 1917 Revolution. For Erich Hartmann, barely twenty-three years old as he stood in the
watched the swinging corpses,
was
it
as
meadow and
shocking as the rape binge.
Combat flyers seldom captured anybody. Rarely did they meet an enemy face to face. On the occasions when they met an enemy pilot on the ground after having shot him down, the fight was over for
both of them. Chivalry had survived in an attenuated form
among combat pilots, but in the ground war brutality and subhuman conduct of all kinds was the rule. Erich's night with the infantry platoon
on the
line, after his
escape from Russian capture,
had given him an unforgettable glimpse of the savage ground war.
Now
this
was more of
sheer inhumanity of
the kind of mentality created by the
it,
modern
war.
After the hanging of the three soldiers, the situation in the prison
compound
stabilized.
women soon changed to women and girls in many play.
Fear for the welfare of the
a different
cases
Mothers went to Soviet
went
German
emotion— shame. The
single
to the Russian victors for sex
officers
and
sold their bodies for
week the distraught German men began to feel the effects of starvation and to show it externally, while those German women who had changed their minds
more food
for their children. After a
about the Russians stayed
lively
and began growing plump. The
emotional consequence was an indescribable inner turmoil in
which Erich participated
to the full.
Dwelling in his later years in the shadow of the Soviet colossus, even though back in Germany, Erich never forgot the trating lessons of this time.
He
bitter,
taught his wife, Usch, the
pene-
realistic
THE BLOND KNIQHT OF GERMANY
l88
approach to a similar situation should
it
ever be thrust
upon her
by events:
"Never hesitate
in
such circumstances.
Go
to the highest-ranked
and do your charming with him. Flatter him and stay with will protect you against all others. In this way, you have suffer only one man and you can avoid the brutality and de-
officer
him. to
He
humanization of belonging to every man. Others take you only over the dead
And he
will
be able to
where
civilization
body of your protector."
adds:
"In the kind of age in which
might well be overturned
we
are living,
at a maniac's touch, every
Western wife
should be aware of this approach to dealing with people of Eastern mentality"
That was the lesson that came out of Erich's anguish in the meadow. Conduct alien to everything he had been taught as a German soldier, and to the example set by his humanitarian father, was now to become part of his way of life. He thanked God in his
emotional extremity,
and hangings, that
his
as
he shuddered through the rapings
beloved Usch was safe in Stuttgart.
Erich was only a handful of years removed from a fair-haired
Korntal Hochschule boy
who
could not abide a bully, and that
made the emotional impact of these events all the more ing. The resilience of youth had brought him through hundred combat missions
in a heroic career that
surpassed, but there was barely
enough bounce
in
resoundfourteen
would never be
him
to confront
such bestiality in forced silence. Ahead of him lay ten and a half years in Russian prisons, a brutal decade that
with
many
black memories.
From
would leave him
the mass of recollections, good
and bad, that he would carry into the evening of his life, one would stand out with ineradicable starkness and vividity— the
Dantean nightmare
in the
meadow.
Authors' Note:
Events described their shocking effect
in this chapter have been set down solely to show on Erich Hartmann, exposed for the first time to mass
and not for the purpose of fomenting hatred of the Russian authors are in total agreement with Colonel Hartmann that the basic kindness inside all human beings, including the Russian people,
sexual savagery,
people.
The
SURRENDER
189
can arrest the endless cycle of war and peace
most
human
in
affairs.
if
permitted to become upper-
is
adamantly opposed to the
Colonel Hartmann
fomentation of new hatreds between peoples.
Savage sexual debauchery has been a perennial concomitant of
mankind's worst social aberration— war. These pathological mass misuses of the sex function evoke from the uncomprehending dividual
no more profound reaction than
a resigned shrug.
in-
Men
accept that such things "always" go on and will "always" continue
and thus they evade the
to go on, of the
human
love impulse
lies at
clear evidence that frustration
the root of
the social sickness
all
that convulses the world. Psychotic leaders, thus aided by
human
ignorance or indifference, are able to manipulate the colossal energies
made
available by the frustrations of destitute millions. This
phenomenon lies behind every irrational social movement, including both Red Communism and Black Fascismlittle-understood
antithetical
expressions
political
stemming from an
identical
power source.
The
who
despots
lead millions of fundamentally kind people
again and again to ruin, could not prevail under
modern conditions
without the services of propagandists— specialists in presenting
and legend
Germany.
truth
as
Ilya
was incited to
and
fact.
Goebbels
this role in
filled
lie
Nazi
Ehrenburg was the Soviet Goebbels. The Red Army its
excesses against the
German
civil
population by
Ehrenburg's psychotic exhortations to vengeance.
The Russian
troops were urged to
kill
the Fascists wherever
they found them, and to "take the proud
German women"
so
The aged were fair game. Even the innocent children of Germany were targets of Ehrenburg's hateful diatribes. "Never forget that every German child you see is the child of a Fascist," he ranted. The mass debauch that ensued sent a wave rolling into the Bohemian meadow where Erich Hartmann saw it break. Red Army orders eventually halted
that they might forget the hard battles.
these excesses, but not before Ehrenburg's evil genius its
had done
work.
Mankind penings,
has been plagued throughout
and therefore
its
history
lulled into their acceptance.
by such hap-
The time
is
at
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
190
hand when men
will
have to confront themselves frankly
in the
new knowledge. The hard-won discoveries of Freud and pioneers concerning the human psyche and character struc-
light of
other
To
ture have provided the answers.
been
date, these findings have
evaded in their application to mass problems. Especially
germane
M.D., onetime
German
is
assistant to Freud,
who
supervised the
workers' psychoanalytic clinics in the critical years pre-
The Mass Psychology
ceding Hitler's advent. His 1932 book, Fascism, tury.
Wilhelm Reich,
the work of the late
first clinical
is
With
fied that
of
probably the most significant social work of this centhe psychic plague was identi-
scientific psychoanalysis,
throws up and sustains the Hitlers and Stalins and their
propagandist lackeys.
The basis of the sexual excesses inseparable from the ultimate human sickness of war, has been well identified by Reich and his followers. The psychic pestilence is internatiorfal and world-wide.
No
nation enjoys immunity. As this
home and war abroad public.
is
written, social massacre at
strain the integrity of the
American Re-
Machinations to suppress the knowledge capable of
cating this pestilence
public that
deems
and Communist
work
efficiently
well informed.
itself
eradi-
and beyond the ken of a
A
fugitive
from the Fascist
whose etiology he exposed, Dr. Reich died
terror
in a U.S. federal prison in 1957.
His books and experimental jour-
nals—including Mass Psychology of Fascism—were burned by the U.S. government.
The
authors considered
story of Erich
mandatory, before presenting the
it
Hartmann's decade
in Russian
jails,
to establish
that they write with an understanding of the psychological proc-
modern dictatorships. The NKVD in Russia, Nazi Germany, and all other secret police organizations
esses that sustain
the
SD
in
of a kindred order are gathering-grounds for psychopaths, wielders
of illegal activities
blight
The
is
power over
millions.
Honest outrage
and from struggling mankind.
of such organizations
ever to be lifted
authors wish to
to the oppressors,
with which
and
all free
at the existence
make
their
is
rational
if
and this
clear their unalterable opposition
sympathy
men must
necessary
for the
oppressed— a stance
surely find themselves in agreement.
Chapter Fourteen
SOVIET PRISONER .
.
.
.
.
.
treat
them with humanity, and
let
them have no reason
to complain.
Provide everything necessary for them.
—General George Washington's instructions to Colonel
Webb
concerning prisoners taken in
the Battle of Trenton
-Alfter conqueror, officers
their introduction to the Russian soldier in his role of
Erich,
Hermann Graf and
the rest of
were taken with the womenfolk to a
bistritz. Little
pose was to
more than
let Soviet
Commissars and
camp
bureaucracy take a firmer grip on
his
at
Neu-
a barbed-wire stockade, the camp's pur-
quill-drivers
Blond Knight and
transit
Gruppes
I
its
captives.
began the formal cataloguing of the
men. Names,
ranks, serial
numbers and
basic military data were perfunctorily recorded, but the Russians
were interested in something more captives in a Luftwaffe that
realistic
no longer
than the status of their
existed.
Physical examinations were given to the Germans.
The
Russians
men from
were not concerned with the health of Erich and
his
any humanitarian motives, but
their capacity
as laborers.
tion.
He
as
an evaluation of
Erich's physical capacity to
was a
lean,
physically resilient
work was beyond ques-
tough and strong young
and highly
at Neubistritz took three
man
of twenty-three,
intelligent. Bureaucratic formalities
weeks to complete, after which the Ger-
mans spent several days awaiting
their fate.
Erich found himself musing over the evident Russian intention to
make them
into forced laborers.
The
ranting polemic of the
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
192
Communists about
man by
exploitation of one
ning through his mind.
Marx and Lenin
situation lay at the root of
another kept run-
asserted that this vicious
Now,
in the capitalist world.
all evil
in
time of triumph, these idolators of Marx and Lenin had no
their
other thought but to enslave their late enemies.
A
from
capitalist
the depths of the Industrial Revolution would have saluted their instinct for
A
cheap labor.
move from
Neubistritz was imminent. Erich tried to squelch
some
of the rumors that were sweeping the
Men
in suspense will speculate,
imagine and even
to
no
avail.
manu-
try to
Rumor-mongering halted when
facture a destiny for themselves.
Russian guards rudely
camp, but
moved them out
of the pen
and
started
marching them southeast along a dusty road. Erich was assigned to load the effects of the old people in a
baggage
cart,
veillance of
and directed
to ride the cart
under the personal
sur-
an armed Red Army master sergeant. In a short time,
Erich established contact with the Russian. His
Noncommittal
at
first,
he soon warmed
"Where are we going?" said
name was
Sascha.
to Erich.
Erich.
"Budweis." Erich
knew
the town. Budweis was at least sixty miles distant.
make
Since the Russians obviously intended that the column
the
journey on foot, he was grateful to be sitting up with Sascha be-
hind the two horses that pulled the baggage
cart.
For
five
dusty
days the dispirited prisoners trudged along, and the rumors grew
more and more imaginative. The word its
way through the column, but
"Siberia" began whispering
Budweis a Russian commissar
at
put an end to the rumors.
He
spoke soothingly to Erich, Graf and a group of their
"We
are not taking you to Russia.
propaganda.
We
from there you
will
The Russian sar's face
are taking you
down
That to
is
officers.
propaganda, pure
Vienna by
train,
and
go home."
smiled blandly. Erich noticed that the commis-
straightened immediately
had turned away. Erich was
when he thought
skeptical,
the
Germans
but he could do nothing
but bid the kindly Sascha good-bye and board a rackety train the
SOVIET PRISONER
193
following day. Spirits brightened as the train kept rattling south-
ward, but this soon changed.
The and
Russian guards
train screeched to a halt in a country siding.
went running up and down outside, shouting and gesShunted back and forth with much slamming of cou-
officers
ticulating.
and
plings
was obviously
jarring of the filthy coaches, the train
being diverted.
When
they went lurching away from the siding,
Erich could see that they were no longer heading for Vienna.
A
Russian
officer
gave them the story in broken German. Big
trouble in Vienna. Riots, fighting, looting. tion of the city.
The
Erich's hopes of
an early return
train
A
dispute over occupa-
was being sent instead to Budapest.
was farther east than Vienna, and
home began
Budapest
fading.
closer to Russia.
These were bad
tidings.
Hours
after passing
Budapest there was another
more shouting and running. They were
at the
town
jarring halt
and
of Sighet in the
Carpathians.* Erich caught the words "plague" and "quarantine" as they
were shouted back and forth between Rumanian
and Russian guards. The
Germans climbed out
officials
was dragged into a siding and the
train
They were herded
stiffly.
into
another
barbed-wire pen. Erich overheard enough conversation to that they
would not now be going
probable destination lay
beyond— in
Guards clad
Rumanian Communists.
the
and armed with
in exotic red trousers
long, heavy
beat the prisoners unmercifully at the slightest provocation.
Erich had to constantly fight the bullies went too
far.
Two
down
his rage,
bloody and unconscious.
hour later on
all fours,
a
He
up
in
him
and
young
beat the defenseless
man
crawled back into the barracks an
whimpering wreck.
Erich's hatred for bullies
rage welled
but the second night
red-trousered sadists caught a
pilot in the latrine during the night,
had
lived in
him
since boyhood. Black
at the sight of the beaten
tough old major from the
German
censed by the cowardly attack. *
and
Russia.
The Maramures pen was run by sticks
to Budapest,
know
that their
young
pilot.
A
paratroops was similarly in-
Two
other pilots from Erich's
Sighet/Maramures, a Rumanian town on the border of the Ukrainian
SSR, 225 miles
east of Budapest.
T
f THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
194
group joined them. At intervals they sauntered out of the barracks toward the latrine. In the
gloom of the
soon loomed with their clubs, eager to
sadists
German and
fenseless
two
latrine, the
fall
on another
de-
thrash him.
Erich sprang out of the shadows as one of the bullies raised his club to strike one of the decoys. Smashing his
and then driving blows into
face felt
the
man
He saw
crumple.
ing wildly in the gloom,
second bully under
fists
with
his belly
into the guard's
Erich
all his force,
pump-
the paratroop major's elbows
and heard the breath go hissing out
of the
this assault.
In seconds, both would-be disciplinarians lay unconscious on
the ground. Erich nodded to the paratroop major. the guards and
and
all.
dumped them
The sound
music to
of the
bodily into the latrine, red trousers
two
bullies
wallowing in the
padded back
their ears as they
They picked up
muck was
to the barracks.
Two
the red-trousered guards were missing the following day.
They nodded and smiled
others appeared without sticks.
of
The
as they
quietly patrolled the pen.
A
week later, the Germans were ordered to reboard the train. Machine guns bristled now from the rackety coaches, and searchinto
The filthy coaches men had been jammed on the ride to
had been mounted on top of
lights
which Erich and
Budapest, were
now
his
several cars.
bulging with heavily-armed Russian guards.
Germans, including Erich, were relegated
Sixty status.
They were
to
second-class
stuffed into a small freight car in almost intoler-
able discomfort.
The jam-packed baggage quickly
became giddyingly
car was as hot as a furnace. stale.
The
air
Erich set up a basic routine for
lessening the worst aspects of their sardine-can existence.
One-
on the wagon
floor.
third of the
men would
There was no room
lie
down
for sixty of
at a time
them
to
lie
or even
sit
at
one time.
Lying down for two hours and then standing for four, they began the ordeal of Russian confinement.
Hermann Graf and
Erich were two of Germany's most famous
heroes and winners of the Diamonds, but the leveling effects of their
confinement were
in turn with sergeants
irresistible.
and second
They
lay
lieutenants.
down and
stood up
Other senior
officers
SOVIET PRISONER in the car
195
were Colonel Hein Heuer and Major Arthur Riele. Rank
and decorations were soon forgotten in the
common
desire to share
the floor for each long-awaited two-hour period.
For two weeks they jolted eastward. Navigation necessary
to
find
skill
was un-
out where they were going. They rumbled
Moscow and Vologda. They were deep in Russia and going deeper. The train passed through Kirov one morning and went rattling on into a swampy area. Through cracks in the through Kiev,
baggage wagon, Erich could see dense marshes and bogs. side
the mire went stretching away to the horizon.
On
every
Lurching
through the vast swamp, the train was traveling on the only solid piece of earth in sight, the ground
When
the train
and
ballast
began slowing down, Erich had
arrived in the center of a vast peat
school geography books.
rails.
hunch they had
marsh he had read about
in his
He was right.
Hollow-eyed and gaunt from their grueling spilled
a
under the
out gratefully into the fresh
air,
ride,
the
Germans
but when they finished
They were at the end of nowhere. A few Russian soldiers, not more than a platoon, moved around a small base camp. Erich saw in an instant why the Russians needed only a handful of guards. The swamp stretched as far as the eye could see on all sides. Anyone who wanted to escape was welcome to try. The Russians told them to build shelters for themselves. Erich stretching they could see
and
his
men hacked
no cause
for joy.
crude dugouts from the ground and roofed
them over with wood and branches. This was their only accommodation. Rounded up after dawn each morning with about a thousand infantrymen already confined in the camp, they were marched out to the
swamp
fringe to dig peat.
Lumps
of peat, used by the
piles. Each morning Germans loaded the previous day's production aboard the one train that came into the swamp camp daily. Everything was done by hand. After a month of this backbreak-
Russians as fuel, were stacked in enormous the
ing and futile labor, Erich could feel himself cracking. Constant
hard labor, lack of food and the feeling of being
lost to the
world
slowly corroded his will. Chills of self-doubt began flowing in for the first time,
made
all
the
more desperate by the
him
status
he
THE BLOND KNIQHT OF GERMANY
196
among
held
He was
his comrades.
Fifteen hundred
Germans looked
by
their leader
to
him
freewill consent.
them.
to lead
In the military there was rank, structure and discipline behind
Holding a group of
leadership.
ness like this
men
together in a desolate wilder-
swamp, where they were
all
being
literally
death, was a task to which Erich hardly felt equal.
men when he
sustain his
could
grind ebbing away? In this
became the means
feel his
crisis, his
camp
at
endurance when
decades
could he
ability to stand the
status as a Luftwaffe
major
swamp
penal colony,
all
staff
above— were ordered to a Gryazovets. Erich had reached the border
the area— rank of major and
special officers' line of
How
to
of his deliverance.
Five weeks after arrival in the officers in
own
worked
later,
he
is
this order
was carried out. More than two
visibly affected
when he
recalls
the dismal
camp at Kirov, and what happened after his departure: "The following year, Captain Werner Engelmann joined us at Gryazovets. He had been in the swamp camp at Kirov, and remained there after I left. His story was shattering. Of the fifteen hundred Germans who were sent there with me and in other batches, only about two hundred survived the first winter. The slave
Russians did not feed them, and forced them to work and work until they literally starved to death."
By comparison with
Kirov, the officers'
a high-style establishment.
top
German
was
in
camp
at Gryazovets
was
Major Hans "Assi" Hahn* one of the
pilots of the Battle of Britain
with JG-2 Richthofen,
Gryazovets at the time of Erich Hartmann's transfer there.
Hahn had been in Russian hands since 21 February 1943, when he was shot down on the Eastern Front after running up forty kills against the Red Air Force to add to his sixty-eight victories against the British in the West.
In his book I Tell the Truth, at Gryazovets as "like a
home
Hahn
describes the environment
for convalescents"
with some of the dank and isolated prisons in confined since his wartime capture.
Hahn
by comparison
which he had been
presents the following
sketch of Gryazovets in I Tell the Truth.
"The camp accommodations
camp
administration, the hospital and so-called convalescent
*Assi
Hahn
died 18
The home
largely consisted of barracks.
December 1982.
SOVIET PRISONER
197
were accommodated in old wooden houses. into
two parts by a
cup
of real coffee for a ruble,
the cafe was a coffee to induce
"When
.
little
.
The
stream.
cafe,
The camp was
where you could get a
The manager of who would use his
was at the bridge.
rather dangerous fellow,
.
divided
war prisoners to
talk.*
the stream was iced over in the winter, ice-shooting by
camp would take place, and in the summer, members of the camp could bathe there when they felt like it. The soccer field was in a meadow outside the barbed wire. In the camp there was a second meadow at our disposal for athletics and gymthe
elite of
In the spring, merely for propaganda purposes, a bowling
nastics.
alley
the
was opened.
.
.
.
When
the weather was nice, promenade
and on Sunday
concerts were held in the so-called birchwoods,
mornings the dance band played
in the cafe.
"One could hardly have wanted anything been
for the fact that everything
When
better
if
it
hadn't
was merely a front."
