Jagdgeschwader 3 "Oesau" was one of the most distinguished fighter wings of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War, established on 1 May 1939 and later named in honor of Generalmajor Walter Oesau after his death in 1944. The unit participated in nearly every major aerial campaign of the war, including the Polenfeldzug, Westfeldzug, Luftschlacht um England, the Mediterranean theater, Reichsverteidigung, and operations on the Ostfront. Equipped mainly with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and later the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, JG 3 produced numerous highly decorated aces and Ritterkreuzträger, among them Walther Dahl, Heinrich Ehrler, and Günther Lützow. The Geschwader earned a formidable reputation for its aggressive combat tactics and high victory claims against Allied bombers and fighters, while suffering heavy losses during the later stages of the war as the Luftwaffe struggled against overwhelming Allied air superiority. Its members received many of Germany’s highest military decorations, including the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten, and the unit remained active until Germany’s surrender in May 1945.
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SCHWERTERTRÄGER
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SCHWERTERTRÄGER
Oberst Walter Oesau (1913-1944), known as "Gulle", was born on 28 June 1913 in Farnewinkel and entered military service in 1933 with an artillery regiment of the Heer before transferring to the Luftwaffe for pilot training, later volunteering for the Legion Condor in Spain where he claimed nine aerial victories with Jagdgruppe 88 and earned the Spanienkreuz in Gold mit Schwertern und Brillanten; returning to Germany he served as Staffelkapitän of the 7. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 during the Battle of France and Battle of Britain, achieving his first wartime victory on 13 May 1940 and reaching 20 victories by mid-August, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 August 1940 as Hauptmann and Staffelkapitän of 7./Jagdgeschwader 51. Appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 51 and later of III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 3, he scored his 40th victory on 5 February 1941 and received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz the following day as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of III./Jagdgeschwader 3, then on the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa rapidly increased his tally to 80 victories by 15 July 1941, earning the Schwerter to the Ritterkreuz that same day as the third recipient while still commanding III./Jagdgeschwader 3 and being promoted to Major; subsequently appointed Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 2 and later of Jagdgeschwader 1, he continued to claim victories including against four-engined bombers in the Defense of the Reich until he was killed in action on 11 May 1944 near St. Vith when his aircraft was shot down by American fighters, having achieved a total of approximately 125 to 127 aerial victories in over 300 combat missions, after which Jagdgeschwader 1 was honorarily renamed Jagdgeschwader 1 “Oesau.”
Günther
Lützow (1912-1945) was a German Luftwaffe fighter pilot and ace born in
Kiel who flew more than 300 combat sorties and was credited with 110
aerial victories, five scored in the Spanish Civil War as Staffelkapitän
of 2. Staffel in Jagdgruppe 88 of the Condor Legion where he claimed
his first victory on 6 April 1937 flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109 B
against Republican aircraft. During the opening campaigns of World War
II he served as Gruppenkommandeur of I. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 3 in
the Battle of France claiming nine victories and then as
Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 3 during the Battle of Britain
where he added further successes, resulting in his award of the
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 18 September 1940 as Major after a
total of fifteen aerial victories on the Western Front. On the Eastern
Front from the launch of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 he led
Jagdgeschwader 3 to rapid results including nine victories in the first
week alone and reached his forty-second overall claim by 20 July 1941,
for which he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit
Eichenlaub on that same date as the twenty-seventh recipient while still
serving as Major and Kommodore of Jagdgeschwader 3. His continued high
rate of scoring, including a temporary command of Jagdgeschwader 51 in
autumn 1941 during which he contributed numerous claims, brought his
total to ninety-two victories by early October and earned him the
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern on 11 October 1941
as the fourth recipient of the Swords; he became only the second German
fighter pilot after Werner Mölders to reach one hundred victories just
days later on 24 October 1941. In the later war years Lützow held senior
staff and divisional commands before joining Jagdverband 44 in April
1945 where he flew the Messerschmitt Me 262 and claimed two final
victories, only to be reported missing in action on 24 April 1945 while
leading an interception of American bombers near Donauwörth, his jet
believed shot down by P-47 fighters with his body never recovered.
