Notable People of WW2, Hero's, veterans, leaders, the famous and alike. Options

[FeezyWeezy]

Ok, time for another chapter of hostory facts. I'll start with some WW2 Aces.

Erich Hartmann





The highest scoring ace of all time was the great German Luftwaffe experte Erich Hartmann with 352 aerial kills. Flying Bf 109s (Me-109s) against the overmatched Soviet MiGs and Yaks for almost three years, he accumulated his unrivalled score. Hartmann claimed, that of all his accomplishments, he was proudest of the fact that he never lost a wingman. He is also reputed to have said. "Get close .. when he fills the entire windscreen ... then you can't possibly miss." Hartmann was born in 1922, in Weissach, Wurttemberg. At age 19 (1941), he joined the Luftwaffe and was posted to Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) on the Eastern Front in October, 1942. He scored his first kill in November, and only achieved his second three months later. In the first half of 1943, he worked out some of the tactics which would prove so successful later on. If he was attacked from behind, he would send his wingman down low and out in front. Then he would get behind the enemy and fire a short, quick accurate burst, waiting "until the enemy aircraft filled the windscreen." He would normally content himself with one victory; he was willing to wait for another day. His natural talents began to tell: excellent eyesight, lightning reflexes, an aggressive spirit, and an ability to stay cool while in combat.


A Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6


Kursk


As JG 52 retreated along with German ground forces in 1943, Hartmann's score began to mount. The great Kursk offensive, Operation Zitadelle, began on July 5. The Luftwaffe planned to screen the Wehrmacht's panzers from the Soviet Il-2 Sturmoviks, armored tank-busting aircraft, armed with twin 37mm cannon. Hartmann's Staffel 7 of JG 52 moved up to Ugrim, only 14 kilometers behind the front. As the Panther and Tiger tanks moved up, Junkers Ju.52 transports flew in supplies. On the morning of the 5th, four of Staffel 7's pilots did not return, apparently their compasses misled them, due to extraordinary iron ore deposits in the area. Hartmann was promoted to Staffelkapitan on the spot. The offensive ground forward slowly on the 6th and 7th; obviously the Russians had dug in and prepared defensive lines in depth.
July 7, 1943


On the morning of July 7, 1943, sun rose over Ugrim in the northern Ukraine about 3AM. Staffel 7's Me.109 G10's lay scattered around, in the deep grass of the Ugrim airfield. Hartmann's personal plane, decorated with a large Roman numeral 'I' and the name Usch in a red heart. (Usch Paetch was his fiancee, whom he wrote to daily.) In the comfortable summer weather, the pilots slept in tents. On waking, Hartmann dressed in a gray shirt, blue-gray trousers, and gray shoes. He washed up and shaved in a small stream and ate breakfast, two eggs, cooked by a couple of Russian girls. He and the other three pilots in his Schwarm were assigned to cover an F.W.189 on a dawn reconnaissance mission.

Erich joked with his crew chief, 'Bimel' Merten, and strapped himself into the cockpit. At 3:04, the recon plane started and Hartmann set Messerschmitt's flaps and checked the fuel while Merten cranked the starter. The DB 605's twelve cylinders coughed, belched smoke, and then caught smoothly. His three comrades followed him to the take-off spot. He gunned the engine while stomping on the brakes. When he released them, his 109 shot forward and quickly reached 160 km/hour. He gently pulled back on the stick and was airborne; the other three followed him closely. They all banked left as they went through post-take-off routines: retract landing gear, close radiator flaps, ease back on the throttle, and check gauges, guns, and gunsight. They climbed to 1300 meters as they flew northeast and then swung southward, with the Fw 189 in view. The flight proceeded uneventfully and the recon plane headed for Ugrim. Hartmann's radio crackled with a report from Adler, the German forward spotting post; a group of ten to twenty Russian planes were headed west. Hartmann throttled up a bit, gained altitude, and turned his Schwarm toward the east without sighting anything for several minutes.


Drawing of Hartmann's Bf-109G Messerschmitt "Gustav" 6


Sturmoviks
Soon enough, many large Il-2's came into view. With its armor and rear gunner, the Sturmovik was a tough target. With the Sturmoviks closing head-on, Hartmann unhesitatingly ordered an attack. He dived down below them, picking up airspeed, then banked around and came up behind and beneath them, aiming for his target's vulnerable ventral oil radiator. The Il-2's flew straight on.