Erich arrived in this environment of relative luxury, fresh
from the Kirov swamp camp,
did not take
it
him long
his morale. After brief hospitalization to ensure that
to recover
he had not
brought typhus back with him from the swamp, he soon got his spirits
up and
his
bounce back.
easy assignment with access to
hanced
his
A
all
job in the kitchen, a relatively
the food he needed, further en-
new outlook on life.
These were the circumstances under which he was introduced to the strange and divided world of
German P.O.W.'s
in Russia. In-
carcerated Germans, whether officers or not, were far from being a monolithic bloc of determined resisters. In this respect, the out-
wardly luxurious Gryazovets was a veritable jungle.
The background
to the divided loyalties of
many imprisoned
Germans is to be found in the political make-up of pre-Hitler Germany, when there were millions of convinced Communists and the Communist party was a major factor in elections. Hitler's seizure of power grew out of the Communist threat, to which he and his Nazis were mortally opposed. After Hitler became Chancellor, the Communists were deprived of all possibility of *
Presumably to report these conversations later to the from Russia. —Authors
for favors or later release
NKVD
in return
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
198
movement was suppressed. There is no evidence that millions of Communists who lived
obtaining power, and the nevertheless in
pre-Hitler
party or
Germany—whether members
not— relinquished
their convictions.
of
Communist
the
Hence
should not
it
be surprising that following the catharsis of Germany's defeat and
under the stimulus of Soviet confinement, allied
many Germans became
with the Soviet cause.
Organizations like the so-called National Committee and the
German
League were formed
Officers'
camps. Politicians
like
in
the Russian prison
Ulbricht and Pieck were
members
new East
groups before the Russians released them to run the
German government. at Stalingrad,
Field Marshal von Paulus,
was another notable
most notorious was General von
anti-Fascist,
Seydlitz, with
eventually confined in Novocherkassk
Blond Knight had political
world of
his
first
German
jail,
experiences
who
of such
surrendered
and probably the
whom
many with
Erich was
years after the
the
bewildering
prisoners of war. Establishing the differ-
ences between anti-Fascists and pro-Communists, between Ger-
man
and masquerading pro-Soviet
nationalists
would have been a challenge In
late
1945,
stool
pigeons,
to a learned political scientist.
the twenty-three-year-old and politically naive
Hartmann had to find his way among these many factionsof them representing themselves as devoted to his welfare.
Erich all
Those who seemed
to
do best
in a material sense collected in the
movement, and the Antifa became the focus of the pro-Soviet forces. Hermann Graf was drawn to this faction, and tried to swing Erich to the same line of thought. Erich was disturbed to find informers and stool pigeons among his countrymen on all sides. Fellow Germans repeatedly asked him
Antifa
to
(i.e.
anti-Fascist )
embrace the Communist philosophy, and confess
his crimes
against the Soviet people. Even his assignment to the kitchen,
though he did not know
NKVD
it
at the time,
was the opening gambit
al-
in
him into the service of the Soviets. A heavy emotional blow came in Gryazovets when Hermann Graf succumbed to an NKVD campaign aimed at his compromise. Graf was a man Erich admired, and his last commanding officer in the Luftwaffe. As outlined in an earlier chapter, Graf was among
an
effort to bring
SOVIET PRISONER
199
the greatest popular heroes of the war in Germany, as well as a
redoubtable fighting pilot with 212 victories to his credit. As one of the nine fighter aces to win the
valuable prize to the
NKVD
Diamonds, Hermann Graf was a
because of his decorations and fame.
Allegations about Graf's conduct in Russia,
book
I Tell
pariah
in Assi
Hahn's
made Hermann Graf something German fighter pilots, although the
the Truth, have
among
time hero
made
surviving
is still
and
alive
resides in Diisseldorf.
of a
one-
During the war,
he proved himself a capable leader and a brave man, and he was widely admired as a fighter by those he led, including Erich Hart-
mann. Graf kept on
flying
combat
after
he won the Diamonds,
when he could have stepped down. Since Erich Hartmann served under Graf
in JG-52, surrendered
with him, passed into Russian confinement with him and generally
knew him
account of Graf's actions in Gryazovets are
well, his
of significance:
"At the end of the war, Hermann Graf was very famous. Propaganda and publicity concerning him was spread
He
derneath
my
were
He was
opinion, a nice fellow and a hell of a fighter.
it all,
he was
a
man
many of his
a long
and
al-
But un-
of essentially simple character.
had not been given the advantages of as
over Germany.
famous football team 'The Red Fighters/
led the
ways, in
all
He
careful education,
later critics.*
"After the surrender, he was stripped of his fame and reduced
from one day to the next
to plodding along
dissatisfaction with the
at menial jobs. His
change was evidently something he could
not control.
"One day he came staying here/
and he
the Soviet side.
I
me and said, Tve asked me if I would to
told
him
I
changed join
him
my mind
about
in switching to
had no such intention.
He
said, 'All
the old regulations are gone, and each of us must choose either the
Anglo-American way or the Russian way. There any more.
I
have decided that
Soon afterward, he wrote
I
want
to
is
no Germany
be on the Russian side/
to the Russian administration, offering
* His critics also forget that Graf's deliberate disobedience
Seidemann's order to
fly
to
Dortmund and
of General
surrender to the British, was a
courageous act in behalf of several thousand defenseless
German
civilians.
T
f THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
200
his services to the Soviet
lower in the
He was
Red
Union, and offering to take one rank
Air Force than he had held in the Luftwaffe.
soon afterward flown out of Gryazovets to a camp near
Moscow. He wrote
P.O.W. newspaper
a laudatory article in the
about the Red Air Force, and told the Russians about
his experi-
He
ences against the Anglo-American air forces during the war.
came back
to
Germany in
1950."
Graf thus was repatriated
five years
that the onetime
Kommodore
real value to the
Russian cause
unlikely that
Hermann Graf
before Erich Hartmann, but
of JG-52 contributed anything of
doubtful. History will say
is
could
tell
it is
the Russians anything they
did not already know, or have access to through espionage. Graf's
combat courage— were Nevertheless, the NKVD com-
limited abilities— despite his unquestioned of doubtful utility to the Soviets.
promised him, and he has dwelt in the shadows ever since in the
German
fighter pilot fraternity.
At the time Graf confessed had endured
prisoners
psywar
effort of the
tenant colonel in his
little
his
change of heart to Erich, Soviet
compared with what
lay ahead.
The
NKVD
had hardly begun. Graf was
thirties,
and considerably more mature than
twenty-three-year-old Erich.
The two
a lieu-
winners of the Diamonds
gave each other their word of honor that neither of them would ever surrender his decoration to the Russians.
The
would
Brilliants
be thrown away.* Erich was
summoned
Klingbeil of the priate
a
NKVD,
few days
Captain
later to the office of
a renegade
German
with the inappro-
nickname of "Dad." Hermann Graf's Diamonds were
ing on his desk. Erich was shocked. Klingbeil
demanded
ly-
Erich's
Diamonds. "I
threw mine in the
tain his
river,"
stammered Erich, struggling
to re-
composure.
Diamonds remained at home in Weil during and after the war, and he has them today. An American soldier took a paste copy from him when he surrendered in Czechoslovakia, and he had a second paste copy with him in Russia. Surrender of the Diamonds to * Erich
the
Hartmann's
NKVD
decoration.
original, authentic
was a symbolical
act, unrelated to the
monetary value of the
SOVIET PRISONER "Dad"
201
Klingbeil's face darkened.
Then he
gloatingly held out
Grafs decoration.
"You should have the good nel Graf.
that
all
He
has turned his
sense of your old
Diamonds over
Kommodore, Coloand confessed
to us,
he did in wartime was wrong."
NKVD,
Graf had not only been compromised by the
had gone back on was shattering.
his
word
honor to Erich. The
of
If a fighter like
who
to himself, then
effect
but also
on Erich
Graf could go under, Erich thought
could be trusted?
When
he subsequently
confronted Graf about breaking his word of honor, his former
Kommodore was him
so
that henceforth they
The
basis they parted. rier
ashamed
as to
must go
be almost
their separate ways,
for Erich. Graf's defection
young
officers,
them was
movement
and the
NKVD
made
men whose and
its
which Graf had
into
new
a
experience
was a powerful psychological weapon
Erich's natural analytical ability soon led
Antifa
and on that
strange, impenetrable, yet intangible bar-
that suddenly appeared between
against
in agony. Erich told
full
use of this asset.
him away from
tried to
draw him. The
views he shared were those branded by the
German
German
officers
become
tools
stooges as "Fascists."
They were
the
NKVD
actually decent
determined to maintain their self-respect and not
of the
NKVD
psychopaths. Erich allied himself
with this bloc of recalcitrant Germans and began his long struggle with the
NKVD.
rate quarters
and
These
resistant staff officers
classed as agitators
were placed in sepa-
by the prison administration,
which consisted of Red-lining Germans under the Stalingrad warjudge Schumann. These renegades announced that Hartmann's
group of agitators could have no ters,
thereby cutting
them
off
visitors in their
segregated quar-
from contact with the
rest of the
camp. Erich went over the head of
mander, and demanded that ful
NKVD
com-
be restored. His
force-
Schumann
visiting rights
to the
presentation on behalf of the staff officers resulted in the
NKVD
German lackeys. Furthermore, the Hartmann group, Dr. Bauer,
overruling their renegade
the Politburo's representative in
was removed following Erich's representations. These dramatic concessions seemed too good to be true. Erich got the old fighter
T
t THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
202
apprehensive feeling in the backside. Something was afoot.
pilot's
Summoned
soon afterward to the
mander, Erich found Captain Uvarov of years older than Erich,
the Blond Knight.
just like
German boy
typical
Uvarov offered Erich "Please
Erich definitely
he used to get ter
watch
and
rette
in a genial
NKVD
mood.
A
com-
couple
He
could have passed anywhere for a
in appearance. Seated in a comfortable chair,
a cigarette.
felt
said.
the same feeling in the backside
in the air
this fellow,
sat
the
Uvarov had blond hair and blue eyes
down, Erich," he
sit
office of
when
a Russian fighter got
he told himself.
down, nodding
his
He
on
his
now
that
tail.
Bet-
took the proffered ciga-
thanks to the Russian
but
officer
remaining deadpan. Uvarov leaned back in his chair and blew
smoke
in the air.
"Are you
satisfied
and happy now that Bauer has been removed,
Erich?"
The Blond Knight nodded. "Then you can see how anxious we
When
Erich.
are to get along with you,
you want something done, we do our best to oblige."
"That's very kind of you." "Yes,
who
we
are kind even to our biggest enemies, those like
you to work
in the kitchen, so
"The kitchen
you can eat
as
you
why we assigned much as you like."
destroyed hundreds of our aircraft. That
is
job has been pleasant enough," said Erich.
"Perhaps then, you would care to show some good will toward
us— reciprocate the cooperation we have shown you." Erich knew Uvarov was on his tail now. He waited open
him
to
fire.
"There are a number of group
who
men among
is
a
the staff officers in your
are guilty of serious crimes against the Russian people.
They have shot civilians, burned We know that they are secretly Here
for
list
villages
Fascists
and destroyed
factories.
and make propaganda.
of the names."
down the list. Colonel Wolf, Colonel Ackermann, Colonel Van Camp, Colonel von Tempelhof. Lieutenant Colonel Prager. Majors Hahn, Ewald, Ellerbrock and others. Most Erich ran his eye
SOVIET PRISONER were professional
203
soldiers,
committed since boyhood
conduct in war. Erich looked up from the
list
to honorable
at Uvarov.
"What do you want me to do about these men?" Uvarov took the
bait.
"Listen to them. Find out
what they did during the war— the
war crimes they committed— shooting
The Russian was
speaking faster and
"Report everything to us about their thing.
burning."
civilians, looting,
faster.
past, their families. Every-
We know we can rely on you to bring them to justice."
Erich retained his deadpan.
"And what happens
to
me if I
Uvarov was sure he had
do
this
work
for
you?"
now.
a pigeon
"Why, after youVe written down back to Germany on the first train.
everything for us, you will go
When
can
we
expect the
first
report from you, Erich?"
cannot ever make such a report." Erich spoke slowly and
"I
quietly, in contrast to the Russian's agitated tone.
Uvarov shot forward
in his chair.
"What do you mean you won't make was
such a report?" His voice
shrill.
"I
mean
I
able officers.
wanton
will
not do what you ask.
They would be
killing of civilians.
own gain— to become not do it, now or ever."
To
as try
and inform on such men
a stukatcha*—is unspeakably dirty.
across the desk to Erich. it,"
he
is
The document was
not in
says that
being threatened. It
Otherwise
sign
it.
know."
He
I
my will
thrust a paper
written in Russian.
is
my language, what does it—"
you
certify
I will
Uvarov's face was * Stool pigeon.
you were interrogated without
routine."
"Please translate the paper into
all I
his fury.
for
said.
"This document
"The paper
honor-
outraged and angry as you over
Uvarov was obviously fighting down "Sign
First, these are all
not
sign. It
German and could be for
now a savage mask.
I
will
be glad to
my own
death for
THE BLOND KNIGHT 6f GERMANY
204
"Damn
you, Hartmann,
I
am
You
a Soviet officer.
take
my word
for that." "I will
not sign unless
"You damned
it is
in
German."
You will work for us or by God I guarantee that you'll never see Germany again." Uvarov hammered the last sentence home by pounding on the desk with his
Fascist.
fist.
Erich took a
on
final puff
and crushed
his cigarette
it
out on the
ashtray beside the Russian's hand.
"You can do what you
about sending
like
able to do anything about that.
informer for the
But
I
me home.
am
I
not
absolutely refuse to be an
NKVD under any circumstances."
Uvarov' s face was purple with rage and the veins bulged in his neck.
"Damned
You damned
Fascist!
day in the kitchen detail easy
work and
detail, that'll
canceled.
is
Hartmann! Your
Fascist,
a full belly. You'll go to
You
holi-
No more
hear that!
work on the road-building
sweat the insolence out of you."
"Is that all?"
"No, by God, cer.
that's
not
You've insulted me, a Soviet
all.
For that you get ten days
in the bunker.
Take him away!" Erich stood up and extended "I
am
his
hands
as
Ten
though
you hear?
for handcuffs.
ready."
As the guards prodded him out the door with marveled inwardly at
his
own
pulse to spring across the desk
powering.
Somehow he had
and the rewards were
their rifles
ability to control himself.
and
throttle
The
Uvarov had been
he im-
over-
kept cool and in the process his will
had conquered Uvarov. There were no medals this,
days,
offi-
different.
You were
for victories like
paid off with time
in the bunker.
The
filthy
hole to which he was
encounter with
and
six feet
NKVD
Nine
consigned was his
feet long, four feet
high, the stone-walled chamber had
heat of any kind. in
discipline.
now
A
a dirt floor
first
wide
and no
shaft about three inches in diameter located
one corner of the bunker and screened with wire mesh,
pro-
vided the dungeon's total resources of light and ventilation. Be-
SOVIET PRISONER
20$
neath the shaft stood an open can that served as a
latrine.
There
was no furniture.
Each morning, guards shoved six hundred grams of bread, two liters of water and five grams of sugar into the hellhole. Sleeping on the ground, half-frozen, completely alone, able to tell night from day only by staring up the shaft, Erich knew the bunker was designed to break
down
the fiercest
will.
Isolation, stench
and
could melt resolution. Starvation could sap defiance. With-
chill
out a focus for his thoughts, he might just as well be on the moon.
He turned his mind to Usch. He ran through his memories of their childhood love and adored movie films. He recalled every detail of their
like old trysts in
the theater in Weil, their days in dancing class, and the happy
unions and tender partings of the war days.
games trying
whether
to decide
He
played mental
baby was a boy or a
their
The child would be born by now. Perhaps it had fair —or maybe the child would be another dark-haired, like Usch. He knew he would like that.
From
the time of his
at Gryazovets, Erich
first
had
him indescribable became like a friendly gave
a
re-
hair, like
girl.
him
beautiful girl
confinement in the wretched bunker
deep feeling of contact with Usch that
inner comfort. ether,
The
blackness around
through whose
medium he
him
could
reach out and find his beloved as though time and space did not
Something
exist.
him came
inside
alive
when he turned
his
thoughts to Usch in these black dungeons, as though he had
plugged in a tiny but powerful dynamo that energized his being.
The it
love
and harmony
of his
in confinement, eventually
sick
home
life,
and
his ability to focus
on
proved stronger than the worst that
men could do to him.
The
ordeal of the
first
years in Soviet custody
Hartmann
is
summarized
in
on 30 October 1947, and subsequently smuggled out of Russia by a returning prisoner of war. A few such smuggled letters provided Usch Hart-
a letter written by Erich
mann
to his wife
with the only uncensored contact she had with Erich during
the ten and a half years of his imprisonment. Official tions
communica-
remained limited to twenty-five words on a postcard— during
the times
when
the
NKVD
did not capriciously reduce the per-
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
206
mitted words to
five or ten.
This 1947
letter tells its
own
story of
an imprisoned man's bitterness and frustration.
"Camp 7150 "Oct 30, 1947
"My
darlingest Uschmutti:
"Tomorrow another transport leaves here— maybe this letter will reach you. Now, shortly, my story: Taken prisoner by the Americans on 8 May 1945, and delivered to the Russians on 14 May. On 25 May 1945 we started out from Budweis, via Vienna, Budapest, the Carpathians, the Ukraine, Kiev, Moscow to Kirov. In a camp in a swamp we met 1,000 infantrymen and approximately 100 officers, all in pretty bad shape, poor food and miserable treatment. In Kirov, I became the leader of the officers' group. Graf was with
The infantrymen were worked of
five
them
me and
was in charge of
so hard that they died like
flies,
all.
two to
a day.
"On August
17 we raised the devil with the Russian administration were loaded and brought to this camp, now called Camp 71 50, 60 km south of Vologda. I am still in this officers' camp. Accommodations are in large barracks— one room for each 400 men, with narrow plank beds, the whole arrangement revolting. I am sure that cattle in Germany are better housed than we are. But of course, one gets used to it, even sanitary facilities that are like 1,000 years ago. Medical attention is passable. Food consists of 600 grams of bread, 30 grams of butter (about one ounce), 40 grams of sugar, with two thin soups each day (total of about a pint), and about three-quarters of a
and
all officers
pint of porridge.
"One
is
eternally hungry.
buckets being provided for
is no bathtub, only small wooden People living under such conditions
There this.
appear as you might expect, and dystrophy
is
common.
I
personally
which helps me see this life through. "The camp is administered by the NKVD, the Russian secret police, aided by renegade Germans. Among these is a German military judge who is mightily afraid of the Russians, but does his share organizationwise. The others are mostly political swine and traitors and similar types in charge of the camps. They call themselves the 'Antifa.' Looked at closer they are former SS medics, Hitler Youth leaders, SA commanders and similar hash. I don't know what the Russians mean to do
seem
to assimilate food well,
with them, yesterday they betrayed us and tomorrow they will change flags again.
Such people make imprisonment
hell for us.
"Until about nine months ago, there was continual strong political
on had
pressure brought to bear
us.
Every suspect was put to a
political
upon us all. Political attitudes test, and that, of course, its work and general treatment of governed the kind of clothing, type appearance, one could From their given to the individual prisoner. lay. prisoners the various guess where the sympathies of reaction
SOVIET PRISONER was shocked to
"I
207 for once,
see,
the
German
with
officer corps
no profession nor rank where one could say they had all resisted successfully. Colonels steal, turn traitor, denounce their comrades and play informers for the NKVD. I can tell you that its
I
pants down. There
is
have learned to look at people through strong glasses to see
if
there
is
anything behind the make-up— the outer facade.
"We three its
get a change of laundry every one or two months, once every
months
Now
summer.
in
winter covers this dirty country with
white coat, and bedbugs and
hundreds of thousands.
their
much
I
fleas are
for exterior circumstances.
