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Erich Hartmann

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Erich Hartmann
File:Erich Hartmann.jpg
Erich Hartmann
Nickname(s)Bubi
The Blond Knight
The Black Devil (to the Soviets)
AllegianceNazi Germany Nazi Germany (to 1945)
West Germany West Germany
Service/branchLuftwaffe
Years of service1941-1970
RankOberst (Colonel)
UnitJG 52, JG 53 and JG 71
CommandsI./JG 52 and JG 71
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsRitterkreuz mit Eichenlaub, Schwerten und Brillianten
Other workBundeswehr
Flight instructor

Erich Alfred "Bubi" Hartmann (April 19, 1922 – September 20, 1993), also nicknamed "The Blond Knight Of Germany" by friends and "The Black Devil" by his enemies, was a German fighter pilot and still is the highest scoring fighter ace in the history of aerial combat. He scored 352 aerial victories (of which 345 were won against the Soviet Air Force, and 260 of which were fighters) in 1,404 combat missions and engaging in aerial combat 825 times while serving with the Luftwaffe in World War II. Never wounded, never lost a wingman, 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[1]. Hartmann was never shot down or forced to land due to enemy fire.

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 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 Hartmann steadily developed his tactics which would earn him the coveted 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 US forces and were turned over to the Red Army. Convicted of War Crimes and sentenced to 50 years of hard labor, Hartmann would spend 10 years in various Soviet prison camps until he was released in 1955. In 1956, Hartmann joined the newly established West German Luftwaffe and became the first Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen". Hartmann resigned early from the Bundeswehr in 1970, largely due to his opposition of the F-104 Starfighter deployment in the Bundesluftwaffe and the resulting discrepancies with his superiors over this issue. Erich Hartmann died in 1993.


Early life

Hartmann was born in Weissach in Württemberg as the older of two brothers. His younger brother Alfred would also join the Luftwaffe during World War II. Alfred served as a gunner on a Ju 87 in North Africa. He was taken prisoner of war and spent four years in British captivity. Most of their childhood was spent in China, as his father, Alfred Erich Hartmann, was a doctor who wanted to escape the economic depression. With help of Dr. Hartmann's cousin, a German consul in Shanghai, Dr. Hartmann went to China and found work in Changsha. Erich and his family were forced to return to Germany in 1928 due to Chinese Civil War.[2]

Erich attended the Volksschule in Weil im Schönbuch from April 1928 until April 1932. He continued his education at the Gymnasium in Böblingen (April 1932 – April 1936) and the National Political Institutes of Education in Rottweil (April 1936 – April 1937). He received his Abitur from the Gymnasium in Korntal, which he attended from April 1937 until April 1940.[3]

He joined the glider training program of the fledgling Luftwaffe. His mother, Elisabeth Wilhelmine Machtholf, was one of the first female glider pilots, gaining her license from the Böblingen flying club. She taught Erich to fly. The Hartmanns bought a light aircraft, but were forced to sell it in 1932 due to the collapsing German economy. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, gliding was encouraged. Elisabeth Hartmann helped set up a flying school at Weil im Schönbuch in 1936, by which time, the 14-year old Erich had become an instructor.[4]

Hartmann got his pilot's license in 1939 and started his military training on 1 October1940 at the 10th Flying Regiment in Neukuhren and from 1 March 1941 at the Luftkriegsschule 2 in Berlin-Gatow. His next stop on 1 November 1941 was the pre-fighter school 2 in Lachen-Speyerdorf. He learned to fly the Messerschmitt Bf 109 at the Jagdfliegerschule 2 in Zerbst/Anhalt beginning on 1 March 1942.[3]

Career in the Luftwaffe

File:Erich hartmann front.jpg
Erich Hartmann

Hartmann got his "wings" in 1941 and was assigned to the fighter wing Jagdgeschwader 52 in October 1942. JG 52 was stationed on the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union and was equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 109G.

