German Panzer Ass. Tank aces of the Wehrmacht
The article is based on the material of the program "The Price of Victory" of the radio station "Echo of Moscow". The broadcast was conducted by Dmitry Zakharov and Vitaly Dymarsky. You can read and listen to the original interview in full here.
In Russia, much less is known about Soviet tank heroes than about German tank aces. And no wonder. in the West for post-war years many books were published about the exploits of the heroes of the Panzerwaffe. In our country, there are only a few about ours. Meanwhile, it was the Soviet tankers who made a decisive contribution to our Victory.
Tankman No. 1 in the Red Army is considered the company commander of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of the Guard, Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Lavrinenko. According to various sources, he destroyed either 52 or 47 German tanks, and in a very short period of time - at the end of 1941, Lavrinenko died.
A few words about accounting for personal tank victories. There was no officially approved system for confirming victories in the Soviet tank forces. In German, by the way, too (unlike aviation). There was only one speculative criterion - the honor of an officer, which in many cases let down many German tank aces, who sometimes attributed to themselves a fairly decent number of victories.
The very concept of "tank ace" appeared only at the beginning of World War II.
Returning to our main tank ace, it should be noted that Lavrinenko was a typical example of a competent, experienced regular tanker who knew very clearly the shortcomings of his vehicle (he fought on the T-34 tank) and, in accordance with this, built all the tactics of action. And I must say that she brought success.
Among the masters of German tank combat who fought on the Eastern Front, there were those whose combat score was approaching two hundred. The record for the number of victories (about 170 Soviet tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts) belongs to sergeant major Kurt Knispel. Second on the list is Martin Schroiff with 161 wins. The top five tankers-record holders are closed by the notorious Michael Wittmann, who became famous in the battle at Villers-Bocage.
The feat of another tanker, the Soviet ace Zinovy Kolobanov, was generally included in the Guinness Book of Records: on August 20, 1941, the KV-1 crew under his command destroyed 22 German tanks in one battle.
Zinovy Kolobanov was a career tanker. In the autumn of 1939, when the Soviet-Finnish war began, he commanded a tank company in the 20th heavy tank brigade. Passed from the border to Vyborg, burned three times. For the breakthrough of the Mannerheim line, Kolobanov was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union. Only the award was not given. On the night of March 12-13, 1940, a peace treaty was signed between the USSR and Finland. Upon learning of this, the soldiers of the two previously opposing armies rushed towards each other for "fraternization". Not all commanders and political workers were able to keep their fighters from this step. The leaders were severely punished. Among them was Zinovy Kolobanov. Arrest, a tribunal, a camp followed.
When the Great Patriotic War began, Kolobanov was remembered and again drafted into the Red Army. Reinstated in the rank of an officer, however, a lower rank, deprived of all his military awards, having spent nothing at retraining, he arrived in the 1st Tank Division of the Leningrad Military District.
The feat of the tanker Zinovy Kolobanov entered the Guinness Book of Records
On August 18, the commander of the 3rd tank company of the 1st tank battalion of the 1st Red Banner tank division, senior lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov, received the task personally from the division commander Baranov: to block the fork in the roads leading to Luga and Kingisepp, and "stand to the death." Order commander Kolobanov took literally. He did everything correctly: the machines were dug in (and digging a caponier for KB is, frankly, hard work), the positions - both the main and the spare - were equipped. For his tank, Kolobanov determined the place in such a way that in the sector of fire there was the longest, well open area roads.
Unfortunately, there is no exact data with which compound Zinovy Kolobanov came into contact. There could be both the 1st German Panzer Division and the 6th Panzer Division. Although, in general, in the situation in which the Germans found themselves, the type of tanks especially does not matter. With the first shot, Kolobanov practically knocked out the lead car, then immediately the second, shot the end cars, and the column was locked on a narrow road, from which it could no longer move out. Our tanks were camouflaged in such a way that the Germans did not even immediately determine where they were being fired from. But the fact that the battle was not just a shooting is evidenced by the fact that it lasted several hours, during which the Germans still achieved hits in the KV, in the tower, but without much result, although both the sight and the observation devices were broken , and the tankers were injured.
Unfortunately, Kolobanov was wounded in subsequent battles. Then there was a hospital, then again the front. Zinovy Grigoryevich survived the war, lived and worked in Minsk. For the tank battle near Voiskovitsy, he never received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. I must say that Lavrinenko, our most productive tanker, was awarded this title posthumously on May 5, 1990.
The Kolobanov family in 1945-1946. Photo from the family archive
Assessing the performance of the Soviet and German tank aces, the question involuntarily begs: why are our tankers inferior in the number of victories? The question is difficult. First, of course, one cannot discount His Majesty the case. For example, Lavrinenko, who could destroy many times more tanks, died by an absurd accident: having jumped out of the tank, he was killed by a fragment of a mortar mine. Of course, something similar happened to the Germans, but still ...
We must not forget about different tactics, about the different use of tank technology. In our country, for example, it was believed that tanks did not fight tanks. It was a setup. In 1942, an order was issued to fire from tanks on the move. There were well-known conversations on this topic: Stalin, talking with high-ranking tank commanders, asked: “Do our tankers shoot from the move?” To which, of course, they answered that they practically did not shoot, because the fire was not aimed, they shot from short stops. Stalin said: “We must shoot on the move. There is no point in dealing with German tanks, artillery will take care of them. In principle, this was also dictated by our combat regulations, that the main purpose of tanks was to support infantry. The main fight against German tanks was assigned to anti-tank artillery. In general, this is what happened: most of the tanks in the Second World War, not only German, but also ours, and tanks of the allies, were hit by anti-tank artillery.
On account of Kurt Knipsel - almost 170 tanks
The Germans had a slightly different situation. Still, they used tanks more and more actively for anti-tank combat, and in this regard they were even ahead of their time, because if you take any of our post-war textbooks that officers studied at the Academy, then practically the first phrase in it will be: “The most effective anti-tank weapon is tank". This came about as a result of the Second World War. The Germans came to this earlier, during the Second World War. That is, their tanks had more pronounced anti-tank properties than the tanks of their opponents.
Remembering the German and Soviet aces tankers, one cannot but say about the machines on which they won their victories. The best Soviet tank, of course, was the T-34. In terms of efficiency, security, fire capabilities, the Tiger was undoubtedly the leader. Everything is simple here: during the war, each country created equipment within the framework of its technological capabilities, within the framework of the technical culture that took place. We couldn't create a machine like the Tiger. Not even the Tiger, but also the earlier German cars. We created what we needed.
The T-34 was a simple tank in design, that is, it was distinguished by its exceptional simplicity and maintainability. It was very important - a tank that could be produced in large quantities in factories using low-skilled labor and fairly simple equipment, because we also had problems with the equipment. In addition, the army needed a machine that personnel with a fairly low level of training could easily master. In this regard, the T-34 was an ideal machine. The tank was produced in mass quantities (more than 50 thousand), in the same mass quantities it was lost.