Hartmann's Bf 109 roared along, doing over 400 MPH; Hartmann streaked into a Sturmovik's blind spot. At 200 yards, its wingspan filled his gunsight ring; still he closed in to 150, then 100 yards before firing. He briefly triggered his 20mm cannon and his two 12mm machine guns, for about one and a half seconds, before his speed carried him in front of them. As other Bf 109s struck their targets, Hartmann glanced back and saw blue flames and black sooty smoke streaming from the Sturmovik's radiator. His twenty-second victory of the war.

Under the deadly attack of the Messerschmitts, the formation of Russian airplanes began to break up. Having regained altitude, Hartmann again zoomed down below the tail of an Il-2. He checked his own rear and stabilized his aircraft. This Russian pilot, alerted to the danger, spotted him and turned sharply to evade. The young blond ace matched the turn and instantly estimated the lead needed for a deflection shot. At 150 meters, he opened fire, and his bullets tore into the side of the Russian tank-buster. More blue flame and black smoke poured from his twenty-third victim's oil radiator.

As the remaining scattered Russian planes fled eastward, Hartmann radioed his Staffel to return to Ugrim. About 4AM, as they approached the field, Hartmann waggled his wings twice, indicating his two victories. On landing, Mertem and other ground crew gathered around him, offering congratulations. Hartmann walked to the operations tent to file his Gefechtsbericht, his after-action report. Early reports from the Adler posts already showed more Russian air activity than on the 5th or 6th. Four pilots sat in their planes, ready to take-off in less than a minute. Hartmann soon fell asleep by his own machine. But only briefly.
Two More Sorties


By 5:50, he was back in the air, leading a flight of 109s on a frei chase, and he soon found more Il-2s, escorted by fighters. The Messerchmitts attacked successfully, with Hartmann downing another Il-2 and an LaGG-3 fighter. Within an hour, he was back on the ground, with four victories for the day. Late that afternoon, he led the Staffel up again, to the northeast. They found a group of Soviet LaGG-3 fighters, which they engaged in a sprawling dogfight. It was over quickly and Hartmann had shot down three enemy fighters, making it seven for the day, his largest score so far.




Experte


He reached 50 by August of 1943. Within the month, he had reached 80, and was promoted to lead 9./JG52. Earlier in the war, 25 or 50 victories would have earned a German fighter pilot the Knight's Cross. By late 1943, Hartmann had to down 148 before he earned his Knight's Cross. By March 2, 1944, he had reached a total of 202, earning him the Oak Leaves. He was the fourth Luftwaffe fighter pilot to reach 250, the first to reach 300, and the only one to reach 350.

The Diamonds




He was awarded the Third Reich's highest regularly awarded military decoration: The Knight's Cross to the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.

To be accurate, the highest military decoration was "The Grand Cross to the Iron Cross." It was only awarded once to Hermann Göring. The second highest military decoration was "The Knight's Cross to the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds" and was also awarded only once to the Stuka ace Hans-Ulrich Rudel. Thus, Hartmann's medal, "The Knight's Cross to the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds," was, to be precise, the third highest German military decoration through WW2, was awarded to 27 soldiers, 12 of whom were Luftwaffe pilots.

Near the end of WWII, in early May 1945, the Luftwaffe command ordered Hartmann, then Gruppenkommandeur of famous Jagdgeschwader 52, and his Commodore, Hermann Graf (another pilot, who had earned the "diamonds" to the Knight's Cross) to fly to the British sector. Both officers disregarded this order, because they felt responsible for Jagdgeschwader 52's pilots, ground crew, family members, and other civilians, who had joined the squadron, seeking protection against fierce aggression by the Czechs. The officers ordered the destruction of the unit's aircraft, and then the unit moved west in direction of territory already occupied by US troops. On May 8th, 1945, the soldiers and civilans surrendered to US troops in the region between Bavaria (German provence) and Czech border. But on May 17th, the US Army delivered all of these German troops and civilians to the Red Army. Like all others, Hartmann was then deported to Siberia, where he was sentenced to 50 years of hard labor. (Hartmann has since been rehabitated by Russian justice, which declared those sentences illegal in 1995.) The Soviets pressured him to support a build-up of an East German air force and tried to turn him into an undercover agent against the West. Hartmann refused, even though the Soviets threatened to kidnap and kill his wife and daughter, living in West Germany. Hartmann did not return to Germany until 1955, when the last German POWs were released along with the establishing of diplomatic relations between West Germany and the Soviet Union. In 1956, Hartmann joined the newly established West German Luftwaffe and contributed to the build-up of new fighter units. In 1959, he became the first commodore of Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen." Erich Hartmann died in 1993.



