Branch: Luftwaffe
Born: 19 April 1922 in Weissach, Württemberg,
Germany.
Died: 20 September 1993 Weil im Schönbuch, Germany.
Ranks:
Oberst 26 July 1967
Oberstleutnant 12 December
1960
Major 8 May 1945
Hauptmann 1 September
1944
Oberleutnant 1 July 1944
Leutnant 31 March 1942
F�hnrich
Decorations:
Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Gold with Pennant
Combined Pilots-Observation Badge in Gold with Diamonds
Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe 13 September 1943
German Cross in Gold on 17 October 1943
Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class
Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds
Knight's Cross 29 October 1943
420th Oak Leaves 2 March 1944
75th Swords 2 July 1944
18th Diamonds 25 August 1944
Commands:
I./JG 52
JG 71
Other: Personnel
Articles:
Erich Alfred Hartmann was born on 19 April 1922, nicknamed
Bubi (the hypocoristic form of young boy) by his comrades
and The Black Devil by his Soviet enemies, was a German World
War II fighter pilot and is the highest-scoring fighter ace
in the history of aerial warfare. He claimed 352 aerial victories
(of which 345 were won against the Soviet Air Force, and 260
of which were fighters) in 1,404 combat missions. He engaged
in aerial combat 825 times while serving with the Luftwaffe.
During the course of his career, Erich Hartmann was forced
to crash-land his damaged fighter 14 times. This was due to
damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot
down or mechanical failure. Erich Hartmann was never shot
down or forced to land due to fire from enemy aircraft.
Erich Hartmann, a pre-war glider pilot, joined the Luftwaffe
in 1940 and completed his fighter pilot training in 1942.
He was posted to Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) on the Eastern
front and was fortunate to be placed under the supervision
of some of the Luftwaffe's most experienced fighter pilots.
Under their guidance, Erich Hartmann steadily developed his
tactics, which earned him the coveted Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub,
Schwertern und Brillanten (Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds) on 25 August 1944 for
claiming 301 aerial victories.
He scored his 352nd and last aerial victory on 8 May 1945.
He and the remainder of JG 52 surrendered to United States
Army forces and were turned over to the Red Army. In an attempt
to pressure him into service with the Soviet-friendly East
German Volksarmee, he was convicted of false/unjustifiable
war crimes, a conviction posthumously voided by a Russian
court as a malicious prosecution. Erich Hartmann was sentenced
to 25 years of hard labour and spent 10 years in various Soviet
prison camps and gulags until he was released in 1955.
In 1956, Erich Hartmann joined the newly established West
German Luftwaffe and became the first Geschwaderkommodore
of Jagdgeschwader 71 Richthofen. Erich Hartmann resigned early
from the Bundeswehr in 1970, largely due to his opposition
to the F-104 starfighter deployment in the Bundesluftwaffe
and the resulting clashes with his superiors over this issue.
He was later involved in flight training. He died of natural
causes on 20 September 1993.
Early life
Erich Hartmann was born on 19 April 1922 in Weissach, Württemberg,
to Doctor Alfred Erich Hartmann and his wife, Elisabeth Wilhelmine
Machtholf. The economic depression that followed World War
I in Germany prompted Doctor Erich Hartmann to find work in
Changsha, China, and Erich spent his early childhood there.
The family was forced to return to Germany in 1928, when the
Chinese Civil War broke out. During World War II, Erich Hartmann's
younger brother, Alfred, also joined the Luftwaffe, serving
as a gunner on a
Ju
87 in North Africa. He was captured by the British and
spent four years as a prisoner of war.
Erich was educated at the Volksschule in Weil im Schönbuch
April 1928 to April 1932, the Gymnasium in Böblingen
April 1932 to April 1936, the National Political Institutes
of Education in Rottweil April 1936 to April 1937, and the
Gymnasium in Korntal April 1937 to April 1940, from which
he received his Abitur. It was at Korntal that he met his
wife-to-be, Ursula Usch Paetsch.