"As a German
TEPOU
our constant companions in
do not exaggerate
[Hero]
Now I
am
their
numbers. So
to myself.
personally rather well treated by
the Russians, probably because of the consistency of
my
behavior.
Once
NKVD
board— a sort of trial— but I was rewas brought before an leased because I immediately asked to be shot. They did not accept. The other methods they use I will not describe. You have probably already heard about them. "I did not know anybody when I came to this camp, only Graf was with me. He soon went over to the 'Antifa' and then wanted to influence me constantly. In this area I was entirely ignorant, and let them lead me astray during the first months, up to a point, but I soon saw through their game and went my own way as a 'fascist/ "Thank God my own countrymen now keep away from me. Informers turned me in to the NKVD, and I suddenly faced this trial in the middle of the night. I was accused of being an archfascist, a saboteur and the instigator of a resistance movement. Here were the Middle Ages with their inquisition methods, but I did not fail to make the proper answers. I was able to refute all accusations, until the Russians themselves recognized what my countrymen had tried to do to me, and the then punished the informers. After this, I was left in I
NKVD
relative peace.
"Graf was sent to Moscow and follows a downward path there. The year we were forced to work—even the staff officers. Work here is the worst type of slavery imaginable, worse, I believe, than in Roman times. Can you conceive of six or eight civilized, educated human beings first
strapped into a harness and Roadwork is all done with —and all work is to meet
pulling a wagon, like horses before a plow? spades, heavy woodcutting with hand-axes specified quotas or food
was immediately
reduced.
"At the end of 1945, a sudden
command was
issued that staff officers
thereafter were only permitted to volunteer for work. Since
not born to work for the Russians,
I
I
felt I
was
ceased work immediately. Threats,
exhortations and flattering inducements were "I
that time only
new
all turned down. end of 1948, and also at exerted by the West, and if there is no
do not count on being freed if
A new
pressure
is
until the
war would make the outlook black for counting on getting home with the assistance of the West. war.
us.
We
are
THE BLOND K N FG H T O F GERMANY r
208
is the only thing we have to look forward to in here. The shows what it is in that respect— 25 words per month. An increase from 10 words per month is true progress, in their eyes, and
"Mail
NKVD
everything else here reflects the effects of this mentality.
A
thin layer
poor and in rags— their idea of the freest and happiest country. One could write a book on the effects of their bom stupidity mingled with their inferiority complexes. "So here you have a picture of how I am. I can only hope that the living well, the rest
and that we can see each other again and lie one says in soldier-talk, 'stand it, fight through it, and courage!' Without combat there is no conquest and no bonus without price, and nothing is given to us for free. "We'll meet again, embrace again, and together we'll soar. In my thoughts I have my arms about you. Your last of it passes quickly,
in each other's arms. Until then,
Erich."
Eight more years of persuasion and pressure would pass before the yoke was lifted from the stout shoulders of Erich Hartmann.
Chapter Fifteen
PERSUASION AND PRESSURE Only those who have endured Soviet imprisonment opinions concerning
are entitled to valid
it.
—Major Hartmann Grasser Soviet prisoner, 1945-1949
^STou
Fascist pig!
dirty
pletely in our
power? Don't you know that you Germans are
in the eyes of the world? like
with
Don't you know that you are com-
Here
you— anything. No one
in Russia
cares
dirt
we can do anything we
what happens
to you, Hart-
mann."
The NKVD officer thrust his sallow "What would you say if we brought
face close against Erich's. to
you— right
in here
on
a
tray— the heads of your wife and baby son?" Erich
felt
the blood drain from his face. His stomach felt like
The NKVD man pressed his helpless victim. "Do you know that we could go right to Stuttgart, with our East German operatives, and spirit your wife right out of Germany? Remember how we reached Trotsky? And General Miller in Paris? We can reach out anywhere in the world to anyone we want." The Russian officer's blood-chilling threat was hitting Erich litjelly.
erally
where he
lived.
In the solitary-confinement bunkers in total
darkness, there was but one focus for his mind, one anchor in the
black ocean that threatened to engulf
The
bright visions he could conjure
in Zuffenhausen, or in the friendly
him body and soul— Usch.
up of her
in her parents'
Hartmann home
hold at bay the forces of disintegration.
home
in Weil, could
»
f
THE BLOND RNIGTT OF GERMANY
210
As long
he knew Usch was safe at home, that
as
with her and his loved ones, Erich
NKVD attacks
the
open threat
to his
on
his
felt
he could somehow endure
mind. The paralyzing
main source
was well
all
of strength
had
fear
to
he
felt at this
be concealed.
He
NKVD
took a grip on himself and looked squarely back at the officer.
"You can do anything you wish. You have the power. I know that. But I am not going to work for you against my country and
my
prison comrades."
Erich maintained a steady gaze, right into the Russian's eyes.
For a minute,
his antagonist returned his gaze.
Then
the
man slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. "Damn you, Hartmann! Damn you to hell! Why work
NKVD
won't you
for us?"
Scenes such as this were enacted in half a dozen different Soviet prisons, with eighteen or
twenty different
NKVD
persecutors ad-
vancing their proposals in every conceivable form. Inducements
ranged from savage blackmail threats to a contract to join the East
German
NO.
If his friends, associates
Air Force. Erich's answer was always the
and superior
officers find
same—
him today
a
how much that quality and how it stood between
stubborn man, they might well remember
was called upon
him and his German
NKVD.
in his brutal decade,
ruin as a self-respecting individual. prisoners
in
Russia were under the control of the
This army of ex-servicemen became an army of
and many were
starved to death in the
Russians could have put the skilled
and technicians dulged
The
itself
to
work
initial
German
in rebuilding Russia,
in Soviet interests
NKVD
but the
its
launched a psywar program more
in-
captives. effective
than direct physical vengeance.
Pressure to break the will of the individual
never diminished.
with hopelessness, suspicion,
NKVD lies
filled
and
cal torture in the pattern of the
German
prisoner
was the primary weapon
Insufficient food
crumbling the ego, and the
by
The
engineers, artisans
instead in the irrational degradation of
secret police later
slaves,
postwar period.
in
the prison environment
ceaseless propaganda. Physi-
Gestapo was
strictly
forbidden
Soviet regulations as characteristic of capitalist exploiters.
Com-
PERSUASION AND PRESSURE
211
promise of the individual and destruction of his integrity by
NKVD methods proved more potent in serving Soviet ends. Erich learned of the Russian prohibition against beating oners not long after his capture,
when
digested the mass of data concerning
matched up
staff
its
captives that
At Gryazovets, the
gested at the surrender.
pris-
the Russian bureaucracy
NKVD
had
it
in-
intelligence
name with Karaya One and the dreaded He was summoned to an interview with They were poring over his dossier when he
Erich's
Black Devil of the South.
NKVD
two
officers.
was escorted into the room.
One NKVD man was doggedly shaking his head.
am sure we have the wrong man," he said in Russian.
"I
NKVD
The second
officer
looked downcast.
The
first
Russian
walked over to Erich and pointed at his flaxen thatch. "Look," said the Russian to golden
He
hair.
his
companion, "he has blond
hair,
cannot be the Black Devil." Erich knew enough
Russian to realize they were discussing his hair.*
The second
NKVD
man banged
his
hand down on the
dossier.
"There is no use your denying, Hartmann, that you shot down three hundred and fifty-two aircraft on the Russian Front. We have that documented here." Erich
nodded noncommittally. They had addressed him
in
Deutsch.
"Then
that would
make you
the top-scoring fighter pilot of Ger-
many!" The Russian was excited now. Erich shook his head.
"No," he
said, "I
am
not the most successful
German
fighter
pilot."
"But no other
pilot in
any
air force
shot
down such
a large
num-
ber of aircraft," the Russian argued.
Erich smiled indulgently, like a schoolmaster elucidating a
mathematical fact "Well,
*
shot
On
only Russian aircraft, with a few American
Western Front, we had a pilot named Marwho shot down over one hundred and fifty British aircraft.
machines. seille
I
for a dull student.
down
Hartmann
is
the
a natural linguist.
Russian, French and
German.
He
speaks very good English as well as
THE BLOND KNfGHT^F GERMANY
212
In our air force, one British-flown aircraft was considered the equal of three Russian-flown machines. So
The
I
am
not the leading pilot."
Russians exploded into puzzled and angry exchanges be-
tween themselves. They did not
like
Erich sat deadpan until they settled
again.
The
came
thick
and
fast
their
down and came at him as they pumped him for
flyers.
questions
downgrading of
this
confirmation of the material in the dossier. Finally, Erich could see
no further point
eventually
know
masquerade. These bloodhounds would
in his
the facts no matter what he told them.
"Will you admit that you were the Black Devil?"
"That
is
what
was called on the Russian radio during the war,"
I
said Erich.
"But your hair
is
golden," protested one of the
have always had
"I
months
my
hair,"
fair
was painted with
aircraft
Erich.
said
NKVD
men.
"For a couple of
a black pattern
me the name Black Devil at that time." The second NKVD man settled back behind
and your
people gave
tapped the
"A
the desk and
dossier.
on your head during the war.
price
government would pay
it
The Russian looked
I
would be
rich
if
our
today."
Erich up and
tered Luftwaffe uniform.
He
down
in his soiled
and
bat-
looked like anything but the formi-
dable Black Devil, but there he was, the most feared fighter pilot
on the Eastern Front,
a
common prisoner.
Further grilling over a period of several hours also revealed that Erich had flown the Me-262 tional aircraft of the war.
experience with the
out
flights
less felt
The
jet,
jet fighter,
the most advanced opera-
The Blond Knight made
which had been confined
under Heinz Baer at Lechfeld. The
that this was special knowledge that
little
to a
few check-
NKVD
would be
of his
neverthe-
useful.
Russians had captured several Me-262's intact, and had
taken them to Russia for evaluation. Operating these advanced aircraft
was
a serious
problem without the background acquired
by the Germans. Erich was accordingly interrogated at length concerning the
jet fighter, several
Devil had been established.
days after his identity as the Black
PERSUASION AND PRESSURE
213
Erich was able to offer only limited assistance to the
even in telling them
had only flown
that he
it
about ten times. His image
The Russians seemed
nence
combat
as a
engineer.
The
Russian
as a
explained
as the
most
world nevertheless worked against
successful fighter pilot in the
him.
He
he knew about the Me-262.
all
NKVD,
to automatically
assume that
pilot also implied expertise as
his emi-
an aeronautical
lengthy interview became steadily more acrimonious officer
kept pressing him for information he did not
possess.
"Major Hartmann, you are holding things back. not
tell
The and
us all
we wish
this
made
to
know? You must
NKVD
bullying
Erich's
Why
will
tell us."
lieutenant was not an air force
problem
all
the
you
more
officer,
He
exasperating.
tried
again. "I
can
that.
you
can
I
watch
tell
how to start the aircraft. I have already told you you how to fly it, and the things the pilot must
you
tell
the sensitivity of the throttles.
for, in particular
this, too.
What
I
cannot
in the aircraft or precisely
tell
how
you
is
I
have told
the kind of parts that are
they work.
I
am
a pilot
and not an
engineer."
The Russian
obviously unconvinced.
scowled,
reading questions about
jet aircraft
was obvious that he had no to Erich like a
real
Blond Knight accordingly
been
from a questionnaire, and
knowledge of
man who might
He had
aviation.
He
it
looked
have been raised on a farm. The
tried explaining his situation in terms
comprehensible to a peasant.
"With
a jet aircraft,
I
am
couples a horse to a wagon.
like a farmer.
He
is
You know how
able to do that,
the combination. But he does not
know what
and
a farmer
also to drive
goes on inside the
horse."
With
a shout of fury the
and slashed Erich triggered Erich's across the
NKVD
lieutenant sprang to his feet
across the face with his cane.
temper into a savage cloud of
the Russian's head.
conscious.
stinging
red.
He
blow
leaped
room, and picking up a chair, hurled himself at his tor-
mentor. Swinging the chair in a high
down on
The
The
arc,
he brought
officer collapsed
it
crashing
on the
floor un-
THE BLOND KNICHT
214
His anger slaked, Erich
him
beat
room and
terrogation
the
NKVD
cold fear gripping him.
felt
for sure, or shoot
OWs
in
Camp
JG52:
Gryazovets, near Vologda north of
1 Oct.
1944
Lt.
Colonel
Hermann Graf assumed command ofJG52. Graf, a famous
Moscow, were allowed to have an orchestra. This moto, taken in 1946, shows the political indoctrina-
football player before the war,
where the communist
scored 212 aerial victories and
ion school in the background, loctrine
was force-fed
to all
POWs.
is
the 9th ranking ace of WWII.
POW IN RUSSIA:
fife HAHN: "Assi" wrote a book "I SPEAK THE TRUTH" about his experiences in tivity.
Russian cap-
Hahn passed away on 18
Dec. 1982.
is
the last photo Erich
send home
to his family.
to
The photo was taken
November 1948
camp
HA UPTMANNHANS "ASSI"
This
Hartmann was allowed in
at Tscherepowez.
K
in
a prison
RUSSIANS FREE
LUFTWAFFE ACE PILOT
WHO CLAIMED
348 VICTORIES Friedland Camp, West
Germany, Friday. Erich Hartmann, the German fighter pilot who claimed to have destroyed 348 enemy planes during the 1939-45 war, arrived here to-night after 10 years as a Russian captive. He arrived with 38 other German ex-prisoners, including a woman who was an
SS signals assistant. Hartmann, who is
FREE AT LAST?: foot on
15 October 1955, Hartmann
Germany once
set
more, this time at Herlesh-
His first half-curious, half-elated expression was captured by a photographer as he stepped from
ausen.
the train.
33,
is
a
walking skeleton. As he left the bus which brought him from the frontier railway station he was cheered by other Germans who had been imprisoned in Russia. His former fellow-prisoners shook his hand,
embraced him and
him chocolate and first
offered The cigarettes.
words he said were
some
:
"
There are
We
of us left in Russia. must not rest until they are with us." But before reporters could talk to Hartmann, his comrades took him
away to rest. When he had left a group of returned prisoners said that he had been " a light in the darkness to us." They said that his brave stand against the Russians and all forms of coercion, and his unbroken will, had helped them to hold out during the past 10 years.
ENCOURAGED COMRADES He had
refused to work for the Russians, and encouraged his colleagues to do the same. Consequently he was often put into beaten and solitary confinement, picked on for every possible reason. " We are telling you this because we feel that he is too modest to tell you himself." said ex-Lt.-Col. Otto " For example, at the end Heuer. of the war he could nave flown into American or British hands, but he preferred to stay with his men and be captured by the Russians."
Heuer said that in Schachti Camp, where Hartmann was kept at fellow Hartmann's period. prisoners went on strike until he was released from one of his spells of solitary confinement. On another occasion Hartmann went on hunger strike, sayine he would rather die than be a prisoner. He was forcibly Reuter. ted.
one
"AM I REALL Y AND FINALL Y FREE?": A few minutes after arriving at Herleshausen, Erich Hartmann began to realize he wasfinallyfree ofthe Bear's
At the urging of the reception committee, he remove his worn and threadbare prison clothing in order to be fitted with a new suit and (The National Observer) shoes.
—
grasp.
starts to
This article appeared in a
London paper, j
October 21, 1955.
M HOME, )tt
MUTTI!: On October
WE'LL BUILD A
Hartmann Mother at her
THERE!: Erich and Ursula Hartmann
home by his me. His father had passed away in formally welcomed
NEW HOME RIGHT OVER
17, 1955, after
years in Russian prison camps, Erich
1952.
survey Weil im Schdnbuch from the balcony of his parents home shortly after his homecoming in October 1955.
EMACIATED YET ARDENT: A 'aunt Erich
Hartmann cuddles up
o his wife Usch the
day after he eached homefrom his lOVi years of
ncarceration in Russia.
HAPPY FAMILY MAN:
Erich
Hartmann's crew chief in JG52, was Heinz "Bimmell" Mertens, shown here on December 13th, 1967 in his home at Kapellen/Erft near Dusseldorf
Toliver)
FOUR TOP ACES— 1104 AERIAL VICTORIES: Numbers
1, 2,
3,
and number 26 of
the top aces ofthe worldposed at
Furstendeldbruck
in the
sum-
mer of 1957: Major Gerhard Barkhorn, tories),
(301
aerial
vic-
Major E rich Hartmann,
(352) Colonel Johannes Steinhoff (176) and Major Gunther Rail (275). Steinhoff and Rail rose to Lt.
both
General rank and
commanded
man Air Force
the
new
Ger-
in later years.
Barkhorn rose to Major General and Hartmann to the rank of colonel.
POST- WAR TRAINEES: Co-author Toliver, on 13 March 1956 assigned to the USAF'20th Fighter Wing stationed in England, in
went on
to
visits three
ex-Luftwaffe aces
who were undergoing refresher training at RAF
Valley
Gerhard Barkhorn, with Herbert Wehnelt and Walter Krupinski. Krupinskiand Wehnelt (USAF— 20th Wing) become Lt. Generals and Barkhorn a Major General.
Wales. Left
is
BIOGRAPHER MEETS BIOGRAPHEE: 25 June 1956 at Suttgart/Echterdingen, Author
Ray
Toliver met with Heinz
Baer (left) and Erich Hartmann. At right is USAF "Pritzl"
Colonel Farley Peebles of McQueeny, Texas. Baer lost his life
on
28
April,
1957
crash ofa light airplane.
in
the
He was
the 8 th rankingfighter ace ofthe world, with
220
aerial victories
ofwhich 16 were whileflying the Me-262jet.
THE SHAKHTY REVOLT and whispered
aide
241
in the officer's ear.
The
aide looked hard at
Erich as the sergeant related the scene in front of the barracks.
The
aide set
down
a
he was holding, knocked gently on the
file
commandant's door and disappeared inside. Snatches of agitated talk were audible through the closed door. Erich
knew he was
mentality.
He
in for another confrontation with the
consoled himself with the thought that there wasn't
gimmick they could employ,
a thing they could say, a dialectic
had not already encountered. They thought
that he lines,
and had no
human
real
contact.
swung open and the aide beckoned
The commandant was
He had
a face
erased, but
hell
in straight
The commandant's door
to Erich.
a colonel, a roly-poly administrative type.
from which kindness had not been completely
he regarded Erich
"What in
NKVD
is
stonily.
about refusing to work, Hartmann?"
this
"Under the Geneva Convention,
I
am a staff officer and—"
"For you, the Geneva Convention does not
You have been
exist.
convicted of war crimes. I've seen your dossier. Soviet justice has mercifully left you alive.
You
should be glad to work, glad to be
alive."
"Your country won the war, Colonel—more than I
am
an
officer in
the
criminal of any kind.
Your own Lenin
keeps prisoners of war longer than
five years ago.
defeated country, and not a
air force of a
six
says that
months
any country that is
imperialist
and
degenerate."
The
colonel's eyebrows shot
"You know Lenin's "Yes,
I
do.
I
writings,
have read
all
up
in surprise.
Hartmann?" of them.
that puts prisoners of war to work
The
colonel stood
up
quickly.
is
He
also says that a nation
a parasite
He had
on those
prisoners."
obviously had enough
Lenin for one day.
"You
refuse to work?"
"I refuse absolutely.
I
insist that
appointed to investigate these ask that you shoot will
not work."
me
down.
an international tribunal be
camp I
not, then
I
wish to be executed, because
I
conditions.
If
THE BLOND KNIGHT
242
The
colonel pressed a button
"This prisoner to work.
The
Take him
his desk,
and the aide appeared.
armed guard came
in
of his office.
at Shakhty
house at the camp inside the wire.
