Description
Object description
German officer served as pilot with 4th Fighter Sqdn, II Group, 52nd Fighter Wing, German Air Force in Germany, 9/1939-3/1940; served as pilot and commanded 8th Fighter Sqdn, III Group, 52nd Fighter Wing, German Air Force in Germany, France, during Battle of Britain, Romania and Crete, Greece, 3/1940-6/1941; commanded 8th Fighter Sqdn, III Group, 52nd Fighter Wing and III Groups, 52nd Fighter Wing, German Air Force in Romania and Soviet Union, 6/1941-3/1944; commanded II Group, 11th Fighter Wing, German Air Force in Germany, 4/1944-5/1944; commanded Fighter Leaders School, Bad Wörishofen, Germany, 9/1944-2/1945; commanded 300th Fighter Wing, German Air Force in Germany, 2/1945-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Gaggenau and Stuggart, Germany, 1918-1936: family; education; inflation, 1923; rise of the Nazi Party; membership of Boy Scouts; political conflict in Stuggart; impact of Nazis on education. Aspects of period as NCO and officer cadet with German Army in Germany, 1936-1938: application to join German Army, 1936; cadet training at Kreigsschule, Dresden, 1938; adjusting to army life. Aspects of period as pilot with German Air Force in Germany, 1938-1939: transfer to German Air Force, summer 1938; respective reputations of German Army and German Air Force; lack of enthusiasm for war; development of air techniques during Spanish Civil War; emphasis on short range tactical operations.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as pilot with 4th Fighter Sqdn, II Group, 52nd Fighter Wing in Germany 9/1939-3/1940: posting to unit, 16/9/1939; esprit de corps; attitude towards Versailles Treaty; unit aircraft; flying Messerschmitt Bf 109; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 9/1939; patrols over River Rhine during Phoney War; war alert, 1/1940. Aspects of period as pilot with 8th Fighter Sqdn, III Group, 52nd Fighter Wing in Germany and France, 3/1940-6/1940: first aerial combat with French Air Force Curtiss P-36 Hawks near Trier, 12/5/1940; personal morale during prior to combat; question of pilots not suited to active service; move into France, 5/1940; absence of opposition from French Air Force; reaction to rapid German advance.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of operations as pilot and commander of 8th Fighter Sqdn, III Group, 52nd Fighter Wing during Battle of Britain, 7/1940: re-equipping of squadron; stationing near Calais, summer 1940; losses escorting Junkers Ju 87 Stukas across English Channel, 7/1940; lack of success against Royal Air Force and withdrawal of unit to Germany, 7/1940. Recollections of operations commanding 8th Fighter Sqdn, III Group, 52nd Fighter Wing in Romania and Crete, Greece, 1940-1941: posting to Romania, 12/1940; attending King Peter of Romania's birthday party; his capture of assassin of German staff officer, 1/1941; Iron Guard rebellion in Bucharest, Romania; problems of German airborne landings on Crete, Greece, 5/1941; problems of using Maleme Airfield on Crete, return to Romania, 5/1941; arrival of Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of operations commanding 8th Fighter Sqdn, III Group, 52nd Fighter Wing and III Group, 52nd Fighter Wing in Romania and Soviet Union, 6/1941-3/1944: move to Constanca, Romania; organisation of air defence of Constanca, Romania; interception of Soviet Air Force bombers over Black Sea; Soviet Air Force raid on Constanca, Romania in which his ground crew was killed; importance of bombers having fighter escort; move to Belaya Tserkov, Soviet Union; rapid advances on southern front; use of unprepared airstrips; method of selecting airstrips; impossibility of supplying airfields by land; coping with cold weather, winter 1941-1942; tactical nature of Soviet Air Force operations; tenacity of Soviet Air Force in face of heavy losses; arrival of British and American aircraft in Soviet Air Force; formation of Soviet Red Banner Guard units; anti-aircraft hit on his aircraft over Kiev Pocket, Soviet Union, 1941; crash landing west of River Dnieper, Soviet Union; memories of Werner Molders.
REEL 5 Continues: loss of Werner Molders in aircraft accident, 22/11/1941; protecting aircraft against cold; capture of Soviet pilot in Caucasus, Soviet Union, autumn 1942; breaking his back during crash landing after aerial combat, 28/11/1941; his determination to return to his unit and attitude towards war in early 1942; attempts to recover from broken back; return to unit near Rostov-on-Don, 8/1942; coping with flying again after back injuries; supporting operations in Stalingrad enclave from former collective farm at Gigant, Soviet Union, 1942-1943.
REEL 6 Continues: effects of lack of fighter units and role as unit fire fighting, summer 1943; question of balance between fighter and bombers on Eastern Front; attitude of civilians towards German forces and subsequent changes; meetings with Adolf Hitler, 1942-1944; opinion of Herman Göering; opinion of high command of German Air Force.
REEL 7 Continues: degree of knowledge of situation in Germany. Aspects of operations commanding II Group 11 Fighter Wing in Germany, 4/1944-5/1944: taking command of unit, 4/1944; information about intended United States Army Air Force raids; increasing fuel capacity of Messerschmitt Bf 109; fuel shortage problems; problems of finding airfield after attacking Lockheed P-38 Lightnings; loss of thumb after shooting down by Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, 12/5/1944; hospitalisation and diphtheria infection. Aspect commanding Fighter Leaders School, German Air Force at Bad Wörishofen, Germany, 9/1944-2/1945: appointment as commander; what he learnt from flying captured Allied aircraft; weak point on North American P-51 Mustang. Aspects of operations commanding 300th Fighter Wing in Germany, 2/1945-5/1945: attack on base on arrival; problems commanding unit; flying Messerschmitt Me 262; capture by Americans.
REEL 8 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Germany and GB, 5/1945-10/1945: inability of Americans to feed mass of prisoners; interrogation by American personnel in GB; treatment by French in transit at Cherbourg, France; second interrogation at RAF Tangmere; release from captivity, 10/1945. Reflections of service with German Air Force during Second World War, 1939-1945: most feared Allied aircraft; attitude towards opponents; question of chivalry in air fighting; question of system for attacking aircraft; reasons for high number of victories of German Air Force pilots; flying with pilots from other Axis nations; post-war discrimination experienced in Germany.
REEL 9 Continues: further details of post-war discrimination experienced in Germany.