JG 52 were based at Maykop, but Hartmann and several other pilots were to ferry several Junkers Ju 87 Stukas down to Mariupol, as there were not any replacement Bf 109s needed by JG 52. Hartmann's first flight in the Stuka ended in a crash due to brake failure. The Junkers went straight into the controller's hut, destroying it[5].

The commander of III./JG 52, Gruppenkommandeur Major Hubertus von Bonin, placed Hartmann under the experienced Oberfeldwebel Eduard "Paule" Rossmann, but Hartmann 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 admitted that, although Hartmann had much to learn regarding combat tactics, he was a quite talented pilot. But it was Paule Rossmann that taught him the fundamentals of the surprise attack, a tactic, which would lead to Hartmann's "See – Decide – Attack –Reverse" style of aerial combat.[6]

Hartmann was assigned to 7./JG 52[7] to serve as wingman to the ace Walter Krupinski, who became his mentor and friend. From Kuprinski’s constant urgings in the air, "Hey, Bubi, get in closer" and his youthful appearance ("Bubi" is the hypocoristic form of "young boy" in the German language) came Erich's nickname, which stuck with him his entire life.[8] He shot down his first Soviet victim on 5 November, 1942, an Il-2 from 7 GShAP (7th Guards Ground Attack Aviation Regiment). By the end of the year he had added only one more kill and, as with many top aces, took some time to establish himself as a consistently scoring fighter pilot.

On May 25 he shot down a LaGG-5 then collided with a second Soviet fighter while climbing into position for a second attack. Hartmann regained control of his damaged aircraft without crashing[9].

On July 7, 1943, he shot down seven enemy aircraft in a single day, during the massive dogfights that occurred during the Battle of Kursk. He had reached 50 victories by August 1943, and in that month claimed another 48 kills. He was then appointed Staffelkapitän of 9./JG 52 in September 1943. By late August 1943, Hartmann had 90 claims, but on 19 August in combat with Il-2's his aircraft was damaged and he was forced to land behind Soviet lines. Hartmann was captured and loaded into a truck to be taken to the nearest Army HQ but, feigning illness, he managed to jump off the truck and elude his two Soviet guards. Moving under cover of darkness he successfully walked west back to the German lines.[10] In October 1943, he claimed another 33 kills and was awarded the Ritterkreuz on 29 October 1943, after 148 kills. At the end of the year his toll stood at 159.[11]

In 1944, 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. In March, he reached 202 kills. By this time the Soviet pilots were familiar with Hartmann's radio call-sign of Karaya 1 and the Soviet Command had put a price on the German pilot's head. Hartmann, for a time, used a black tulip design around the spinner of his aircraft and Soviet personnel consequently nicknamed him Cherniye Chort ("Black Devil"). However, the design meant that Hartmann's opponents were often reluctant to stay and fight. As a result, this aircraft was often allocated to novices, who could fly it in relative safety. On 21 March, Hartmann scored JG 52s 3,500th kill of the war[12]

In January–February 1944, Hartmann claimed 50 kills in 60 days. Throughout 1944, Hartmann claimed 172 victories, a total surpassed only by his friend Wilhelm Batz.

On 21 May, Hartmann engaged United States Army Air Force aircraft for the first time, downing two P-51 Mustangs over Bucharest, Romania, while two more P-51s fell victim to his fellow pilots[13]. On June 1, 1944 Hartmann shot down four Mustangs in a single mission over the Ploieşti oil fields.[14] Later that month, during his fifth combat with American pilots he shot down two more Mustangs before being forced to bail out, when other Mustangs ran his Messerschmitt out of fuel. During the intense manouvring, Hartmann managed to line-up one of the Mustangs at close range, but heard only a "clank" when he fired, as he had run out of ammunition.[15][16]. On 17 August 1944, Hartmann became the top scoring fighter ace, surpassing fellow JG 52 pilot Gerhard Barkhorn, with his 274th kill.