There were fewer "Tigers" - 1381 tanks. But these machines (T-34 and Tiger) different class, they cannot be compared. In general, German tanks were technologically much more complex, much more reliable than ours. But they could not be produced in large quantities. The Germans relied on qualitative superiority.
But the Americans were able to create a machine technologically more complex and more reliable than the T-34, and at the same time produce it in mass quantities. But one thing must be kept in mind here: the United States actually created the Sherman during the war, that is, from a blank sheet, as they say. And although the car turned out to be high and, as Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry Fedorovich Loza wrote, it could fall sideways on ice, but for all that it was fantastically reliable.
Aces of the Luftwaffe in World War II
Germany undeniably had the best fighter pilots of World War II. Both in the East and in the West, Luftwaffe experts shot down Allied aircraft by the thousands.
During the First World War, fighter pilots, aces were on both warring sides. Their personal exploits, like those of knights, were a welcome contrast to the nameless bloodshed in the trenches.
Five downed enemy aircraft served as the threshold for awarding the status of ace, although the scores of outstanding pilots were much higher.
In Germany, the pilot's personal account was requested each time before receiving the coveted "Pour le Merite" - the highest award of the Empire for bravery, also known as the "Blue Max".
Pour le Merite - Blue Max, the Empire's highest award for gallantry
This award did not decorate the neck of Hermann Goering until 1918, when he shot down more than 20 enemy aircraft. Just for the first world war"Blue Max" was awarded to 63 pilots.
Hermann Göring on Blue Max's neck
From 1939 Göring introduced the same system when Hitler's best pilots fought for the Knight's Cross. Compared with the First World War, the threshold was increased several times, and the issue of awarding the highest categories of the Knight's Cross was submitted to the aces of the Luftwaffe for outstanding victorious achievements. Thirty-five German aces shot down 150 or more Allied aircraft, the total score of the top ten experts is 2552 aircraft.
Knight's Crosses of the Third Reich 1939
The tactical advantage of the aces of the Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe had a head start over their opponents thanks to the Spanish Civil War. The Condor Legion included a significant number of future aces from the top lines, including Werner Mölders, who shot down 14 Republican aircraft.
Combat practice in Spain forced the Luftwaffe to abandon some World War I tactics and develop new ones. This was a huge advantage for Germany at the start of World War II.
Germany had a first-class fighter "Messerschmitt" Me-109, but the Allied aircraft were at least as good, but remained true to the pre-war tactics of 1940. Squadrons stubbornly continued to fly in close formation of three aircraft, which required the pilots to concentrate building. They were observing in the sky mainly against the sun. German aircraft flew in free pairs and in groups of four, known as swarms (schwam).
Werner Mölders with officers 1939
The British eventually copied this formation, calling it "four fingers" because the swarm consisted of two pairs arranged like the fingers of an outstretched hand.
A significant number of German pilots achieved impressive results in battles against Britain. Werner Mölders' personal account was 13 shot down during the Battle of Britain and another 22 shot down in the West before he was sent to Russia.
Werner Mölders - the most productive ace of the Luftwaffe civil war in Spain. The first to receive the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, had 115 victories and died in 1941.
The funeral of the German ace Werner Melders 1941, the coffin is Reichsmarschall Goering
After the Battle of Britain, victories by Luftwaffe pilots became rare. Opportunity turned up in North Africa, and since June 1941 - in the "anti-Bolshevik crusade" launched in the East.
Major Helmud Wikk became the highest scoring ace when on the morning of November 28, 1940, he added another Spitfire shot down to a total of 56 victories. But Wicca's record was soon surpassed. Hauptmann Hans Joachim Marseille ultimately shot down 158 aircraft, 151 of them over North Africa; he once shot down 17 RAF planes in one day!!! I just don't believe it.
Helmud Wikk the number of victories of the German ace is growing August 1940 Bf-109E4
Hans Joachim Marseille is the most successful pilot in the Western theater of operations, the Nazi press honored him with the title "Star of Africa".
Air war over the Reich.
Two years later, the main task of the Luftwaffe was to protect their home. British heavy bombers attacked the Reich at night, US bombers operated during the day. Night air warfare produced its own aces, and two of them boasted over a hundred victories.
At first, fighters were involved in daytime interceptions, attacking unescorted American bombers. But the bombers flew in close formation, so the fighters could be brought down by fire from an awesome amount of heavy machine guns. However, if it was possible to separate the bomber from formation, then it could be destroyed with less risk.
The results of the attacks were formally counted according to the German "results system", showing the progress of the pilot to the highest awards for bravery. The destruction of a four-engine bomber was worth 3 points, and the separation of one from the formation gave 2 points. A downed enemy fighter was worth 1 point.
The one who scored twelve points deserved the German Cross in gold, for 40 points the Knight's Cross was given.
Oberleutnant Egon Mayer was the first to shoot down a hundred planes in the sky Western Europe. He found that the best way to attack a formation of US bombers was to go right in front of them with a slight excess of height. Only some of the bombers' machine guns could fire in that direction, and hitting the cockpit of a bomber is a surefire way to send an aircraft to the ground.
But at the same time, the approach speed increased terribly, the fighter pilot had, at best, one second to go to the side, otherwise he could collide with his target. Ultimately, the US Air Force added a machine gun turret forward-under the fuselage of its B-17s, but Mayer's tactics were used until the end of the war.
The armament of some Focke-Wulf Fw-190s was increased to six 20-mm cannons, which gave them a chance to destroy the bomber in the first run. But as a result, the aircraft became slower and less maneuverable, requiring cover from American single-seat fighters.
The use of R4M unguided air-to-air missiles has created a new contradiction between firepower and flight performance.
Note that on most pilots accounted for a huge proportion of downed aircraft. At least 15 experts shot down 20 US four-engine bombers each, three aces destroyed more than 30 aircraft each.
The appearance of American P-51 Mustangs over Berlin signaled the end of the war, although Goering did not acknowledge their existence, believing that he could drive them away.
Aces of the Luftwaffe in World War II
In 1944, luck turned against many experts. The Allied fighters matched, if not outnumbered, their German opponents, and there were many more of them.
Allied pilots were heading into battle after intense training, while new Luftwaffe pilots entered combat with less and less training. Allied pilots reported a constant drop in the average skill level of their opponents, although engaging in combat with one of the experts was always regarded by them as unexpected surprises. Such as the appearance of the reactive Me-2b2.
We continue watching Asa Goering on different fronts
The huge flow of information that has literally fallen on all of us lately sometimes plays an extremely negative role in the development of the thinking of the guys coming to replace us. And it cannot be said that this information is deliberately false. But in its "naked" form, without a reasonable explanation, it sometimes carries a monstrous and inherently simply destructive character.