Oberst Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke was born on 11 March 1913 in Schrimm in the Province of Posen and initially enlisted in the cavalry in 1934 before transferring to the newly formed Luftwaffe as an officer candidate the following year, completing his pilot training and serving as an instructor at the Jagdfliegerschule Werneuchen prior to a brief tour with the Legion Condor in Spain. Returning to Germany he joined Jagdgeschwader 53, rising by the outbreak of war to Hauptmann and Staffelkapitän of the 7. Staffel of III. Gruppe, scoring his first victory over a French Potez 637 on 7 November 1939 and adding further successes during the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, where he was forced to bale out over the Channel on 13 August 1940 after engine failure yet was rescued. In the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa he claimed his twenty-fifth aerial victory and was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 6 August 1941 as Hauptmann. After a period of service in North Africa, Malta and Sicily from December 1941 to May 1942, during which he added four more victories, he returned to the Eastern Front and transferred to the Geschwaderstab of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet,” becoming Kommodore of the Geschwader on 12 September 1942. Having achieved his one-hundredth victory on 6 September he received the Eichenlaub on 9 September 1942 as Hauptmann, and on 17 December 1942, during the fighting over Stalingrad, he became the fourth fighter pilot to reach one hundred and fifty victories. For a total of one hundred and fifty-five confirmed aerial victories he was awarded the Schwerter on 23 December 1942 as Major and Kommodore of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” Although officially grounded from further operational flying after the award of the Schwerter, he continued to fly combat missions in the Defence of the Reich and on 23 March 1944, after claiming his one-hundred-and-sixty-second and final victory, a Boeing B-17 and a North American P-51 Mustang, he was himself shot down near Schöppenstedt by American Mustang fighters and killed in the ensuing crash, having flown seven hundred and thirty-two combat sorties and attained one hundred and sixty-two confirmed victories, twenty-five of them in the West including four four-engined bombers.
Major Werner Schröer (1918-1985) was born on 12 February 1918 in Mülheim an der Ruhr and joined the Luftwaffe in 1937, initially serving with ground personnel before completing pilot training and being posted in August 1940 to Jagdgeschwader 27. After limited action over the English Channel during the Battle of Britain, his unit transferred to North Africa in April 1941, where he scored his first aerial victory on 19 April against a Hawker Hurricane near Tobruk. Rising steadily amid intense desert fighting alongside figures such as Hans-Joachim Marseille, he became Staffelkapitän of 8. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 27 in July 1942 and achieved rapid success, claiming multiple victories in the battles around El Alamein. For reaching 49 confirmed aerial victories, predominantly against British and Commonwealth fighters and bombers over North Africa, Leutnant Schröer was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 October 1942 while serving as Staffelkapitän of 8. Staffel, III. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 27. Promoted further and appointed Gruppenkommandeur of II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 in April 1943, he continued operations over Sicily and southern Italy, adding numerous claims including several four-engined bombers during the Allied invasion period. For a total of 84 to 85 victories, Hauptmann Schröer received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 2 August 1943 as Kommandeur of II. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 27. Later commanding III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 54 in the Defence of the Reich and achieving his 100th victory, he was appointed Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet” in February 1945. Operating on the Eastern Front in the war’s final months, he claimed twelve further victories and, after reaching 110 aerial successes overall, was awarded the Schwerter to the Ritterkreuz with Eichenlaub on 19 April 1945 as Major and Kommodore of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet”. Credited with 114 victories in just 197 combat missions, including 61 in North Africa and 26 four-engined bombers, Schröer surrendered with his unit in May 1945, was released from captivity in 1946, later worked for Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm, and died on 10 February 1985 in Ottobrunn.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Oberst Gordon Gollob (1912-1987) was an Austrian-born fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe who rose to the rank of Oberst and achieved a total of 150 aerial victories in over 340 combat missions, the vast majority on the Eastern Front during World War II. After service in the Austrian Armed Forces he transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1938, initially flying with Zerstörergeschwader 76 (ZG 76) as Oberleutnant in the 3. Staffel where he claimed his first victory on 5 September 1939 during the invasion of Poland, before transferring in September 1940 to Jagdgeschwader 3 (JG 3) and commanding the 4. Staffel; as Hauptmann he was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of II. Gruppe JG 3 "Udet" on 27 June 1941 during Operation Barbarossa and, following 42 aerial victories that included numerous successes against Soviet aircraft, was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 18 September 1941. He continued his rapid scoring with 37 victories in October alone, including nine on a single day on 18 October, and received the Eichenlaub on 26 October 1941 after reaching a total of 85 aerial victories. Appointed Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 77 "Herz As" on 16 May 1942 (promoted to Major on 1 July 1942), he claimed his 100th victory on 20 May and, after reaching 107 victories, was awarded the Schwerter on 23 June 1942 while serving as Führer and Kommodore of JG 77; on 29 August 1942 he became the first Luftwaffe fighter pilot to claim his 150th aerial victory over the Eastern Front, for which he was awarded the Brillanten on 30 August 1942 as the third recipient overall of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten, after which he was barred from further combat flying and assigned to higher staff roles including Jagdfliegerführer positions and ultimately General der Jagdflieger in early 1945.