Erich Hartmann's flying career began when he joined the glider
training program of the fledgling Luftwaffe and was taught
to fly by his mother, one of the first female glider pilots
in Germany. The Erich Hartmanns also owned a light aircraft
but were forced to sell it in 1932 as the German economy collapsed.
The rise to power of the National Socialist Party in 1933
resulted in government support for gliding, and, in 1936,
Elisabeth Erich Hartmann helped set up a flying school at
Weil IM Schönbuch, where 14 year old Erich became an
instructor. In 1939, he gained his pilot's license, allowing
him to fly powered aircraft.
Luftwaffe career
Erich Hartmann began his military training on 1 October 1940
at the 10th Flying Regiment in Neukuhren. On 1 March 1941,
he progressed to the Luftkriegsschule 2 in Berlin-Gatow, making
his first flight with an instructor four days later, followed
in just under three weeks by his first solo flight. He completed
his basic flying training in October 1941 and began advanced
flight training at pre-fighter school 2 in Lachen-Speyerdorf
on 1 November 1941. There, Erich Hartmann learned combat techniques
and gunnery skills. His advanced pilot training was completed
on 31 January 1942, and, between 1 March 1942 and 20 August
1942, he learned to fly the
Messerschmitt
Bf 109 at the Jagdfliegerschule 2 in Zerbst/Anhalt.
Erich Hartmann's time as a trainee pilot did not always go
smoothly. On 31 March 1942, during a gunnery training flight,
he ignored regulations and performed some aerobatics in his
BF 109
over the Zerbst airfield. His punishment was a three-month
period of confinement to quarters with the loss of ? of his
pay in fines. Erich Hartmann later recalled that the incident
saved his life:
That week confined to my room actually saved my life. I had
been scheduled to go up on a gunnery flight the afternoon
that I was confined. My roommate took the flight instead of
me, in an aircraft I had been scheduled to fly. Shortly after
he took off, while on his way to the gunnery range, he developed
engine trouble and had to crash-land near the Hindenburg-Kattowitz
railroad. He was killed in the crash.
Afterwards, Erich Hartmann practiced dilligently and adopted
a new credo which he passed on to other young pilots: Fly
with your head, not with your muscles. During a gunnery practice
session in June 1942, he hit a target drogue with 24 of the
allotted 50 rounds of machine-gun fire, a feat that was considered
difficult to achieve. His training had qualified him to fly
17 different types of powered aircraft, and, following his
graduation, he was posted on 21 August 1942 to Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe
Ost (Fighter Supply Group, East) in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia,
where he remained until 10 October 1942.
In October 1942, Erich Hartmann was assigned to fighter wing
Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52), based at Maykop on the Eastern
Front in the Soviet Union. The wing was equipped with the
Messerschmitt
BF 109G, but Erich Hartmann and several other pilots were
initially given the task of ferrying
Junkers
Ju 87 Stuka's
down to Mariupol. His first flight ended with brake failure,
causing the
Stuka
to crash into and destroy the controller's hut. Erich Hartmann
was assigned to III./JG 52, led by Gruppenkommandeur Major
Hubertus von Bonin, and placed under the experienced Oberfeldwebel
Edmund Paule Roßmann, although he also flew with such
experienced pilots as Alfred Grislawski, Hans Dammers and
Josef Zwernemann. After a few days of intensive mock combats
and practice flights, Grislawski conceded that, although Erich
Hartmann had much to learn regarding combat tactics, he was
quite a talented pilot. Paule Roßmann taught Erich Hartmann
the fundamentals of the surprise attack, a tactic that led
to his See Decide Attack Break style of aerial combat.
Erich Hartmann flew his first combat mission on 14 October
1942 as Roßmann's wingman. When they encountered 10
enemy aircraft below, Erich Hartmann, obsessed by the idea
of scoring his first kill, opened full throttle and became
separated from Roßmann. He engaged an enemy fighter,
but failed to score any hits and nearly collided with it instead.
