West Chester: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 1990. Quarto, grey cloth, signed on the half title by Arsenij Vasilyevich Vorozheiken, Konstantin Mikhajlovich Treshchev, Walter Schuck, Kurt Schulze, Ernst Scheufele & Wolfgang Spaete; signed 5 times by Guenther Rall on pages 102, 137, 148, 149 & 174; signed 3 times by Dieter Hrabak next to his photos on pages 67, 149 & 175; signed 3 times (including on the half title) by Spaete next to his photos on pages 34 & 52; signed by Schuck on page 145 as well as the half title; signed by Adolf Dickfeld on his photo on page 93; signed by Johannes Steinhoff on his photo on page 117; signed by Kurt Schulze on page 145 and by Oscar Boesch on pages 132 & 136. kb/beh
This photographic history by noted German historian Werner Held
covers the seven Jagdgeschwader which saw action on the Eastern Front.
Held is personally acquainted with many of the surviving pilots, and was
thus able collect many rare photographs for his work. There are
approximately 500 photographs detailing the aircraft and the pilots who
flew them. A number of captured or destroyed Soviet aircraft are also
illustrated.
Günther Rall is the third highest-scoring ace with 275 victories and
was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords. Almost all of
his victories were scored on the Eastern Front. On 28 November 1941 he
was serving as the Staffelkapitän of 8./JG 52 when he was shot down after
scoring his 36th victory. He suffered a broken back and was unable to
return to combat until 28 August 1942. He was shot down five times during
the course of the war. In April 1943 he was given command of III./ JG 52.
He scored his 250th victory in November, but was shot down shortly
thereafter and hospitalized for six months. After his return he was
transferred to the West and took command of JG 300. He served in the
post-war German Luftwaffe which he commanded from 1970 to 1974 with the
rank of Generalleutnant.
Walter Schuck scored 206 victories and was awarded the Knight's Cross
with Oakleaves. In April 1942 he was sent to the bitterly cold Eismeer
Front with 7./JG 5 at Petsamo, Finland. In March 1944 he shot down seven
Boston bombers in one day. On 1 August he was promoted to Staffelkapitän
of 10./JG 5. He was transferred to the West to fly the Me 262 and was
appointed Staffelkapitän of 3./JG 7 on 24 March 1945. He shot down eight
aircraft while flying the Me 262, including four B-17s on 10 April. He
was forced to bail out on the same mission.
Johannes Steinhoff scored 176 victories during 900 sorties and was
awarded the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords. He was
Staffelkapitän of 10./JG 26 at the beginning of the war, but was
transferred to JG 52 in February 1940 and served with that unit during the
Battle of Britain. Jagdgeschwader 52 was posted to the East for the
attack on the Soviet Union, and 148 of Steinhoff's victories were scored
on the Eastern Front. He was given command of II./JG 52 in early 1942,
but was transferred to North Africa on 28 October 1942 to take command of
JG 77. Steinhoff was among the elite pilots of the Luftwaffe to survive
and serve in the few units equipped with the Me 262 near the end of the
war. He served in JG 7 and with Adolf Galland in JV 44. He scored five
victories with the Me 262, but was horribly burned on 18 April 1945 after
an accident occured on take-off. Steinhoff spent the next two years in a
hospital. His eyelids were completely burned away, and he could not
close his eyes until 1969 when a British doctor used skin from his arm to
make new eyelids. Despite these difficulties, he served in the post-war
German Luftwaffe and rose to become Chief of Staff of NATO Air Forces.
Steinhoff died in 1994.
Adolf Dickfeld scored 136 victories, including twelve heavy bombers,
and was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves. He served with JG 52
and JG 11.
Dietrich Hrabak scored 125 victories, 109 in the East and 16 in the
West, and was awarded the Knight's Cross. He had a close call on the
third day of the war in Poland when he crash-landed behind enemy lines
following combat with P.23s, but he was able to find his way back through
the front lines. He served as the commanding officer of II./JG 54 from 26
August 1940 to 27 October 1942 when he took command of JG 52. He returned
to take command of JG 54 on 1 October 1944 and served in that capacity
until the end of the war. Hrabak died in 1995.
