Nickname: He does not appear to have had a widely recognized or official nickname (Spitzname in German) documented in historical sources, award citations, biographies, or postwar accounts. Unlike some other prominent Luftwaffe figures—such as Erich Hartmann ("Bubi"), Adolf Galland ("Dolfo"), or Werner Mölders ("Vati")—Baumbach is consistently referred to simply by his full name Werner Baumbach across reliable references
Date of Birth: 27.12.1916 - Cloppenburg, German Empire
Date of Death: 20.10.1953 - near Berazategui, Argentina (plane crash over the Rio de la Plata estuary)
Battles and Operations: Invasion of Poland, Norwegian Campaign, Battle of France, Battle of Britain, North Sea and Atlantic anti-shipping operations, Arctic convoy attacks and support for Eastern Front operations, Mediterranean and Black Sea operations (late 1942), Special missions with KG 200 including Mistel composite aircraft.
Parents: Unknown / not documented in standard sources.
Siblings: Unknown / no mentions.
Spouse: Married (evidenced by family emigration in 1948), but name unknown.
Children: At least one (implied by "family" references in emigration accounts), but number and names unknown.
Promotions:06.04.1936 Fahnenjunker
01.01.1938 Leutnant
01.06.1940 Oberleutnant
20.07.1941 Hauptmann
14.10.1942 Major
01.11.1944 Oberstleutnant
05.01.1945 Oberst
Career:1936-1938 training at Luftkriegsschule Berlin-Gatow and early test flying
1938 Kettenführer at Erprobungsstelle Rechlin
1939 6. Staffel, II. Gruppe, Lehrgeschwader 1
1940 5. Staffel, II. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 30 Adler
1940 Staffelkapitän 4./KG 30 then back to 5./KG 30
1941 Staffelkapitän 5./KG 30 and later Kommandeur I./KG 30
1942 Kommandeur III./KG 30 and various staff roles with Kampfflieger
1943 Inspekteur der Kampfflieger and special duties on remote-controlled weapons
1944 Kommodore Kampfgeschwader 200
1945 Fliegerführer and commander of the Regierungsstaffel under the Flensburg Government
Awards and Decorations:Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse (28.09.1939) as Leutnant and pilot in 6./LG 1
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse (04.05.1940) as Leutnant and pilot in 5./KG 30 for bombing and damaging the French cruiser Emile Bertin on 19.04.1940
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (08.05.1940) as Leutnant and pilot in 5./KG 30 for achieving a direct hit on the French cruiser Emile Bertin off the Norwegian coast on 19.04.1940 after completing 26 combat sorties in the Norwegian Campaign
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub (14.07.1941) as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of 5./KG 30 for sinking a total of 240000 gross register tons of enemy shipping up until 27.02.1941 together with his crew through repeated precision attacks on Allied vessels in the North Sea area east of Harwich and other sea lanes
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern (17.08.1942) as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of I./KG 30 for bringing his personal and crew total of sunk enemy shipping to over 300000 gross register tons through continued anti-shipping strikes
Frontflugspange für Kampfflieger in Silber (22.03.1941)
Luftwaffe Ehrenpokal (22.04.1941)
Gemeinsames Flugzeugführer- und Beobachterabzeichen in Gold mit Brillianten (14.07.1941)
Frontflugspange für Kampfflieger in Gold mit Anhänger 200 (1942)
Narvikschild
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Werner Baumbach, one of the most successful bomber pilots and anti-shipping experts of the Luftwaffe, distinguished himself early in the war through daring low-level and dive-bombing attacks with the Junkers Ju 88. Joining Kampfgeschwader 30 Adler he flew numerous missions during the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940. On 19 April 1940 he scored a direct hit on the French light cruiser Emile Bertin while it lay off Andalsnes, damaging the vessel severely. This action, achieved after only 26 combat sorties, brought him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 8 May 1940 while still a Leutnant.
Continuing operations from bases in Norway and later against British convoys and coastal shipping, Baumbach and his experienced crew racked up an extraordinary record. By the end of February 1941 they had accounted for 240000 gross register tons of Allied shipping sunk, often in the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire and fighter opposition in the North Sea and approaches to Harwich. These sustained successes, highlighted in several Wehrmachtberichte, earned him the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross on 14 July 1941 as the 20th recipient while serving as Staffelkapitän. By the summer of 1942 his total had risen to more than 300000 gross register tons through further strikes on merchant vessels and escorts, qualifying him for the Swords on 17 August 1942 as Gruppenkommandeur. In all he flew 147 front-line sorties as a bomber pilot.
Later transferred to staff and experimental duties, Baumbach became deeply involved in advanced projects including the Mistel composite bomber system and in November 1944 took command of the secret special-operations unit Kampfgeschwader 200. In the final weeks of the war he led the government air squadron under the short-lived Flensburg administration. After six months as a British prisoner of war he was cleared of any violations of the laws of war and released. He emigrated to Argentina in 1948, worked as a technical adviser and test pilot, and authored the widely read memoir Zu spät on the rise and fall of the Luftwaffe. On 20 October 1953, at the age of 36, he was killed when the British Lancaster bomber he was evaluating for the Argentine Air Force crashed near Berazategui.