He then ran for cover in low cloud, and his mission subsequently
ended with a crash landing after his aircraft ran out of fuel.
Erich Hartmann had violated almost every rule of air-to-air
combat, and von Bonin sentenced him to three days of working
with the ground crew. Twenty-two days later, Erich Hartmann
claimed his first kill, an Ilyushin Il-2 of the 7th Guards
Ground Attack Aviation Regiment, but, by the end of 1942,
he had added only one more kill to his tally. As with many
top aces, it took him some time to establish himself as a
consistently scoring fighter pilot.
Erich Hartmann's youthful appearance earned him the nickname
Bubi (the hypocoristic form of young boy in the German language),
and the ace Walter Krupinski, to whom Erich Hartmann was assigned
as wingman, would constantly urge him: Hey, Bubi, get in closer.
On 25 May 1943, he shot down a LaGG-5 before colliding with
another Soviet fighter but was able to maintain control of
his damaged aircraft. On 7 July, in the large dogfights that
occurred during the Battle of Kursk, he shot down seven enemy
aircraft. At the start of August 1943, his tally stood at
50, and, by the end of the month, he had added another 48
kills. In the following month, he was appointed Staffelkapitän
of 9./JG 52. He later revealed that one of his secrets to
success . Was to give the enemy target the full effect of
my weapons. If you wait until the other plane fills the entire
window of the cockpit, you don't waste a single round.
In his first year of operational service, Erich Hartmann felt
a distinct lack of respect towards Russian pilots. He recalled
that most Soviet fighters did not have proper gun sights,
and their pilots resorted to drawing them on the windshield
by hand.
In the early days, incredible as it may seem, there was no
reason for you to feel fear if the Russian fighter was behind
you. With their hand-painted gun sights they couldn't pull
the lead properly or hit you.
While Erich Hartmann considered the P-39, P-40, and Hurricane
inferior to the
Fw
190 and
BF
109, they did provide the Soviets with valuable gunsight
technology.
The Germans learned a few tricks from their enemy. Oil freezing
in the
DB
605 engines of their
BF
109G made them difficult to start in the extreme cold
of the Russian winter. A captured Soviet airman demonstrated
how pouring fuel into the aircraft's oil sump would thaw the
oil and allow the engine to start after only one attempt.
Another solution to this problem, also learned from the Soviets,
was to ignite fuel under the engine.
By late August 1943, Erich Hartmann had 90 aerial victories.
On 19 August, in combat with Il-2s, his aircraft was damaged
by debris, and he was forced to land behind Soviet lines.
Erich Hartmann's Geschwaderkommodore, Dietrich Hrabak, had
given orders to Erich Hartmann's unit to support the dive
bombers of Sturzkampfgeschwader 2, led by the famous
Stuka
pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel in a counterattack. The situation
had changed, and the flight of eight German fighters engaged
a mass of Russian Yakovlev Yak-9 and Lavochkin La-5 fighter
aircraft that were protecting Il-2 Sturmoviks on a ground-attack
mission. Erich Hartmann shot down two enemy aircraft before
his fighter was hit by debris and he was forced to make an
emergency landing. He then, in accordance with Luftwaffe regulations,
attempted to recover the precision board clock. As he was
doing so, Soviet ground troops approached. Realising that
capture was unavoidable, he faked internal injuries. Erich
Hartmann's acting so convinced the Soviets that they put him
on a stretcher and placed him on a truck. When Erich Hartmann's
Crew Chief, Heinz Bimmel Mertens, heard what had happened,
he took a rifle and went to search for Erich Hartmann.
