trouvé sur le net. Hartmann JG52
Publié : lun. janv. 02, 2006 3:44 pm
Je sais pas ce qu'il est est des droits sur ce texte, mais vu que ce n'est pas moi qui me suis amusé à le taper et qu'il existe ailleur sur le net, je vous colle ici une très interessante lecture.
S'il se trouve que c'est sujet a Copyrights ou autre, merci de me prévenir ou d'effacer.
The Last Interview with Erich Hartmann
by Colin Heaton
WWII: When and where were you born?
Hartmann: I was born on April 19, 1922, in Weissach. This is near Wurttemberg, Germany.
WWII: What was your family like?
Hartmann: My father was a respected physician who had been a doctor in the army in WWI, and
my mother was a licensed pilot. My brother [Alfred] later became a doctor also.
WWII: You spent time in China, which was unusual for a German youth of those days. How did
that come about?
Hartmann: My father's cousin was a diplomat there, and he convinced father to move us to
China, since Germany at that time was not exactly the best place to be economically. We
lived in Changsha province, and I was young and Alfred was even younger, but I barely
remember any of it. Father had gone ahead, and we followed. Finally thigs became bad for
foreigners, and father sent us home. We relocated to Stuttgart, and father came back later.
This was where I lived until the war.
WWII: What made you want to become a pilot?
Hartmann: Probably the same reason as most boys of that era--the glory associated with the
aces in the Great War. My mother was a licensed pilot, and this also contributed to my
desire to fly. Mother used to take us up and teach us things about flying. I knew I wanted
to fly. I became a licensed glider pilot at 14 and flew as often as I could. I became an
instructor at age 15 in the Hitler Youth. My father was not pleased that I wanted to be a
pilot. He wanted us to follow him in medicine, and this was also a dream that I had, but it
was not to be.
WWII: At what point did you enlist in the Luftwaffe?
Hartmann: I started military flight training in October 1940, in East Prussia. This lasted
until January 1942, when I went to Zerbst-Anhalt. I graduated as a lieutenant in March 1942.
Later I went to advanced aerial gunnery school, where I got into a little trouble. I was
showing off, buzzing the airfield, and was sentenced to house arrest. Ironically, my room-
mate flew the same aircraft I had been in and it developed a technical problem, and he was
killed in the crash. I arrived in Russia and reported to Jagdgeschwader (JG) 52 just before
the winter, after a slight mishap.
WWII: Was that when you crashed the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka you were flying?
Hartmann: Well, I would not say crashed, because I never got off the ground. We were
supposed to fly them to Mariopol, but when I started the Stuka I realized that it had no
brakes, and it reacted differently from a Messerschmitt 109. I crashed into the operations
shack and another man flipped his Ju-87 up over on its nose. They decided to send us in a
Ju-52 instead, since it was safer for us and the aircraft.
WWII: Was that when you first met Dietrich Hrabak?
Hartmann: Yes. "Dieter" was a very understanding yet disciplined commander, and his
experience showed. He taught us not just how to fly and fight, but how to work as a team and
stay alive. That was his greatest gift. He was very open to discussing his own mistakes and
how he learned from them, hoping we would learn also. Hrabak assigned me to the 7th Squadron
III Group, of JG52 under Major Hubertus von Bonin, an old eagle from the Spanish Civil War
and Battle of Britain. We learned a lot from him also.
WWII: Who were you first assigned to as wingman?
Hartmann: Sergeant Eduard [Edmund] "Paule" Rossmann took me under his wing.
WWII: Was it typical for an officer to be assigned to a noncommisioned officer?
Hartmann: It was for us, since he was a seasoned combat veteran. Rank meant little over
experience, and that was why we were so successful, I think.
WWII: Your first mission on October 14, 1942, was less than spectacular. What happened?
Hartmann: Well, Rossmann and I were in our flight, and Rossmann radioed that he had spotted
enemy aircraft below us. I could see nothing, but followed Rossmann down. Then we came on
them. I knew that I had to get my first kill, so I went full throttle and left Rossmann to
shoot at a plane. My shots missed, and I almost collided with him and had to pull up.