GERMANY
confinement until he agrees
colonel watched impassively as an
The bunker
F
to the bunker."
and escorted Erich out
over
on
to be put in solitary
is
<5
was a small room in the
gates. Access to
it
As the blackness of
rear of the guard-
was through a heavy door
solitary
him once more, Erich fought down
confinement closed
the desperate tide that
welled up inside him. Darkness and solitude gave only one solace,
By concentrating on Weil im Schonbuch to happy days in which he was surrounded by decency and love. Visions of home put power in his will, and as the days rolled by he knew that somehow he would survive here as he had in all the other bunkers into which he had been cast. The other German "war criminals" who had come to Shakhty the chance to focus his thoughts on Usch.
he could project himself back
her,
with Erich were in a black
The
mood
to
after a
day of slavery in the mines.
labor was murderously hard, the working conditions and
equipment let
life,
primitive,
and food was barely
alone a day's work.
When
sufficient to sustain
they crawled back exhausted
into their dismal mass dormitory, Erich was missing.
The
ser-
geant of the guard told them that the Blond Knight was in the bunker.
News of Erich's punishment acted The prisoners' already ragged tempers ing
and
yelling in the barracks
like gasoline
flared
on a campfire.
out of control. Shout-
brought out the guards to subdue
the prisoners. There were mutterings about a revolt. As the days
went by and Erich
failed to return to the barracks, the rage of
the prisoners— intensified by the backbreaking slavery in the mines
—began building up to flash point. At the end of the fifth day, on
their
way back
to barracks
from
the mines, prisoners trudging past the guardhouse saw the bunker
door
ajar.
Inside they could see Erich
feet tied to a chair.
Two
Hartmann,
his
hands and
bulky guards stood over him, and while
one pulled Erich's head back by the hair and forced open
mouth, the other crammed food down
his throat.
his
This degrading
THE SHAKHTY REVOLT
243
spectacle applied the ultimate strain to the bone-weary but
al-
ready fuming prisoners.
The
when assembly sounded an angry roar hundred throats. Before any of them really knew
following morning
bellowed from a
what they were doing, the infuriated
prisoners burst out of the
A
barracks and overpowered their guards. ing across the prison yard to the
colonel's eyes bulged with terror as his office
and the
scruffy
mob went
wild
commandant's
office.
stream-
The Russian
door crashed open
mob seized him roughly.
Sitting tied to the chair in black silence, Erich's
first
inkling of
came when he heard a heavy pounding at the bunker door. Someone yelled, "We'll get you out," and an ax blade smashed a hole in the door. More ax blows opened a hole large enough for a hand. A scrawny arm came through and tripped the the revolt
lock.
Two
sweating and excited prisoners burst into the bunker,
breathing heavily and hardly able to
"We've got the whole camp It's
staff
talk.
under guard. You're
free,
Bubi.
a revolt."
They
cut his bonds, and Erich stood up, rubbing circulation
into his legs
and arms. The daylight hurt
prisoners led
him out
of the bunker.
passed the bunker guard, a thrust into the cell by
his eyes.
The two
other
As they stepped outside they
Rumanian
who was being They tied the guard
prisoner,
two grinning P.O.W.'s.
quickly to the chair.
"See
how you
like the
bunker," one of them yelled.
Erich heard the heavy door slam shut, and quietly gave thanks
amid the tumult that he was
When
free of the black hole.
Erich got back to the commandant's
an excited
office,
horde of prisoners was milling around outside the building. colonel
and two majors made up the command
camp, together with sixteen guards and
man
officers,
Colonel
structure of the
Two
Ger-
Prager,
had
a lady doctor.
Wolf and Lieutenant Colonel
played a large role in raising the revolt, but the prisoners
looked to Erich for leadership now. They had done
He was The
A
this for
all
him.
expected to take charge. colonel
commandant and
his
two majors and the lady
THE BLOND KNIGJHT
244
doctor looked somewhat surprised.
have their
had
lives
revolted.
"Let them
The
snuffed out by the
They were all go.
They
man
OtF
GERMANY
obviously expected to
whom
for
the prisoners
to be disappointed.
Don't hurt any of them in any way/' said Erich.
prisoners in the flush of their triumph
had
released other
They had also caught and beaten a few of the pigeons. The ruckus inside the camp and the freeing of
prisoners, Russians.
hated stool
Russian
the
had brought part
prisoners
Shakhty town to the prison to get out of the gates,
An
"Come
A
woman
to the hesitant
populace of
Russian prisoners managed
with a babushka around her head
Germans from
Come out now Come out!"
out!
from here.
The
the
but the Germans hesitated.
elderly Russian
beckoned
gates.
of
outside.
while you can. We'll take you away
move
couple of eager P.O.W.'s started to
slowly toward the
Erich sprinted across from the commandant's office and
gates.
headed them
off,
standing in front of them with his hands raised.
Nobody among us goes outside." The prisoners were a little shaken. you go out, you're escaping. The Russians have regulaabout that, and guns. They'll shoot you down like dogs be-
"Stop! Stay here!
"Why, "If
tions
fore
Bubi, why?"
you get
five miles."
"What do we do "We're going
then? Tell us what to do."
to stay right here in the
camp," said Erich
firmly.
"Someone must come when we contact higher headquarters. We'll tell them what's wrong, maybe get things put right or made better. But dont go out or they'll kill you." Muttering among the P.O.W/s now replaced the shouting. They stopped their movement toward the gates. The freedom beckoning beyond the gates was enough to torment a man to death. They teetered
on the knife-edge of
shouted, "Erich's right. They'll
decision. kill
us
if
A
voice back in the
we go
out."
mob
The rumble
agreement that followed told Erich he had prevented a
of
catas-
trophe.
"Come call his
A
on," he said, "we'll get the
commandant and make him
headquarters."
roar of approval
went up from the
prisoners,
and they
all
THE SHAKHTY REVOLT shambled
toward the commandant's
off
jammed with
245
prisoners
who
Erich shouldered his way
The
office.
place was
hadn't joined the rush for the gates.
in.
The commandant was brought to his own office, incredulity and fat face. The Russian officer sat down at his
alarm written on his
desk with stubble-chinned scarecrows on either side of him, and
him was
facing
Hartmann
the
grin.
"Colonel," Erich said, "please
your higher headquarters and
The
colonel shrugged. "They'll
down. We want you to call them what has gone on here." send soldiers and probably shoot sit
tell
the lot of you," he said.
The blue
and
level.
"I don't think so, Colonel.
Now
eyes were cool
what has happened. Where
is
please call
them and
tell
them
higher headquarters located?"
"Rostov," said the colonel, as he picked up the phone.
He
asked to be put through to the
commanding
general. Erich
heard the general come on the line with a querying "Yes?"
commandant at Camp Shakhty. The German prisoners have made a revolution here—" "General, this
A
the
is
squawk on the other end of the phone was followed by
torrent of questions. Finally the
commandant managed
a
to get in
another word.
"No, General, officers
The
and
prisoner
staff.
am
I .
.
.
being held by the prisoners with
all
my
No, we have not been harmed, General.
Hartmann wishes
Erich took the phone. His
to speak with you."
command
of Russian was useful in
such encounters. "General,
am
we have
exceedingly bad conditions at this camp.
responsible mainly for this revolt, because
a criminal
and
a slave.
Our
I
refuse to
work
I
as
barracks arrangements are vile and the
Underground labor twelve hours a day under such conditions will kill these men." "What do you want me to do about it?" The general's voice food
is
not
fit
for pigs.
was harsh.
"We
want
a
spect this place, tions.
government
man from Moscow
and an international tribunal
to
come and
in-
to see these condi-
We want something done to improve things."
THE BLOND KNI&HT OF GERMANY
246
"We'll see about that, Hartmann. Meantime sonally responsible
if
hold you per-
I
commandant and
anything happens to the
the other personnel."
Erich grinned at his comrades.
"Don't worry about them, General. We're Erich set
down
"Something
will
happen very soon," he said.
Within twenty minutes
A company
armed
gentlemen here."
the phone and turned to his revolutionaries.
a
tumult of voices and the roar of revving
truck engines heralded the arrival of the gates.
all
with
tommy
at the
two hundred men
of soldiers, perhaps
to the teeth
Red Army
camp
all told,
guns and with cannons mounted
on their trucks, pulled up outside the entrance. The tumult came from the Russian civil populace, who booed, hissed and hurled abuse at the Red soldiers— their
own people.
"Why do you hold these men here?" "Let them go
home
to their
own
people.
They
have families."
all
"Shame!" Sentimentally, the Russian people were on the side of the prisoners,
and they
let
the
Red Army know it.
Erich and his comrades ambled out and watched the fantry getting ready for action.
Walking within
Red
in-
hailing distance of
the gate, Erich shouted at the nervous-looking Russian troops as
they rallied their firepower to face the scruffy scarecrows behind the wire.
"You Russian
soldiers!" Erich shouted.
the wire because
We
we were once
"We
fought a war under orders, and
we
on
are
soldiers, just like lost.
this side of
you are today.
We
are soldier
prisoners."
The Russian
civilians
turned into a cheering section for the
Blond Knight, egging him on.
"Maybe you Russian too," Erich shouted.
He fall
soldiers will
"Why
do you do
took a few steps forward and
open, exposing his chest.
one day be inside this
now
let his
a fence,
to other soldiers?"
shabby prison jacket
He spread his arms wide.
"Shoot!" he yelled. "I can't shoot back."
The
later arrival of a general
the nervous infantrymen
from Rostov was the
signal for
to ease through the gates in squads
and
THE SHAKHTY REVOLT
247
herd the Germans back into their barracks.
down the revolt by suspending
all
and the rumor was put about that
On
Moscow.
toward Erich
Russians cooled
Shakhty for
at
five days,
commissar was coming from
a
made
the sixth day, the Russians
their intentions
clear.
Guards with
came
rifles
commandant's
back at his desk in
full
to escort Erich outside the wire to the
Wolf and Lieutenant Colonel from their barracks. The commandant was Colonel
office.
Prager were also taken
"We
work
The
uniform.
not be having any more revolts here, Hartmann," he
will
said.
"Why have you sent for me, Colonel?" "The
think you have too
main
here.
You
They
people have investigated your revolution.
political
much
influence over the other prisoners to
are not only a Fascist
and
re-
a ringleader, but also
a revolutionary."
"Then what do you propose
to do?" said Erich.
"We
this association
are going to break
up
We
know who the leaders camps. You and Wolf and Prager
other prisoners. to other
between you and the
are
and
they'll
be sent
are going to Novocher-
kassk as part of that plan."
"What about the conditions "Some
at Novocherkassk
are going to
You won't
Hartmann. But you
see anything in fact, because
you are going into the bunker again
for this revolution.
hell into
camp, and the tribunal?"
things are going to be changed,
won't be here to see them.
ment
in this
Your comrades here
be shot, and
them. That's
all,
will
as punish-
be told that you
you'll disappear. That'll
put the fear of
Hartmann."
Five of the ensuing nine months at Novocherkassk
jail
Erich
spent in the bunker, during which time his mail was again interrupted.
In response to his incessant requests, the Russians
him appear before of his case. colonels
A
a tribunal specially set
general
up
for consideration
came down from Moscow, and with
and two majors plus a
secretary, the
let
four
kangaroo proceeding
was convened. In the back and forth of his confrontation with the tribunal,
THE BLOND KNIGHT 6 F GERMANY
248
the Russians returned again and again to something that Erich considered a side issue at best.
They accused him
of having incited the
populace of Shakhty to revolt against the Soviet govern-
civilian
ment. This unfounded contention clearly obsessed the tribunal. Erich could see that he was involved in another vain deadlock
with the irrational
summed up his
Communist
His
mentality.
experiences with the Soviet judicial machinery:
"Your government convicted
me
of
war crimes without any
credible evidence, in fact, with evidence that in
country would be considered insupportable.
Geneva Convention and becoming
savages.
me
sentence
statement
final
You
all
any
truly civilized
You have
flouted the
men from
other decencies that prevent
try to strip
me
of the humblest rights and
to twenty-five years as a slave for things that never
happened.
"When
resist
I
am
investigate— I
and ask only
for
an international tribunal to
know about
not afraid that the world should
anything you claim
ment
for
have done—you put
I
months and
let
me
in solitary confine-
the word go about that
I
am
dead. In
the world today, your government talks and seeks peace, but with
thousand or more German
sixty
to
end the
last war.
soldiers in your power,
Someday you may be
treated the
you refuse
same way,
Soviet officers.
"You
are at
and
plexes
war with the world through your
stupidity.
volt at Shakhty.
them face
Perhaps you are right about the
what
is
com-
civil
re-
never said a word to the Russian people to raise
against their government, but
today. will
I
inferiority
in their hearts.
You should be
Were
someday it
afraid of your
up
own
be done with you and what you
all
of
you
to them,
I
will
have to
would be
free
people, for one day they
call justice.
God
help you
then."
The
tribunal shuffled uneasily under this quiet rebuke, but
when
he was done they looked at each other and nodded. The verdict had been reached— long before the tribunal ever sat in its mockery of fair play.
"Twenty-five years' hard labor. Clearly a ternational bourgeoisie."
member
of the in-
THE SHAKHTY REVOLT Erich's ordeal
had
its
249
counterpart in what his wife and parents
endured in Germany. His mother made a
series of pathetically
desperate attempts to secure Erich's release by writing to high Soviet
officials.
Part of her letter to Generalissimo Stalin
duced here to convey something of the heartbreak
felt
is
repro-
by a mother
under such conditions.
To 28 April 1951
Generalissimus Stalin Excellency:
Excuse
me and
please understand, Generalissimo Stalin,
if
I
here-
with address myself, a mother of a prisoner of war, to you the highest personage of the
USSR.
For your information I beg to state the following: My son, Erich Hartmann, born on 19 April 1922 in Weissach near Stuttgart, Wiirttemberg, Germany, active member of the air forces (fighter), was serving at the end of the war in 1945 near Prague, when he was taken prisoner by the Americans. Fourteen days thereafter, he was, together with 7,000 men, put under Russian mandate and has been in Russian captivity since then.
My
have been condemned, in December 1949, to 25 he had been a staff officer. I cannot believe this condemnation, for my son has, like every Russian, done nothing but his duty of soldier toward his country, did he not? This cannot, I believe, be considered as a punishable crime and entail such a severe condemnation. son
is
said to
years of forced labor because
Excellency: In this time of the
many
endeavors for world peace,
I
appeal to your sense of justice and beg you to relieve a mother from her
and so consuming grief, a mother who yearns toward her son and has not received any notice from him since December 1949. I beg you to have pity and to set my son, prisoner of war Erich Hartmann, free, and to have him sent back to his native country, i.e. to Weil im Schonbuch, Kreis Boblingen, Wiirttemberg, Germany. Should you have any objections against such a measure, I herewith assure you that my son, when again at home, will never again participate in activities against you and your nation, but will quite peacefully and in entire neutrality lead his further life. I promise you this, and as his mother I shall cause him to do so. I shall exact this promise from my son immediately after his return, and I know that he keeps unconditionally what he promises. Therefore please be kind and hear my supplications. And let six years of captivity be penance enough. Hoping very much not to meet with hard-heartedness, I am, Exgreatest
cellency,
Yours very truly, Mrs. Elisabeth Hartmann
THE BLOND KNI
Kirovograd Sevastopol
Kolomea Crimea-Chersonaise
Crimea-Chersonaise
7
)
THE BLOND KNI&HT OF GERMANY
^94
Time
Date
Victory
222-223
May
8
1944
Type
A/C
Location
(After second victory on this date,
Hartmann
landed,
took two mechanics into the fuselage of his Me- 109
and
224-225 226-228 229-231 232-237 238-239 240—243 244-250 251-256 257-261 262-266 267-290 291-301 302-306 3°7
8
308-309 310-311 312-313 3 1 4~3 1 5
8
21 29 1
3
2
Jun. 1944
3
4
Jun. 1944 Jun. 1944
5
Jun. 1944
6
Jun. 1944
4 Aug. 1944 Oct. 1944
12 l
5
16 21
23 24 5
*
Roman Roman
YAK-9
Bobruisk
Mustangs
Ploesti
Airacobra
Baranov
YAK-
Briinn
27
22
35 2
Airacobra
(Overtook Nowotny)
Jun. 1944 2 5 Jun. to 23 Aug. 1944 2
Crimea Peninsula La-7
24
317-322 2 3 3-3 2 7 328-331 333~34 6 347-35 1
fled the
1944 1944 1944
Jun. 1944
1
316
33 2
May May May
6 4 8
Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov.
1944
1944 1944 1944 1944 1944 1944 1944 1944 Feb. 1945 Feb. to 27 Feb. 1945 Apr. 1945 May 1945 0830—0920
TYPES OF AIRPLANES FLOWN BY ACE ERICH HARTMANN DURING WORLD WAR Bucher Bu-131 Focke-Wulf FW-44
Klemm KL-35 Arado AR-66 Focke-Wulf FW-58 Focke-Wulf FW-56 Heinkel He-46 Junkers
W-34
Heinkel He-51
Heinkel He-50
MODELS FLOWN
IN
II
Junkers F-13 Junkers
W-33
Bucher Bu-133 North American NAA-64 Arado AR-96 Fiesler Fi-153
Klemm
KL-25 Morane C-445 Messerschmitt Bf-108 Messerschmitt Me-iogB, C, D, E, F, Messerschmitt Me- 262 (jet)
G&K
COMBAT:
Messerschmitt Me-i09G-7, G-10, G-14, G-16 and Me-109 K--4. *
and
Hartmann's 352nd victory was scored on his 825th actual combat dogfight.
his
1405th combat mission
APPENDIX
295
MOVEMENTS OF 1
Ftotti
JUNE VI KlU nr
1
Jan.
1943
ooldatskaja
5
Jan.
Jan.
1943
Jan.
1943
Mineralny „ A Armaviv Rostow
22 Jan. 1943 Feb. 1943 8
-7
-
Feb. 1943
14 Mar. 1943
Kertsch
A _ Apr.
rp
1
1
Aug. 1943 3 Aug. 1943 Aug. 1943 l 9 Aug. 1943 2 4 Aug. 1943 2 Sep. 1943 6
12 Aug. 1943
l
13 Aug. 1943 18 Aug. 1943
M
6
Sep.
8
Sep. 1943
8
Sep. 1943
1943
24 Sep. 1943 16 Oct. 1943 19 Oct. 194?
5
-7 -8 - 23 - 15 - 18 - 21
25 27
Nov. 1943- 6 Jan. 1944 - 9 Jan. 1944 - 22 Feb. 1944 - 6 Mar. 1944- 7 Mar. 1944- 11 Mar. 1944 — 23 Mar. 1944- 24 Mar. 1944- 26 Mar. 1944- 5
6
Apr.
1944- 9 - 10 May 1944 — 17 May 1944 - 31
1
7 10 23
7 8
12 24
10 Apr. 1944 11
18
*The above
list
necessary that each of miles away.
IV
laman
T
T
Ugnm
Orel
Iwanowka
Warwarowka Charkow-Rogan Charkow-Sud Peretschepino
Kutanikowo Makejewka
Se P-
Stalino-Nord
J
943
Sep. 1943 Sep. 1943
Grischino
Sep. 1943
Dnjepropetrowsk
Oct. 1943 Oct. 1943
Nowo
Boguslaw Saparoshje
Malaja Beresowka bei Alexandria
Oct. 1042
Kirovvograd
Jan.