Erich Hartmann patiently waited for the right moment to escape,
then, using the distraction of the
Stuka's
attack, he attacked the single guard. Erich Hartmann jumped
out of the back of the truck and ran into a large field of
giant sunflowers. Evading the pursuing soldiers, Erich Hartmann
hid and waited for nightfall. In the dark, Erich Hartmann
followed a Russian patrol heading west to the front. As he
approached the German position, he was challenged by a sentry
who fired a shot which passed through his trousers
In October 1943, Erich Hartmann claimed another 33 kills,
and, on 29 October, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz, at which
point his tally stood at 148 kills. By the end of the year,
this had risen to 159.In the first two months of 1944, Erich
Hartmann claimed another 50 kills. Erich Hartmann continued
scoring at an even greater pace. His spectacular rate of kills
raised a few eyebrows even in the Luftwaffe High Command his
claims were double- and triple-checked, and his performance
closely monitored by an observer flying in his formation.
On 2 March, he reached 202 kills.By this time, the Soviet
pilots were familiar with Erich Hartmann's radio call sign
of Karaya 1, and the Soviet Command had put a price of 10,000
rubles on the German pilot's head.Erich Hartmann, for a time,
used a black tulip design around the engine cowling near the
spinner of his aircraft, so Soviet personnel consequently
nicknamed him Cherniy Chort (Black Devil). However, Erich
Hartmann's opponents were often reluctant to stay and fight
if they noticed his personal design. As a result, this aircraft
was often allocated to novices, who could fly it in relative
safety. On 21 March, it was Erich Hartmann who scored JG 52'
3,500th kill of the war.Adversely, the reluctance of the Soviet
airmen to fight caused Erich Hartmann's kill rate to drop.
Erich Hartmann then had the tulip design removed, and his
aircraft painted just like the rest of his unit. Consequently,
in the following two months, Erich Hartmann amassed over 50
kills.
In March 1944, Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn, Walter Krupinski
and Johannes Wiese were summoned to
Adolf
Hitler's Berghof in Berchtesgaden. Barkhorn was to be
honoured with the Swords, while Erich Hartmann, Krupinski
and Wiese were to receive the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross.
On the train, all four of them got drunk on cognac and champagne.
Supporting each other and unable to stand, they arrived at
Berchtesgaden. Major Nicolaus von Below,
Adolf
Hitler's Luftwaffe adjutant, was shocked. After some sobering
up, Erich Hartmann was still intoxicated. Erich Hartmann took
a German officer hat from a stand and put it on, but it was
too large. Von Below became upset, told Erich Hartmann it
was
Adolf Hitler's
and ordered him to put it back.
On 21 May 1944, Erich Hartmann engaged United States Army
Air Forces aircraft in Reichsverteidigung for the first time.
While flying top cover for another Schwarm, Erich Hartmann
attacked a flight of four P-51s over Bucharest, Romania, downing
two, while the other two P-51s fell victim to his fellow pilots.
On 1 June 1944, Erich Hartmann shot down four P-51s in a single
mission over the Ploiesti oil fields. Later that month, during
his fifth combat with American pilots, he shot down two more
P-51s before being forced to bail out, when eight other P-51s
ran his Messerschmitt out of fuel. During the intense manoeuvring,
Erich Hartmann managed to line up one of the P-51s at close
range, but heard only a clank when he fired, as he had run
out of ammunition.While he was hanging in his parachute, the
P-51s circled above him, and Erich Hartmann wondered if they
would take this opportunity to kill him. One of the P-51Bs
flown by Lt. Robert J. Goebel of the 308th Squadron, 31st
Fighter Group, broke away and headed straight for him. Goebel
was making a camera pass to record the bailout and banked
away from him only at the last moment, waving at Erich Hartmann
as he went by.
On 17 August, Erich Hartmann became the top scoring fighter
ace, surpassing fellow JG 52 pilot Gerhard Barkhorn, with
his 274th kill.
On 23 August, Erich claimed eight victories in three combat
missions bringing his score to 290 victories. Erich Hartmann
passed the 300 kill mark on 24 August 1944, a day on which
he shot down 11 aircraft in two combat missions, bringing
the number of aerial victories to an unprecedented 301 victories.