Suddenly, I was surrounded by Soviets, and I headed for low cloud cover to escape. All along
Rossmann kept talking to me, and I had a low-fuel warning. Then the engine went dead and I
bellied in, destroying my fighter. I knew I was in trouble. I had violated every commandment
a fighter pilot lives by, and I expected to be thrown out.
WWII: What happened when you finally got back to your squadron?
Hartmann: I was sentenced by von Bonin to three days of working with the ground crews. It
gave me time to think about what I had done. What I learned from Rossmann and later Walter
Krupinski I taught to new pilots when I became a leader.
WWII: What was your favorite method of attack?
Hartmann: Coming out of the sun and getting close; dogfighting was a waste of time. The hit-
and-run with the element of surprise served me well, as with most of the high-scoring
pilots. Once a Russian was shot down, especially the leader, they became disorganized and
easy to attack. This was not always the case, especially later in the war, and there were
special units of highly skilled and disciplined pilots, such as the Red Banner units, who
would make life difficult.
WWII: When did you score your first victory?
Hartmann: That was a day I will never forget, November 5, 1942. [It was] a Shturmovik
[Ilyushin] Il-2, which was the toughest aircraft to bring down because of its heavy armor
plate. You had to shoot out the oil cooler underneath, otherwise it would not go down. That
was also the day of my second forced landing, since I had flown into the debris of my kill.
I learned two things that day: Get in close and shoot, and break away immediately after
scoring the kill. The next kill came [early] the following year. This was when Krupinski
came to Taman and was my new squadron leader.
WWII: Krupinski was quite a character. What was his arrival at the squadron like?
Hartmann: I was being addressed by my new wing commander [Hrabak] when a fighter came in
smoking and suddenly landed, flipped over and exploded. We knew the pilot was dead. One of
the men said, "It is Krupinski," and out of the blinding smoke this man walked out of the
wreckage with a singed uniform, but no other damage. He was smiling and complained about the
flak over Caucasus, but without any real surprise on his face. He introduced himself,
demanded a plane, went up, was shot down and brought back by car. He then took another
[plane], scored two kills and returned, then wanted dinner. The whole event was treated as
casually as a card game. This was my first meeting with "The Count".
WWII: How did you meet Gunther Rall?
Hartmann: Well, he replaced von Bonin as group commander and we were introduced. That was
the beginning. In August 1943, Rall made me commander of the 9th Squadron, which had been
Hermann Graf's command.
WWII: You eventually began flying with Krupinski as his wingman. How different was it from
your earlier experiences flying with Rossmann?
Hartmann: Well, the partnership was a little uneasy at first, but we found that we worked
well together. We both had strengths and weaknesses and managed to overcome our earlier
problems. It worked out well. Besides, I had to make sure that he came home to his many
girlfriends, who were always waiting on him to come down. I won the Iron Cross 2nd Class
while flying with "Krupi". The one thing I learned from him was that the worst thing to do
was to lose a wingman. Kills were less important than survival. I only lost one wingman,
Gunther Capito, a former bomber pilot, but this was due to his inexperience with fighters.
He survived, however.
WWII: How many kills did you have before you received the Knight's Cross?
Hartmann: I had scored 148 kills by October 29, 1943. My award was sort of late, I guess.
There were many men who had more than 50 kills who did not receive the Knight's Cross,
which I think was unfair. I also thought it infair that men like Rall, [Gerhard] Barkhorn,
[Otto] Kittel, [Heinz] Bar and [Erich] Rudorffer did not receive higher decorations. They
deserved them.
WWII: Who was your best friend during those days?
Hartmann: There were so many. My closest relationship, however, was with Heinz Mertens, my
crew chief. You rely upon your wingmen to cover you in the air and your team-mates in aerial
battle, but the man who keeps your machine flying and safe is the most important man you
know. We became the best of friends, and none of my success would have been possible if not
for "Bimmel" Mertens.
WWII: The bond you two had is legendary. Why the closeness?
Hartmann: I can't explain it. When I went missing on the mission where I was captured and
escaped, Mertens had taken a rifle and went looking for me. He would not give up. That is
a loyalty you never find outside of the military.
WWII: Describe that time you were captured.