How can this be?
I will give one example. More than one generation of boys in our country has grown up with the firm conviction that our illustrious pilots Ivan Kozhedub and Alexander Pokryshkin are the best aces of the past war. And no one has ever argued with that. Neither here nor abroad.
But one day I bought in the store a children's book "Aviation and Aeronautics" from the encyclopedic series "I Know the World" by a very famous publishing house. The book, published with a circulation of thirty thousand copies, turned out to be really very "informative" ...
Here, for example, in the section "Cheerless arithmetic" quite eloquent figures are given regarding air battles during the Great Patriotic War. I quote verbatim: “Three times Heroes of the Soviet Union, fighter pilots A.I. Pokryshkin and I.N. Kozhedub shot down 59 and 62 enemy aircraft, respectively. But the German ace E. Hartman shot down 352 aircraft during the war years! And he was not alone. In addition to him, the Luftwaffe had such masters of air combat as G. Barkhorn (301 downed aircraft), G. Rall (275), O. Kittel (267) ... In total, 104 pilots of the German Air Force had more than a hundred downed aircraft each, and the top ten destroyed a total of 2,588 enemy planes!”
Soviet ace, fighter pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Baranov. Stalingrad, 1942 Mikhail Baranov - one of the best fighter pilots of World War II, the most productive Soviet ace, fighter pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Baranov. Stalingrad, 1942. Mikhail Baranov is one of the best fighter pilots of the Second World War, the most productive at the time of his death, and many of his victories were won in the initial, most difficult period of the war. If not for his accidental death, he would have been the same famous pilot as Pokryshkin or Kozhedub - aces of the Second World War.
It is clear that any child who sees such numbers air victories, the thought will immediately come to mind that not ours, but the German pilots were the best aces of the world, and our "Ivans" were oh so far from them (by the way, the authors of the above-mentioned publications for some reason did not provide data on the achievements of the best pilots -aces of other countries: American Richard Bong, Briton James Johnson and Frenchman Pierre Klosterman with their 40, 38 and 33 air victories respectively). The next thought that will flash through the minds of the guys, of course, will be that the Germans flew on much more advanced aircraft. (I must say that during the survey, not even schoolchildren, but students of one of Moscow universities reacted in a similar way to the presented numbers of air victories).
But how do you treat such, at first glance, blasphemous figures?
It is clear that any student, if he is interested this topic, climb into the "Internet". What will he find there? It's easy to check ... Let's type in search engine the phrase "The best ace of the Second World War."
The result appears quite expected: a portrait of the blond Erich Hartmann, hung with iron crosses, is displayed on the monitor screen, and the entire page is full of phrases like: “German pilots are considered the best aces of the Second World War, especially those who fought on the Eastern Front ...”
Here are those on! Not only did the Germans turn out to be the best aces in the world, but they beat down most of all not some kind of British, Americans or French with Poles, but our guys.
So is it possible that the true truth was laid out in an educational book and on the covers of notebooks, bringing the knowledge of uncles and aunts to children? Just what did they mean by that? Why did we have such negligent pilots? Probably not. But why do the authors of many printed publications and information hanging on the pages of the Internet, citing a mass of seemingly interesting facts, did not bother to explain to readers (especially young ones): where did such numbers come from and what do they mean.
Perhaps some of the readers will find further narration uninteresting. After all, this topic has been discussed more than once on the pages of serious aviation publications. And with this, everything is clear. Is it worth repeating? That's just to the simple boys of our country (considering the circulation of specialized technical magazines), this information never reached. And it won't come. Yes, there are boys. Show the numbers above school teacher stories and ask him what he thinks about it, and what will he tell the children about this? But the boys, having seen the results of the air victories of Hartman and Pokryshkin on the back of the student's notebook, will probably ask him about it. I am afraid that the result will shock you to the core ... That is why the material presented below is not even an article, but rather a request to you, dear readers, to help your children (and maybe even their teachers) deal with some "staggering" numbers . Moreover, on the eve of May 9, we will all again remember that distant war.
Where did these numbers come from?
But really, where did, for example, such a figure as Hartman's 352 victories in air battles come from? Who can confirm it?
It turns out no one. Moreover, the entire aviation community has long known that historians took this figure from Erich Hartmann's letters to his bride. So the first thing the question arises is: did the young man embellish his military merits? The statements of some German pilots are known that at the final stage of the war, air victories were simply attributed to Hartman for propaganda purposes, because the collapsing Nazi regime, along with the mythical miracle weapon, also needed a superhero. It is interesting that many of Hartman's claimed victories are not confirmed by losses that day on our part.
The study of archival documents from the period of the Second World War convincingly proved that absolutely all types of troops in all countries of the world sinned with postscripts. It is no coincidence that soon after the start of the war, the principle of the strictest accounting of downed enemy aircraft was introduced in our army. The plane was considered shot down only after the ground troops discovered its wreckage and thereby confirmed the air victory.
The Germans, as well as the Americans, did not need confirmation from the ground troops. The pilot could fly in and report: "I shot down the plane." The main thing is that the film machine gun should at least record the hit of bullets and shells on the target. Sometimes it allowed to score a lot of "points". It is known that during the "Battle of England" the Germans claimed 3,050 British aircraft shot down, while the British actually lost only 910.
From this, the first conclusion should be drawn: our pilots were credited with actually downed aircraft. For the Germans - air victories, sometimes not even leading to the destruction of an enemy aircraft. And often these victories were mythical.
Why didn't our aces have 300 or more air victories?
All that we mentioned a little higher does not apply to the very skill of aces pilots. Let's consider this question: could the German pilots shoot down the declared number of aircraft at all? And if they could, why?
A.I. Pokryshkin, G.K. Zhukov and I.N. Kozhedub
Oddly enough, Hartman, Barkhorn, and other German pilots, in principle, could have over 300 air victories. And I must say that many of them were doomed to become aces, as they were real hostages Hitler's command who threw them into the war. And they fought, as a rule, from the first to the last day.
The pilots-aces of England, the USA and the Soviet Union were protected and appreciated by the command. The leadership of the listed air forces considered this: since a pilot shot down 40-50 enemy aircraft, it means that he is a very experienced pilot who can teach a dozen talented young guys to fly. And let each of them shoot down at least a dozen enemy aircraft. Then the total of destroyed aircraft will be much more than if they were shot down by a professional who remained at the front.
Recall that already in 1944, the Air Force command banned our best fighter pilot Alexander Pokryshkin from participating in air battles, entrusting him with the command of an aviation division. And it turned out to be right. By the end of the war, many pilots from his formation had more than 50 confirmed air victories on their combat account. So, Nikolai Gulaev shot down 57 German aircraft. Grigory Rechkalov - 56. Dmitry Glinka chalked up fifty enemy aircraft.
The command of the US Air Force did the same, recalling their best ace Richard Bong from the front.
