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24 Articles

It is reasonable to say that most readers think of excellence of engineering when it comes to German machinery – and particularly internal combustion engines. In this context, the slogan of a certain German car manufacturer comes readily to mind: Vorsprung durch Technik - progress through technology. Unfortunately for the German air arm during the First World War, it was not an ideology embraced by the Imperial German bureau (Idflieg – short for Inspektion der Fliegertruppen) which oversaw all aspects of German aviation at that time. Despite German excellence in the field of engineering, it was serial failure on the part of Idflieg to get ahead of the game in terms of its aero engines. Hampered by intransigent constraints on procedures and decision making, Idflieg realised far too late that…

Introducing you to some of our main contributors for this issue:- ALEX BOWERS Alex Bowers is a military history researcher and writer from Kent, now based in Nova Scotia. Predominantly specialising in Canadian history, he writes extensively for military history publications worldwide. His wife, Annie Bowers, is a photographer who works with him on his many projects. DR INNES MCCARTNEY Innes McCartney, a nautical archaeologist and author, and has investigated Britain’s industrial age shipwrecks and written extensively on their archaeology, including Scapa Flow, the U-boat wars, and Jutland. He was awarded the Anderson Medal of the Society for Nautical research for Jutland 1916: The Archaeology of a Naval Battlefield. CHRISTER BERGSTRÖM Christer Bergström is an internationally recognised expert on WW2. He has written over 40 books on the subject and…

Smoking out the Wasps

In June 1940, Major Wolfgang Falck, an officer formerly of 2./ZG 76 and latterly the Gruppen Kommandeur of I./ZG 1, was tasked to form a night fighter unit for the defence of the Reich. The preferred night fighter was the Messerschmitt Bf 110 – along with the Junkers 88 C-2, the latter having been operationally tested by Z.St/KG 30 in Norway. In addition, there would be two versions of the Dornier 17 put into use as night fighters: the Dornier Z-7 Kauz I and the Z-10 Kauz II. Then, in August 1940, II./NJG 1 was formed and commanded by Major Karl-Heinrich Heyse, an experienced bomber pilot who had fought in Spain and who had commanded the Heinkel 111 equipped 2./KG 55 until the end of January 1940. Two of the…

Smoking out the Wasps

Dornier 17 Z Kauz I & II and Spanner Anlage

After Dornier 17 bomber production ended in 1940, some Z models were modified with a solid nose, effectively ‘grafted’ from the Junkers 88 C and fitted with a single 20 mm MG FF cannon and three MG 17 machine guns for use in the night fighter role. Three prototypes were converted from existing Z-series airframes to the Dornier 17 Z-7 Kauz I (‘screech-owl’) configuration. The standard Z-7 was fitted with Bramo 323 P-1 radial engines and had a crew of three. In comparison to the bomber version, the fuel load arrangement was altered by subdividing it into cells; two cells were in the wings, with a capacity of 770 litres (154 imperial gallons) each and a third cell placed in the bomb bay in the fuselage with a capacity of…

The Lost Intruder

Held in The National Archives, Kew, an air intelligence file (AIR 22/267) records the loss of a Junkers 88 which crashed on Hurns Farm, just off a road called French Drove, Gedney Hill, Thorney, near Peterborough. It reads as follows: “Junkers 88. Crashed on 17 April 1941 at 21.23 hours at Hurns Farm, Thorney, near Ely. Map reference F.7828. No markings were visible, and no plates were found, but one rubber cover of a petrol tank bore the date 1 November 1940. The cause of the crash is unknown; no fighter action appears to have taken place in the area and the aircraft is not claimed by AA. It appears to have been on fire in the air. The aircraft dived vertically into soft clay, is almost entirely buried and…

The Lost Intruder

Soldier, Hero, Prisoner, Spy

The story of German prisoners of war captured in Russia is a very different one to that of those who were captured by the Americans or British - the first prisoners of war in Britain being German aircrew who were brought down over Britain and from crews of German ships and submarines that had been sunk. Initially, there was not a requirement to cater for large numbers of prisoners of war in Britain until success against the Italians and Germans in North Africa. This resulted in large numbers of enemy prisoners being captured there, and particularly after the surrender of Axis forces in North Africa in 1943. Many more prisoners were also captured after the Allied invasion of France in June 1944, and as the numbers of prisoners increased, so…