http://wernerhartenstein.tripod.com/hartma...9;s%20grave.jpg
Hartmann's grave, Weil im Schönbuch near Stuttgart

[FeezyWeezy]

Klaus Barbie



Barbie was born in Bad Godesberg (now Bonn), Germany, and was educated at the Friedrich-Wilhelm Institute. He joined the SS in 1934, immediately after his graduation from the university, and became a member of the NSDAP in 1937.

In 1941, Barbie was posted to the Bureau of Jewish Affairs and sent to Amsterdam and later, in May 1942, to Lyon — there, he earned the sobriquet The Butcher of Lyon as head of the local Gestapo. He committed a number of war crimes, including the capture and deportation of 44 Jewish children hidden in the village of Izieu, and the torture murder of Jean Moulin, the highest ranking member of the French Resistance ever captured. All told, the deportation of 7,500 people, 4,342 murders, and the arrest and torture of 14,311 resistance fighters were in some way attributed to his actions or commands.



From 1945 to 1955, he was protected and employed by British, and then American, intelligence agents, who used his counter-insurgency skills to suppress the leftist resistance to the American and British occupations in Germany, France, Greece, and Italy.

In 1955, after the Americans and British were no longer in need of his services, Barbie, together with his wife and children, moved with American help to Bolivia. He lived in La Paz, Bolivia under the alias Klaus Altmann, where he became a drug lord and narcotrafficker. With Italian terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie, he took part in the 'Cocaine Coup' of Luis García Meza Tejada, when a notoriously corrupt military regime forced its way to power in Bolivia in 1980.

He was identified in Bolivia as early as 1971 by the Klarsfelds (Nazi hunters), but it was only on January 19, 1983, that a new moderate government arrested and deported him to France.

His trial started on May 11, 1987, in Lyon – a jury trial before the Rhône Court d'Assises. In a rare move, the authorization was granted to film the trial, for its high historical value. The lead defense attorney was Jacques Vergès, who claimed that Barbie's actions were no worse than the ordinary actions of colonialists worldwide, and that his trial was selective prosecution making a difference between victims. The head prosecutor was Pierre Truche.

On July 4, 1987, Barbie was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity, and died in prison of cancer four years later at the age of 77.

Herbertus Bikker "Beul van Ommen"



Almost 59 years after the death of Dutch resistance fighter Jan Houtman, the trial of 88-year-old former Nazi SS (Schutzstaffel) member Herbertus Bikker opened on September 8, 2003, in the German district court of Hagen. Bikker is accused of shooting the 27-year-old Houtman to death on November 17, 1944, on a farm in the Netherlands district of Dalfsen.

The trial sheds light on the brutal occupation of the Netherlands by Hitler's National Socialist regime and the terrible consequences for resistance fighters at the hands of both the military secret service and their helpers, Dutch collaborators. That so much time elapsed before Bikker was obliged to stand trial expresses the diffident attitude of German authorities to those responsible for Nazi crimes. The trial was repeatedly adjourned because of the health of the accused, who had not, as in other similar cases, been found from the outset to be unfit for trial.

Herbertus Bikker joined the Waffen SS [the "armed SS," the SS army that numbered 900,000 at its height] during the German occupation of the Netherlands, which lasted from 1940 to 1945. At the time of the offence he was employed in the regular police as a guard in the Erika correction and labour camp, in Ommen. Many camp inhabitants were workers who had resisted forced labour in Germany or who had participated in the resistance to Germany's occupation of the Netherlands.