I must say that many Soviet pilots could not become aces only for the reason that they often simply did not have an enemy in front of them. Each pilot was attached to his unit, and therefore to a certain section of the front.
The Germans, however, were different. Experienced pilots were constantly transferred from one sector of the front to another. Each time they found themselves in the hottest spot, in the thick of things. For example, during the entire war, Ivan Kozhedub took to the skies only 330 times and conducted 120 air battles, while Hartman made 1425 sorties and participated in 825 air battles. Yes, our pilot, with all his desire, could not even see as many German aircraft in the sky as Hartman caught in the sight!
By the way, having become famous aces, the Luftwaffe pilots did not receive an indulgence from death. Literally every day they had to participate in air battles. So it turned out that they fought until their death. And only captivity or the end of the war could save them from death. Only a few of the aces of the Luftwaffe survived. Hartman and Barkhorn were just lucky. They became famous only because they miraculously survived. But the fourth most successful German ace, Otto Kittel, died during an air battle with Soviet fighters in February 1945.
A little earlier, the most famous German ace Walter Nowotny met his death (in 1944 he was the first of the Luftwaffe pilots to bring his combat score to 250 air victories). The Hitlerite command, having awarded the pilot with all the highest orders of the Third Reich, instructed him to lead the formation of the first (still "raw" and unfinished) Me-262 jet fighters and threw the famous ace to the most dangerous sector of the air war - to repel attacks on Germany by American heavy bombers. The fate of the pilot was sealed.
By the way, Hitler also wanted to put Erich Hartman on a jet fighter, but the smart guy got out of this dangerous situation, having managed to prove to his superiors that he would be more useful if he was again put on the old reliable Bf 109. This decision allowed Hartman to save his life from inevitable death and become, in the end, the best ace in Germany.
The most important evidence that our pilots were in no way inferior to the German aces in the skill of conducting air battles is eloquently expressed by some figures that are not very fond of recalling abroad, and some of our journalists from the "free" press, who undertake to write about aviation, they just don't know.
For example, aviation historians know that the most productive Luftwaffe fighter squadron that fought on the Eastern Front was the elite 54th Green Heart Air Group, in which the best aces of Germany were assembled on the eve of the war. So, out of 112 pilots of the 54th squadron, who invaded the airspace of our Motherland on June 22, 1941, only four survived until the end of the war! A total of 2135 fighters of this squadron were left lying in the form of scrap metal in a vast area from Ladoga to Lvov. But it was the 54th squadron that stood out among other Luftwaffe fighter squadrons in that during the war years it had the most low level losses in air battles.
It is interesting to note another little known fact, which few people pay attention to, but which very well characterizes both our and German pilots: already at the end of March 1943, when air supremacy still belonged to the Germans, bright “green hearts” proudly shone on the sides of the Messerschmitts and the Focke-Wulfs of the 54th squadron, the Germans painted over with a matte gray-green paint so as not to tempt the Soviet pilots, who considered it a matter of honor to “fill up” some vaunted ace.
Which plane is better?
Anyone who was more or less interested in the history of aviation must have heard or read the statements of "specialists" that the German aces had more victories not only due to their skill, but also because they flew on the best aircraft.
No one argues with the fact that a pilot flying a more advanced aircraft will have a certain advantage in combat.
Hauptmann Erich Hartmann (04/19/1922 - 09/20/1993) with his commander Major Gerhard Barkhorn (05/20/1919 - 01/08/1983) studying the map. II./JG52 (2nd Group of the 52nd Fighter Squadron). E. Hartmann and G. Barkhorn are the most productive pilots of the Second World War, having 352 and 301 air victories on their combat account, respectively. In the lower left corner of the picture - E. Hartmann's autograph.
In any case, the pilot of a faster aircraft will always be able to catch up with the enemy, and if necessary, get out of the battle...
But here's what's interesting: the entire world experience of air warfare suggests that in air combat it is usually not the aircraft that is better that wins, but the one in which the best pilot sits. Naturally, all this applies to aircraft of the same generation.
Although the German Messerschmitts (especially at the beginning of the war) were superior to our MiGs, Yaks and LaGGs in a number of technical indicators, it turned out that in the real conditions of the total war that was fought on the Eastern Front, their technical superiority was not so obvious.
The German aces gained their main victories at the beginning of the war on the Eastern Front thanks to the experience gained during previous military campaigns in the skies over Poland, France, and England. At the same time, the bulk of Soviet pilots (with a few exceptions of those who managed to fight in Spain and Khalkhin Gol) had no combat experience at all.
But a well-trained pilot, who knows the merits of both his own aircraft and the enemy's aircraft, could always impose his air combat tactics on the enemy.
On the eve of the war, our pilots had just begun to master the latest Yak-1, MiG-3 and LaGG-3 fighters. Without the necessary tactical experience, solid skills in aircraft control, not knowing how to shoot properly, they still went into battle. And so they took big losses. Neither their courage nor heroism could help. I just needed to gain experience. And this took time. But there was no time for this in 1941.
But those of the pilots who survived the fierce air battles of the initial period of the war later became famous aces. They not only beat the Nazis themselves, but also taught young pilots to fight. Now you can often hear statements that during the war years, poorly trained youth came to fighter regiments from flight schools, who became easy prey for German aces.
But at the same time, for some reason, such authors forget to mention that already in the fighter regiments, senior comrades continued to train young pilots, sparing neither effort nor time. They tried to make them experienced air fighters. Here is a typical example: from mid-autumn 1943 to the end of winter 1944 alone, about 600 sorties were made in the 2nd Guards Aviation Regiment just to train young pilots!
For the Germans, at the end of the war, the situation was worse than ever. The fighter squadrons, which were armed with the most modern fighters, were sent unfired, hastily trained boys, who were immediately sent to their deaths. The "horseless" pilots from the defeated bomber air groups also fell into fighter squadrons. The latter had vast experience in air navigation and were able to fly at night. But they could not, on an equal footing with our fighter pilots, conduct maneuverable air battles. Those few experienced "hunters" that still remained in the ranks could in no way change the situation. No, even the most advanced technology could save the Germans.
Who was shot down and how?
People who are far from aviation have no idea that Soviet and German pilots were placed in completely different conditions. German fighter pilots, and Hartmann among them, very often engaged in the so-called "free hunting". Their main task was to destroy enemy aircraft. They could fly when they saw fit and wherever they saw fit.
If they saw a single plane, they rushed at it like wolves at a defenseless sheep. And if they encountered a strong enemy, they immediately left the battlefield. No, it was not cowardice, but an accurate calculation. Why run into trouble if in half an hour you can again find and calmly “fill up” another defenseless “sheep”. This is how the German aces earned their awards.
It is interesting to note the fact that already after the war, Hartman mentioned that more than once he hastily left for his territory after he was informed by radio that a group of Alexander Pokryshkin appeared in the air. He clearly did not want to measure his strength with the famous Soviet ace and run into trouble.