Hartmann: The Russians were attacking in our area, and Hrabak gave us our orders. This was
in August 1943, and our mission was to support the Stukas of Hans-Ulrich Rudel in a counter-
attack. Then things changed. The Red Air Force was bombing German ground positions in
support of their offensive, so my flight of eight fighters located and attacked the enemy,
about 40 [Lavochkin Gorbunov-Gudkov] LaGGs and [Yakovlev] Yaks with another 40 or so
Shturmovik ground-attack aircraft. I shot down two when something hit my plane. I made a
forced landing and was captured by Soviet soldiers. I faked that I was injured as they
approached the plane. They believed me and took me to their headquarters, and their doctor
examined me. Even he believed me. They placed me back in the truck (which was German) on a
stretcher, and as Stukas made their attacks, I rushed the one guard in the truck. He went
down, and I leapt out the back. As soon as I did that, I heard the truck stop, so I had to
keep moving. I found myself in a great field of very tall sunflowers, where I tried to hide
as I ran. All the while, the men chasing me were firing wildly in my direction. I found a
small village occupied by Russians and decided to return to the area I had just come from
and wait for nightfall. [It was during this time that Mertens took off to find Hartmann,
armed with only a rifle and water.] I reached my secure area and took a nap, and later I
awoke and took off again headed west. I passed a patrol of Russians, about 10 I think, so I
decided to follow them. Then the patrol disappeared over a small hill and there was a fire-
fight. I knew that must be German lines, since the men of the patrol came flying back over
on my side. I then walked to the other side and was challenged by a German sentry who also
fired a bullet at me, which ripped open my trouser leg. I was pretty upset, but this man
was in complete fear. I was welcomed into their position, given an interrogation and was
asked to prepare for contact. Another group of Russians, obviously drunk, walked toward our
trenches, and the lieutenant gave the order to fire when they came within about 20 meters.
They were all destroyed. I was later told that a group of Russians had entered the perimeter
speaking fluent German and claiming to be escaped POWs, and they pulled out some Tommy guns
and killed some men. This explained the soldier's caution over accepting me at face value,
as I had no identification on me. Everything had been taken when I was captured.
WWII: How did you get back to your squadron?
Hartmann: The infantry commander contacted Hrabak, who confirmed who I was. They sent me
back by car, and I was met by Krupi, who had just come back from the hospital. I was also
informed about what Bimmel had gone and done, and I was very upset. The next day, Bimmel
came back and we saw each other and had a "birthday party".
WWII: What do you mean by a birthday party?
Hartmann: That is a party that is thrown in honor of a pilot who survived a situation that
should have killed him. We had a lot of those.
WWII: Were you ever shot down after that?
Hartmann: No, never by an enemy plane, but I had to crash-land 14 times due to damage from
my victories or mechanical failure, but I never took to the parachute. I never became
another pilot's victory.
WWII: You were never wounded either, were you?
Hartmann: No. I was very lucky, unlike Rall, Krupinski, and especially [Johannes] Steinhoff,
who was almost burned alive.
WWII: In March 1944 you were awarded the Oak Leaves to your Knight's Cross by Adolf Hitler.
What was that occasion like?
Hartmann: That was a strange time. First, most of us were drunk. "Gerd" Barkhorn, Walter
Krupinski, Johannes Wiese, and I were ordered to report to Berchtesgaden. All of us except
Gerd were getting the Oak Leaves; he was getting the Swords. By the time we got there, we
were trying to sober up. Walter always stated years later that we had to hold each other up.
We had been drinking cognac and champagne, a deadly combination when you have not eaten in a
couple of days. The first person we met off the train was Hitler's Luftwaffe adjutant, Major
[Nicolaus] von Below, who, I think, was in a state of shock at our condition. We were to
meet Hitler in a couple of hours and we could hardly stand. [At Berchtesgaden,] I could not
find my hat, and my vision was not the best, so I took a hat from a stand and put it on. It
was too large and I knew it was not mine. Below became upset and told me it was Hitler's and
to put it back. Everyone was laughing about it except Below. I made some joke about Hitler
having a big head, and that it "must go with the job," which created even more laughter.
WWII: What were your impressions of Hitler?