Bikker belonged to a notorious strike force which made the prisoners' lives a misery. One of their tasks was to carry out raids in the surrounding apartment blocks. They carried out arbitrary arrests of people suspected of being resistance members. They threatened next of kin and plundered residences. They were also notorious for abusing and killing prisoners. Because Bikker was particularly infamous for hunting down underground fighters ("Onderduikers") he was known to camp prisoners as the "butcher of Ommen."

After the fall of the Nazi dictatorship in May 1945 and the liberation of the Netherlands, Bikker was initially sentenced to death in 1949 by a Netherlands court. After an appeal the sentence was altered to life imprisonment. On December 26, 1952, Bikker and six other convicted war criminals, all members of the Dutch Waffen-SS or the secret police, managed to escape from the prison in Breda. They fled over the German-Netherlands border and reported to a German police station. There they were told to pay a 10 deutsche mark fine for illegally crossing a border and were able to continue their escape unhindered. They received assistance in Germany from former SS members who were once again occupying influential positions.

The legal basis upon which authorities refused to extradite Bikker and other escapees to the Netherlands rested upon a "Fuhrer-edict" decreed in May 1943, which designated them to be German nationals. Thus, according to the German constitution of 1949, they could not be turned over to other countries. The "Fuhrer-edict" guaranteed German citizenship to all those who were members of Hitler's Nazi party or who were members of the German armed forces.

Bikker was summoned to appear before a Dortmund court in the mid-1950s, but the case was discontinued due to "lack of evidence." The Netherlands' courts were reluctant to hand over their evidence to the German courts because they distrusted the many Nazi judges who had continued in seamless fashion in their posts after the fall of the Third Reich.

Bikker lived undisturbed in Hagen in North-Rhine Westphalia for the next 50 years. It was only by virtue of Bikker's own boast of having shot Jan Houtman, in a 1997 interview with Stern reporter Werner Schmitz, that a lawsuit was finally undertaken. Describing the events on November 17, 1944, as he lined up and shot Houtman, a member of the resistance group "knokploeg," Bikker told Schmitz, "And then I gave him the final shot."



Some 10 years ago, the Dutch law journalist and Nazi hunter, Jack Koistra, traced Herbertus Bikker to his residence in Hagen. After this was reported on Dutch television, the minister of justice in The Hague demanded Bikker's immediate extradition—a move rejected by German authorities. In November 1995, German and Dutch members of anti-fascist groups along with a few surviving resistance fighters demonstrated outside Bikker's Hagen apartment, calling out, "Herbertus Bikker is a murderer." They were fined for taking part in a "demonstration without a permit."

The event brought the case to the attention of the Stern editors, Werner Schmitz and Albert Eikenaar, and it is due to their investigative journalism that Bikker again came before the courts. After the publication of the Stern interview in 1997, chief prosecutor Ulrich Maaß from the Nazi crimes central office began investigations at the state attorney's office in Dortmund.

It took another six years before the case commenced. In the meantime, some of the eyewitnesses to Jan Houtman's murder had died. Jan Houtman's widow had also died three years earlier. But an important witness, who had already provided written evidence five years earlier, was able to appear at the district court in Hagen on October 10, 2003, to testify.

Now 81 years old, Annie Bosch-Klink was well able to remember the events which occurred 59 years earlier on her parents' farm. She was then 22 years old and from the kitchen window saw how two members of the SS approached the farm. She was gripped by panic because her brother and his friend, active members of the resistance, were staying at the farm. Then she remembers one of the SS members suddenly breaking off from the other. He pursued the men who were fleeing and then she heard a number of shots. Her brother Jan and his friend, who had hidden themselves in a dugout in a horse stall, also watched as Bikker shot at Houtman, who lay wounded on the ground. Then they heard Bikker say, "Have you had enough? You won't get up again. You're really dead now."

Annie Bosch-Klink is able to recall the events so vividly because they remained imprinted on her memory throughout her life. After Houtman's murder, Bikker threatened her father, "I'll kill you as well," and "Clear off, I'll get you later." Her description of the events of November 17 clearly contradicts Bikker's defence, given in testimony in the 1950s, that he shot Jan Houtman in "the course of his duties" as he "attempted to escape."



This post has been edited by FeezyWeezy: 03/29/06 3:10pm