1944 Jan. 1944 Feb. 1944 Mar. 1944 Mar. 1944 Mar. 1944 Mar. 1944 Mar. 1944 Mar. 1944 Apr. 1944
Apostolovo Malaja Wiski
A Pr
Roman
-
May May May
x
944 1944 1944 1944
indicates
located daily. Since III
Wody
Sep. 1943
23 Aug. 1943 1
1
Nikolajew
Mar. 1943- 31 Mar. 1943 1
l/~\f*sitir\n t (UVUKUfl
•
1943- 2 July 1943 T T - 13 July July 1943 1943 3 T M July 1943 19 July 1943 20 July 1943 - 2 Aug. 1943 Aug. 1943 - 5 Aug- *943 3 1
1944*
(~Z.£>nortiJ*ihinsi1 UJJI llKAXt,
Dec. 1942
11 Jan.
list
DURING THE PERIOD 1
Airnolri tX.ll j
V
1
-4 1943 - 10 1943 - 22
III/JG-52 1942
TO
DEC.
Nowo Uman
Krasnoje
Kalinowky Winniza Ost Proskurow
Kamenez Podolsk Kolomea Lemberg Krim Chersonaise Zarnesti
Roman
where the headquarters of III/JG-52 was
Gruppe was composed
them
of three squadrons
generally operate from other air bases
it
was
some
Those outlying bases are not listed herein. Study of the above Gruppe must have had an almost insurmountable prob-
indicates that III
THE BLOND KNIOHT OF GERMANY
296
PERSONAL DATA ERICH ALFRED HARTMANN
Name: Date of
Birth: 19 April 1922 Place of Birth: Weissach/Wiirttemberg
Father
s
name: Alfred Erich Hartmann 1 October 1 894
Father's birth date:
Father's place of birth:
Ehingen/Wurttemberg Mothers maiden name: Elisabeth Wilhelmine Machtholf Mother s birth date: 16 February 1897 Mothers place of birth: Ehingen/Wurttemberg Date of
father's
and mother's marriage:
2
September 1920
Place: Stuttgart/Wurttemberg
Date of Erich's marriage to Ursula Paetsch: 10 September 1944 Place of marriage: Bad Wiessee Chronological formal education: April 1928-April 1932: Grade school in Weil im Schonbuch April 1932-April 1936: High School Gymnasium in Boblingen April 1932-April 1937: April
NPEA Gymnasium
1937-September 1940: Gymnasium
in Rottweil
at Korntal
Would
Education major:
have studied medicine but war intervened 10th Flying Regiment, Neukuhren, East Prussia (near Konigsberg), 1 October 1940 Chronological list of stations:
First station
1 1
1 1
and date
of reporting:
October 1940: 10th Flying Regiment, Neukuhren March 1941 Air War School, LKS2, Berlin-Gatow :
November 1941 Pre-fighter School 2, Lachon Speyerdorf March 1942: Fighter School 2, Zerbst-Anhalt :
20 August 1942: Fighter Supply Group, East Gleiwitz/Oberschleissen 10 October 1942: 7/III/JG-52, Eastern Front 2 September 1943: CO. 9 Sqdn. III/JG-52, Eastern Front 1
October 1944:
CO. 6 Sqdn. II/JG-52, Eastern Front
November 1944: CO. I Gruppe/}G-$2 Eastern Front 1 March 1945: transition to Me-262 Jets at Lechfeld 25 March 1945: CO. I Gruppe/JG-52 Date commissioned as an officer: 1 March 1942 1
y
Place commissioned: Fighter School
lem
in logistics in trying to
supplied. It
is
almost incomprehensible to the authors that
All bases listed are in the t
Place names are taken is
as
Zerbst
keep three constantly moving operational units
able to account for itself as well as
ing
2,
it
III
Gruppe was
did.
Ukraine and the Caucasus regions,
from III/JG-52 daily history and the —Authors
used in that document.
spell-
APPENDIX Chronological
297
list
of dates of promotion:
First Lieutenant:
1 July 1944 September 1944 Major: 8 May 1945
Captain:
1
Lieutenant Colonel: 12 December i960 Colonel: 26 July 1967 awarded Knight's Cross: 29 October 1943 awarded Knight's Cross and Oak Leaves: 2
Date Date Date Date
March 1944 awarded Knight's Cross, Oak Leaves and Swords: 4 July 1944 awarded Knight's Cross, Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds: 25 July
1944
TOPS AND FIRSTS-LUFTWAFFE,
WORLD WAR
Top Ace of World War II — Major Erich Hartmann: 352 victories Top Night Fighter Ace of World War II — Major Heinz Schnaufer:
II
121
vic-
tories
Top German Ace ders:
of Spanish Civil
War
(1937-1938) -Lt. Werner Moel-
14 victories
World War II — Major Hannes Gentzen
First
German Ace
First
Ace to exceed Baron Manfred von Richthofen's World 80 — Capt. Werner Moelders
First to score
1
of
00 victories — Major Werner Moelders
1 5
:
War
I score
of
July 1941
— Major Gordon Gollob: 29 August 1942 First to score 200 victories — Capt. Hermann Graf: 2 October 1942 First to score 250 victories — Major Walter Nowotny 14 October 1943 First to score 300 victories — Capt. Erich Hartmann: 24 August 1944 First to score 350 victories — Major Erich Hartmann: 4 April 1945 Most kills scored in a single day — Major Emil Lang: 1 8 victories Most kills on a single mission (sortie) — Major Erich Rudorffer: 6 November First to score
1
50
victories
:
1943; 13 victories
Most kills scored on the Western (includes Mediterranean) Front — Capt. Hans Joachim Marseille: 158 victories Most kills scored on the Russian Front — Major Erich Hartmann: 352 victories
Best
kill
average per sortie flown (day fighters)
— Lt.
Guenther Scheel: 70
missions; 71 victories (Russian Front)
Top
fighter ace for
number
Lt. Herbert Rollwage:
Top
Jet
down (day
fighters)
—
102 victories (44 of them four-motor bombers)
four-engine killer (night fighters) tories
Top
of four-engine aircraft shot
— Major
Heinz Schnaufer: 121
vic-
(mostly four-engine)
Ace of World
War
II
(Me-262)
— Major
Heinz Bar: 16
victories
)
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
2 98
THE GERMAN LUFTWAFFE FIGHTER ACES-TOP AWARDS Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds Germany's Highest Military Award
Knight's Cross with
Name
Victories
Galland, Adolph
Graf,
104
Gordon
Gollob,
150 212
Hermann
Hartmann, Erich Lent, Helmut Marseille, Hans Joachim
352 110
Werner
101
Nowotny, Walter Schnaufer, Heinz
258
Molders,
(102 at night)
158
121
(plus 14 in Spain)
(all at
night)
Oak Leaves and Swords The Second Highest Award
Knight's Cross with
Name
Victories
Heinz Barkhorn, Gerhard
220
Bar,
jet)
301
Wilhelm
Batz,
(16 with Me-2 62
237 112
Biihlingen, Kurt
Anton Herrmann, Hajo
192
Herbert
130
(includes 7 in Spain
267 108 102
(includes 5 in Spain)
Hackl,
Ihlefeld, Kittcl,
9
Otto
Liitzow, Giinther
Mayer, Egon Miincheberg, Joachim
135 123
Oesau, Walter
Ostermann,
206
Josef
101
Guenther
275 174 222
Priller,
Reinert, Ernst
Wilhelm
Rudorffer, Erich
Sayn- Wittgenstein, Prinz Schroer,
Werner
Steinbatz, Leopold Steinhoff, Johannes Streib,
(includes 8 in Spain)
102
Hans
Philipp,
Rail,
Max Helmut
Werner
Wilcke, Wolf-Dietrich
Wurmheller, Josef
Zu
83
(night)
114
99 176 66 162 102
(night)
APPENDIX
299 Nur
Der Oberbeffehlshaber der Luftwaffe FUhrungsslab
fUr
den Pienstgebrauch
Ic
Errch Hartmann
Weil im Bchonbuch Kreis Boblirtgen
W vtbg
Die Kriegsflugzeuge der Feindmdchte
Teil
II:
Sowjet-Union
Bilder
und Leistungen
(einschlieftlich brit u.
Stand:
1.
USA. Lieferungen)
10.
1943
/X Etng.:
C5.
52
-5.0EZ.1943
Briefrtttrlfd.gt:
Sonderousgabe des „Frontnachrichtenblaftes der Luftwaffe" B/l/43
PILOTS'
HANDBOOK OF ENEMY STRENGTH.
Title page of a
on the Soviet Front. A clever idea, the booklet contained photographs of the Soviet, British and American aircraft most likely to be encountered in aerial combat. Detail drawings showing the locations of armament and the vulnerable fuel tanks of several types of aircraft are on the following pages.
handbook
issued to Erich
Hartmann
in January 1944I
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
300
1L-2 = HJI-2 Schlachtflugzeug
STORMOVIK. The bomber. The
Soviet answer to
f
the Luftwaffe's Stuka divebomber and the
Ilyushin 11-2 was a highly effective close-support
its vitals made it an almost imdown. Hartmann's first victory was an 11-2 on 5 November 1942. Between then and 7 May 1945 Hartmann shot down sixty-two 11-2 aircraft, this score including a number of the later models of the 11-2
extremely heavy armor-plating protection of possible aircraft to shoot
known
in
some
circles as
the
II-7.
APPENDIX
301
Bell
P-39 Airacobra Jagdeinsitzer
AIRACOBRA. Over Russia the call "Airacobra! "was heard and dreaded by the Luftwaffe because the Soviets equipped a group made up of the best fighter aces with this type of aircraft. They painted their airplanes red and called themselves "Red Guards," and they accounted well for themselves. Hartmann, as is evident from his No. 1 logbook, shot down eighteen Airacobras up to 29 October 1943. He estimates another fifteen fell victim before the war ended.
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY SB-2
CB-2
isb-2m-ioo)
Kampf- und Aufklarungsflugzeu/
approxhnately SB-, Hartmann shot down twin-engine aircraft.
of Soviet forty of this type
APPENDIX
3°3
MIG-3 «= MHr-3 Jagdeinsitzer
MIG-3. The Mikoyan-Gurevich-designed Soviet fighter used early in Hartmann scored only one victory over the MIG-3, coming on 27 January 1943 over Amavir in the Caucasus. The MIG-i
the war against Germany. that
and MIG-3
aircraft
were being phased out at
this time.
Hartmann's log and it was his second it lacked maneu-
the JG-52 records show his kill as a "MIG-i or MIG-3" and victory of the war. Maximum speed was about 390 mph, but verability necessary for aerial
combat.
The Luftwaffe Groups based on P-38s
in the vicinity
the Eastern front
met American-flown
of Bucharest and Ploesti.
a top speed of ^about 350 mph and lacking maneuverseemed doomed from the beginning. However, it could absorb a tremendous amount of lead; German bullets made toothpicks out of its Siberian birch frame fuselage and it still kept flying. Hartmann shot down
49
LAGG-3. With
ability, this fighter
twenty-seven Lagg-3 aircraft in 1943.
APPENDIX
LAGG-3
305
JIAIT-3
Jagdeinsitzer
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY LA-5 =
JIA-5 1
f
Jagdeinsitzer
Kraftstoffmengen: Bihalter
7 -
zusammen
2^ 20 mm
je200
77<7 Z
5.20
J
MH
Schufi
LAGG-5 SOVIET FIGHTER.
™
pdots cap and the Russian with a radical engine as " top capabilities. Lagg- 5
^ X
"'t
re at nsp Hartmam had gre 413 ™ph. buzz along between y them 7 of managed to down seventy
at
1
^TBS ^
for these aircraft,
December
but
APPENDIX
307
Hawker Hurricane
II
C
Jagdeinsitzer Merkunft: GB.
BRITISH
HAWKER HURRICANE.
tered lend-lease, Russian-flown aircraft.
cane, but since his second logbook
guess
shot
how many down
fell
before his guns.
in every sortie.
is
Hartmann
occasionally encoun-
He remembers combating still
missing he
The JG-52
records
is
the Hurri-
reluctant to say or
do not identify types
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
3o8
JAK-1
HK-1
Jagdeinsitzer
YAK-i.
f
Russia's Alexander S. Yakovlev designed the
"Krasavec" (Beauty)
YAK-i
T
plywood and metal
known early in the war as the I-26. A YAK-7 and was merely an improved YAK-i.
fighter,
model was known as the HartIt was almost impossible to tell the difference between the two models. mann shot down sixteen YAK-i and YAK-7 aircraft between 1 August and 9 August 1943, according to his first logbook.
later
APPENDIX
309
Super-marine Spitfire
V
Jagdflugzeug Herkunft: GB.
SPITFIRE.
Britain's
famous
Again, Erich refuses to guess
and
fighter
how many
fell
was another lend-lease opponent. victim to his attack but he shrugs
says "only a few." Russia received approximately 14,700 lend-lease air-
which over 6,000 were from Great Britain. Of the total, 8,200 were numbers delivered, they included P-39 Airacobra, Spitfire, Hurricane, Curtiss P-40, North American P-51 "Mustangs."
craft of
fighters and, in order of
THREE VIEWS OF THE
BF-109G-5 (ME-109G). Hartmann flew combat in various models of the 109, including Bf-iogG-7, G-10, G-14, G-16, andMEiogK-4. In addition, he has flown the Bf-109-B, C, D, E,
all
F
of his
and, of course,
all
the
G models listed
above.
GLOSSARY A-20: Twin-engined Douglas attack bomber, also
known
as a
"Boston"
or "Havoc."
Abort: Turn back from an aerial mission before completion.
Acceptable Loss:
Combat
judged not to be high for
loss
results ob-
tained; within the limits of affordable cost.
Combat: Combat between or among hostile on wing of an airplane. Airacobra: Nickname for the Bell P-39 fighter airplane.
Aerial
forces in the air.
Aileron: Control surface
Airstrip: Generally a landing field for aircraft.
Ammo: Ammunition. Anchor: Apply in
flight.
air brakes, flaps,
etc, in an attempt to slow
"Throw out the anchor' —reduce speed
down as
rapidly
rapidly as
possible.
The
Angle-off: target
and
angular measurement between line of flight of an aerial line of sight of
an attacking
aircraft.
Anoxia: Absence of oxygen in the blood experienced by pilots while flying at high altitudes.
Attrition:
The
enemy
ac-
which includes
ac-
process of permanent loss of aircraft due to
tion or other operational or defined
causes,
cidents.
Auger-in:
A slang term meaning to
crash in an airplane.
bomber by Boeing. The "Flying Fortress." Four-engined bomber by Consolidated. The "Liberator." Two-engined bomber by North American. The "Mitchell."
B-17: Four-engined
B-24: B-25:
Bail or Bailout:
The
action of parachuting from an airplane. Sometimes
written as "bale out." Balls Out: Full speed ahead! lating the speed of a
Bandit: Pilot slang for an Barrel Roll:
An
aerial
Taken from the
centrifugal governor regu-
steam engine.
enemy
maneuver
aircraft.
in
which an airplane
is
caused to
make
a complete roll about a line offset but parallel to the longitudinal
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY the chamber of a revolver revolves about the barrel. Some-
axis, as
times called a "slow Belly-land:
To
roll/'
but the two are
land an airplane on
the landing gear.
A
its
slightly different.
underside without the benefit of
skidding landing with no wheels, due to their
having been shot away in combat or the lowering mechanism rendered inoperative.
An
Bird:
airplane
is
a bird to a pilot.
Blind Approach: Approach to a landing under conditions of very low visibility
made with
man Army,
featuring
armored forces and with these
the aid of instruments or radio.
Highly mobile form of warfare introduced by the Ger-
Blitz, Blitzkrieg:
new
air
between
cooperation
close
fast-moving
power. Old-style army units could not cope
techniques, which led to rapid victories. Literally,
"flash war"; generally, lightning war.
B.O.B.: Battle of Britain.
Boa Cumulus:
A cloud around a mountain top.
Boston: North American Aviation
The
Company
twin-engine light bomber.
A-20.
Bogey: First sighting of an unidentified airplane in
To
Bounce:
aircraft.
Brassed
off:
flight.
attack an aircraft or target on the ground from another Especially applied to catching an
enemy
pilot unawares.
Slang for angry.
Break!: "Break right!" or "Break left!" was a signal to an airborne com-
rade to
make an instantaneous
turn in the direction indicated, a
to avoid being shot down by an attacking enemy aircraft. Buck Fever: The tension and excitement experienced by a fighter pilot
maneuver designed
few combat missions. "Buck fever" usually leads to wild and missed targets. A fighter pilot no longer so afflicted is said to have conquered his buck fever. Burp Guns: Automatic machine guns usually carried by infantrymen. in his first firing
To fly low over the ground. CAP: Combat Air Patrol. Buzz:
Ceiling
Zero: Atmospheric condition
above ground
is
less
than
when cloud
fifty feet to its
height or ceiling
base.
Chomp
on the Binders: To apply the brakes. Chop Up: To shoot up an aerial or ground
target, the bullets tearing
the target to pieces.
Clobber:
To
crash an airplane; to destroy or
damage an
with gunfire.
The pilot's seat and controls in an airplane. Cold Turkey: Without mincing words. Also, a sure kill.
Cockpit:
area or airplane
GLOSSARY
313
A
Condor Legion:
volunteer
air force
made up from
the Luftwaffe to
gain experience in Spain in supporting General Franco, 1936-1939.
Vapor trails or condensation moves through the air.
behind an
aircraft
Controlled Interception: Friendly aircraft are directed to the
enemy
Contrails: as
it
by radio from a ground or
aircraft or target
A
Control Tower:
trails visible
radio-equipped
trained personnel to control air
air station.
an airfield manned by and ground traffic on or above the
facility
at
field.
To
Court-martial:
try or judge a
Damaged: As claimed
in
person in a military court.
combat, an
aircraft
claimed as partially de-
stroyed but subject to repair.
Deck: The ground, the cloud Deflection Shot:
The
level, or
the deck of an aircraft carrier.
angle of a shot in gunnery measured between
the line of sight to the target and the line of sight to the aiming point.
Diaterka:
A
prisoner-of-war
camp
near Sverdlosk in the Ural
Moun-
tains of Russia.
Ditch:
To
force-land
an airplane in the water with intention of
abandonment. Dogfight:
An
battle
aerial
between opposing
fighter aircraft.
Aerial
combat. Sometimes called a rhubarb.
A
Ejector Seat:
seat designed to catapult at sufficient velocity to clear
the airplane completely.
Eleven O'clock Low:
by a
The
clock position of a bogey or airplane sighted
pilot.
External Store:
Any
fuel tank,
bomb,
rocket, etc., attached to the wings
or fuselage of an airplane.
Fat Dog: Luftwaffe expression for large bombers loaded with bombs.
Sometimes
called "fat target"— a target of considerable value.
Feldwebel: Flight Sergeant. Firewall: Fireproof wall
between
pilot
means full throttle. Flaking: Loss of members of a flight ward before reaching the target.
and engine,
slang, "firewall the
throttle"
Flieger division:
An
of aircraft as they turn back
home-
air division.
Fliegerhorstkommandant: Airfield commandant. Forced Landing: A landing forced upon an aircraft through mechanical failure or
Four-motor:
any other reason.
A
four-motor bomber. In
erally the British Halifax, Stirling,
World War
II
these were gen-
Lancaster and Lincoln* Ameri-
can four-motors were the Boeing B-17 Fortress and Consolidated
B-24 Liberator.
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
3M
Fuhrerhauptquartier: Fiihrer Headquarters.
Furungsstab: Operations
Staff.
l ull Bore: Full throttle or full
speed ahead.
FW-190: The Focke-Wulf single-engined fighter plane. Gaggle: A number of aircraft flying in loose formation.
Gandy Dancing:
an
Skirting
avoiding
issue;
confrontation
with
a
problem. Gear: Short for landing gear, the wheels of an airplane. General der Jagdflieger: General of the Fighter Forces.
General der Kampfflieger: General of the Bomber Forces. Generalstab: General Staff.
