[sci.military] Hartmann

nzt1939@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil (William M. Aldo) (12/22/90)

From: nzt1939@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil (William M. Aldo)
From: Mark Aldo  waldo@dsacg3!dsac.dla.mil
>From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib)

>>Should these seem like wimpy tactics, consider that they were the preferred
>>tactics of Erich Hartmann... the greatest ace of all time, who scored
>>352 confirmed kills between 1942 and 1945 without ever getting hurt or
>>losing a wingman.

>...... Hartmann fought entirely on the Eastern
>front, but this trick would be very effective 

While Erich Hartmann 'fought entirely on the Eastern Front', it
should be noted that at least two (2) of his kills/victories were
against Americans flying P-51s (according to an interview with
Hartmann in Air Classics, circa late '60s when he was a Colonel in
the West German Air Force). Hartmann surrendered himself and his unit
to the Americans at the end of the war, not knowing that the Allies
had an 'arrangement' that Germans fighting on the Eastern Front would
be turned over to the Soviets regardless of who they surrendered to.
He spent the next 10-12 years in Soviet prisons/labor camps for vari-
ous charges -- from killing Soviet civilians to disrupting Soviet 
industrial economy. Of course, they took all his medals/awards, in-
cluding the Knights Cross w/Diamonds and Oak Clusters. He was a Major
at the time of his surrender --- not bad for a 'kid' of 21 (if memory
serves me).

--
Mark

geoffm@EBay.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller) (12/28/90)

From: geoffm@EBay.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller)


In article <1990Dec22.034227.24300@cbnews.att.com> nzt1939@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil (William M. Aldo) writes:

>Hartmann surrendered himself and his unit
>to the Americans at the end of the war, not knowing that the Allies
>had an 'arrangement' that Germans fighting on the Eastern Front would
>be turned over to the Soviets regardless of who they surrendered to.
>He spent the next 10-12 years in Soviet prisons/labor camps for vari-
>ous charges -- from killing Soviet civilians to disrupting Soviet 
>industrial economy. 

According to the Time-Life book on fighter pilots (_Fighting Aces_?),
Hartmann was imprisoned in the Soviet Union for twenty years; he was
released in 1965 or '66.


Geoff


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Geoff Miller                    + + + + + + + +        Sun Microsystems
geoffm@purplehaze.EBay.sun.com  + + + + + + + +       Milpitas, California
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