Wolfgang Späte scored 99 victories and was awarded the Knight's Cross
with Oakleaves. He began his flying career with gliders in 1927, and by
1937 he was employed as a test pilot by the German Research Institute for
Gliders. In 1938 he won the 19th Rhön Glider Competition. He enlisted in
the Luftwaffe and flew reconnaissance missions in Hs 126s with 2./H 23 in
Poland and France. Späte converted to fighter aircraft and joined 5./JG
54 on 1 June 1941 just prior to that units participation in the attack on
the Soviet Union. He enjoyed immediate success and was awarded the
Knight's Cross on 5 October 1941 with 45 victories and the Oakleaves on 23
April 1942 with 72 victories. Due to his experience with gliders he was
appointed as the Luftwaffe's director for the development of the Me 163
rocket fighter and commander of Erprobungs-Kommando 16. The glider
experience was necessary because the Me 163 was designed to glide back to
the airfield after the rocket fuel had been expended. Späte returned to
combat and served as the commander of IV./JG 54 from May to September
1944. That period proved to be a very difficult and costly time. After
converting from the Bf 109 to the Fw 190 A-8, IV./JG 54 suffered heavy
losses trying to stem the tide of the great Soviet summer offensive.
Späte was forced to bail out and was wounded. His unit was pulled back to
the West, built back up, and virtually annihilated during the Allied
attempt to take Arnhem with Operation Market Garden. Following this
debacle, Späte returned to work on the Me 163 and became the commander of
JG 400 on 1 December 1944. He ended the war flying the Me 262 as the
commander of III./JG 7. He shot down five B-17s while flying the jet,
including three on 25 April 1945.
Arsenij Vasilyevich Vorozheikin scored 52 individual victories and 13
shared victories during 300 sorties and was twice awarded the Soviet
Union's highest decoration: the Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union. He
was the sixth ranking Allied ace of World War II. He first saw combat
against the Japanese in the summer of 1939 during the Nomonhan Incident in
Mongolia while serving with 22 Istrebitelnye Aviatsionnye Polki (IAP) and
scored six victories. He also saw combat during the Winter War with
Finland in 1939/40. After attending the Air Force Academy in 1942, he was
posted to 728 IAP on the Kalinin Front. They were equipped with the
obsolete I-16 until March 1943 when they converted to the Yak-7B.
Vorozheikin was promoted to Kapitan and squadron leader and was heavily
involved in the fighting around Kursk. On 4 August 1943 he scored four
victories in one sortie when he shot down three Stukas and a Bf 109. He
was pulled out of combat in October 1944 to serve as a front-line
instructor after disputes with his commander over "senseless orders."
Nevertheless, he managed to shoot down an Ar 234 jet in April 1945.
Vorozheikin graduated from the General Staff Academy in 1952 and retired
in 1957 with the rank of General Major.
Konstantin Mikhajlovich Treshchev scored 28 victories while serving
with 127 IAP and attained the rank of Kapitan.
Ernst Scheufele scored 18 victories, including three heavy bombers,
and served with JG 4 and 5. He rose to command 14./JG 4. On 3 December
1944 he was shot down by ground fire near Aachen.
Oscar Boesch served with IV./JG 3. He appears to be second from the
left of those sitting on the wing of the Fw 190 on page 132.
Kurt Schulze served with I./JG 51 and III./JG 5.
This book was a part of the amazing collection assembled by Greg
Dortch over the course of about thirty years. He is a member of the
American Fighter Aces Association, British and Canadian Fighter Pilots
Associations, Gemeinschaft der Jagdflieger, Battle of Britain Association,
and various unit associations. He personally met many of the veterans,
and he sent labels to those he could not meet in order to obtain their
signatures. David Armstrong, Powells.com