And what happened with us? For the command of the Red Army, the main goal was to deliver powerful bombing attacks on the enemy and cover from the air. ground forces. Bombing attacks on the Germans were carried out by attack aircraft and bombers - relatively slow-moving aircraft and representing a tasty morsel for German fighters. Soviet fighters constantly had to accompany bombers and attack aircraft in their flight to the target and back. And this meant that in such a situation they had to conduct not an offensive, but a defensive air battle. Naturally, all the advantages in such a battle were on the side of the enemy.
Covering the ground forces from German air raids, our pilots were also placed in very difficult conditions. The infantry constantly wanted to see red star fighters overhead. So our pilots were forced to "buzz" over the front line, flying back and forth at low speed and at low altitude. Meanwhile, the German "hunters" from a great height only chose their next "victim" and, having developed tremendous speed while diving, shot down our planes with lightning speed, the pilots of which, even when they saw the attacker, simply did not have time to turn around or pick up speed.
Compared to the Germans, our fighter pilots were not allowed to fly free hunting as often. Therefore, the results were more modest. Unfortunately, free hunting for our fighter aircraft was an unaffordable luxury ...
The fact that free hunting made it possible to score a significant number of "points" is evidenced by the example of French pilots from the Normandie-Niemen regiment. Our command took care of the "allies" and tried not to send them to cover the troops or in deadly raids to escort attack aircraft and bombers. The French got the opportunity to engage in free hunting.
And the results speak for themselves. So, in just ten days in October 1944, French pilots shot down 119 enemy aircraft.
V Soviet aviation not only at the beginning of the war, but also at its final stage, there were a lot of bombers and attack aircraft. But in the composition of the Luftwaffe during the war there were serious changes. To repel the raids of enemy bombers, they constantly needed more and more fighters. And such a moment came that the German aviation industry was simply not able to produce both bomb carriers and fighters at the same time. Therefore, already at the end of 1944, the production of bombers in Germany almost completely stopped, and only fighters began to leave the workshops of aircraft factories.
And this means that Soviet aces, unlike the Germans, they no longer met large slow-moving targets in the air. They had to fight exclusively with high-speed Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and the latest Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter-bombers, which were much more difficult to shoot down in air combat than a clumsy bomb carrier.
From this Messerschmitt, overturned on landing, damaged in battle, Walter Novotny, who at one time was the No. 1 ace in Germany, had just been removed. But his flying career (as, indeed, life itself) could well have ended on this episode…
Moreover, at the end of the war, the sky over Germany was literally teeming with Spitfires, Tempests, Thunderbolts, Mustangs, Silts, Pawns, Yaks and Shops. And if each flight of the German ace (if he managed to take off at all) ended with the accrual of points (which then no one really considered), then the pilots of the Allied aviation still had to look for an air target. Many Soviet pilots recalled that since the end of 1944, their personal account of air victories had stopped growing. German planes were no longer so often seen in the sky, and combat missions of fighter regiments were mainly carried out for the purpose of reconnaissance and attacking enemy ground forces.
What is a fighter for?
At first glance, this question seems very simple. Any person who is not even familiar with aviation will answer without hesitation: a fighter is needed in order to shoot down enemy aircraft. But is everything so simple? As you know, fighter aviation is part of the air force. The Air Force is an integral part of the army.
The task of any army is to defeat the enemy. It is clear that all the forces and means of the army must be united and directed to defeat the enemy. The army is led by its command. And the result of military operations depends on how the command manages to organize the management of the army.
The approach of the Soviet and German command turned out to be different. The command of the Wehrmacht instructed its fighter aircraft to gain air supremacy. In other words, the German fighter aircraft had to stupidly shoot down all enemy aircraft seen in the air. The hero was the one who shot down more enemy aircraft.
I must say that this approach was very impressed by the German pilots. They gladly joined this "competition", considering themselves real hunters.
And everything would be fine, but that's just the task the German pilots did not complete. A lot of planes were shot down, but what's the point? Every month there were more and more Soviet planes, as well as allied planes in the air. The Germans still could not cover their ground forces from the air. And the loss of bomber aircraft only made life more difficult for them. This alone suggests that the Germans completely lost the air war in strategic terms.
The command of the Red Army saw the tasks of fighter aviation in a completely different way. Soviet fighter pilots, first of all, had to cover the ground forces from the attacks of German bombers. And they also had to protect ground attack and bomber aircraft during their raids on the positions of the German army. In other words, fighter aviation did not act on its own, like the Germans, but solely in the interests of the ground forces.
It was hard thankless work, during which our pilots usually received not glory, but death.
Not surprisingly, the losses of Soviet fighters were huge. However, this does not mean at all that our planes were much worse, and the pilots were weaker than the German ones. In this case, the outcome of the battle was determined not by the quality of equipment and the skill of the pilot, but by tactical necessity, a strict command order.
Here, probably, any child will ask: “And what kind of stupid battle tactics are these, what kind of idiotic orders, because of which both planes and pilots died in vain?”
This is where the most important thing begins. And you need to understand that in fact, this tactic is not stupid. After all, the main striking force of any army is its ground forces. A bomb attack on tanks and infantry, on depots with weapons and fuel, on bridges and crossings can greatly weaken the combat capabilities of the ground forces. One successful air strike can radically change the course of an offensive or defensive operation.
If a dozen fighters are lost in air combat while protecting ground targets, but not a single enemy bomb hits, for example, an ammunition depot, then this means that the combat mission of the fighter pilots has been completed. Even at the cost of their lives. Otherwise, a whole division, left without shells, may be crushed by the advancing enemy forces.
The same can be said about flights to escort strike aircraft. If they destroyed the ammunition depot, bombed railway station, clogged with echelons with military equipment, destroyed the defensive center of defense, this means that they made a significant contribution to the victory. And if, at the same time, fighter pilots provided the bombers and attack aircraft with the opportunity to break through to the target through the enemy’s air barriers, even if they lost their comrades, then they also won.
And this is really a real air victory. The main thing is that the task set by the command is completed. A task that can radically change the entire course of hostilities in this sector of the front. From all this, the conclusion suggests itself: the German fighters are hunters, the fighters of the Red Army Air Force are the defenders.
With the thought of death...
No matter what anyone says, there are no fearless pilots (as well as tankers, infantrymen or sailors) who are not afraid of death. There are enough cowards and traitors in the war. But for the most part, our pilots, even in the most difficult moments of air combat, adhered to the unwritten rule: "die yourself, but help out your comrade." Sometimes, no longer having ammunition, they continued to fight, covering their comrades, went to ram, wanting to inflict maximum damage on the enemy. And all because they defended their land, their home, their relatives and friends. They defended their homeland.