Hartmann: I found him a little disappointing, although very interested in the war at the
front and extremely well informed on events. However, he had a tendency to drone on about
minor things that I found boring. I found him not that imposing. I also found him lacking in
sufficient knowledge about the air war in the East. He was more concerned with the Western
Front's air war and the bombing of cities. Of course, the Eastern Front ground war was his
area of most interest. This was evident. Hitler listened to the men from the Western Front
and assured them that weapons and fighter production were increasing, and history proved
this to be correct. Then he went into the U-Boat war, how we were going to decidedly destroy
maritime commerce, and all that. I found him an isolated and disturbed man.
WWII: What was the feeling about the war in your unit at this time?
Hartmann: I don't recall anyone talking of defeat, but I do know that we talked about some
of the great pilots killed already, and the news of the American [North American P-51]
Mustangs reaching deep into Germany and even farther. Few of us had any experience against
the Americans, although many old-timers had fought the British. Those who fought Americans
had done so in North Africa, and their insights proved interesting.
WWII: By the time you were awarded the Swords to you Knight's Cross, things were getting
even more desperate for Germany. What was the Fuhrer like when you met him for this
ceremony?
Hartmann: I had just landed after a successful mission when I was told that I had been
awarded the Swords. This was June 1944. I arrived on August 3, to visit Hitler again for the
award ceremony, and there were 10 of us Luftwaffe guys in all. Hitler was not the same man.
This was just after the bomb plot to kill him [on July 20], and his right arm was shaking,
and he looked exhausted. He had to turn his left ear to hear anyone speak because he was
deaf in the other one from the blast. Hitler discussed the cowardly act to kill him and
attacked the quality of his generals, with a few exceptions. He also stated that God had
spared his life so that he could deliver Germany from destruction, and that the Western
Allies would be thrown back inevitably. I was very surprised at all of this.
WWII: Not long after receiving the Swords you were awarded the Diamonds for your Knight's
Cross. You were only 22 and the youngest recipient of Germany's highest award. Did you find
that distinction problematic?
Hartmann: I think that being a captain and a Diamonds winner at that age forced a lot of
responsibility upon me. I think that I was able to handle all of that responsibility because
of the strength and friendship of my comrades. I would say that I was ambitious and eager. I
can't think of any fighter pilot who would not have those qualities. Becoming a hero is not
always easy, as you find yourself living up to the expectations of others. I would have pre-
ferred to just do my job and finish the war anonymously.
S'il se trouve que c'est sujet a Copyrights ou autre, merci de me prévenir ou d'effacer.
The Last Interview with Erich Hartmann
by Colin Heaton
WWII: When and where were you born?
Hartmann: I was born on April 19, 1922, in Weissach. This is near Wurttemberg, Germany.
WWII: What was your family like?
Hartmann: My father was a respected physician who had been a doctor in the army in WWI, and
my mother was a licensed pilot. My brother [Alfred] later became a doctor also.
WWII: You spent time in China, which was unusual for a German youth of those days. How did
that come about?
Hartmann: My father's cousin was a diplomat there, and he convinced father to move us to
China, since Germany at that time was not exactly the best place to be economically. We
lived in Changsha province, and I was young and Alfred was even younger, but I barely
remember any of it. Father had gone ahead, and we followed. Finally thigs became bad for
foreigners, and father sent us home. We relocated to Stuttgart, and father came back later.
This was where I lived until the war.
WWII: What made you want to become a pilot?
Hartmann: Probably the same reason as most boys of that era--the glory associated with the
aces in the Great War. My mother was a licensed pilot, and this also contributed to my
desire to fly. Mother used to take us up and teach us things about flying. I knew I wanted
to fly. I became a licensed glider pilot at 14 and flew as often as I could. I became an
instructor at age 15 in the Hitler Youth. My father was not pleased that I wanted to be a
pilot. He wanted us to follow him in medicine, and this was also a dream that I had, but it
was not to be.
WWII: At what point did you enlist in the Luftwaffe?
Hartmann: I started military flight training in October 1940, in East Prussia. This lasted
until January 1942, when I went to Zerbst-Anhalt. I graduated as a lieutenant in March 1942.
Later I went to advanced aerial gunnery school, where I got into a little trouble. I was
showing off, buzzing the airfield, and was sentenced to house arrest. Ironically, my room-
mate flew the same aircraft I had been in and it developed a technical problem, and he was
killed in the crash. I arrived in Russia and reported to Jagdgeschwader (JG) 52 just before
the winter, after a slight mishap.