Oberst Viktor (1915-1969) Bauer was born on 15 September 1915 in Löcknitz and joined the military service on 1 April 1935, initially with Infanterie-Regiment 1 before transferring to the Luftwaffe for pilot training and serving with units including Jagdgeschwader 2 and Jagdgeschwader 77, where he claimed his first aerial victories during the Battle of France; after participating in the Battle of Britain he transferred in late 1940 to Jagdgeschwader 3 and was appointed Staffelkapitän of the 9. Staffel of III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 3 shortly before Operation Barbarossa, achieving rapid success on the Eastern Front with 15 victories in June 1941 alone and reaching a total of 34 aerial victories by late July, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 30 July 1941 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” Severely wounded in combat on 23 July 1941, he returned to front-line duty in early 1942 and continued to score heavily, becoming an ace-in-a-day multiple times, until on 26 July 1942 he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (the 107th award) after claiming his 102nd aerial victory while still serving as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the same Staffel; later promoted through Hauptmann and Major, he commanded training units including the Ergänzungsgruppe Ost and ultimately served as Kommodore of Ergänzungs-Jagdgeschwader 1 with the rank of Oberst by war’s end, having amassed 106 confirmed aerial victories in approximately 400 combat missions (all but four on the Eastern Front) before being taken prisoner in 1945 and released later that year, after which he lived until his death on 13 December 1969 in Bad Homburg.
Major Kurt Brändle (1912-1943) was born on 19 January 1912 in Ludwigsburg in the Kingdom of Württemberg as the son of a master precision mechanic and after training as a surgical instrument maker and working in his father’s firm he developed a passion for flying, becoming a civilian power and glider pilot and flight instructor who logged thousands of hours before volunteering for the Luftwaffe on 10 December 1935; he was promoted Leutnant der Reserve on 1 December 1936, trained as a fighter pilot with Jagdgeschwader 134 “Horst Wessel”, transferred to active service and was promoted Oberleutnant on 1 June 1939 before joining 4./Jagdgeschwader 53. He claimed his first aerial victory on 10 May 1940 during the Battle of France, was wounded in a take-off collision later that month, returned to claim further successes over the Channel and England, and was appointed Staffelkapitän of 5./JG 53 on 15 September 1940; after service on the Eastern Front from the opening of Operation Barbarossa, where he raised his total to 28 by October 1941, and a period over Malta, he was awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 25 February 1942 and promoted Hauptmann on 1 March 1942. On 1 May 1942 he became Gruppenkommandeur of II./Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet” and, fighting in the southern sector of the Eastern Front, was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 1 July 1942 after 49 aerial victories; in the intense combat of July and August 1942 he claimed a further 50 victories, including his 100th to 102nd on 23 August, becoming the 17th Luftwaffe pilot to reach the century mark, for which he received the Eichenlaub (114th award) on 27 August 1942 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 3 “Udet”. Promoted Major on 1 March 1943, he continued to score heavily, claiming his 150th victory on the opening day of the Battle of Kursk on 5 July 1943, before II./JG 3 was transferred to the Defence of the Reich in August 1943 and based at Schiphol; on 3 November 1943, after shooting down two P-47 Thunderbolts, he was killed in action west of Amsterdam when his Bf 109 G-6 was shot down by Royal Canadian Air Force fighters, his body later washing ashore near Zandvoort and being reinterred at the German war cemetery Ysselsteyn after a career that encompassed approximately 700 combat missions and 180 confirmed aerial victories.