The fascists who attacked our country in 1941 consoled themselves with the thought of world domination. At that time, German pilots could not even think that they would have to sacrifice their lives for someone or for something. Only in their patriotic speeches were they ready to give their lives for the Fuhrer. Each of them, like any other invader, dreamed of receiving a good reward after the successful completion of the war. And to get a tasty morsel, you had to live until the end of the war. In this state of affairs, it was not heroism and self-sacrifice for the sake of achieving a great goal that came to the fore, but cold calculation.
Don't forget that boys Soviet country, many of whom later became military pilots, were brought up somewhat differently than their peers in Germany. They took an example from such selfless defenders of their people as, for example, the epic hero Ilya Muromets, Prince Alexander Nevsky. At that time, the military exploits of the legendary heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812, the heroes of the Civil War, were still fresh in the memory of the people. And in general, Soviet schoolchildren were brought up mainly on books, the heroes of which were true patriots of the Motherland.
End of the war. Young German pilots receive combat mission. In their eyes - doom. Erich Hartman said about them: “These young men come to us and they are shot down almost immediately. They come and go like waves in the surf. This is a crime… I think our propaganda is to blame here.”
Their peers from Germany also knew what friendship, love, patriotism and native land are. But do not forget that in Germany, with its centuries-old history of chivalry, the latter concept was especially close to all the boys. Knightly laws, knightly honor, knightly glory, fearlessness were put at the forefront. It is no coincidence that even the main award of the Reich was the knight's cross.
It is clear that any boy in his heart dreamed of becoming a famous knight.
However, do not forget that the entire history of the Middle Ages indicates that the main task of the knight was to serve his master. Not to the Motherland, not to the people, but to the king, duke, baron. Even the legendary independent knight-errants were, at their core, the most common mercenaries, earning money by the ability to kill. And all these crusades sung by chroniclers? Breakdown of clean water.
It is no coincidence that the words knight, profit and wealth are inseparable from each other. It is also well known to everyone that knights rarely died on the battlefield. In a hopeless situation, they, as a rule, surrendered. The subsequent ransom from captivity was quite an ordinary affair for them. General commerce.
And is it any wonder that the chivalrous spirit, including in its negative manifestations, most directly affected the moral qualities of future Luftwaffe pilots.
The command was well aware of this, because it itself considered itself a modern chivalry. With all the desire, it could not force its pilots to fight the way Soviet fighter pilots fought - sparing neither strength nor life itself. It may seem strange to us, but it turns out that even in the charter of the German fighter aviation it was written that the pilot himself determines his actions in air combat and no one can forbid him to leave the battle if he considers it necessary.
The faces of these pilots show that we have victorious warriors in front of us. The picture shows the most successful fighter pilots of the 1st Guards Fighter Aviation Division of the Baltic Fleet: Senior Lieutenant Selyutin (19 victories), Captain Kostylev (41 victories), Captain Tatarenko (29 victories), Lieutenant Colonel Golubev (39 victories) and Major Baturin (10 victories)
That is why the German aces never covered their troops over the battlefield, that is why they did not defend their bombers as selflessly as our fighters did. As a rule, German fighters only cleared the way for their bombers, tried to tie down the actions of our interceptors.
The history of the last world war is replete with facts of how the German aces, sent to escort bombers, abandoned their wards when the air situation was not in their favor. The prudence of a hunter and self-sacrifice turned out to be incompatible concepts for them.
As a result, it was air hunting that became the only acceptable solution that suited everyone. The leadership of the Luftwaffe proudly reported on their successes in the fight against enemy aircraft, Goebbels propaganda enthusiastically told the German people about the military merits of the invincible aces, and those, working out the chance they had to stay alive, scored points with all their might.
Perhaps something changed in the minds of the German pilots only when the war came to the territory of Germany itself, when the Anglo-American bomber aircraft began to literally wipe entire cities off the face of the earth. Women and children died by the tens of thousands under Allied bombings. Horror paralyzed the civilian population. Only then, seized with fear for the lives of their children, wives, mothers, German pilots from the Air Defense Forces selflessly began to rush into deadly air battles with a superior enemy, and sometimes even went to ram "flying fortresses".
But it was already too late. By that time, there were almost no experienced pilots left in Germany, nor a sufficient number of aircraft. Individual aces pilots and hastily trained boys, even with their desperate actions, could no longer save the situation.
The pilots who at that time fought on the Eastern Front, one might say, were still lucky. Practically devoid of fuel, they almost did not rise into the air, and therefore at least survived until the end of the war and remained alive. As for the famous “Green Heart” fighter squadron mentioned at the beginning of the article, its last aces acted quite chivalrously: on the remaining planes they flew to surrender to the “friends-knights” who understand them - the British and Americans.
I think, after reading all of the above, you can probably answer the question of your children about whether the German pilots were the best in the world? Were they really an order of magnitude superior to our pilots in their skill?
sad note
Not so long ago, I saw in a bookstore a new edition of the same children's book on aviation, with which I just started the article. In the hope that the second edition will differ from the first not only with a new cover, but will also give the guys some intelligible explanation for such a fantastic performance of the German aces, I opened the book to the page I was interested in. Unfortunately, everything remained unchanged: 62 aircraft shot down by Kozhedub looked like ridiculous numbers against the background of Hartman's 352 air victories. Such is the gloomy arithmetic ...
Although in itself a rough count of the number of downed enemy aircraft cannot serve as a measure of the pilot's skill. Without questioning the number of downed aircraft, in this article we are talking specifically about the best aces of the Luftwaffe of Germany.
Of course, there will be articles about our Russian pilots, who, without such impressive scores, were undoubtedly the best aces of the Second World War.
The contribution of our grandfathers to the victory is much more significant than the Western allies.
45 0000
Enemy AIRCRAFT WERE DESTROYED EXACTLY BY OUR PILOT, against 25 000
shot down by our Western allies. And so that these numbers are not just numbers, a small digression.
The most effective fought on the eastern front, equipped the best aces of the German Luftwaffe was the air group JG54.
At the beginning of the war on June 22, 1941, this elite unit "Green Heart" had 112 pilots of the highest flight qualification. By the end of the war, of these aces pilots, only four remained alive.