WWII: Was that when you crashed the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka you were flying?
Hartmann: Well, I would not say crashed, because I never got off the ground. We were
supposed to fly them to Mariopol, but when I started the Stuka I realized that it had no
brakes, and it reacted differently from a Messerschmitt 109. I crashed into the operations
shack and another man flipped his Ju-87 up over on its nose. They decided to send us in a
Ju-52 instead, since it was safer for us and the aircraft.
WWII: Was that when you first met Dietrich Hrabak?
Hartmann: Yes. "Dieter" was a very understanding yet disciplined commander, and his
experience showed. He taught us not just how to fly and fight, but how to work as a team and
stay alive. That was his greatest gift. He was very open to discussing his own mistakes and
how he learned from them, hoping we would learn also. Hrabak assigned me to the 7th Squadron
III Group, of JG52 under Major Hubertus von Bonin, an old eagle from the Spanish Civil War
and Battle of Britain. We learned a lot from him also.
WWII: Who were you first assigned to as wingman?
Hartmann: Sergeant Eduard [Edmund] "Paule" Rossmann took me under his wing.
WWII: Was it typical for an officer to be assigned to a noncommisioned officer?
Hartmann: It was for us, since he was a seasoned combat veteran. Rank meant little over
experience, and that was why we were so successful, I think.
WWII: Your first mission on October 14, 1942, was less than spectacular. What happened?
Hartmann: Well, Rossmann and I were in our flight, and Rossmann radioed that he had spotted
enemy aircraft below us. I could see nothing, but followed Rossmann down. Then we came on
them. I knew that I had to get my first kill, so I went full throttle and left Rossmann to
shoot at a plane. My shots missed, and I almost collided with him and had to pull up.
Suddenly, I was surrounded by Soviets, and I headed for low cloud cover to escape. All along
Rossmann kept talking to me, and I had a low-fuel warning. Then the engine went dead and I
bellied in, destroying my fighter. I knew I was in trouble. I had violated every commandment
a fighter pilot lives by, and I expected to be thrown out.
WWII: What happened when you finally got back to your squadron?
Hartmann: I was sentenced by von Bonin to three days of working with the ground crews. It
gave me time to think about what I had done. What I learned from Rossmann and later Walter
Krupinski I taught to new pilots when I became a leader.
WWII: What was your favorite method of attack?
Hartmann: Coming out of the sun and getting close; dogfighting was a waste of time. The hit-
and-run with the element of surprise served me well, as with most of the high-scoring
pilots. Once a Russian was shot down, especially the leader, they became disorganized and
easy to attack. This was not always the case, especially later in the war, and there were
special units of highly skilled and disciplined pilots, such as the Red Banner units, who
would make life difficult.
WWII: When did you score your first victory?
Hartmann: That was a day I will never forget, November 5, 1942. [It was] a Shturmovik
[Ilyushin] Il-2, which was the toughest aircraft to bring down because of its heavy armor
plate. You had to shoot out the oil cooler underneath, otherwise it would not go down. That
was also the day of my second forced landing, since I had flown into the debris of my kill.
I learned two things that day: Get in close and shoot, and break away immediately after
scoring the kill. The next kill came [early] the following year. This was when Krupinski
came to Taman and was my new squadron leader.
WWII: Krupinski was quite a character. What was his arrival at the squadron like?
Hartmann: I was being addressed by my new wing commander [Hrabak] when a fighter came in
smoking and suddenly landed, flipped over and exploded. We knew the pilot was dead. One of
the men said, "It is Krupinski," and out of the blinding smoke this man walked out of the
wreckage with a singed uniform, but no other damage. He was smiling and complained about the
flak over Caucasus, but without any real surprise on his face. He introduced himself,
demanded a plane, went up, was shot down and brought back by car. He then took another
[plane], scored two kills and returned, then wanted dinner. The whole event was treated as
casually as a card game. This was my first meeting with "The Count".
WWII: How did you meet Gunther Rall?
Hartmann: Well, he replaced von Bonin as group commander and we were introduced. That was
the beginning. In August 1943, Rall made me commander of the 9th Squadron, which had been
Hermann Graf's command.