He was immediately grounded by Luftwaffe chief of staff Reichsmarschall
Hermann
Göring, who was fearful of the effect on German morale
should such a hero be lost. Erich Hartmann, however, later
successfully lobbied to be reinstated as a combat pilot.
He became one of only 27 German soldiers in World War II to
receive the Diamonds to his Knight's Cross. Erich Hartmann
was summoned to the Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze,
Adolf Hitler's
military headquarters near Rastenburg, to receive the coveted
award from
Adolf
Hitler personally. On arrival, he was asked to surrender
his side arm a security measure caused by the aftermath of
the failed assassination attempt on 20 July 1944. Erich Hartmann
refused and threatened to decline the Diamonds if he were
not trusted to carry his pistol. After consulting Oberst Nicolaus
von Below,
Adolf
Hitler's Luftwaffe adjutant, Erich Hartmann was allowed
to keep his side arm and accepted the Diamonds.
During Erich Hartmann's meeting with
Adolf
Hitler, Erich Hartmann discussed at length the shortcomings
of fighter pilot training. Allegedly,
Adolf
Hitler revealed to Erich Hartmann that he believed that,
militarily, the war is lost, and that he wished the Luftwaffe
had more like him and Rudel.
The Diamonds to the Knight's Cross also earned him a ten-day
leave. On his way to his vacation, Erich Hartmann was ordered
by General der Jagdflieger
Adolf
Galland to attend a meeting in Berlin-Gatow.
Adolf
Galland wanted to transfer Erich Hartmann to the Me 262
test program. Erich Hartmann requested that the transfer be
cancelled on the grounds of his deep attachment to JG 52.
Adolf
Galland, valuing comradeship and seeing the merit in Erich
Hartmann's request, cancelled the transfer to the jet squadron
and rescinded the order that had taken him off combat operations.
Adolf
Galland then ordered Erich Hartmann to the Jagdfliegerheim
(vacation resort for fighter pilots) in Bad Wiessee, where,
on 10 September, Erich Hartmann married his long-time teenage
love, Ursula Usch Paetsch. Witnesses to the wedding included
his friends Gerhard Barkhorn and Wilhelm Batz
Unlike Hans-Joachim Marseille, who was a marksman and expert
in the art of deflection shooting, Erich Hartmann was a master
of stalk-and-ambush tactics. By his own account, he was convinced
that 80% of the pilots he downed did not even realise what
hit them. He relied on the powerful engine of his BF-109 for
high-power sweeps and quick approaches, occasionally diving
through entire enemy formations to take advantage of the confusion
that followed in order to disengage.
When the decorated British test pilot Captain Eric Brown asked
Erich Hartmann how he had amassed 352 air victories, he revealed:
Well you can't believe it, but the Sturmovik, which was their
main ground-attack aircraft, flew like B-17s in formation
and didn't attempt to make any evasive manoeuvres. And all
they had was one peashooter in the back of each plane. Also,
some of the pilots were women. Their peashooter was no threat
unless they had a very lucky hit on you. I didn't open fire
till the aircraft filled my whole windscreen. If I did this,
I would get one every time.
His favourite method of attack was to hold fire until extremely
close (20 m (66 ft) or less), then unleash a short burst at
point-blank range a technique he learned while flying as wingman
of his former commander, Walter Krupinski, who favoured this
approach. This technique, as opposed to long-range shooting,
allowed him to:
reveal his position only at the last possible moment
compensate for the low muzzle velocity of the slower firing
30 mm MK 108 equipping some of the later
BF
109 models (though most of his victories were claimed
with
Messerschmitts
equipped with the high-velocity MG 151 cannon)
place his shots accurately with minimum waste of ammunition
prevent the adversary from taking evasive actions
However, firing at close range ran the risk of having to fly
through the debris of a damaged or exploding aircraft, thereby
damaging his own fighter in the process (much of the damage
Erich Hartmann sustained in combat was caused by collision
with flying debris). If it was dangerous to dogfight further
he would break off and content himself with one victory. His
careful approach was described by himself by the line See
Decide Attack Break observe the enemy, decide how to proceed
with the attack, make the attack, and then disengage to reevaluate
the situation
From 1-14 February 1945, Erich Hartmann briefly led I./JG
53 as acting Gruppenkommandeur until he was replaced by Helmut
Lipfert. In March 1945, Erich Hartmann, his score now standing
at 336 aerial victories, was asked a second time by General
Adolf
Galland to join the
Me
262 units forming to fly the new jet fighter. Erich Hartmann
attended the jet conversion program led by Heinrich Bär.