His 300th kill came on 24 August, 1944, a day on which he shot down 11 aircraft. After reaching 300 victories, he was grounded by Luftwaffe chief of staff Hermann Göring, who was fearful of the effect on German morale should such a hero be lost. Hartmann, however, successfully lobbied to be reinstated as a combat pilot. He had over 300 kills and became one of only 27 German soldiers in World War II to receive the Diamonds to his Knight's Cross[17]

On 10 September 1944, Hartmann married his long-time teenage love, Ursula "Usch" Paetsch. Witnesses to the wedding included his friends Barkhorn and Batz [18].

In early 1945, Hartmann was asked by General Adolf Galland to join the Me-262 units forming to fly the new jet fighter. Hartmann declined the offer, preferring to remain with JG 52. Some sources report that Hartmann's decision to stay with his unit was due to a request via telegram made by Oberstleutnant Hermann Graf[19]

At war's end he disobeyed an order from General Hans Seidemann. Seidemann had ordered him and Hermann Graf to fly to the British sector, to avoid capture by Soviet forces. Hartmann said:

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.[20]

Hartmann's last kill occurred over Brno, Czechoslovakia on 8 May 1945, the last day of the war in Europe.

As Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 52, Hartmann chose to surrender his unit to members of the US 90th Infantry Division.

Hartmann flew 1,404 missions resulting in 825 engagements[21], losing 14 aircraft from combat damage and forced landings. 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. He 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 it appears Hartmann did lose one wingman. 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 Hartmanns wingman. Hartmann refused initially, believing Capito was insufficiently trained on Messerschmitts. On their first mission together they were enaged 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 harkening to my intuition not to fly with Günther Capito.[22]

Hartmann destroyed both the Soviet fighters soon afterwards.

Fighting technique

Hartmann flew a Messerschmitt Bf 109 Fighter

Unlike Hans-Joachim Marseille who was a marksman and expert in the art of deflection shooting, Hartmann was a master of stalk-and-ambush tactics. By his own account he was convinced that 80% of the pilots he downed didn't even realize what hit them. He relied on the powerful engine of his Messerschmitt 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. His favourite method of attack was to hold fire until extremely close (60ft/20m or less), then unleash a short burst at point-blank range. This technique he learned while flying as wingman of his former commander, Walter Krupinski, who favoured this approach. As opposed to long-range shooting, this technique 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 cannon 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

It also implied 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 Hartmann sustained in combat was caused by collision with flying debris). If it was dangerous to dog-fight 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 re-evaluate the situation.

Hartmann once famously described dog-fighting as "a waste of time".

After the war

File:JG 71 Cuffband.jpg
Erich Hartmann receiving the Richthofen Cuffband from General Josef Kammhuber.

After his capture, the U.S. Army handed Hartmann, his pilots, and ground crew over to the Soviet Union, 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.

Hartmann was falsely charged with war crimes (specifically, deliberate shooting of Soviet civilians) and was subjected to harsh treatment during the early years of his imprisonment, including solitary confinement in total darkness. Hartmann, despite this, refused to confess to these charges, which were later dropped.

More subtle efforts by the Soviet authorities to convert Hartmann to Communism also failed. He was offered a post in the Luftstreitkräfte der Nationale Volksarmee (East German Air Force), which he refused. During his long imprisonment, Hartmann's three-year-old son, whom he had never seen, died. (Hartmann later had a daughter. born in February 1957)[23]. After spending ten and a half years in Soviet POW camps he was among the last batch of POWs to be released in 1955 and returned to West Germany, where he was reunited with his wife Ursula, to whom he had written every day of the war.

Luftwaffe Canadair Sabre in the Hartmann "black tulip" color scheme at the Luftwaffenmuseum.

When he returned to West Germany, Hartmann 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 Sabre, 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[24].

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), 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" and this relationship with his superiors forced Hartmann into early retirement in 1970[25].

From 1971 to 1974 he worked as a flight instructor in Hangelar, near Bonn.

Erich Hartmann died on September 20, 1993, at the age of 71, in Weil im Schönbuch [1].

In January 1997, the Russian government, as a legal successor to the Soviet Union, exonerated Hartmann, by admitting that his conviction for war crimes was unlawful.