The
Geschwader:
Luftwaffe.
homogeneous
mobile,
largest
A Wing.
formation
In the Luftwaffe a Fighter
Wing
in
the
(Jagdge-
schwader) consisted of three Gruppen. Thus:
A Wing consisted of three Gruppen (Groups) A Gruppe consisted of three Staff eln (Squadrons)
A Staff el consisted
of three
Schwarms
(Each Schwarm consisted of four
(Flights)
aircraft,
and was divided into two
Rotten.)
(The Rotte of two aircraft was the basic tactical element.) Geschwaderkommodore: The wing commander. Usually a colonel
or
lieutenant colonel; sometimes a major; very rarely, a captain.
Glycol:
A
thick
alcohol,
C 2 H 4 (OH) 2
,
used as a coolant in liquid-
cooled aircraft engines. Graf:
German
Gray Out:
when
for
Count.
Start of a blackout, the
phenomenon
a pilot experiences
pulling G's on an airplane, resulting in the blood leaving his
head and
his sight
Ground Loop: Loss
becoming
lost.
of lateral control of an airplane
making
on the ground sudden change
re-
in sudden turn, a strut on the outside of the turn will break and the aircraft suffers considerable damage. A noseover or a somersault on the ground is not a ground loop, although it may result from a ground loop. Gruppe: A Group. Usually consisted of three squadrons. Largest
sulting in the aircraft direction. Usually a
(thirty-six
aircraft)
a
wheel or gear
individual operational unit of the Luftwaffe
fighter force.
Gruppenkommandeur: Group commander. Usually
a major, sometimes
a captain.
Guards Fighter Regiment: A special group of Soviet fighter pilots selected from the best pilots. Hack: To tolerate something; also to accomplish something, or shoot another aircraft down, especially a big bomber.
GLOSSARY
315
A German
Hals und Beinbruchl: "Break your head and bones."
saying
which meant the opposite— good luck. Havoc: Nickname for the A-20 attack bomber. Head-on: A frontal attack. Heavies:
Bomber aircraft
of the four-engined type.
Hedgehop: Sometimes called "contour chasing/' Flying very low over the ground, rising up over trees, houses, hills, etc. Hochschule: School at the college Horrido!:
The
victory cry of the Luftwaffe fighter pilots. Also a greeting
and parting word among
The
level.
friends
and comrades of the Luftwaffe. and American cry of
cry of the hunter. Similar to the British
"Tallyho!" Hyperventilation: Excessive ventilation of the blood induced by rapid or deep breathing, often experienced by pilots while flying at high altitudes.
Hypoxia: Insufficient oxygen in the blood at high altitudes. The Ilyushin "Stormovik" dive bomber used by the Soviet Air
IL-2:
Force. Inertia Starter: Hand-operated starter used to start aircraft engines.
Inspekteur der Nachtjager: Inspector of Night Fighters. Inspekteur der Tagjager: Inspector of
Day
Fighters.
Jabo: Abbreviation for fighter-bomber.
Abbreviation of Jagdfuhrer, "Fighter Leader." Separate fighter com-
Jafii:
mands
in
each Luftflotte. Originally assigned a policy-regulating
and observing role, Fighter Leaders later controlled operations and handled considerable administration. Jagdfliegerheim: A rest and recuperation spa used by the fighter pilots, located at Bad Wiessee in Germany. Jagdgeschwader:
Gruppen
Fighter
of pilots
wing.
and
Usually
consisted
From 108 to wing. Some were
aircraft.
up the establishment of
a
of
144
three
or
aircraft
larger.
four
made
See under
Geschwader. Jagdstaffel: Fighter squadron.
Jagerblatt: Fighter
News.
A
periodical published
by the German Fighter
Pilots' Association.
JG-26: Fighter Jink:
Wing
26,
known
over Europe as
"The Abbeville Boys."
To jerk an aircraft about in evasive action. To fly or pilot an airplane. Slang name for "pilot."
Jockey:
Joy Stick: Slang for control stick of a fighter airplane.
Jump: To attack an enemy aircraft. /V-44: The Me-262 equipped "Squadron of Experts." Kadetten Korps: Cadet Corps. Karaya One: Erich Hartmann's radio call sign.
T
f THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
3i6
Karinhall: Goering's estate on the Shorfheide, about twenty-five miles
north of Berlin. Kette: Basic three-ship element used in early Luftwaffe fighter tactics, the counterpart of the RAF's three-ship "Vic" formation. Replaced
World War
Luftwaffe before
in the
II
by the Rotte and Schwann
formations; returned with the Me-262.
commander.
Kettenfiihrer: Flight
KIA: Killed Kill:
A
in action.
victory in aerial combat. Destroying an
Does not Kite:
An
refer to the
death of an enemy
aircraft in flight.
airplane.
Kommodore: Abbreviation officer of a
A
Geschwaderkommodore. Commanding
of
wing.
La: Lavochkin La-5. Lagg-y.
enemy
pilot.
A
fighter plane
employed
in Russia.
single-engined Russian fighter plane designed by Lavochkin,
Gorbunor, and Gudkov. Lead (rhymes with heed): The action of aiming ahead of
moving
a
See "deflection shot."
target.
Leutnant: Lieutenant.
The Lockheed
Lightning:
P-38,
a
twin-boom-fuselaged
single-seat
fighter aircraft.
Lufbery Circle: other in
enemy
A
formation in which two or more aircraft follow each
flight
aircraft.
in
circles
Named
developed the tactic in
for
in
order to protect one another from
Major Raoul Lufbery, American ace who
World War
Luftflotten: Tactical
and
Luftwaffe: Air force.
The name
I.
territorial air
of the
commands.
German
Literally, air fleets.
Air Force from 1935
through 1945. Lysander: A British two-place single-engined high-wing monoplane extensively used for
An
Macchi:
army cooperation.
Italian fighter plane
manufactured by the Macchi Com-
pany.
Mack: The speed is
Mach
Marauder:
of a
body
as
compared
name
for
the
Officially
known
U.S.-built
Martin B-26 medium
signal of distress.
as the Bf-109,
Germany's most famous
single-
designed by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke
engined
fighter. Originally
A.G.
Augsburg. Called Me-109 in
at
which
1.0.
Popular
bomber. Mayday: International radiotelephone
Me- 109:
to the speed of sound,
this
book because
it
is
so
known by most Americans and is so referred to by virtually all German aces. The term Bf-109, while historically correct, is relatively unknown in the United States.
GLOSSARY
3 17
Me-262: The Messerschmitt twin-engined jet fighter. Methanol: A colorless, volatile alcohol injected into an to give
it
MIA: Missing Mission:
An
aircraft
engine
a few seconds of additional power. in action.
air objective carrying
aircraft fly
out a combat
air mission; a
number
of
x number of sorties (number of aircraft committed) to
carry out a mission.
Mustang: The North American Aviation Company P-51
fighter air-
plane.
Nachtjagdgeschwader: Night fighter wing, abbreviated as NJG, lowed by the number of the wing, e.g., NJG-6.
Night Fighter: aircraft
A
fol-
and crew that operates at night, the being provided with special equipment for detecting enemy fighter aircraft
aircraft at night.
NKVD:
Russian Narodny Kommissariat Vnutrennikh Del, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs.
Nose Over: An
moving on the ground noses over, tips over on its nose and propeller, damaging nose and prop. Sometimes it somersaults over on its back. This is not a ground loop, which is merely directional loss of control of an airplane on the ground.
No Sweat:
airplane
Slang for "without
difficulty."
Oberkommando der Luftwaffe: Referred to as OKL, the Luftwaffe High Command. Oberkommando des Heeres: Referred to as OKH, the Army High Command. Oberleutnant: First lieutenant. Not to be confused with Oberstleutnant, lieutenant colonel.
Oberst: Colonel.
Oberstleutnant: Lieutenant colonel. O'clock:
The
out by
position of another airplane sighted in the air was called
its
clock position from the observer, twelve o'clock being
straight ahead; six o'clock high, directly server;
behind and above the ob-
nine o'clock, horizontally ninety degrees
left
of the ob-
server.
OKH: Army High Command. OKL: Open
Command. High Command of the Armed
Luftwaffe High
OKW:
City:
A
city of a belligerent
Forces.
power declared by that power to be
noncombatant, and made so in order to avoid bombing or shelling from any of the combatant forces.
OSSOAVIAKIM: of
youths
War
II.
Flying Association in Russia which gave thousands
paratroop,
glider
and
flying
training
before
World
«'
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
318 Overshoot: In
air
combat, to
fly
over or past the
enemy plane when
following through on an attack.
A highly trained and experienced bomber crew that preceded the bomber formation to the target and marked it with flares
Pathfinder:
smoke bombs
or
RAF
The
for easy location
and attack by the main
force.
frequently used Mosquito fighter-bombers in the path-
finder role.
Perch: Position of tactical advantage prior to initiating an attack on an
enemy
airplane.
Photo Recce: Photographic reconnaissance. Port: The left side of an airplane facing forward. The
right side
is
star-
board.
P.O.W.: Prisoner of war. Prang: Slang for crash or collision of airplane, also to crash-land. Also in
RAF
as in
down an enemy
airplane or accurately hit a target,
"wizard prang"— meaning a successful operation.
An
Probable:
With it
slang to
is
instance in which a hostile airplane
a "probable"
considered so
USAAF
is
probably destroyed.
known whether it actually crashed, but badly damaged as to make its crash probable.
it is
not
claims in aerial combat listed three categories:
firmed
destroyed.
2.
Probably
but
unconfirmed
1.
Con-
destroyed.
3.
Damaged. Prop:
Rack:
An abbreviation for propeller. To make a sudden, violent maneuver in
RAF. Royal
a fighter plane.
Air Force.
Recce: Abbreviation for reconnaissance. Recip: Abbreviation for reciprocating engine.
Red
An
Alert: to
alert that exists
when
attack by the
enemy
is
or seems
be imminent.
Red Guards Fighter
Unit:
A
regiment
made up
of the best Soviet
fighter aces.
Red
Line:
A
mum
speed of the airplane. Other
red
mark on the
air-speed indicator flight
showing the safe maxi-
instruments also have a
red line.
Reef
It In:
Rev:
To
To change direction
increase the
rpm
of flight violently.
of an engine; to rev
it
up.
Reverse: One-hundred-and-eighty-degree change of direction in
Rhubarb:
A
flight.
dogfight or the harassment of ground targets by a flight of
A German term for aerial combat. mechanism, device, weapon, etc., that operates automatically. Trade name of a well-known German camera used to make sequence exposures of aerial combat and synchronized with the fighter aircraft's armament. aircraft.
Robot:
A
GLOSSARY
319
Roger!: Pilot language meaning "Received O.K."
A
Rotte:
two-plane formation. Smallest tactical element in the Luftwaffe
fighter force.
Rottenfiieger:
Wingman.
Rottenfiihrer: Leader of a Rotte. Loosely, an element leader.
R/T: Radiotelephone, or Horridus: The savior
St.
radio transmitter. saint of the Luftwaffe fighter pilots
and
origin
of the victory cry "Horrido!"
Schiessschule der Luftwaffe: Luftwaffe
Gunnery School.
Schlachtgeschwader: Ground Attack Wing, or Close Support Wing.
The SG-2 was commanded by famed Stuka
pilot
Hans-Ulrich
Rudel.
Schwarm: Two-Rotte formation, four or
five aircraft acting in a single
flight.
Schwarmfuhrer: Leader of
The
Scramble: Scrub:
To
a
Schwarm.
action of getting fighter aircraft into the air quickly.
cancel a flight, sortie, or mission.
Shakhty Revolt: Revolt at the Shakhty prisoner-of-war camp in Russia. Snake Maneuver: A Soviet tactic developed to get the IL-2 Stormovik fighter-bomber home when attacked by German fighters. The
would enter a Lufbery above the ground and work IL-2's
maneuver, a
weaving,
circle,
then descend to a few feet
way home using the snake follow-the-leader maneuver for mutual their
protection.
The tendency
Snaking:
of an airplane to
yaw
in flight
from side to side
at a certain frequency.
A
Sortie:
flight or sally of a single airplane
which penetrates into
air-
enemy contact may be expected. While a single plane or any number of aircraft may go out on a mission, each aircraft flying is actually making a sortie. One mission may involve any number of sorties. space where
A
Split S:
onto
high-speed maneuver in which the airplane makes a half-roll its
back and then dives groundward, leveling
opposite direction at a
Stabs-Schwarm:
A
Staffel:
his adjutant
A
make up
normally
fly
off
going in the
lower altitude.
headquarters flight of three to
the same type that
and
much
the Geschwader. in the
six aircraft, usually of
The wing commander
Stabs-Schwarm.
squadron. Consisted of three Schwarms,
made up
of
twelve to fifteen aircraft. Three or sometimes four Staffeln
up Stalin
a Gruppe. Hawks: Stalinfalken, or
aces'
nom
Stalin Eagles.
The
from
made
top Soviet fighter
de plume.
Starboard: Right side of an aircraft facing forward.
The
left side is port.
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
3 20
Strafe:
To
dive at and machine-gun targets
on the ground. Sometimes
spelled "straff." Strip:
An
aircraft landing field.
Stukatcha: Stool pigeon.
A
code expression called over the radio by a fighter pilot when he sights the enemy target. Derived from the traditional English
Tally hoi:
hunting
cry.
in essence
The
Luftwaffe fighter pilots called "Horrido!" which
had the same meaning.
Tlirottle-jockey:
name
Slang
for
a
Sometimes shortened
pilot.
to
"Throttle-jock" or shorter yet to "Jock."
name
Thunderbolt: Popular
American
pilots called
it
the Republic P-47 fighter airplane.
for
the "Jug"
Tiger: Eager pilot; eager to fight. Because of their general nature
and
quick reactions, most fighter pilots are referred to as "tigers" in aviation circles.
Tracer Bullet: flight of
A
bullet containing a pyrotechnic mixture to
The Me-262 jet fighter airplane. Undershoot: To land short of the runway; to
Turbo
make
the
the projectile visible.
Fighter:
shoot under a target in
combat.
aerial
The lowest non-commissioned rank standing between the non-commissioned rank of sergeant and the rank of Staff Sergeant
Unteroffizier:
in the Luftwaffe.
Verbandsfuhrer: Unit commander. Vic:
AV
formation of three airplanes.
Waffengeneral: Technical Service General. Wilco: Radiotelephone word of acknowledgment. Abbreviation
for
"Will comply" or "Will cooperate." In addition, "Roger-Wilco"
means "Received O.K., will comply." Wilde Sau: Literally, "Wild Boar," name of
a
German
night fighter unit
operating without radar aids in single-engined fighters.
Window: Metal
foil
strips that
cause a reflection on radarscopes cor-
rupting radar information. Also called "chaff."
an airplane window
it
When
dropped from
cluttered radar screens, giving the impres-
sion that great hordes of aircraft were in the
air,
or completely
obscuring the radar screen.
Windscreen:
An
airplane windshield.
Wingco: Abbreviation
for
wing commander.
Zerstorer: Literally, "destroyer."
The name chosen
for the long-range,
twin-engined Me-110 fighter. Zerstorer geschwader: Destroyer wing. Fighter wings consisting of lio's,
Ju-87's,
etc.,
and expressed
dive-bomber wings of the Luftwaffe.
as
ZG-26, ZG-i,
etc.
Me-
Actually
INDEX Aces, air combat: and awards, Luftwaffe,
119
ff.;
Luftwaffe, 36-47, 48-49, 50, 51 J1 4> xl 5> 55> 93^ 94- 10 3>
ff.,
296; criteria
listed,
for,
55,
n9
ff ->
123-24, 134-36 (see also specific individuals by name); RAF, 93; Red Air Force, 89, 91, 119-3 3, 134 {see also specific individuals by name);
171-73, 311, 312 Babak,
I. I., 132 Bachnik, Sergeant, 66
Bad Wiessee, 148-54 Baer, Heinz ("Pritzl"), 98, 115, 157-58, 159; a leading ace with 220 con-
firmed victories,
USAF, 124 255-57, 266, 267 Air Academy School, Luftwaffe (BerlinGatow), 28-29 7,
Airacobras (P-39's), 57-58, 139, 171-73, 3 11
Aircraft (see also specific planes
nation): Russian and
World War
by
desig-
German com-
119-22 ff. Air Force Military Training Regiment, Luftwaffe, 10, 28-29 II,
Baku
oil
fields,
34
try official),
267
Barkhorn, Gerhard (Gerd), 9-11, 92-93, 99, 103, 124, 134-35; and "circus" fighting, air 135; described and praised,
96-97; at Hartmann's wed-
153; a leading ace with
ding,
victories, 94, 96, 100, 103,
Swords
wounded, 135
Alexander, Jean, 131
decoration
to,
115;
Battle of Britain, 28, 95, 98, 123 Battle of the German Bight, 27
World War
II:
(see also specific countries, individ-
bombings by, 59-60, 98, 105,
108,
109, 120, 145-46, 155, 157, 161-74, 298 and postwar Germany, 215; and surrender and treatment of ;
Germany, 181-90
Batum, 271 Batz,
Wilhelm ("Willi"),
30, 95, 101-2,
140-41; career of, 101-2, 113; as group commander, 113, 115; at Hartmann's wedding, 111,
103,
113,
153; a leading ace with 237 victories,
Amavir, 49
94, 101-2, 103; defense, 170
and
Ploesti oil
fields
Antifa movement, 198-201, 206
Bauer, Dr., 201-2
war (1967), 280 Ardennes offensive, 153-54
Below, Major von, 10-11, 143-44 Berchtesgaden, 9-11, 92-93, 104 Berlin blockade (1948), 272
Arab-Israeli
Arkhipenko, F.
Armament,
301
134-35,
136, 156; and new German AF, 266-67; reacne s 250 victories, 115;
Alelyukhin, A. V., 132
uals)
scor-
Bansch (West German Defense Minis-
Akmet-Khan, Sultan, 132
Alhorn, 277, 285 Allies (allied powers),
157-58; top
ing ace in Me-262, 157-58
Ackerman, Colonel, 202-3 Adenauer, Konrad,
pared,
A-20 Douglas Boston attack bombers,
29
F.,
133
(see
also
weather and functioning
Gunnery); of,
81
Berlin-Gatow, Air 29
Academy
School, 28-
1
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY BF-109, zq
n.
See also Me-109
Gang,
Bicycle
Hans-Joachim,
Birkncr.