Soldier, Hero, Prisoner, Spy

The Stalingrad Myths

Stalingrad 80th ANNIVERSARY It is certainly the case that the number of myths and legends surrounding the Battle of Stalingrad reflects the scope and scale of the German defeat. In their book The Myth of the Eastern Front, historians Ronald Smelser and Edward J Davies show how memoir writing by German generals in the 1950s shaped the general image of the Eastern Front in the Western eyes: “They conjured up a black-and-white world, in which Hitler incorporated evil and they, virtue.”[i] Two men, however, played a leading role in all of this: Franz Halder and Erich von Manstein. The so-called ’diaries’ by Generaloberst Franz Halder, chief of staff of the Army High Command (OKH), were extensively re-written by Halder himself after the war, with a view towards exculpating himself in the…

The Stalingrad Myths

The Heinkel 177 at Stalingrad

In July 1942, I./FKG 50 was formed at Brandenburg-Briest from elements of what was 10./KG 40, a unit formerly commanded by former Focke-Wulf 200 pilot and Ritterkreuz holder, Hauptmann Heinrich Schlosser. The new unit was commanded by Major Kurt Schede. Schede was a pre-war officer who had commanded 2./KG 54 until the end of July 1940 after which he was assigned a series of staff appointments until taking command of I./FKG 50. The unit never achieved full Geschwader size but would be the first to receive the Heinkel Heinkel 177 for operations, and in December 1942 the unit moved to Zaporozhye in the Soviet Union with seven aircraft. This was initially for winter trials, but the unit quickly became involved in resupplying Stalingrad. Schede was killed in unfortunate circumstances on…

The Heinkel 177 at Stalingrad

Identifying The Forgotten Soldier

One of the most popular and widely-read soldier’s autobiographies to appear during the post Second World War period was The Forgotten Soldier by the late Guy Sajer, published in 1967 as Le Soldat oublié, followed in 1971 by the release of the English language edition. According to Sajer’s harrowing story (since published in over a dozen languages and selling millions worldwide), he was a French citizen of mixed German /French parentage who served in the Wehrmacht as a teenager and was shipped to the Eastern Front. Here, he fought against the Red Army from the winter of 1942 until the end of the war as a member of the Grossdeutschland Panzergrenadier Division. Shortly after his capture by the British near Lauenburg in May 1945, Sajer was transferred to a POW…

Identifying The Forgotten Soldier

Funeral in Umbria

The funeral rites that were afforded to the most senior German military commanders were often lavish affairs that involved attendance by the highest-ranking officers, political leaders, parades, bands, and grand floral tributes. This was certainly the case during the period of Imperial German rule, and it extended into the time of the Third Reich. Sometimes, ‘lesser’ military figures, such as famous fighter pilots etc., might expect something of a showpiece funeral. Such things were considered the norm. However, when two lowly NCO fliers were killed in an accident in Umbria during 1943, their send-off was what can only be described as a truly extraordinary affair for men of such rank. The circumstances of the loss of Messerschmitt Bf 110 F-3, Werk Nummer 5005, of 7./ZG 26, was recorded by the…

Funeral in Umbria

When the Luftwaffe first went to war in 1939, the standard MG 15 7.92 mm machine gun was the standard on-board defensive weapon carried by most multi-crewed aircraft (See Iron Cross, issue No.1). Flexibly mounted, that gun was a versatile and useful weapon, popular with gunners, but hampered by the rather cumbersome ‘saddle drum’ ammunition and a supply of just 75 rounds distributed on each side of the magazine. And with an expenditure rate of just 4.5 seconds per drum, it meant that the gunner was kept busy changing drums at what might be a critical moment during an attack by enemy fighters. It also meant that a large number of bulky ammunition drums needed to be stowed in the aircraft near the gunners station. Typically, this could be up…

Deep-Trap U-boat Casualties

In 1944, responding to a switch in U-boat operations to single boat incursions into UK coastal waters, the Royal Navy adopted a plan to lay deep minefields under the shipping lanes of the western coastal approaches to the UK and English Channel to sink and deter U-boats from attacking shipping. At the end of the war, it was known that the yield in terms of U-boats destroyed in these fields was just three: U260, U242 and U275. This prompted a debate after the war as to whether the huge effort involved had been worth it. However, in the decades that followed, hydrographic surveys and scuba divers continued to find more U-boat wrecks in the proximity of these minefields. As a result, we know today that those minefields were far more…