Adolf
Galland also intended Erich Hartmann to fly with JV 44.
Erich Hartmann declined the offer, preferring to remain with
JG 52. Some sources report that Erich Hartmann's decision
to stay with his unit was due to a request via telegram made
by Oberstleutnant Hermann Graf.Now Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG
52, Erich Hartmann claimed his 350th aerial victory on 17
April, in the vicinity of Chrudim. The last wartime photograph
of Erich Hartmann known was taken in connection with this
victory.
At the end of the war, Erich Hartmann disobeyed General Hans
Seidemann's order to Erich Hartmann and Hermann Graf to fly
to the British sector to avoid capture by Soviet forces. Erich
Hartmann later explained:
I must say that during the war I never disobeyed an order,
but when General Seidemann ordered Graf and me to fly to the
British sector and surrender to avoid the Russians, with the
rest of the wing to surrender to the Soviets. I could not
leave my men. That would have been bad leadership.
Erich Hartmann's last kill occurred over Brno, Czechoslovakia,
on 8 May, the last day of the war in Europe. Early that morning,
he was ordered to fly a reconnaissance mission and report
the position of Soviet forces. Erich Hartmann took off with
his wingman at 08:30 and spotted the first Soviet units just
forty kilometres away. Passing over the area, Erich Hartmann
saw two Yak-9s performing aerobatics for the Soviet columns.
Determined to spoil the party, Erich Hartmann dove upon the
fighters from his vantage point at 12,000 ft (3,700 m) and
shot one down from a range of 200 ft (61 m). As he lined up
the second fighter, Erich Hartmann noticed a flicker of shiny
dots above him coming from the West they were P-51s. Rather
than make a stand and be caught between the Soviets and the
Americans, Erich Hartmann and his wingman fled at low level
into the pall of smoke that covered Brno. When he landed,
Erich Hartmann learned that the Soviet forces were within
artillery range of the airfield, so JG 52 destroyed Karaya
One, 24 other
BF 109s, and large quantities of ammunition. Erich Hartmann
later recalled his final violent action of the war:
We destroyed the aircraft and all munitions, everything. I
sat in my fighter and fired the guns into the woods where
all the fuel had been dropped, and then jumped out. We destroyed
twenty-five perfectly good fighters. They would be nice to
have in museums now.
As Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 52, Erich Hartmann chose to
surrender his unit to members of the US 90th Infantry Division
Prisoner of war
After his capture, the U.S. Army handed Erich Hartmann, his
pilots, and ground crew over to the Soviet Union on 24 May,
where he was imprisoned in accordance with the Yalta Agreements,
which stated that airmen and soldiers fighting Soviet forces
had to surrender directly to them. Erich Hartmann and his
unit were led by the Americans to a large open-air compound
to await the transfer. The number of prisoners grew to 50,000.
Living conditions deteriorated, and some American guards turned
a blind eye to escapes. In some cases, they assisted by providing
food and maps.
Soon after being handed over to the Soviet armed forces, Erich
Hartmann experienced the following:
The first thing the Russians did was to separate the German
women and girls from the men. What followed was a brutal orgy
of rape and debauchery by Red Army soldiers. When the greatly
outnumbered Americans tried to intervene, the Russians charged
towards them firing into the air and threatening to kill them
if they interfered. The raping continued throughout the night.
The next day a Russian General arrived at the encampment and
immediately ordered a cessation... Later when a few Russians
violated the order again and assaulted a German girl, she
was asked to identify them from a lineup There were no formalities,
no court martial. The guilty parties were immediately hanged
in front of all their comrades. The point was made.