WWII: You eventually began flying with Krupinski as his wingman. How different was it from
your earlier experiences flying with Rossmann?
Hartmann: Well, the partnership was a little uneasy at first, but we found that we worked
well together. We both had strengths and weaknesses and managed to overcome our earlier
problems. It worked out well. Besides, I had to make sure that he came home to his many
girlfriends, who were always waiting on him to come down. I won the Iron Cross 2nd Class
while flying with "Krupi". The one thing I learned from him was that the worst thing to do
was to lose a wingman. Kills were less important than survival. I only lost one wingman,
Gunther Capito, a former bomber pilot, but this was due to his inexperience with fighters.
He survived, however.
WWII: How many kills did you have before you received the Knight's Cross?
Hartmann: I had scored 148 kills by October 29, 1943. My award was sort of late, I guess.
There were many men who had more than 50 kills who did not receive the Knight's Cross,
which I think was unfair. I also thought it infair that men like Rall, [Gerhard] Barkhorn,
[Otto] Kittel, [Heinz] Bar and [Erich] Rudorffer did not receive higher decorations. They
deserved them.
WWII: Who was your best friend during those days?
Hartmann: There were so many. My closest relationship, however, was with Heinz Mertens, my
crew chief. You rely upon your wingmen to cover you in the air and your team-mates in aerial
battle, but the man who keeps your machine flying and safe is the most important man you
know. We became the best of friends, and none of my success would have been possible if not
for "Bimmel" Mertens.
WWII: The bond you two had is legendary. Why the closeness?
Hartmann: I can't explain it. When I went missing on the mission where I was captured and
escaped, Mertens had taken a rifle and went looking for me. He would not give up. That is
a loyalty you never find outside of the military.
WWII: Describe that time you were captured.
Hartmann: The Russians were attacking in our area, and Hrabak gave us our orders. This was
in August 1943, and our mission was to support the Stukas of Hans-Ulrich Rudel in a counter-
attack. Then things changed. The Red Air Force was bombing German ground positions in
support of their offensive, so my flight of eight fighters located and attacked the enemy,
about 40 [Lavochkin Gorbunov-Gudkov] LaGGs and [Yakovlev] Yaks with another 40 or so
Shturmovik ground-attack aircraft. I shot down two when something hit my plane. I made a
forced landing and was captured by Soviet soldiers. I faked that I was injured as they
approached the plane. They believed me and took me to their headquarters, and their doctor
examined me. Even he believed me. They placed me back in the truck (which was German) on a
stretcher, and as Stukas made their attacks, I rushed the one guard in the truck. He went
down, and I leapt out the back. As soon as I did that, I heard the truck stop, so I had to
keep moving. I found myself in a great field of very tall sunflowers, where I tried to hide
as I ran. All the while, the men chasing me were firing wildly in my direction. I found a
small village occupied by Russians and decided to return to the area I had just come from
and wait for nightfall. [It was during this time that Mertens took off to find Hartmann,
armed with only a rifle and water.] I reached my secure area and took a nap, and later I
awoke and took off again headed west. I passed a patrol of Russians, about 10 I think, so I
decided to follow them. Then the patrol disappeared over a small hill and there was a fire-
fight. I knew that must be German lines, since the men of the patrol came flying back over
on my side. I then walked to the other side and was challenged by a German sentry who also
fired a bullet at me, which ripped open my trouser leg. I was pretty upset, but this man
was in complete fear. I was welcomed into their position, given an interrogation and was
asked to prepare for contact. Another group of Russians, obviously drunk, walked toward our
trenches, and the lieutenant gave the order to fire when they came within about 20 meters.
They were all destroyed. I was later told that a group of Russians had entered the perimeter
speaking fluent German and claiming to be escaped POWs, and they pulled out some Tommy guns
and killed some men. This explained the soldier's caution over accepting me at face value,
as I had no identification on me. Everything had been taken when I was captured.
WWII: How did you get back to your squadron?
Hartmann: The infantry commander contacted Hrabak, who confirmed who I was. They sent me
back by car, and I was met by Krupi, who had just come back from the hospital. I was also
informed about what Bimmel had gone and done, and I was very upset. The next day, Bimmel
came back and we saw each other and had a "birthday party".