For reference, the table of victories and losses of the Luftwaffe.
| The best German aces | Number of aircraft shot down | Comments | Awards | Air connection name | East | West | Pilot's plane |
| Erich Hartmann | 352 | First shot down November 1942, was shot down on the third sortie, 11 shot down in one day | KCOSD | JG 52 | 352 | - | Bf 109 |
| Gerhard Barkhorn | 301 | KCOs | JG 52, 6, SP 44 | 301 | - | Bf 109 | |
| Gunther Rall | 275 | two wounds | KCOs | JG 52, 11, 300 | 272 | 3 | Bf 109 |
| Otto Kittel | 267 | 583 sorties, shot down and killed February 45 by our fighter | KCOs | JG 54 | 267 | - | Fw 190 |
| Walter Novotny | 258 | died november 44 | KCOSD | JG 54, Kdo.November | 255 | 3 | Fw 190 |
| Wilhelm Batz | 237 | - | KCOs | JG 52 | 232 | 5 | Bf 109 |
| Erich Rudorffer | 222 | 1000+ sorties, shot down 16 times | KCOs | JG 2, 54, 7 | 136 | 86 | Fw 190 |
| Heinz Baer | 220 | knocked down 18 times | KCOs | various | 96 | 124 | different |
| Herman Graf | 211 | 830+ sorties | KCOSD | various | 201 | 10 | Fw 190 |
| Heinrich Ehler | 209 | - | KCO | JG, 5, 7 | 209 | - | Bf 109 |
| Theodor Weissenburger | 208 | 500+ departures | KCO | JG 77, 5, 7 | 175 | 33 | Bf 109 |
| Hans Philipp | 206 | October 43rd, shot down by Robert S. Johnson | KCOs | JG 76, 54, 1 | 177 | 29 | Fw 190 |
| Walter Shuk | 206 | - | KCO | JG 5, 7 | 198 | 8 | Bf 109 |
| Anton Hafner | 204 | -795 sorties, died October 44th | KCO | JG 51 | 184 | 20 | - |
| Helmut Lipfert | 203 | - | KCO | JG 52, 53 | 199 | 4 | Bf 109 |
| Walter Krupinksi | 197 | - | KCO | JG 52 | 177 | 20 | Bf 109 |
| Anton Hackl | 192 | - | KCOs | JG 77 | 130 | 62 | Bf 109 |
| Joachim Brendel | 189 | - | KCO | JG 51 | 189 | - | Fw 190 |
| Max Stotz | 189 | -August 43 shot down near Vitebsk | KCO | JG 54 | 173 | 16 | Fw 190 |
| Joachim Kirchner | 188 | - | KCO | JG 3 | 167 | 21 | Bf 109 |
| Kurt Br? ndle | 180 | - | KCO | JG 53, 3 | 160 | 20 | Bf 109 |
| Günther Josten | 178 | - | KCO | JG 51 | 178 | - | - |
| Johannes "Maki" Steinhoff | 176 | - | KCOs | JG 52 | 148 | 28 | Bf 109 |
| Günther Shack | 174 | - | KCO | JG 51 | 174 | - | - |
| Heinz Schmidt | 173 | - | KCO | JG 52 | 173 | - | Bf 109 |
| Emil "Bully" Lang | 173 | 18 in one day | KCO | JG 54 | 148 | 25 | Fw 190 |
| Hans-Joachim Marcel | 158 | 388 sorties - killed in September 1942 | KCOSD | JG 27 | - | 158 | Bf 109 |
| Adolf Galland | 104 | - | KCOSD | JG.26, JG.27, JV.44 | - | 104 | Bf 109, Me 262 |
| Knight's Cross (KS) with oak leaves (O), swords (S), and diamonds (D). | |||||||
There were about 2,500 aces - pilots who shot down five or more enemy aircraft. And the most successful Allied pilot, Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub, shot down 62 German aircraft, while the personal account of eight German pilots exceeded 100 aircraft. This partly explains the fact that the Luftwaffe pilots fought continuously for years, unlike opponents, who, as usual, were shot down after 30-40 sorties.
Walter Novotny, 1920-1944, Günther Rall, Heinrich zu Sein-Wittgenstein
Walter Nowotny became the first fighter pilot to score 250 downed aircraft in 442 sorties. In February 1944, he was transferred from the Eastern Front to lead flight school. He was then given command of the world's first jet aircraft unit. On November 8, 1944, he flew out on his Me-262 against a group of bombers. The jet plane was shot down in battle, Novotny's parachute did not fully open.
Erich - "Bubi" Hartman,
1922-1993 on the left, and commander Gerhard Barkhorn
The best ace of the Luftwaffe
, the most successful fighter pilot in history, scored 352 victories in 1,425 sorties. Notably, he won most of his victories in the last two years of the war.
His plane was hit 16 times, he was parachuted twice, but he was never wounded himself.
After receiving ten years of strict regime, after his release, he returns to the Air Force and becomes the commander of the first wing of jet aircraft in Germany.
Hans Schnaufer, 1922-1950 With 126 victories, Schnaufer became the highest scoring night fighter ace in the world. Known as the "Night Ghost", he flew the Me-110, and his squadron shot down about 700 Allied bombers. His fighter with victory marks was put on display in Hyde Park after the war.
Schnaufer died in a car accident near Biaritz.
Joachim Marseille, 1920-1942
The most talented ace, seven of his 158 victories were in North Africa. He was awarded with diamonds to the Knight's Cross after the destruction of 17 (!) British aircraft in one day. On September 30, 1942, the engine of his Bf-109G-2 caught fire. Marseille directed the aircraft away from its territory. Then he left the car. Having hit the tail of the plane, in an unconscious state, he never opened his parachute.
Adolf Galland, 1911-1994
Galland honed his skills in Spain, flying 280 sorties with the Condor Legion. He switched from attack aircraft to fighter and became an ace in the Battle of Britain, achieving 57 victories. Appointed inspector general of fighter aircraft after the death of Werner Moldepca in 1941 he had 96 victories and continued to personally fly on fighter operations against orders.He was known for his penchant for fine brandy, expensive cigars, and women who were attracted to his fame.After dismissed by Hitler as a "scapegoat" for German air defense failures , he commanded a squadron of jet fighters. Their belated success proved that Galland was right in defending their production in his time.
Werner Mölders, 1913-1941
Upon entering, Mölders became an ace with 14 victories in the Condor Legion. He is also the first fighter pilot to achieve 100 victories during World War II. An outstanding leader and super pilot, Mölders created a new fighter combat tactic that Luftwaffe a clear advantage over the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain He became the first person to be awarded the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross and the Oak Leaves and Swords in 1941. Appointed Fighter Air Inspector in 1941, died in a plane crash en route to the funeral of General Ernst Udet .
I offer colleagues to read the introductory part from my book "Damn's Dozen Aces of the Luftwaffe". This material in the book at my request was written by Sergei Sidorenko Jr.
By 1939, Germany was fully prepared for revenge for the disgrace of the First World War. Aviation was of particular pride, which demonstrated convincing superiority over any enemy. Pilots - heirs of the traditions of the best aces of the past war - after the "Spanish triumph" and the victorious European "blitzkriegs" were surrounded by a halo of universal admiration and glory.
The definition of "ace" first appeared during the First World War - then an ace was called a pilot with five confirmed victories. This standard was accepted by most states, except Germany. German pilots were considered aces only to overcome the threshold of 10 downed enemy aircraft. During World War II, Germany replaced the term "ace" with "expert". To get the right to be called an "expert", the pilot, first of all, had to show his professionalism in battle, and not shoot down as many enemy aircraft as possible. In terms of Allied norms, the Luftwaffe gave the world about 2,500 aces. The number of "experts" was much smaller - about 500.