Chinese Reds, 218 Chislov, A. M., 132
21
100,
66,
103,
Chkalov, Valery, 125 Christian Democrats, postwar Germany,
1 1
113-14
Blcssin, Orje, 66,
270
Bdblingen, 155, 156; Airport, 18, 154 Bobrov, V. [., 133 Bogey, defined, 89 n, 3 12
Bohemia, 182, 189 Bohlen Halbach, Harald von, 253 Bong, Richard I., 124 Bonin, Hubertus von, 37-39, 42, 52, 95,
Chubkob,
F. M.,
Churchill,
Winston, 182; quoted, 182,
2 55
Clemenceau, Georges, quoted, 224 Climbing spiral maneuver, air combat, 129 Closing the Ring (Churchill), 182 n
Coal
103
Bonn government. See West Germany
(A-20's),
Braham, "Bob," 93 Brainwashing techniques, use by
171-
in,
use
of,
13,
180-90
and prisoners of war, 182-90,
191-208, 209-23, 244-47, 2 54-57 (see also NKVD); and war crime
NKVD
218-23, 224-
Briansk, 234, 235 Bribery, escape from Russian
German
of
240
(see also specific countries, individ-
uals);
263-65
37,
Russian,
Communism
73> J". 312 Boyington, Gregory ("Pappy"), 13
on war prisoners
mines,
P.O.W.'s
Cold War, 13 (communists),
Borcher, Adolf, 103
Borovykh, A. Y., 132 Boston attack bombers
132
charges,
224-37
Condor Legion,
27, 37, 313 Crimea, 110, 111-12, 161
Czechoslovakia, 159, 161, 170, 171, 175,
war prisons
181-90
and, 216 Britain, Battle of,
28, 95, 98,
Briinn,
175-76, 177
B-17's
(Flying
112,
1
62,
Fortresses),
trainer
Bucharest,
105,
108,
112,
311
(plane), 28
Diamonds 1,
Budapest, 193, 194 Budweis, 192 Ihiiidesliiftwaffe,
27,
269-87
Busch, Kurt, 23-24
200-1,
199,
Knight's Cross award,
267,
268,
270,
Buzze, Wylene, 276
7150, 206
Canada, German P.O.W.'s in, 239 Capito. Guentlier, 56-58 Carpathian Mountains, 193 Caucasus Mountains, 34, 36, 37 Changsha, China, 16 Cherepovets prison camp, 250
German refugees, treatment by Red Army of, 184-87, 189 China, Hartmann family in, 15-18
in,
298;
1-8,
250-54, 3H3 Dickfcld, Adolf, 103 Dictatorships (see also Communists; Fas-
Frank, 276
Children,
to his
12, 13, 102, 142, 160, 178, 194,
Hartmann and, 142-47 Diaterka prison camp, Hartmann
Buehligen, Kurt, 93, 103
Camp
techniques for, 217-23 and Deutsch Brod, 161, 170, 175, 176
161
Bucher, Lloyd M., 218
Buz7.e,
Daimler-Benz airplane engines, 29, 80 Dammers, Hans, 48-49, 52, 103 Dehumanization, German war prisoners
NKVD
311
B-24's (Liberators),
BT-NB
123
cists;
Nazis); psychology
of,
189-90
Digora, 44
Dnepropetrovsk, 88
Dnieper River, 88 Dogfighting,
84
ff.,
pilots;
air
combat,
11,
48-49,
noff. (see also Aces; Fighter Gunnery; Tactics; specific indefined,
dividuals,
planes);
Hartmann
on, 173-74
Dolgikh, A. G., 132
Donets Basin, 64 Duettmann, Peter, 103
313;
INDEX
323 175-90. See also JG-52;
Eagle's Nest, 9-11, 92-93, 104 Front, evaluation of,
Eastern (Russian)
119-33; Hitler and, 105 (see alco Adolf); Russian pilots and
Flying Fortresses. See B-17's (Flying For-
strength on, 119-33, 134; USAAF Mustangs and, 161-74; World War
F-104 "Starfighter" jet, 276-86 Foennekold, Otto, 103 Fonck, Rene Paul, 126
Hitler,
war on, 105-18, 119-33, 134-
II air
47, 161 (see also specific air forces, individuals, locations, countries,
planes); worsening Luftwaffe situation
East
specific in-
dividuals, locations
(1944), 109
Germany
Food
German P.O.W.'s
(hunger),
in
Russian prison camps and, 195, 205,
225-30
210, 219, 222,
Fortresses. See B-17's (Flying Fortresses)
ff.
German
(East
tresses )
People's
Republic), 198, 231-32; Air Force, 210, 232
Freud, Sigmund, 190 Friedland, Germany, 259 FW-109 (plane), 314
Eckert, Heinz, 138-39
Eder Dam,
allied
Ehrenburg,
Ilya,
bombing
Galland, Adolf, 51, 52, 129, 157, 268; and air combat strategy, 146; Dia-
59-60
of,
189, 219 (Luftwaffe), 87
8th Squadron
mond award interview
202-3 Engelmann, Werner, 196 Escape, German war prisoners and, 216-17 Ellerbrock, Major,
Espionage,
recruitment
war by Russia
for,
Russia
of
222
2
(fascists),
202,
209,
189,
232.
Second World 198,
190,
See also
201,
Commu-
nism; Nazism; specific countries,
in-
dividuals
F-84
jet planes, 274 F-86 "Sabres," 124
Fiesler Storch
Fighter pilots,
World War
55,
also
Aces;
95
ff.,
II,
27-47
pas-
146
(see
119-33,
115
Air Force
269-86
(West Germany),
9,
(see also Luftwaffe);
and,
266-68,
269-87;
and postwar jets, 269-86 German Army, World War II: and Ardennes offensive, 153-54; surrender of prisoners, 181-90,
and treatment
191-208, 209-23, 224-37, 2 38—54; West German, 269 ff. German Federal Republic. See West Ger-
many German Officers' League, 198
(plane), 83-84
sim,
to,
54
Hartmann
Falck, Wolfgang, 27
Fascism
Hartmann's
Geneva Convention, treatment of prisoners of war and, 238, 240, 241, 248,
13, 27,
of the
142; 148,
Geiger, August, 93
German
Ewald, Major, 202-3
Famous Fighters War, 161
with,
Swords decoration in
prisoners
of
to,
158-60; and Reich Defense, 111; and Squadron Experts of (IV-44), 158; 157,
Elbrus, Mt., 34, 37 Elf's Night, 151, 152
Dogfighting; specific
air
Germany, 110 (see also East Germany; German Army; Hitler, Adolf; Nazism; West Germany; specific bat-
by country, individuals); and postwar jets, 271-86
Force, present-day
(West Germany),
Home, 148-54
9, 13, 27, 52, 53,
56,95,96, 98, 99,
forces
Fighter Pilots'
Fighter Pilots' School, Oldenburg, 276-
Wing
(Fighter
52, Luftwaffe.
Wing
See JG-52 52), Luftwaffe
Cossack Division, 253 I /JG-52 (First Group, 52 nd 1st
Wing, Luftwaffe), 159-60, 161-74,
locations);
Air
World War
(see Luftwaffe); allied
bombing
of,
59-60, 98, 105, 107, 108, 109, 120, 145-47, *55> *57» l6l ~74> 298;
Fighter
individuals,
102, 269-86; Air Force, II
77 Fighter
tles,
army,
World War
man Army); 116-18,
II
(see Ger-
defeat and surrender of,
176-90,
191-208, 209
ff.;
THE BLOND K N I G*H T oV GERMANY Germany
Gunnery
(cont'd)
pre-World
ment
of
War
II,
18 ff.;
15,
treat-
U.S. prisoners of war by,
2 39
combat
(air
marksmanship),
29-30, 49-53, 85-86, 98, 127-28; postwar jet and, 274, 282 Gunsche, Otto, 252-53
Gleiwitz, 30
Glider Gang, 21
Haeckel, Bishop, 220
Gliding (gliders; glider clubs )
,
pre-World
War II, 19-20, 21, 125, 277 Glinka, Boris Borisovich, 133 Glinka, Dimitri Borisovich, 132 Glunz, Adolf, 103
188
rape, 187,
^
Glycol, 314
Gnido, P. A., 132 Goebbels, Dr. Joseph Paul, 34, 102, 107, 189 Goering, Hermann, 8-9, 145, 146, 158 Gollob, Gordon, 135; Diamonds award to,
Hahn, Hans ("Assi"), 196, 199, 202, 259-60 Hals und Beinbruch, 65; defined, 315 Hanging (s), as punishment for wartime
142, 160; reassigns
Hartmann
to
JG-52, 159-60 Golovachev, P. Y., 132 Golubev, Vasilii F., 132
Golubev, Viktor
F.,
Hartmann, Alfred (brother), 16-17, 20, 259, 260; and Erich Hartmann's release,
259, 260, 268; describes brother as a boy, 20-21, 24 Hartmann, Dr. Alfred (father), 5, 15-18, 22;
toward
attitude
106-7; death
of,
war,
27,
60,
13, 218, 265;
and
son's marriage, 150-51, 153, 155
Hartmann, Elisabeth (mother), 5, 16-18, 24, 27, 106; and son's interest in flying, 18-19; and
132
Hermann, 102, 103, 157; an ace 212 victories, 94; and Antifa movement, 198-201; breaks 200 air combat victories mark, 135; commands JG-52, 159-60; Diamonds
Graf,
with
249-50, 255-57, 261 aces of JG-52 and, 94-103; achievements in air against release,
Russians
evaluated, 119-33; a P" pointed leader of 9th Squadron, 62;
awards and decorations
render,
specific
175, 177-78, 180, 182; return Hartmann of
JG-52,
159-60; Swords decoration
awarded
to,
re-
to
115; as war prisoner of
the Russians,
191,
194,
198,
201,
206 Grasser,
Hartmann, 180, 181, 182, 209
Great Britain and the British Allies; Battle of Britain;
(see also
RAF; West-
ern Front; specific battles, individuals, sive,
planes); and Ardennes offen-
153-54;
anc*
German
sur-
render,
177 Green, William, quoted, 161 Grislawski, Alfred, 38, 45, 49, 52, 103 Ground loop, defined, 314
Gryazovets prison camp, 196-208, 211 Guards Fighter Regiments, Russian Air Force, 122-24, 125, 130, 134, 314 Guderian, Heinz, 104 Gulaev, N. D., 132
Gul'tyaev, G. K., 132
to,
9-11, 12,
104-5 ( see a ^ so and decorations);
13, 62-63, 78-93,
awards
biographical data (listed chronologically),
South"
296-97; "Black Devil of the title given by Russians to,
78-93, 211-12; boyhood and early education of, 12, 15-27; "Bubi"
nickname ishment
Gratz, Karl, 103
early
son's
Hartmann, Erich:
awarded to, 142; first pilot to reach 200 victories, 102; and German surquests
8, 9,
for,
in
9,
54;
Russian
bunker puncamps,
labor
242 ff., 247; 204-5, 21 4> 22 5~3 character and personality described, >
13-14, 20-24, 52, 286-87; in China as a boy, 15-18; commissioned as Second Lieutenant in Luftwaffe, 30; and 1-7, 9, 11, 12, 56, 281,
Crimean evacuation, 111-12; criticism of and difficulties in new German Air Force (West Germany), 270-71, 276-86; Diaterka camp imprisonment of, 250; downed by USAAF P^i's, parachutes to safety, 167-70; downs Russian YAK-11 for
352nd and interest
last
victory,
in gliders
and
176; early planes,
18-
INDEX
325
Hartmann, Erich (cont'd) 21; Eastern Front combat described 132; establishes validity of his
by,
87-88; fellow
to skeptics,
victories
characterization
pilots'
of,
56;
52,
27-30; first meeting with wife, Ursula ("Usch"), fighter pilot training of,
Hartmann, Ursula); mission with Rossmann, 40-42;
24-26 first
(see also
Galland and, 148, 158-60; German surrender and, 175-90 ff.; and Graf prisoner-of-war camps,
198-201,
Lieutenant,
First
107-8; promoted
to full Colonel, 286; released from
imprisonment
and return home, 255- 68; represents West Germany on NATO Standing Committee, 284; request to world governments for
reform of prisoner-of-war codes
by,
NKVD
253-54; resistance to treatment and techniques by,
1 ff.,
197-208, 209-23, 224-37, 238-54; and Russian imprisonment of, xiii-
imprison-
1-8, 13, 191-208, 209-23 ff., 238-54; Russians put price on head
gunnery
of, 79; scores fifth victory, 55; scores
and marksmanship of, 29-30 (see tactics in also Hartmann, Erich: aerial combat and success of); Hitler
scores fifty victories in sixty-six day
in
206;
Gryazovets
ment
of,
196-208,
211;
104-5; Hitler's hat prank by, 10-11; holds
described
worn
camp
by,
in
combat
record of 352 air
an all-time world record pilots, 11-12; hunger
victories,
for fighter
and
strike
forced feeding of, 225-30, 242; in-
combat fame on
xiv,
forty-sixth
confirmed
period, 79; scores 115th victory, 62; 202nd victory and is awarded
Oak
Leaf, 92-93; scores 250th vic-
and is awarded Swords to Knight's Cross, 114-15; scores 300th victory and receives Diatory
monds award, 134-37, victory,
ern Front of, 78-93; introduced to
camp
imprisonment
Me-109, 29-30; intuition for presence of enemy, possessed by, 81, 112-15; JG"5 2 assignment on East-
238-54; skiing
Kirov
31;
195-96, of
the
camp imprisonment
of,
197, 206; Knight's Cross Iron Cross award to after
150th victory, 62-63; Kuteynikovo camp imprisonment of, 225-37; last mission before surrender of Ger-
many, 175-77; leading ace with 352 94, 96; leads Luftwaffe element, 55; legendary combat cool-
victories,
ness
of,
Night
85
ff.;
marriage and Elf's
celebration,
148-57;
"My
Personal Twist Regulations" by, 8687; Novocherkassk
198, 247, 250; tion
awarded
to,
treatment of
imprisonment
Oak Leaves
German
Arizona,
prisoners
274-76;
79, trial
on war criminal charges and sentencing by
Russians,
USAAF
and
233-37,
Mustangs
in
2 38—54; combat,
161-74; validity of confirmed
combat
victories, xiv,
credits
logbook
of,
aerial
87-88; victory 290-92;
war
criminal charges by Russians against,
224-37, 238; and West Germany Air Force, 9, 13, 266-68, 269-88;
"Wild Boar" as boyhood nickname for, 24; wingmen and, 50-55, 56, 79, 81-82, 87
ff.,
110-11, 113-15
Hartmann, Peter Erich (son),
13,
218,
in
of
Phoe-
Polryshkin
Hartmann, Ursula ("Usch") (Mrs. Erich Hartmann), 4, 5, 6, 14, 24-26, 27, 60,
147,
156;
and German surrender, 180;
gives
59,
136,
139,
daughter,
to
band
in Arizona,
jet
success of, 11-
29-30, 42-47, 48 ff., 56, 81-82, 87 ff., 110-11, 113-15;
birth
compared
revolt,
12,
130,
ace)
and
ability of, 24; tactics
27186; and prison letters, 205-8, 21718, 224, 226-27, 247; promoted to
(Russian
131; and postwar
Shakhty
decora-
78-93, 104-5; on
war by Russians, 187-89; nix,
of,
156;
combat and
in aerial
scores
and
336th
ern Front, 31, 32-47 ff., 48 ff. (see also JG-52); joins Luftwaffe, 27-
61;
scores
East-
creases aerial
victory,
to,
planes,
142,
273; with
hus-
274-76; and husband's release from imprisonment,
256- 58, 274-76; and husband's war-
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
3^6 Hartmann, Ursula (cont'd)
Ihlefeld, Herbert, 95,
time imprisonment, 205-8, 209-10, 217-18, 224, 226, 242; marriage of, 31, 106, 148-57; wartime reunions with husband, 106, 116, 147, 148-
II
Russian
Informers, Soviet, 198, 203-4, 21 ^> 21 7»
"Havoc" (USAAF plane),
315. See also
A-20 Douglas Boston attack bomb-
222, 244 Iron Cross decoration,
115-18. See
55,
oho Diamonds; Knight's Cross; Oak
ers
Herleschausen, Germany, 7, 258 Hero of the Soviet Union awards, 124, 125, 131; Gold Star to, 125, 131 Himmler, Heinrich, 158 Hitler, Adolf, 68, 107;
116-17,
J
43»
bomb
19,
142-46; Gunsche as adjutant to and cremation of, 252; Hartmann's de104-5, 1J 6-i8,
144and Oak Leaves award to Hartmann, 9-11, 92-93, 104-5; an d Swords decoration to Hartmann, 115, 116-
scription
of,
Me-262
and
Leaves; Swords Iron Curtain, 216 Israel-Arab J Tell the
war (1967), 280 n Truth (Hahn), 196-97, 199
plot against,
comes t0 power,
197-98; Communists and, 197-98; Diamonds award to Hartmann by,
Japan, treatment of prisoners of war by, 2 39
112, 128 JG-26 (Fighter Wing 26), Luftwaffe, Jassy,
known
as "Abbeville Boys,"
Wing 52), Luftwaffe, 3, 8-11, 32-47, 48 ff., 64 ff., 107 ff.,
6,
130 (see also viduals, of,
48
112, 191;
269 Hoffmann, Gerhard, 103 Hohagen, Lieutenant, 29, 30, 159 Honest John (Mahurin), 218 Horizontal maneuvering, aerial combat,
mann
120
waffe,
Hrabak, Dietrich 64-65,
75,
(Dieter),
9 5;
I
34-37,
with 125 vicand new German Air Force, 266, 267; and U.S. bombing a leading ace
141-42;
tories,
103;
tactics
(World
War
Fighter II,
War
II),
162
Squadron,
World
92
Hungary, World
War
II
aerial
and, 92, 155-56 Hunger. See Food (hunger)
Attack (Kozhedub), 124-25 121
combat
(see
II,
Aces; I,
97, 95, 97; Hart-
transfer
resists
also
Group and
is
reas-
signed to, 148, 155-60; Hartmann's fame in, 78-93; leadership in, 9596;
as
most
successful
wing, 94; surrender
Luftwaffe
102-3, 175Mustangs and, 161-74; of,
USAAF War Diary entries
of record, 108-9 JG-71 Richthofen Fighter Wing, West
59,
commands JG-52,
109; and Hartmann's 300th victory,
Hungarian
Group
90;
Aces of the Luft-
squadrons); aces
94, 103
individuals);
Hobart, Major-General Sir Percy, quoted,
Fighter
specific groups, indi-
locations,
ff.,
specific
129 "Horrido!"
37;
315
JG-52 (Fighter
158;
jets,
18
7
War
bombers), 44-46, 61, 66 ff., 89-93, 97> 31 5; Hartmann's combat tactics against, 66 ff., 89-93
dive
IL-10, 90
57 retirement 288 Hauer, Hein, 195
46;
103, 115
(World
IL-2 Stormoviks
German AF, 277-86 JG-77
(Fighter
Wing
World War JG-210 (Fighter 180 Ju-52
(World
II,
Luftwaffe,
97
Wing
War
77),
II
210), Luftwaffe, Luftwaffe trans-
port plane), 33, 110 Ju-87, 32 Junger, Carl, 87; account of Hartmann's
300th victory by, 136-38, 140-41;
and combat with USAAF Mustangs, 162, 165, 166-67 Jiirgens, Sergeant, 66
I-16 Rata,
Juterborg, 8
I-151 Rata, 121
JV-44, Squadron of Experts, Me-262 and,
I-153 Rata, 121
51, 52, 157,
158-60
INDEX
327
Kalinovka, 92
ski,"
Kammhuber, General,
mann on
13, 277; and Hartuse of F-104, 282-83, 285
Kamozin, P. M., 132
One (Sweetheart One, Hartmann's plane), 63, 65, 67 ff.; Black Devil insignia on, 78-93; and combat with USAAF P-51 Mustangs, 161-74; increasing fame on Eastern 78-93; last mission, destroyed, 175-80; 300th victory, 140; "Usch" heart painted on fuselage, of,
81 Kharkov, 61
10,
1,
{see also
Diamonds;
Swords);
of Luftwaffe aces receiving, 298
Koeppen, Gerhard, 103
Kuteynikovo: of-war
prisoner-of-war
War
II
Russian fighter
also
Lightning (Lockheed P-38 fighter plane,
USAAF), Likhobabiyi,
316 D., 133
I.
Likholetov, P. Y., 133
Helmut, 100-1; an ace with 203 Luftwaffe career
World War
of,
100-1
Aircraft Corporation, 276, 316.
See also
specific aircraft
Luetzow (Liitzow), Gunther, 135, 159, with 108 victoSwords to Knight's Cross
298; a leading ace
298;
decoration to, 115
("Count Punski"),
9,
159; described by Hartmann, 152,
153; hospitalized after crashing, 6061; a leading ace with 197 victo-
new German
(Russian
Lenin, N., 192, 230, 241 Leningrad, siege of, 33 Liberators. See B-24's (Liberators)
ries,
10-11, 29, 36, 50-55, 58, 95, 111,
103; in
225-37
132
Lechfeld, 156, 157, 158 Lemberg, 107, 108, 109 Lend-Lease aircraft, 134-171. See
II
Krasnodar, 50, 271 Krasnodar Aviation Club, 125 Kraznov, N. F., 132
94,
at,
F.,
Squadron
7th
Lagg-9 planes, 59 Landsberg, 272, 273 Lavrinekov, Vladimir D., 123, 132
Lockheed
ries,
camp
camps
G. D., 132 Kotchekov, A. V., 132 Kozhedub, Ivan N., 124-25, 132, 134 Krakau, Poland, 31, 32, 136
Hartmann's wedding,
130; Bridge-
Russian prisoner-
75;
victories, 93, 100, 103;
Kostilev,
at
64,
Kuznetsov, N.