Hauptmann Joachim Kirschner (1920-1943) was born on 7 June 1920 in Niederlössnitz, Saxony, and joined the Luftwaffe on 26 August 1939. After training including at Jagdfliegerschule 5, he was promoted to Leutnant on 1 February 1941 and posted to the Ergänzungsgruppe of Jagdgeschwader 3. He scored his first aerial victory, a Spitfire, on 20 August 1941 over the Netherlands. In early 1942 his unit fought during the Siege of Malta before transferring to the Eastern Front in May. In August 1942 he became Staffelkapitän of 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet". After his 51st victory he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 23 December 1942 as Leutnant and Staffelführer of 5./Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet". He reached his 100th victory on 27 April 1943. On 5 July 1943, the first day of the Battle of Kursk, he claimed nine aerial victories for his 150th overall, an ace-in-a-day feat. Following his 170th victory he was awarded the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 2 August 1943 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of 5. Staffel, Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet", the 267th recipient, presented by Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair. By then he had also destroyed 58 trucks, two locomotives, one armoured car, one ammunition train and 22 aircraft on the ground. As Hauptmann he became Gruppenkommandeur of IV. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 in October 1943 over Greece and the Balkans. Credited with 188 aerial victories in 635 missions, including 168 on the Eastern Front and 20 over the Western Allies, he was shot down on 17 December 1943 in his Bf 109 G-6 east of Metković, Croatia, by USAAF 57th Fighter Group fighters. He bailed out safely but was executed by Yugoslav Partisans of the 29th Herzegovina Division at Metković, aged 23.
Hauptmann Wilhelm Lemke (1920-1943) was born on 27 September 1920 in Gundelsdorf near Arnswalde in the Province of Brandenburg and joined the Luftwaffe as a Fahnenjunker on 15 November 1939, completing fighter pilot training before promotion to Leutnant on 1 April 1941 and posting to the 8. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3. He flew his first combat missions during Operation Barbarossa and claimed his initial aerial victories on 26 June 1941 by shooting down two Soviet Tupolev SB-3 bombers northeast of Berestechko; further successes followed rapidly, earning him the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on 4 July 1941 and the Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse on 20 July 1941. On 26 August 1941, while flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2, he was wounded in the abdomen during combat with Soviet bombers yet managed an emergency landing, and while convalescing he received the Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe on 3 November 1941. Returning to the 8. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet” in mid-February 1942, Lemke continued to accumulate victories on the Eastern Front, reaching his twentieth on 31 March, his thirtieth on 24 June, and victories thirty-nine through forty-two on 29 July; by early September he had claimed his fifty-ninth aerial victory, leading to the award of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 12 September 1942 as Leutnant and Staffelführer of the 9./Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” In November 1942 he assumed command as Staffelkapitän of the 9. Staffel, replacing temporary leaders after the wounding of the previous commander. He scored his one-hundredth victory, a Lavochkin La-5, on 16 March 1943, becoming the thirty-fifth Luftwaffe pilot to reach that milestone, and was promoted to Oberleutnant on 1 April 1943 and to Hauptmann on 1 June 1943. His final Eastern Front success came on 28 July 1943, bringing his total there to 125 victories, after which Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet” transferred to the Western Front for Reich defence duties. Lemke claimed six further victories against Western Allied aircraft, including two Republic P-47 Thunderbolts on 17 August during the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission and additional B-17 Flying Fortresses. In mid-November 1943 he was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of the II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet,” succeeding the fallen Major Kurt Brändle, and on 25 November 1943, after approximately 125 aerial victories, he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes as the 338th recipient, the award being conferred upon him as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of the II./Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” On 30 November he achieved his 131st and final victory by downing a P-47 near Tilburg. Lemke was killed in action on 4 December 1943 near Dodewaard, northwest of Nijmegen, when his Bf 109 G-6 was shot down by P-47s of the United States 352nd Fighter Group while leading an intercept mission; he was buried at the German war cemetery Ysselsteyn. Over roughly 700 combat sorties he was credited with 131 aerial victories, the great majority on the Eastern Front, and his last rank was Hauptmann.