Deep-Trap U-boat Casualties

Drawing the Wehrmacht

Born in 1901 in Oedingen in the district of Meschede, Josef Arens grew up in Gelsenkirchen, living on the Hammerschmidtstrasse in the Bulmke-Hüllen district where his father was a caretaker at the Carl-Friedrich-Gaus-Gynmasium. Too young to have served during the First World War, the young Josef nevertheless aspired beyond the menial job of his father – albeit that this was at an extraordinarily difficult time to find employment in post-war Germany. Nevertheless, Josef enrolled at the Gelsenkirchen School of Applied Arts and went on to further train as a commercial artist. In that capacity, he had to meticulously draw machinery components – training which would stand him in good stead for his later work as a war artist. Studying art in Wiesbaden and Münster until 1926, Josef Arens’ talent was…

Drawing the Wehrmacht

SPECIAL EDITION AVAILABLE IN PAPER OR DIGITAL FORMAT

In this new publication, the story of the Luftwaffe’s attacks on the British Isles is covered through fascinating and insightful content which looks at all aspects of those air operations, bringing that story to life through hundreds of images. Many of those images are colourised, while others are original and contemporary colour images from the period. In total, over 180 of the photographs reproduced in the publication are in colour. The story of the Luftwaffe over Britain has never been told in such an all-encompassing and engaging manner before now and the publication will appeal widely to the general enthusiast, the specialist, and those with any interest in the history of the Second World War. Order yours by calling 01778 391180 or visit www.militaria.ma/luftwaffe-over-britain…

SPECIAL EDITION AVAILABLE IN PAPER OR DIGITAL FORMAT

The Erhard Milch Collection

Collecting medal and document groupings can be one of the most rewarding fields in the militaria hobby. Groupings, perhaps more than anything else, give us a window into the totality of the original owner’s military experience. The awards, documents, and personal effects of a particular individual, when taken together, exude an aura which affords the collector or historian genuine insights into that individual’s life. This is true even if the original owner of a grouping was a common soldier, but when the grouping is that belonging to a significant historical military figure, then its importance becomes all the greater. Erhard Milch could be regarded as one of the ‘second tier’ personalities of the Third Reich, and while he is not as generally well known today as figures such as Hitler,…

The Erhard Milch Collection

Heinkel 162 A-2 Volksjäger

The Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger (or People’s Fighter) was a single-engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft developed under the Emergency Fighter Programme and designed and built quickly at the end of the war. It was made primarily of wood because metals were in short supply and were being prioritised for other aircraft. The Volksjäger was the official name for the design programme competition which was won by Heinkel’s design. Other names given to the aircraft include Salamander, which was the codename of its wing-construction programme, and Spatz (Sparrow), which was the name given to the aircraft by the Heinkel company. The aircraft was notable for its small size; although almost the same length as a Messerschmitt Bf 109, its wing was much shorter at 7.2 metres (24 ft) as opposed to…

Heinkel 162 A-2 Volksjäger

EDITOR’S CHOICE DORNIER DO 17 IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN The ‘Flying Pencil’ In the Spitfire Summer Chris Goss Publisher: Air World / Pen & Sword Web: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk ISBN: 978-1-5267-8120-4 Hardback: 220 pages RRP: £25.00 The arrival of this book on the reviewer’s desk was certainly most welcome. This is not least of all because the subject matter is of great personal interest – not to mention that one is assured of quality of content from this author. And the reviewer was certainly not disappointed! Having given valuable service to the Luftwaffe in Poland, and then during the campaign in France, its involvement during the Battle of Britain was pretty much the swan-song of the Dornier 17. And although it saw action during the Blitz, and to a relatively limited…

Fiesler Fi 103 Reichenberg

When the Lashenden Air Warfare Museum first opened its doors in 1970, the newly formed team of volunteers paid a visit to a bomb disposal unit at Fort Clarence in Rochester, Kent, potentially to acquire historical objects for display. There, while preparing several other artefacts for transport back to their Kent-based site at Headcorn aerodrome, members came across what was clearly a V 1 rocket in a state of disrepair. The infamous German weapon had suffered from several years of exposure to the elements, its tail section and fin having collapsed, and its derelict wings being found discarded behind a nearby building. Curiously, this V 1 had a cockpit – albeit one that was incomplete and badly rusted. This discovery, the volunteer group quickly realised, comprised the remnants of a…