Awards

References in the Wehrmachtbericht

Date Original German Wehrmachtbericht wording English translation
24 August 1944 Oberleutnant Hartmann erhöhte am gestrigen Tage mit dem Abschuß von 8 Sowjetflugzeugen die Zahl seiner Luftsiege auf 290[26] Yesterday Oberleutnant Hartmann increased his aerial victories by shooting down 8 Soviet aircraft to 290.
25 August 1944 In Luftkämpfen und durch Flakartillerie verloren die Sowjets gestern 58 Flugzeuge. Hiervon schoß der mit dem Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes ausgezeichnete Oberleutnant Hartmann, Staffelkapitän in einem Jagdgeschwader, allein 11 Flugzeuge ab und errang damit seinen 301. Luftsieg[27] Yesterday the Soviets lost 58 aircrafts either in aerial combat and by anti aircraft artillery. Oberleutnant Hartmann, recipient of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Staffelkapitän in a Jagdgeschwader, alone accounted for 11 kills and achieved his 301st aerial victory.

References

Notes
  1. ^ Toliver & Constable 1986, p. 12.
  2. ^ Toliver and Constable 1986, p. 15, 16.
  3. ^ a b Toliver and Constable 1986, p. 296.
  4. ^ Kaplan 2007, p. 89.
  5. ^ Toliver & Constable 1986, p. 32-33
  6. ^ Toliver and Constable 1986, p. 46.
  7. ^ For an explanation of the meaning of Luftwaffe unit designation see Luftwaffe Organization
  8. ^ Toliver and Constable 1986, p. 54.
  9. ^ Kurowski 1996, p. 177
  10. ^ Toliver and Constable 1986, p. 64–77.
  11. ^ Deac 1998, p. 34.
  12. ^ Weal 2003a, p.74.
  13. ^ P. Kaplan, p. 115
  14. ^ Toliver and Constable 1985, p.177-182, 339 Template:De icon
  15. ^ Kaplan 2007, p.115.
  16. ^ Toliver and Constable 1986, p.165-169 Template:En icon
  17. ^ Weal 2003a, p.71.
  18. ^ Hartman and Jäger 1992, p. 139-145.
  19. ^ Weal 2003a, p.82.
  20. ^ - interview by Colin Heaton
  21. ^ Toliver and Constable 1985, p.340 Template:De icon
  22. ^ Kaplan 2007, p. 100.
  23. ^ P. Kaplan, 125
  24. ^ Toliver and Constable 1985, p. 278 Template:De icon
  25. ^ Toliver and Constable 1985, p. 285, 286 Template:De icon
  26. ^ Murawski 1962, p. 248.
  27. ^ Murawski 1962, p. 249.
Bibliography
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  • Template:Harvrefcol. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
  • Hartmann, Ursula and Jäger, Manfred. German Fighter Ace Erich Hartmann. Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1992. ISBN 0-88740-396-4.
  • Jackson, Robert. Fighter Aces of World War II. Corgi Books, 1978.
  • Kaplan, Philip. Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe in World War WWII (Pen & Sword Aviation). Auldgirth, Dumfriesshire, 2007. ISBN 184415460-2.
  • Kurowski, Franz. Luftwaffe Aces. J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing Inc, 1996. ISBN 0-921991-31-2.
  • Murawski, Erich. Der deutsche Wehrmachtbericht 1939 - 1945, vom 1.7.1944 bis zum 9.5.1945. Schriften des Bundesarchivs 9, Boppoard am Rhein: Harald Boldt Verlag, 1962
  • Patzwall, Klaus D. and Scherzer, Veit. Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 - 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II. Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, 2001. ISBN 3-931533-45-X.
  • Sims, Edward H. Jagdflieger Die Grossen Gegner von Einst. Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag, 1982. ISBN 3-87943-115-9.
  • Template:Harvrefcol. ISBN 3-87943-216-3.
  • Template:Harvrefcol. ISBN 0-8306-8189-2.
  • Template:Harvrefcol. ISBN 1-84176-084-6

See also

Military offices
Preceded by
none
 Commander of Jagdgeschwader 71 Richthofen
January 19, 1959-May 29, 1962 		Succeeded by

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