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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER
Oberleutnant Wolf-Udo Ettel (1921-1943) was born on 26 February 1921 in Hamburg as the son of a Junkers aircraft company representative; the family lived in Tehran and Colombia, where he attended the German school, before returning to Germany after his parents’ divorce in 1934, after which he and his two younger brothers attended the Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalt in Potsdam. He volunteered for the Luftwaffe on 15 November 1939, completed blind-flying school and A/B pilot training at Prenzlau, attended a Jagdfliegerschule in Paris, and served briefly with an Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe in Denmark before being posted on 10 April 1942 as Leutnant to the 4. Staffel of II. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” After initial operations from Sicily against Malta the unit transferred to the Eastern Front, where Ettel scored his first two victories on 24 June 1942 by shooting down two Il-2 Shturmoviks. On 10 July he destroyed a Soviet Boston bomber but was himself shot down near Voronezh, bailed out behind enemy lines, swam the Don River and rejoined his unit four days later. He received the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on 24 July and 1. Klasse on 2 August, the Frontflugspange für Jagdflieger in Gold on 23 October and the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold in December 1942. In intensive fighting over the Kuban bridgehead and later east of Belgorod he claimed 28 victories in March and 36 in April 1943, including five on 11 April, reached his 100th victory on 28 April and his 120th on 11 May, when anti-aircraft fire forced him to land between the lines west of Anastassiewskaja; under heavy Soviet infantry fire he escaped unharmed and that night led a patrol to salvage equipment from his damaged Bf 109. For these achievements as Staffelführer of 4./JG 3 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 1 June 1943, the presentation being made by General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland. Promoted to Oberleutnant, he assumed command as Staffelkapitän of the newly formed 8. Staffel of III. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 27 on 5 June 1943, first based in Greece and then moved to Italy. During the defence of Sicily he claimed a Spitfire on 15 July and, on 16 July, another Spitfire plus two USAAF B-24 Liberators. On 17 July 1943, while leading a ground-attack mission against British anti-aircraft positions near Lentini, his Bf 109 G-6 was hit by flak and crashed northeast of Lago di Lentini, killing him at the age of 22. Credited with 124 aerial victories in over 250 missions—120 of them on the Eastern Front, including 21 Il-2s, and four over Sicily—he was posthumously awarded the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 31 August 1943 as the 289th recipient and was buried at the German war cemetery of Motta Sant’Anastasia.
Oberst Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke was born on 11 March 1913 in Schrimm in the Province of Posen and initially enlisted in the cavalry in 1934 before transferring to the newly formed Luftwaffe as an officer candidate the following year, completing his pilot training and serving as an instructor at the Jagdfliegerschule Werneuchen prior to a brief tour with the Legion Condor in Spain. Returning to Germany he joined Jagdgeschwader 53, rising by the outbreak of war to Hauptmann and Staffelkapitän of the 7. Staffel of III. Gruppe, scoring his first victory over a French Potez 637 on 7 November 1939 and adding further successes during the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, where he was forced to bale out over the Channel on 13 August 1940 after engine failure yet was rescued. In the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa he claimed his twenty-fifth aerial victory and was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 6 August 1941 as Hauptmann. After a period of service in North Africa, Malta and Sicily from December 1941 to May 1942, during which he added four more victories, he returned to the Eastern Front and transferred to the Geschwaderstab of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet,” becoming Kommodore of the Geschwader on 12 September 1942. Having achieved his one-hundredth victory on 6 September he received the Eichenlaub on 9 September 1942 as Hauptmann, and on 17 December 1942, during the fighting over Stalingrad, he became the fourth fighter pilot to reach one hundred and fifty victories. For a total of one hundred and fifty-five confirmed aerial victories he was awarded the Schwerter on 23 December 1942 as Major and Kommodore of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” Although officially grounded from further operational flying after the award of the Schwerter, he continued to fly combat missions in the Defence of the Reich and on 23 March 1944, after claiming his one-hundred-and-sixty-second and final victory, a Boeing B-17 and a North American P-51 Mustang, he was himself shot down near Schöppenstedt by American Mustang fighters and killed in the ensuing crash, having flown seven hundred and thirty-two combat sorties and attained one hundred and sixty-two confirmed victories, twenty-five of them in the West including four four-engined bombers.