What distinguished the German pilots from the pilots of other countries? Why is the number of their air victories disproportionately greater?
V foreign literature in past years, much material has been published on the victories of the best fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe in the period 1939-1945. A much larger number of downed aircraft by German pilots compared to the pilots of the Allied aviation gave rise to a steady distrust of this fact not only on the part of aviation historians, but also on the part of the participants in air battles. A large number of Luftwaffe "experts" were taken to England at the end of the Second World War, where specialists carefully compared their testimonies about personal victories with the data and circumstances of their own losses. Until now, these protocols are classified.
As a result of research, especially recently, a significant part of aviation historians, even among the former opponents of Nazi Germany, is becoming more and more convinced of the reality and plausibility of the victories of German fighter pilots. The pedantic attitude of the British to the accounting of victories and their division into half, a quarter and even an eighth is known. However, there is no reason to believe that if the Allied aviation aces do not have such a number of downed aircraft on their account, then the Germans cannot have this either.
The technical equipment, training and morale attributed to the "experts" of the Luftwaffe cannot be a sufficient explanation for the huge number of their victories. One of the main factors that makes it possible to clarify this confusing problem may be the significant, in comparison with the pilots of the Allied aviation, the number of sorties that German pilots made during the war. The number of sorties, for example, by Erich Hartmann, among the pilots of the allied aviation has no analogues at all. He made 1400 sorties and conducted 800 air battles. Gerhard Barkhorn spent 1100 fights. Gunther Rall scored his 200th victory in 555 sorties. Surprising was the result of Wilhelm Batz, who in 455 sorties achieved a result of 237 victories.
On the Allied side, the most active fighter pilots flew between 250 and 400 sorties. Based on this fact alone, German pilots were much more likely to win (and be defeated!) in combat.
This data already shows that the German "experts" spent ten times more time in the air than their rivals on the other side of the front. They could not be withdrawn from the front after reaching a certain number of sorties, as was the case in American aviation. The German pilot aces moved very slowly up the hierarchical ladder, which meant that the war was long and difficult for them, so the more and more they flew, the better and better they became and, as a result, achieved a high level of professionalism that others could not achieve. In the Luftwaffe, the division of pilots into two categories was clearly visible: aces, who made up 15-20% of the total number, and middle-class pilots, who were also very strong and practically not inferior in skill to the Allied aviation pilots. There was also the "old guard of the Luftwaffe", forged for a long time in the crucible of the European sky, fired upon pilots, each of whom had a flight time of 3-4 thousand hours. Most of them went through the school of war in Spain and consistently participated in all European conflicts. They knew the war to the smallest detail and absolutely owned their machines, so meeting them in the air was extremely dangerous for any enemy.
By virtue of the national mentality, the Germans clearly and unquestioningly carried out the orders of the command - zeal, multiplied by skill, made them the most dangerous rivals. Their motto is "victory or death". However, not everyone could get the right to be called an "expert". Experienced fighter pilots, "experts", generally have a special combination of personal qualities. He must have extraordinary stamina and excellent eyesight. The ability to accurately fire at the enemy speaks of his fitness and sniper qualities. Only speed of reaction and a sense of danger developed at the level of instinct can guarantee life in air combat. Fluency in aircraft helps to gain confidence in a combat situation and focus on enemy actions. The courage inherent in soldiers and officers of the infantry is replaced in aviation by a more important quality - self-control. And although aggressiveness is an important character trait for a fighter pilot, it should not be allowed to prevail over vigilance. However, it cannot be said that these qualities were inherent only to German pilots. The main differences were in tactics, techniques and methods of conducting air combat, the system for counting air victories, the number of sorties and the theater of operations. "It was easier to fight in the East. When the war began, the Russians were not ready for it either technically or psychologically. They did not have such effective fighters as ours, our advantage was especially great in 1941-42. Closer to the middle of World War II war, in 1943-44, the Russians accumulated a lot of experience in combat operations and they had machines that met the requirements of those days "(Günter Rall).
Very strong point the German Air Force was a tactic. Since the time of the Spanish war, such recognized "experts" as Galland and Mölders have been working on its improvement. They resolutely fought against the outdated tactical installations of the period of the First World War and developed new methods of conducting group and individual air combat, corresponding to the technical capabilities of aviation technology of their time. Unsurpassed individual combat tactician, Erich Hartman. said: “In aerial combat, you should remain unnoticed by the enemy for as long as possible. It is advisable to start the attack from the side of the sun. After a rapid dive, you need to be behind and slightly lower than the enemy so that your plane is not visible from the cockpit. When approaching the enemy, you need to be extremely attentive, especially when attacking a bomber, fearing the tail gunner. It is important to open fire first - this will give a huge psychological advantage over the enemy. It is better to shoot in short bursts and preferably for sure." And one more thing: "... the attack should be carried out in four stages: to be the first to detect the enemy, assess the situation and take an advantageous position for a surprise attack, make the attack itself and try to quickly leave" ... for a cup of coffee. "If the enemy was the first to discover you, it is necessary to break away from him and (or) take a wait-and-see attitude, or even withdraw from the battle.
After the war, the German aces themselves were looking for an answer to such a difficult question: why did the pilots of the Allied aviation have a significant lag in the number of victories won? “Among the Americans, for example, an ace was considered a pilot who had five downed aircraft on his combat account. Just think - five! For us, such a number, to put it mildly, was not a matter of pride. How did German pilots manage to shoot down a hundred or more aircraft? in that we were looking for the enemy, not him for us. It was a risky business, but the end often justified the means. Many Americans made fifty or more sorties over German territory, but did not shoot down any of our aircraft. Moreover, they couldn't even detect us. So the first thing to do was to find the enemy. Constant sorties kept us up to date, and that was also the key to the success of the Luftwaffe. We often lacked experienced pilots, and therefore the number of sorties was much higher than planned. The same Americans, having made fifty flights, went back to the states already as heroes.The British, after several sorties, returned up to mine is either for retraining or for examination in the hospital. And we were put in more stringent conditions, and we had to take risks" (Günter Rall).
Walter Krupinski also recalled on this occasion: “American and British pilots, after completing their tasks, returned to their homeland. Their lives were not in such danger that we or the Russians had to experience. Having made a hundred flights, I had only two downed enemy planes. This suggests that I learned the basics of air combat quite slowly, but at the same time, accumulated the necessary experience. After all, one does not become aces immediately, but gradually acquire combat skills in war ... Later, I myself studied fighter pilot training, which consisted in the fact that I simply took with me on a mission one of the newcomers who arrived. One of my students was Hartman, who later became a famous ace ... Experience is of paramount importance for a fighter pilot ... ".