WWII: What do you mean by a birthday party?
Hartmann: That is a party that is thrown in honor of a pilot who survived a situation that
should have killed him. We had a lot of those.
WWII: Were you ever shot down after that?
Hartmann: No, never by an enemy plane, but I had to crash-land 14 times due to damage from
my victories or mechanical failure, but I never took to the parachute. I never became
another pilot's victory.
WWII: You were never wounded either, were you?
Hartmann: No. I was very lucky, unlike Rall, Krupinski, and especially [Johannes] Steinhoff,
who was almost burned alive.
WWII: In March 1944 you were awarded the Oak Leaves to your Knight's Cross by Adolf Hitler.
What was that occasion like?
Hartmann: That was a strange time. First, most of us were drunk. "Gerd" Barkhorn, Walter
Krupinski, Johannes Wiese, and I were ordered to report to Berchtesgaden. All of us except
Gerd were getting the Oak Leaves; he was getting the Swords. By the time we got there, we
were trying to sober up. Walter always stated years later that we had to hold each other up.
We had been drinking cognac and champagne, a deadly combination when you have not eaten in a
couple of days. The first person we met off the train was Hitler's Luftwaffe adjutant, Major
[Nicolaus] von Below, who, I think, was in a state of shock at our condition. We were to
meet Hitler in a couple of hours and we could hardly stand. [At Berchtesgaden,] I could not
find my hat, and my vision was not the best, so I took a hat from a stand and put it on. It
was too large and I knew it was not mine. Below became upset and told me it was Hitler's and
to put it back. Everyone was laughing about it except Below. I made some joke about Hitler
having a big head, and that it "must go with the job," which created even more laughter.
WWII: What were your impressions of Hitler?
Hartmann: I found him a little disappointing, although very interested in the war at the
front and extremely well informed on events. However, he had a tendency to drone on about
minor things that I found boring. I found him not that imposing. I also found him lacking in
sufficient knowledge about the air war in the East. He was more concerned with the Western
Front's air war and the bombing of cities. Of course, the Eastern Front ground war was his
area of most interest. This was evident. Hitler listened to the men from the Western Front
and assured them that weapons and fighter production were increasing, and history proved
this to be correct. Then he went into the U-Boat war, how we were going to decidedly destroy
maritime commerce, and all that. I found him an isolated and disturbed man.
WWII: What was the feeling about the war in your unit at this time?
Hartmann: I don't recall anyone talking of defeat, but I do know that we talked about some
of the great pilots killed already, and the news of the American [North American P-51]
Mustangs reaching deep into Germany and even farther. Few of us had any experience against
the Americans, although many old-timers had fought the British. Those who fought Americans
had done so in North Africa, and their insights proved interesting.
WWII: By the time you were awarded the Swords to you Knight's Cross, things were getting
even more desperate for Germany. What was the Fuhrer like when you met him for this
ceremony?
Hartmann: I had just landed after a successful mission when I was told that I had been
awarded the Swords. This was June 1944. I arrived on August 3, to visit Hitler again for the
award ceremony, and there were 10 of us Luftwaffe guys in all. Hitler was not the same man.
This was just after the bomb plot to kill him [on July 20], and his right arm was shaking,
and he looked exhausted. He had to turn his left ear to hear anyone speak because he was
deaf in the other one from the blast. Hitler discussed the cowardly act to kill him and
attacked the quality of his generals, with a few exceptions. He also stated that God had
spared his life so that he could deliver Germany from destruction, and that the Western
Allies would be thrown back inevitably. I was very surprised at all of this.
WWII: Not long after receiving the Swords you were awarded the Diamonds for your Knight's
Cross. You were only 22 and the youngest recipient of Germany's highest award. Did you find
that distinction problematic?
Hartmann: I think that being a captain and a Diamonds winner at that age forced a lot of
responsibility upon me. I think that I was able to handle all of that responsibility because
of the strength and friendship of my comrades. I would say that I was ambitious and eager. I
can't think of any fighter pilot who would not have those qualities. Becoming a hero is not
always easy, as you find yourself living up to the expectations of others. I would have pre-
ferred to just do my job and finish the war anonymously.