Major Werner Schröer (1918-1985) was born on 12 February 1918 in Mülheim an der Ruhr and joined the Luftwaffe in 1937, initially serving with ground personnel before completing pilot training and being posted in August 1940 to Jagdgeschwader 27. After limited action over the English Channel during the Battle of Britain, his unit transferred to North Africa in April 1941, where he scored his first aerial victory on 19 April against a Hawker Hurricane near Tobruk. Rising steadily amid intense desert fighting alongside figures such as Hans-Joachim Marseille, he became Staffelkapitän of 8. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 27 in July 1942 and achieved rapid success, claiming multiple victories in the battles around El Alamein. For reaching 49 confirmed aerial victories, predominantly against British and Commonwealth fighters and bombers over North Africa, Leutnant Schröer was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 October 1942 while serving as Staffelkapitän of 8. Staffel, III. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 27. Promoted further and appointed Gruppenkommandeur of II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 in April 1943, he continued operations over Sicily and southern Italy, adding numerous claims including several four-engined bombers during the Allied invasion period. For a total of 84 to 85 victories, Hauptmann Schröer received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 2 August 1943 as Kommandeur of II. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 27. Later commanding III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 54 in the Defence of the Reich and achieving his 100th victory, he was appointed Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet” in February 1945. Operating on the Eastern Front in the war’s final months, he claimed twelve further victories and, after reaching 110 aerial successes overall, was awarded the Schwerter to the Ritterkreuz with Eichenlaub on 19 April 1945 as Major and Kommodore of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet”. Credited with 114 victories in just 197 combat missions, including 61 in North Africa and 26 four-engined bombers, Schröer surrendered with his unit in May 1945, was released from captivity in 1946, later worked for Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm, and died on 10 February 1985 in Ottobrunn.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Oberst Gordon Gollob (1912-1987) was an Austrian-born fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe who rose to the rank of Oberst and achieved a total of 150 aerial victories in over 340 combat missions, the vast majority on the Eastern Front during World War II. After service in the Austrian Armed Forces he transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1938, initially flying with Zerstörergeschwader 76 (ZG 76) as Oberleutnant in the 3. Staffel where he claimed his first victory on 5 September 1939 during the invasion of Poland, before transferring in September 1940 to Jagdgeschwader 3 (JG 3) and commanding the 4. Staffel; as Hauptmann he was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of II. Gruppe JG 3 "Udet" on 27 June 1941 during Operation Barbarossa and, following 42 aerial victories that included numerous successes against Soviet aircraft, was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 18 September 1941. He continued his rapid scoring with 37 victories in October alone, including nine on a single day on 18 October, and received the Eichenlaub on 26 October 1941 after reaching a total of 85 aerial victories. Appointed Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 77 "Herz As" on 16 May 1942 (promoted to Major on 1 July 1942), he claimed his 100th victory on 20 May and, after reaching 107 victories, was awarded the Schwerter on 23 June 1942 while serving as Führer and Kommodore of JG 77; on 29 August 1942 he became the first Luftwaffe fighter pilot to claim his 150th aerial victory over the Eastern Front, for which he was awarded the Brillanten on 30 August 1942 as the third recipient overall of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten, after which he was barred from further combat flying and assigned to higher staff roles including Jagdfliegerführer positions and ultimately General der Jagdflieger in early 1945.
Oberst Viktor (1915-1969) Bauer was born on 15 September 1915 in Löcknitz and joined the military service on 1 April 1935, initially with Infanterie-Regiment 1 before transferring to the Luftwaffe for pilot training and serving with units including Jagdgeschwader 2 and Jagdgeschwader 77, where he claimed his first aerial victories during the Battle of France; after participating in the Battle of Britain he transferred in late 1940 to Jagdgeschwader 3 and was appointed Staffelkapitän of the 9. Staffel of III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 3 shortly before Operation Barbarossa, achieving rapid success on the Eastern Front with 15 victories in June 1941 alone and reaching a total of 34 aerial victories by late July, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 30 July 1941 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” Severely wounded in combat on 23 July 1941, he returned to front-line duty in early 1942 and continued to score heavily, becoming an ace-in-a-day multiple times, until on 26 July 1942 he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (the 107th award) after claiming his 102nd aerial victory while still serving as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the same Staffel; later promoted through Hauptmann and Major, he commanded training units including the Ergänzungsgruppe Ost and ultimately served as Kommodore of Ergänzungs-Jagdgeschwader 1 with the rank of Oberst by war’s end, having amassed 106 confirmed aerial victories in approximately 400 combat missions (all but four on the Eastern Front) before being taken prisoner in 1945 and released later that year, after which he lived until his death on 13 December 1969 in Bad Homburg.
