Handsome Ritterkreuzträger

 LUFWAFFE

Major Wolfgang Tonne (1918-1943) was born on 28 February 1918 in Moosbach in Schleiz, Thuringia, and entered the Luftwaffe in 1937 as an officer cadet, completing flight training before being posted as a Leutnant to 3./Jagdgeschwader 53 in December 1939. He claimed his first aerial victory on 14 May 1940 during the Battle of France, a British Blenheim bomber, and went on to score five victories in the Western campaign before participating in the Battle of Britain. Transferred to the Eastern Front in June 1941 with Jagdgeschwader 53, Tonne steadily built his score and was promoted to Oberleutnant on 1 October 1941, becoming Staffelkapitän of 3./Jagdgeschwader 53 in February 1942. Operating intensively over the Soviet Union, particularly in the Stalingrad sector during the summer of 1942, he achieved rapid success and was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 6 September 1942 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of 3./Jagdgeschwader 53 after reaching 54 aerial victories. Continuing his exceptional run, Tonne claimed his 100th and 101st victories shortly thereafter and received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 24 September 1942, the 128th such award, presented by Adolf Hitler. In November 1942 he led 3./Jagdgeschwader 53 to North Africa, where he specialized in combat against Allied fighters and bombers, adding 21 further victories including numerous Spitfires and one four-engined bomber. On 20 April 1943, after scoring his 122nd aerial victory, Tonne was killed in a flying accident while attempting a celebratory low-level pass with landing gear extended over the airfield at Protville near Tunis in Tunisia. Credited with a total of 122 aerial victories in 641 combat missions, of which 96 were claimed on the Eastern Front, he remains remembered as one of the distinguished aces of Jagdgeschwader 53.

Leutnant Wilhelm Crinius (1920-1997) was born on 2 December 1920 in Hohenhausen in Kalletal and joined the Luftwaffe in January 1940 after completing basic training, becoming a fighter pilot and being posted in February 1942 to 3./Jagdgeschwader 53. Initially operating from Sicily against Malta without recorded victories, he transferred with I./Jagdgeschwader 53 to the Eastern Front, where his combat career accelerated dramatically during the summer of 1942. He claimed his first aerial victories in June and rapidly built his score, achieving the 15th on 1 August, the 25th by 25 August, and the 49th on 27 August, which also marked the 1,000th victory for I./Jagdgeschwader 53. Promoted to Feldwebel on 1 September after his 55th victory, Crinius then scored with exceptional intensity, claiming approximately 40 victories in August and another 46 between 1 and 22 September. On 22 September 1942 he reached his 100th aerial victory, becoming the 22nd Luftwaffe pilot to achieve this milestone. For this outstanding performance as Flugzeugführer in 3./Jagdgeschwader 53, Feldwebel Crinius was awarded both the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes and the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on the same day, 23 September 1942, the only German fighter pilot to receive the two decorations simultaneously, and was promoted to Leutnant. He subsequently moved with I./Jagdgeschwader 53 to Tunisia, where he claimed a further 14 victories before being shot down by a Spitfire over the sea on 13 January 1943, surviving a day in a dinghy before capture as a prisoner of war. Credited with 114 aerial victories in roughly 400 combat missions, predominantly on the Eastern Front, Crinius survived the war and later worked in private industry as a senior manager until his death on 26 April 1997 in Stuhr-Fahrenhorst.

Source :
https://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2009/10/10-prajurit-third-reich-paling-tampan.html