Initially, the Russians tried to convince Erich to co-operate
with them. He was asked to spy on fellow officers and become
a stukatch, or stool pigeon. He refused and was given 10 days'
solitary confinement in a four-by-nine-by-six-foot chamber.
He slept on a concrete floor and was given only bread and
water. On another occasion, the Soviets threatened to kidnap
and murder his wife the death of his son was kept from Erich
Hartmann. During similar interrogations about his knowledge
of the
Me
262, Erich Hartmann was struck by a Soviet officer using
a cane, prompting Erich Hartmann to slam his chair down on
the head of the Russian, knocking him out. Expecting to be
shot, he was transferred back to the small bunker.
Erich Hartmann, not ashamed of his war service, opted to go
on a hunger strike and starve rather than fold to Soviet will,
as he called it.The Russians allowed the hunger strike to
go on for four days before force-feeding him. More subtle
efforts by the Soviet authorities to convert Erich Hartmann
to communism also failed. He was offered a post in the Luftstreitkräfte
der Nationalen Volksarmee (East German Air Force), which he
refused:
If, after I am home in the West, you make me a normal contract
offer, a business deal such as people sign every day all over
the world, and I like your offer, then I will come back and
work with you in accordance with the contract. But if you
try to put me to work under coercion of any kind, then I will
resist to my dying gasp.
War-crimes charges
Erich Hartmann had gone too far with his resistance. He was
falsely charged with war crimes, specifically the deliberate
shooting of 780 Soviet civilians in the village of Briansk,
attacking a bread factory on 23 May 1943, and destroying 345
expensive Soviet aircraft. He refused to confess to these
charges and conducted his own defence, which was a waste of
time, according to the judge. Sentenced to 25 years of hard
labour, Erich Hartmann refused to work. He was eventually
put into solitary confinement, which enraged his fellow prisoners.
They began a revolt, overpowered the guards, and freed him.
Erich Hartmann made a complaint to the Kommandant's office,
asking for a representative from Moscow and an international
inspection, as well as a tribunal, to acquit him of his unlawful
conviction. This was refused, and he was transferred to a
camp in Novocherkassk, where he spent five more months in
solitary confinement. Eventually, Erich Hartmann was granted
a tribunal, but it upheld his original sentence. He was subsequently
sent to another camp, this time at Diaterka in the Ural Mountains.
In 1955, Erich Hartmann's mother wrote to the new West German
Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, to whom she appealed to secure
his freedom. A trade agreement between West Germany and the
Soviet Union was reached, and Erich Hartmann was released
along with 16,000 German military personnel. After spending
ten and a half years in Soviet POW camps, he was among the
last batch of prisoners to be turned over. Returning to West
Germany, he was reunited with his wife Ursula, to whom he
had written every day of the war.
In January 1997, the Russian government, as a legal successor
to the Soviet Union, exonerated Erich Hartmann by admitting
that his conviction for war crimes was unlawful.
Post-war years
When he returned to West Germany, Erich Hartmann reentered
military service in the Bundeswehr and became an officer in
the West German Air Force (Bundesluftwaffe), where he commanded
West Germany's first all-jet unit, Jagdgeschwader 71 Richthofen,
which was equipped initially with Canadair Sabres and later
with Lockheed F-104 Starfighters. He also made several trips
to the United States, where he was trained on U.S. Air Force
equipment. He had the JG 71 aircraft painted with the same
spreading black tulip pattern used by Karaya 1 on the Eastern
Front.
Erich Hartmann considered the F-104 a fundamentally flawed
and unsafe aircraft and strongly opposed its adoption by the
Bundesluftwaffe. Although events subsequently validated his
low opinion of the aircraft (282 crashes and 115 German pilots
killed on the F-104 in non-combat missions, along with allegations
of bribes culminating in the Lockheed scandal), Erich Hartmann's
outspoken criticism proved unpopular with his superiors. General
Werner Panitzki, successor to General Josef Kammhuber as Inspekteur
der Luftwaffe, said, Erich is a good pilot, but not a good
officer. Erich Hartmann was forced into early retirement in
1970.