Major Kurt Brändle (1912-1943) was born on 19 January 1912 in Ludwigsburg in the Kingdom of Württemberg as the son of a master precision mechanic and after training as a surgical instrument maker and working in his father’s firm he developed a passion for flying, becoming a civilian power and glider pilot and flight instructor who logged thousands of hours before volunteering for the Luftwaffe on 10 December 1935; he was promoted Leutnant der Reserve on 1 December 1936, trained as a fighter pilot with Jagdgeschwader 134 “Horst Wessel”, transferred to active service and was promoted Oberleutnant on 1 June 1939 before joining 4./Jagdgeschwader 53. He claimed his first aerial victory on 10 May 1940 during the Battle of France, was wounded in a take-off collision later that month, returned to claim further successes over the Channel and England, and was appointed Staffelkapitän of 5./JG 53 on 15 September 1940; after service on the Eastern Front from the opening of Operation Barbarossa, where he raised his total to 28 by October 1941, and a period over Malta, he was awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 25 February 1942 and promoted Hauptmann on 1 March 1942. On 1 May 1942 he became Gruppenkommandeur of II./Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet” and, fighting in the southern sector of the Eastern Front, was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 1 July 1942 after 49 aerial victories; in the intense combat of July and August 1942 he claimed a further 50 victories, including his 100th to 102nd on 23 August, becoming the 17th Luftwaffe pilot to reach the century mark, for which he received the Eichenlaub (114th award) on 27 August 1942 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 3 “Udet”. Promoted Major on 1 March 1943, he continued to score heavily, claiming his 150th victory on the opening day of the Battle of Kursk on 5 July 1943, before II./JG 3 was transferred to the Defence of the Reich in August 1943 and based at Schiphol; on 3 November 1943, after shooting down two P-47 Thunderbolts, he was killed in action west of Amsterdam when his Bf 109 G-6 was shot down by Royal Canadian Air Force fighters, his body later washing ashore near Zandvoort and being reinterred at the German war cemetery Ysselsteyn after a career that encompassed approximately 700 combat missions and 180 confirmed aerial victories.
Hauptmann Joachim Kirschner (1920-1943) was born on 7 June 1920 in Niederlössnitz, Saxony, and joined the Luftwaffe on 26 August 1939. After training including at Jagdfliegerschule 5, he was promoted to Leutnant on 1 February 1941 and posted to the Ergänzungsgruppe of Jagdgeschwader 3. He scored his first aerial victory, a Spitfire, on 20 August 1941 over the Netherlands. In early 1942 his unit fought during the Siege of Malta before transferring to the Eastern Front in May. In August 1942 he became Staffelkapitän of 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet". After his 51st victory he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 23 December 1942 as Leutnant and Staffelführer of 5./Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet". He reached his 100th victory on 27 April 1943. On 5 July 1943, the first day of the Battle of Kursk, he claimed nine aerial victories for his 150th overall, an ace-in-a-day feat. Following his 170th victory he was awarded the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 2 August 1943 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of 5. Staffel, Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet", the 267th recipient, presented by Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair. By then he had also destroyed 58 trucks, two locomotives, one armoured car, one ammunition train and 22 aircraft on the ground. As Hauptmann he became Gruppenkommandeur of IV. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 in October 1943 over Greece and the Balkans. Credited with 188 aerial victories in 635 missions, including 168 on the Eastern Front and 20 over the Western Allies, he was shot down on 17 December 1943 in his Bf 109 G-6 east of Metković, Croatia, by USAAF 57th Fighter Group fighters. He bailed out safely but was executed by Yugoslav Partisans of the 29th Herzegovina Division at Metković, aged 23.