Fiesler Fi 103 Reichenberg

Germany’s Aero Engine Dilemma

As with other issues regarding the Great War, the root of Germany’s aero engine problems lay in her isolation from the world’s resources, whereas the Allies had access to unlimited resources. A related issue was also the greater size of the prewar French automobile industry because the automotive industry was the basis of aero engine production. At that time, there were only minor differences between engines for automobiles and the primitive aircraft engines of the day, and automobile engine manufacturers were able to transition to producing aircraft engines relatively easily. Prewar, France also had a much larger automobile industry than Germany, and France was able to maintain this key industrial production advantage throughout the war and able to produce twice as many aero engines as Germany. Britain, meanwhile, was slow…

Germany’s Aero Engine Dilemma

The Lippe-Detmold Cross of Honour for Heroic Deeds

The House of Lippe was founded as a Lordship in 1163, but in 1536 it became a county. Then, in 1613, due to succession, the county was divided into three entities: Lippe-Detmold, Lippe-Brake, and finally Lippe-Alverdissen. Due to the lack of any descendants, the Lippe-Brake branch died out in 1709 and as a result this territory merged with that of Lippe-Detmold. The county of Lippe-Alverdissen, which had also inherited the county of Schaumburg, took the name Schaumburg-Lippe. The population went through some difficult decades, among other things because of the cantonment during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) and the Munster War of 1675. To make matters worse, Count Friedrich Adolf (1697-1718) tried to emulate the French court with its lavish pomp and circumstance and ended up squandering his fortune. Under…

The Lippe-Detmold Cross of Honour for Heroic Deeds

Hauptmann Albrecht Tasche

One of the recipients of this decoration was Albrecht Tasche, his citation of 21 March 1915 setting out details of the award: “During the winter battle of Champagne, the reserve infantry regiment No. 107 occupied on 30 January 1915 a main fighting position near Ripont, in the sector of the VIIIth reserve corps. Heavy daily artillery fire had destroyed the position and destroyed the barbed wire fields. Despite this, the excellent regiment did not lose a single inch of the ground entrusted to it. Captain Tasche particularly distinguished himself as battalion commander in the right part of the regiment by his unshakeable energy and exceptional bravery. If on the days of the great attack, 16 and 17 February, and 23 February 1915, enemy soldiers entered at some places where they were…

Hauptmann Albrecht Tasche

CondorLegion The Luftwaffe’s participation in the Spanish Civil War saw the German air force testing the mettle of both men and machines prior to the Second World War. We examine the careers of some of the first Luftwaffe fighter aces – many of whom went on to become famous names in Germany and abroad. (1) Rommel’s Nightmare How intelligence played a crucial role in the desert war of North Africa and how, despite Allied intelligence leaks obtained by the Germans, intercepted signals helped to seal the end for the Afrika Korps in what was an intelligence nightmare for the ‘Desert Fox’. (2) Minenkrieg We look at the astonishing underground war waged beneath no man’s land by the tunnellers of Bavarian and Württemburg pioneers as both sides struggled to literally undermine…

In this image, the Imperial German High Seas Fleet (Hochseeflotte) is photographed at Wilhelmshaven during the First World War, the ship in the foreground being the dreadnought, SMS Helgoland. The Hochseeflotte was created in February 1907 when the Home Fleet (Heimatflotte) was renamed. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz envisioned a force powerful enough to challenge the Royal Navy’s predominance with Kaiser Wilhelm II championing the fleet as an instrument by which he could seize overseas possessions and make Germany a global power. By concentrating this powerful fleet in the North Sea, with the Royal Navy dispersed around the British Empire, Tirpitz believed that Britain would not challenge Germany if the latter’s fleet posed such a significant threat. The primary component of the Fleet was its battleships, typically organised in eight-ship squadrons,…

The ‘Big Guns’

As early as the summer of 1916 there were those in German high command who concluded that the war was no longer winnable. One of those was Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and it is Hindenburg who appears as the imposing and symbolically overpowering figure in the background to this dramatic film poster. With artwork by Hans Rudi Erdt, the poster promoted the film Die Grosse Schlact in Frankreich (The Great Battle in France) and depicts the powerful presence of Hindenburg looming large over an impressive German siege mortar. The message is clear, and projects German military might. Literally and figuratively, the ‘big guns’ had been brought out - notwithstanding the fact that this poster dates from 1918 when Germany’s military situation was more than teetering on the hopeless. Nevertheless,…

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