During his long imprisonment, Erich Hartmann's son, Erich-Peter,
was born in 1945 and died as a three-year-old in 1948, without
his father ever having seen him. Erich Hartmann later had
a daughter, Ursula Isabel, born on 23 February 1957.
After his military retirement, Erich Hartmann worked as a
flight instructor in Hangelar, near Bonn, from 1971 to 1974
and also flew in an aerobatics team with Dolfo
Adolf
Galland. He experienced a sudden change in his lifestyle
in 1980, when he caught a cold that developed into angina
pectoris the condition that had killed his father at the age
of 58. He recovered and, by 1983, was medically cleared to
fly, after which he resumed instructing at the various flying
schools. However, fearing a second attack, he became cautious
and limited his appearances at public events. He stated: I
am retired and I am a civilian, and now I like to have my
rest and peace. I do not live for exhibitions.
Erich Hartmann died on 20 September 1993, at the age of 71
in Weil IM Schönbuch
Summary of career
Erich Hartmann flew 1,404 combat missions during World War
II, resulting in 825 engagements, and was never shot down.
He was never wounded and never bailed out due to damage inflicted
by enemy pilots. His kill tally included some 200 various
single engined Soviet-built fighters, more than 80 US-built
P-39s, 15 Il-2 ground attack aircraft, and 10 twin engined
medium bombers.
It is often said that he was more proud of the fact that he
had never lost a wingman in combat than he was about his rate
of kills however, he did at least have one shot down. Major
Günther Capito had joined the unit in the spring of 1943.
Capito was a former bomber pilot who had retrained on fighters.
After scoring his fifth victory, Capito asked to be Erich
Hartmann's wingman. Erich Hartmann refused initially, believing
Capito was insufficiently trained on
Messerschmitts.
On their first mission together, they were engaged by P-39
Airacobras:
I called to him to turn hard opposite, so I could sandwich
the Red fighters, but in his standard-rate bomber turn he
got hit. I saw the whole thing and ordered him to dive and
bail out immediately. To my intense relief I saw him leave
the aircraft and his parachute blossom. I was happy to get
this Airacobra, but I was mad at myself for not listening
to my intuition not to fly with Günther Capito.
Erich Hartmann destroyed both the Soviet fighters soon afterwards.
Victories
One Soviet historian, Dimitri Khazanov, has attempted to prove
that Erich Hartmann did not score anywhere near 352 victories.
Khazanov quoted Erich Hartmann having shot down 70-80 Soviet
aircraft. However, Khazanov has been heavily criticised by
aviation historians such as Jean-Yves Lorant and Hans Ring
for faulty research. Ring and Lorant both point out that the
missions that Khazonov tried to use to prove Erich Hartmann's
claims false were riddled with false and misleading information.
For example, Khazonov claimed that on a mission on 20 August
1943, Erich Hartmann claimed two victories west of Millerowo
but not a single Soviet aircraft was lost. German records
show not a single claim was made in that area. Erich Hartmann's
victories were recorded east of Kuteinikowo, some 160 kilometres
away. On 29 May 1944, Khazanov claimed Erich Hartmann reported
three La-5s shot down over Roman, Romania. This was also false.
Erich Hartmann claimed a single P-39 over Iasi. Hans Ring
said the mistakes in Khazanov's work serve to expose the superficial
nature of Khazanov's assertions and confirm that his only
goal in compiling his article was to discredit Erich Hartmann
and his record. Even Khazanov points out in his article that
during Erich Hartmann's show trial, one of the Soviet charges
was the destruction of 352 (the actual number was 345) Soviet
aircraft.
The first clip shows the Erich Hartmann piloting the
Messerschmitt
Bf 109.
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