Hauptmann Wilhelm Lemke (1920-1943) was born on 27 September 1920 in Gundelsdorf near Arnswalde in the Province of Brandenburg and joined the Luftwaffe as a Fahnenjunker on 15 November 1939, completing fighter pilot training before promotion to Leutnant on 1 April 1941 and posting to the 8. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3. He flew his first combat missions during Operation Barbarossa and claimed his initial aerial victories on 26 June 1941 by shooting down two Soviet Tupolev SB-3 bombers northeast of Berestechko; further successes followed rapidly, earning him the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on 4 July 1941 and the Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse on 20 July 1941. On 26 August 1941, while flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2, he was wounded in the abdomen during combat with Soviet bombers yet managed an emergency landing, and while convalescing he received the Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe on 3 November 1941. Returning to the 8. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet” in mid-February 1942, Lemke continued to accumulate victories on the Eastern Front, reaching his twentieth on 31 March, his thirtieth on 24 June, and victories thirty-nine through forty-two on 29 July; by early September he had claimed his fifty-ninth aerial victory, leading to the award of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 12 September 1942 as Leutnant and Staffelführer of the 9./Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” In November 1942 he assumed command as Staffelkapitän of the 9. Staffel, replacing temporary leaders after the wounding of the previous commander. He scored his one-hundredth victory, a Lavochkin La-5, on 16 March 1943, becoming the thirty-fifth Luftwaffe pilot to reach that milestone, and was promoted to Oberleutnant on 1 April 1943 and to Hauptmann on 1 June 1943. His final Eastern Front success came on 28 July 1943, bringing his total there to 125 victories, after which Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet” transferred to the Western Front for Reich defence duties. Lemke claimed six further victories against Western Allied aircraft, including two Republic P-47 Thunderbolts on 17 August during the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission and additional B-17 Flying Fortresses. In mid-November 1943 he was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of the II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet,” succeeding the fallen Major Kurt Brändle, and on 25 November 1943, after approximately 125 aerial victories, he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes as the 338th recipient, the award being conferred upon him as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of the II./Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” On 30 November he achieved his 131st and final victory by downing a P-47 near Tilburg. Lemke was killed in action on 4 December 1943 near Dodewaard, northwest of Nijmegen, when his Bf 109 G-6 was shot down by P-47s of the United States 352nd Fighter Group while leading an intercept mission; he was buried at the German war cemetery Ysselsteyn. Over roughly 700 combat sorties he was credited with 131 aerial victories, the great majority on the Eastern Front, and his last rank was Hauptmann.
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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER
Oberleutnant Wolf-Udo Ettel (1921-1943) was born on 26 February 1921 in Hamburg as the son of a Junkers aircraft company representative; the family lived in Tehran and Colombia, where he attended the German school, before returning to Germany after his parents’ divorce in 1934, after which he and his two younger brothers attended the Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalt in Potsdam. He volunteered for the Luftwaffe on 15 November 1939, completed blind-flying school and A/B pilot training at Prenzlau, attended a Jagdfliegerschule in Paris, and served briefly with an Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe in Denmark before being posted on 10 April 1942 as Leutnant to the 4. Staffel of II. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” After initial operations from Sicily against Malta the unit transferred to the Eastern Front, where Ettel scored his first two victories on 24 June 1942 by shooting down two Il-2 Shturmoviks. On 10 July he destroyed a Soviet Boston bomber but was himself shot down near Voronezh, bailed out behind enemy lines, swam the Don River and rejoined his unit four days later. He received the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on 24 July and 1. Klasse on 2 August, the Frontflugspange für Jagdflieger in Gold on 23 October and the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold in December 1942. In intensive fighting over the Kuban bridgehead and later east of Belgorod he claimed 28 victories in March and 36 in April 1943, including five on 11 April, reached his 100th victory on 28 April and his 120th on 11 May, when anti-aircraft fire forced him to land between the lines west of Anastassiewskaja; under heavy Soviet infantry fire he escaped unharmed and that night led a patrol to salvage equipment from his damaged Bf 109. For these achievements as Staffelführer of 4./JG 3 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 1 June 1943, the presentation being made by General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland. Promoted to Oberleutnant, he assumed command as Staffelkapitän of the newly formed 8. Staffel of III. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 27 on 5 June 1943, first based in Greece and then moved to Italy. During the defence of Sicily he claimed a Spitfire on 15 July and, on 16 July, another Spitfire plus two USAAF B-24 Liberators. On 17 July 1943, while leading a ground-attack mission against British anti-aircraft positions near Lentini, his Bf 109 G-6 was hit by flak and crashed northeast of Lago di Lentini, killing him at the age of 22. Credited with 124 aerial victories in over 250 missions—120 of them on the Eastern Front, including 21 Il-2s, and four over Sicily—he was posthumously awarded the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 31 August 1943 as the 289th recipient and was buried at the German war cemetery of Motta Sant’Anastasia.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagdgeschwader_3
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