Lipfert,
55;
Luftwaffe
base at,
2 39 Korntal School, 23, 26 Korts, Berthold, 62, 103
112,
51,
specific planes
Kolberg, Sergeant, 28 Koldunov, A. I., 132 Komelkov, M. S., 132 Konigsberg Neumark, Hartmann takes instrument course at, 155 Korean War, 124; treatment of U.S. prisoners of war by Reds in, 218,
Krupinski, Walter
50,
plane), 121, 134, 314 Lagg-5 planes, 60, 61, 66
48, 61, 62-63,
158, 298 Oak Leaves;
Peninsula,
head, 97 Kubarev, V. N., 132 Kuehl, Captain, 34
Lagg-3 (World
27 (plane), 18 "Dad," Captain, 200-1
Klubov, Alexander, 131, 132 Knight Cross of the Iron Cross,
victory,
camps), 191-208, 20923; Shakhty camp revolt, 238-54
Klingbeil,
list
combat
slave labor
S.,
133 Kirilyuk, V. V., 132 Kirov prison camp, 195-96, 197, 206 Kittel, Otto ("Bruno"), 115, 136
Klemm
Kuban
Labor
Khlobystov, A.
75-76; scores 150th 62
after crashing, air
Karaya
Front
nicknamed "Graf (Count) Pun54; Oak Leaves awarded to, 92-93; recalls Hartmann's escape 67;
Kamenets Podolski, 109
Air
Force (West Germany), 52, 266-
Lufbery, Raoul, 316 Lufbery Circle aerial formation, 316 Luftwaffe (World War II), 26 ff., 7893, 119 ff., 134-37, 148 ff., 157-60 (see also specific battles, individuals, locations,
planes,
units);
aces
and
awards, 36-47, 55, 93, 94-103; criteria for acedom in, 55; destruction of
Russian
Air
Force
on ground
r r THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
328 Luftwaffe (cont'd)
xiv;
Eastern (Russian) Front activ-
ity of,
32-47, 48-77, 78
148
(see also specific individuals,
ft.
134
ff.,
organization
units);
locations,
63, 65-66, 79, 81, 115, 162; avoids Russian captivity, 1 79 n; crew chief's devotion to Hartmann, 39-40, 71-
ff.,
of,
victory,
compared
reer of,
of,
and
116;
72,
German
119-33 passim; sur175-90; USAAF Mustangs to,
mann
140, 141, 142; postwar ca271-72; searches for Hart-
after
he
is
Luganskii, S. D., 132
Miethig, Rudolf, 103
MIG-3 (World War
I.,
MIG-15
115,
98,
Diamonds
158, 211; posthumous award to, 142 Marx, Karl, 192
Psychology
The
Fascism,
of
Maykop, 32, 33, 34, 50 Me- 109 (World War II German
name
of,
ability
of,
161-74; per111-12, 120,
130, 161, 170; and Soviet aircraft compared, 105, 120, 130; surrender and destruction of, 178-79; training in, 146; weather and flying ability of, 79-81, 108 ff.; as work horse in emergencies, 111-12
Me-iogD
(World
War
II
German
plane),
Me-262
(World
War
II
German
115 of,
59-60
Molotov, V. M., 250
Morgunov, S., 132 Mosquito fighter-bombers, 157, 318 Mossokv, M., 131 Miincheberg, Joachim, 108,
298; a lead-
161-74, 176, 317; Hartmann and Luftwaffe in combat with, 161-74
My
Air
Combats (Fonck), 126
National Committee, 198
NATO,
96, 272, 276, 278, 281-82, 284;
Hartmann sentative of,
as West Germany's repreon Standing Committee
284
Nazism (Nazis), 182, 189-90, 197-98, 206, 215, 252. See also Germany; specific individuals
Nellis
AFB, 276
Neukuhren, 28 Nikolaev, 60
29 n
(World
142; Swords decoration awarded
to,
Neubistritz prisoner-of-war camp, 191-92
plane), 29
Me-i09E4
to,
314; and combat
USAAF Mustangs,
formance
Werner ("Daddy"), 27, 62, Diamonds awarded
135, 180;
131,
single-
engined fighter plane), 29, 32-47, 48 ff., 65 ff., 84, 128-30; Bf-109 as with
Moelders,
ing ace with 135 victories, 298 Mustangs (USAAF P-51's), 108, 109,
(Reich), 190
official
jets, 124, 134 General, 209
Mohne Dam, bombing 95,
Russian fighter
Mineral'nyye, 49 Model, General, 117
prisoner-of-war camp, 193
Mariupol, 32, 33 Marseille, Hans-Joachim,
Mass
Miller,
James, 273
Maramures
II
plane), 121, 128-30, 134; increase in production of, 134
132
MacArthur, Douglas, quoted, 1 Mahurin, Walker M. ("Bud"), 218 Mail, prisoners of war and, 205-8, 21718, 219, 224, 226-27 Makharov, V. N., 133
Mangum,
downed, 71-72,
75-76
Luke AFB, Phoenix, Arizona, 272, 27476 S.
surrender,
177, 178-79; and Hartmann's 300th
and, 161-74
Lukyanov,
148,
157-60 Merschat, Second Lieutenant, 32, 37 Mertens, Heinz ("Bimmel"), 39-40, 59,
36 n, 55; pilot training in, 28-30, 35, 42-47, 146; records of tops and firsts by, 295; Russian Air Force render
Commando,
203, 212-13; Test
(June 1941) by, 280; downed aircraft claims confirmation procedures,
War
II
German
fighter plane), 51, 52, 148,
jet
157-60,
Nikopol, 88
90th U.S. Infantry Division, 180-81
INDEX
329
9th Squadron
107
ff.,
of,
62
NKVD,
(JG-52, Luftwaffe), 102, Hartmann given command
181-82
Cub
Piper
planes,
xv, 2, 3, 4, 8, 13, 190,
280-81,
198-208, 209-23, 224-37, 259; and war crime
of war,
250,
ff.,
charges,
178, 180, 183 Pivovarov, M. Y., 132 Ploesti oil fields, allied
I.
("Sacha"), 91,
132,
Politburo, 201
Popkov, V.
124 Novocherkassk prisoner-of-war camp,
Portz 2,
198, 247, 250, 256
Nowotny, Walter, 115; Diamonds decoawarded to, 142; raises air combat record to 250 victories, 135ration
Oak Leaves
to
Knight's
Prisoners of war, Russian treatment of,
182-90, 191-208, 209-23, 224-37, 2 38— 54; brainwashing of, 218-23, 224-37, 263, 264-65; Geneva Convention and, 238 ff.; psychology after release of, 263-65; re1-8,
Obleser, Friedrich
Cross awards,
298
104-6,
10, 92,
lease
("Fritz"), 87-88; an
ace with 120 victories, 94, 103 Oesau, Walter ("Guile"), 108, 115, 135; a leading ace with victories,
123
air
combat
202-3,
criminal
217,
221,
189,
190,
NKVD
219,
220,
202;
and,
210,
221 Proskurov, 92 Pueblo, U.S.S., 218 n
123
317
Puis, Lieutenant, 66 Punishment of war
Ostrowiez, 139
War
war
255-68;
against,
224-37, 2 3 8 ~54 Prokhladnyy, 40 Propaganda (propagandists),
Oldenburg, 276-77
(World
of,
charges
135
OSSOVIAKIM,
132
44> 2 47 Prague, 171
215
trials,
I.,
Wahn, 286
Prager, Lieutenant-Colonel, 202-3, 2 43~
36
P-2's
135,
134; biography and career as Russian ace of, 125-31
125-31,
North Korean Air Division, Russians and,
Orel,
of,
Pokryshev, P. A., 133 Pokryshkin, Alexander
224-37
NATO
bombings
161, 162
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. See
Nuremberg
272-73
Pisek,
317; brainwashing techniques used by, 218-23, 224-37; and prisoners
238
Pilsen,
II
Russian reconnais-
prisoners,
NKVD
and, 204-5, 210-11, 215-16, 217,
sance planes), 89, 139, 171 (Lightnings) (USAAF fighter
22 5> 2 3 2 "37> 2 3 8 "54
P-38's
plane,
P-39's
World War
(Airacobras),
73> 3ii P-47's (Thunderbolts,
II),
57-58,
RAF,
316 139,
171-
tles,
USAAF),
99, 320 P-51's (Mustangs), 161-74, 176 Paetsch, Mr. and Mrs., 25 Paetsch, Ursula. See Hartmann, Ursula Panitzki, General, 285-86 Partisans, Russian,
27, 59-60, 95, 96, 119, 120, 121, (see also specific bat-
123, 157-58
World War
II,
145
Paulus, Field Marshal von, 198 Pavlushkin, N. S., 132
Rail,
individuals, planes)
Guenther, 52-53, 61-62, 70, 87, 95, 108, 111, 112, 124, described and praised by
98-100;
flies
89; a leading ace with
Phoenix, Arizona, 272, 274-76
wounded, 135
Wilhelm, 198 I. M., 132
victories,
to,
115; and
Air Force,
266-67;
115; Swords decoration
West German
Pilipenko,
275
94, 98, 103, 135, 136; reaches 200 victories, 78; reaches 250 victories,
Peat-digging, prisoners of war and, 195 Pieck,
129, 270;
Hartmann, with Hartmann, 88-
Rape, World
many
War
II
surrender of Ger-
and, 181, 183-90
THE BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY
33° Rata
War
(World
planes
Russian
II
121
fighter planes),
Recce, defined, 72 n, 318 Rechkalov, G. A., 132, 134
and, 219-20
II
World War
Refugees,
II
treatment
of,
178, 181, 182-90
Reich, Wilhelm, 190 Reich Defense, 110, 111, 135, 145-46
war and,
6
4,
Richthofen, Manfred von, 11, 62, 135,
171-73, 176; and German
prisoners, 200; der,
and German
surren-
175-76, 180; Hartmann's fame
with, 78-93; pilot training in,
preparedness
31;
Regensburg, Germany, 183
Religion, prisoners of
USAAF
1941), 280; dogfights with allies by,
Red Air Force. See Russian Air Force Red Army. See Russian Army Red Cross, prisoners of war in World
War
combat tactics of, 129-30; destruction on ground by Luftwaffe (June
and
130—
ability
of,
119-33, 134; reorganization of, 121 Russian Army, World War II, 49, 64, 92, 108 ff., 156; and surrender and treatment of German prisoners,
181-90, 191-208, 209 Russian Front, World War
246
ff.,
II.
See East-
(Russian) Front
ern
German
2 77
Russian
Wing, West German Air Force, 13, 98, 277-86
war and, 216, 219-21, 244, 245, 248 Ryazanov, A. K., 132
Richthofen
Rickenbacker, Eddie, quoted, 148 Riele, Arthur, 195
Germany and World War II, development of, 105 Roman, Rumania, 109-10, 113, 114, Rockets,
165
Rommel, Erwin, 117 Roosevelt, Franklin D., 182
villagers,
Schall, Franz,
103 Schmidt, Heinz, 103 Schnaufer, Heinz- Wolfgang, 117 n Schoerner, General, 117
Rossbach, Alfred, 151-52, 154
Schongau, 156
Schumann
man
to,
142;
Ilartmann
wing-
as
39-44, 47, 48, 49, 51, 54,
Rostov, 245, 246, 257 Rottweil School, 22-23, 2 7
Royal Air Force, British. See
RAF
Rudel,
144,
Hans-Ulrich, 64, 66,
268;
quoted on war, 78 Ruhr, World War II, allied bombings
of,
Rumanian Communists, Maramures camp run by, 193 Rumanian Front, World War combat 161-74
on,
(Soviet
10 9
81-83,
Union;
aerial
II
^
»
U.S.S.R.)
lx 4>
See
Russian Air Force; Russian Army;
Union
Russian Air Force,
48 1
ff.,
34
ff .
hemia, 182-83 Schwarm, defined, 314 SD, 190 "See - Decide - Attack - Break," Hart-
mann air tactics, 46-47, 54, 61, 84 Seidemann, General, 6-7, 177-78, 199 n Semyonov, Lieutenant, 128 Sergeants, flying, Luftwaffe, 38, 50-51 Sevastopol, 161
57-58,
78
ff.,
87, 91-93,
Sexual excesses,
prison
Soviet
(Stalingrad war judge), 201 Schuttenhofen prisoner-of-war camp, Bo-
7th Squadron, Luftwaffe, 37-47, 48-77,
59-60
Russia
of
Sachsenberg, Heinz, 103 Sandowiez, 139
Rossmann, Eduard "Paule," 39-44, 47, 48, 49, 51, 54, 56, 101; captured by Russians,
prisoners
108
ff.
World War
II prisoners
war and, 181, 183-90 Seydlitz, General von, 198 Shakhty prison camp, 2, 215; of
revolt in,
238-54 Shaw, George Bernard, quoted, 2,
6,
175,
238
World War 62,
(see also Eastern
Front;
specific
planes);
aces
of,
II,
noff.,
(Russian)
battles, 89,
40-47,
119-33,
91,
pilots,
119-33;
Sighet, 193
Simpfendorfer
(Hartmann's school-
teacher), 267
16th U.S. Armored Division, 181
Skomorokhov, N. M., 132
INDEX Snap-roll aerial maneuver, 129
Swords (Schwertern) 115-18, 298
Sokolov (Russian fighter pilot), 127
Sytov,
Slavyanskaya, 50
decoration,
10,
N., 132
I.
Soldatskaya, 37
Sommer, Captain, 50
T-33
Souvenir wristwatches, 181
Tactics, air
Soviet
Union
Air
NKVD;
Russian
Russian Army;
specific
(see also
Force;
locations);
individuals,
battles,
pilots,
craft,
119-33
(see
Force);
and
achievements,
also
Russian
German
World War
air-
and
Air
surrender,
175-90; postwar,
II,
97-98, 175-90, 191 ff., 255 ff.; and prisoner-of-war camps, 1 ff., 182-
191-208; and release of Hart-
90,
mann, 255-57 Space race, U.S. and Russian, 119-20 Spanish Civil War, 27, 313. Spitfires, 97, 108 Squadron of Experts, JV-44, 157, 1 58—
60 Joseph, 182; letter of appeal
Stalin,
Hartmann's behalf Stalingrad,
to,
on
249-50, 255
German World War
II
at-
Hartmann
(see also
on,
Gunnery);
127-28,
173-74,
284-85 (see also under Hartmann, Erich); Pokryshkin's, 126-31 Taman Kuban, 50, 51. See also Kuban Teheran Conference, 182, 215 Tempelhof, Colonel von, 202-3 Third Army, U.S., 181 274-75,
III/JG-52, 36 ff, 50, 52, 92, 95, 107 ff, 109 ff. See also JG-52
Thunderbolts (USAAF P^'s), 99, 320 Timoshevskaya, 50
Raymond, 274
Toliver,
NKVD use on prisoners of war, 210-11 Toynbee, Arnold, quoted, 104
Torture,
Trenkel, Rudolf, 103
Treppe, First Lieutenant, 44-45, 46 Trotsky, Leon, 209 20th U.S. Tactical Fighter Wing, 274
tacks on, 33 Stalin
274 combat
jet,
Hawks, 119-33, 3*9 Ulbricht, Walter, 198
Steinbatz, Leopold, 103
("Macky"), 27, 51, 95, 96, 97, 103, 159; and West
Steinhoff, Johannes 52,
Germany
Air Force, 266, 267, 282,
284
Stool pigeons, 198, 203, 216, 217, 222,
244 Storch (plane), 83-84, 154, 272 Stormoviks (Russian AF World War
bombers), 44-46, 8 9~93> 97» 112 H4~ l6 >
mann's combat 66
ff.,
89-93; increase
Strakonitz, 177 Stuka dive bombers,
Stukatcha,
203,
38 n, 99, cations,
3 J 5;
H^-
134
32-33, 64, 66, 69 See also Stool
pigeons
7,
106-7,
1
5°»
1
51
»
Russian treatment of
prisoners and, 186, 225,
German
230
157-58,
pilots,
planes);
bombings
171-74, 176; and Eastern Front Red Air Force
war, 161-74; and
compared 124;
(World
War
West Germany
II), 123, Air Force and,
272-76, 282-86 United States Army, 102-3, 181; and Ardennes offensive, 153-54; and
German
152, 155, 258, 259, 264 Suicides,
121,
108, 109, 112, 135, 14546, 157, 161-74; and dogfights with Russian Air Force allies, World War II,
217.
Germany,
120,
by, 105,
air
Sturm, Heinrich, 103 Stuttgart,
119,
ff.,
against,
in,
war
(see also specific battles, lo-
II
66
>
prisoners of
II
and, 117-20, 127 United States Army Air Force (USAAF),
161-74
61,
tactics
man World War
239; and Lend-Lease program, 134, 171; Russian air achievements
I. N., 132 Second Lieutenant, 32, 37
dive
United States (see also United States Air Force, United States Army); Gerin,
Stepanenko, Stiebler,
Uman, 92
surrender, 102-3, 178-84; servicemen as prisoners of war, 218*9> 2 39
THE BLOND KNIGHfT OF* GERMANY
332
United States Army Air Corps, 38 n. See also United States Army Air Force Uvarov, Captain, 202-4
7, 222, 232, 236, 255; Air Force, 266-68, 269-87; and release
of prisoners of war,
255-68
Wiese, Johannes ("Kubanski Lion"), 911, 93; an ace with 133 victories, 9-11, 94, 103; career of, 97-98 Woerner, Helmut, 259, 260 Woidich, Franz, 103
Van Camp, Colonel, 202-3 Van de Kamp, Will, 11-12, 156 Vertical air maneuvering, 129
Vienna, 192-93
Vietnam War, 239 der Schulenburg, Sigi Graf, 252-53,
Wolf, Colonel, 202-3 243-44, 247 Wolf, Second Lieutenant, 32, 37 Wolf rum, Walter, 94, 101-2, 103
278
Women
Vlasov, General, 180
Von
many),
prisoners,
German
treatment by Russians
Vorozheikin, A. V., 132
surrender and of, 178,
181-
90
Wahn
Wristwatches,
Air Base, 99
Waldmann, Hans, 103
War
crimes charges,
202-3,
venirs,
217,
238;
crating effectiveness and,
World War
YAK
fighter planes, 66, 1
7 1 "73»
sou-
82-83, 134, 161,
^S-l 6
YAK-9 (World War
II
Russian fighter
plane), 66 Yevstigneev, K. A., 132
79-81
Wehnelt, Herbert, 277 n Weil im Schonbuch, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 155; Hartmann's return after Russian imprisonment to, 260-68
Zaporozhe, 88 Zarnesti,
110, 112
Zelenkin,
M. M.,
Zerbst, 29,
132
30
110, 112, 162
Wester, Lieutenant, 66, 81-82, 162
Zilistia,
Western Front, 105, 123. See
Zogling 38 (glider), 19
also Allies
West Germany (Federal Republic
II
221,
Geneva Convention and, 238; release of prisoners, 25568; Shakhty revolt and, 238-54 Warsaw, Poland, 136 Weather, World War II air combat op224-37,
as
181
of Ger-
Zwernemann,
Josef, 49,
52,
103
Notes
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