[烛光生存狂]-德国俯冲轰炸机王牌访谈

Luftwaffe Ace Hermann Neumann

Interview by Ed McCaul

Stuka is a contraction of the word Sturzkamphfflugzeug, which simply means dive bomber. But it has become inextricably linked with one airplane - the Junkers Ju-87.

The Ju-87A first became operational in early 1937 and was extensively tested in the Spanish Civil War. During the German invasion of Poland in 1939 and France in 1940, Ju-87B's constituted and essential component of the successful blitzkrieg tactics, providing accurate close air support for the German army. However, when faced with determined air opposition in the Battle of Britain, the Sturzkampfgeschwader (dive-bomber wings) suffered heavy losses and had to be withdrawn from the campaign. Even so, the Ju-87B was still the Luftwaffe's principal ground-support aircraft when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Later Ju-87D ground-support Stukas were modified with crew armor, 37mm cannon packs and a larger engine to produce the Ju-87G, a Panzerknacker (tank buster) variant. One of the earliest Stuka pilots to serve in a specialized tank-destroying Staffel, or squadron, was Hermann Neumann. In an interview with Ed McCaul, Neumann described some of his 368 combat missions, during which he was credited with destroying 68 Russian tanks and was recommended for the Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross).

Military History: Where in Germany are you from?

Neumann: I was born in 1922 in the Sudetenland, which became part of Czechoslovakia when that republic was created in 1919. We lived in a little town called Romerstadt in peace with the Czechs until about 1937; then things changed. In our town of about 5,000 people they put about 50 secret policemen. They started putting Germans in camps from which some never returned. We were very happy when the German army came in October 10, 1938. For us it was very personal. One man who was a professor at our high school and wrote for a German cultural magazine, with a specialty of gardening, was arrested with his two sons. They were only given rotten cabbage leaves to eat, so he had to run to the toilet. On his third trip to the toilet the guards, who were no military but civilians, clubbed him to death in from of his two sons.

MH: When did you join the Luftwaffe?

Neumann: I enlisted in 1940 when I was 17 years old, but had to wait in 1941 before I could join. I was basically all alone, since my father had died in 1934, my mother had died in February 1940, two of my three brothers were in the army and one of my two sisters had emigrated to the United States. Both of my brothers died in Russia. I wanted to be in the Luftwaffe and fly, so I enlisted because if you were drafted you did not know where you would end up. Prior to joining the Luftwaffe I had to spend two months in an Arbeitsdienst Abteilung, or Labor Service unit, starting in March 1941. The was a premilitary outfit who symbol was the spade. The in May I started boot camp with the Luftwaffe.

MH: Why did you pick the Luftwaffe?

Neumann: I had done training before in one of the glider clubs in 1939. I had gotten a taste for flying and loved it.

MH: Did you go directly into pilot's training?

Neumann: No, first we had to complete boot camp, which was infantry training. It was about three months long. Then we had to complete Unteroffizier, or sergeant's training school, which lasted two months. The purpose of this school was to make us into leaders. After all that was completed we went to flight school. I was still a private when I started flying school. When I finished all my training, I was the equivalent of corporal and alter became a sergeant.

MH: Where was the flight school located?

Neumann: It was in Olmutz in Czechoslovakia. The airfield that we flew out of was located about 20 miles away in Prerau.

MH: How long was flight school?

Neumann: The entire training took two years. I did not finish all of my training until October 1943. The name of my outfit was 1041, since we started in October 1941. The basic light training lasted a little over one year. The second year was more advanced training.

MH: That was a long time for a flight school with a war going on.

Neumann: Actually not, at this time it was the regular length of time to train a pilot. My first plane was a biplane, the Hienkel He-72 Kadett. The I went on to the Bucker Bu-131 Jungmann, the Bu-133 Jungmeister and the Bu-181 Bestmann. By the time I had finished my training I had flown about 35 different types of airplanes.

MH: How did the Luftwaffe decide what you would fly after you had finished your training?

Neumann: This depended upon what you wanted to do. They would ask you if you wanted to be a fighter or a bomber pilot. If you wanted to be a bomber pilot, which I did not want to be, you went into the so called "C+" training. We were in the AB24 school at Olmutz. The "A" stood for basic flight training where you made your solo. The "B" meant training in heavier aircraft to include two-engine aircraft with retractable gear, navigational and instrument flying. The "C" training went into such advanced skills as radio and astronomical navigation. I decided that I wanted to be a Stuka pilot. This was my ideal plane.

MH: Why did you want to fly the Stuka?

Neumann: Why does someone want to drive a Harley Davidson? The Stuka was a myth in the Luftwaffe at this time. I did not was to be a C pilot flying a bomber. To me that was too much like a bus driver. Some people like to drive a bus and some people like to drive a crash car. The Stuka was a crash car. It had a feeling of something special.

MH: Did you realize that by that time in the war the Stuka was considered obsolete?

Neumann: Yes, but it as not obsolete for the Eastern front. You have to remember that when I started out in 1941 it was a very special airplane.

MH: Where did you go for second year of training?

Neumann: First, I went to Reims for a couple of weeks and then to Paris in March of '43. I did not finish there until October. While I was there I flew the ground-support Henschel H-129. I also got a chance to fly a captured North American P-51 Mustang and sit in the right hand seat of a Boeing B-17. I did not get to actually fly the B-17 but did get to fly in it. After Paris I went to Poland for more training and then to Yugoslavia, southwest of Belgrade. It was there that I first got to fly the Stuka. It was only training. We learned how to bomb. I was there for about 2 months. After that I went to Russia.

MH: When did you actually get to a fighting unit?

Neumann: It was in December 1943. The unit I joined in Russia was a special unit designated as 10 (Pz)/SG.1 [10th Staffel (Panzer)/Schlachtgeschwader 1] Our commander had the rank of the next higher unit, a group commander. We were a tank-hunting unit and were sent from place to place. Our Stukas were armed with the two 37mm gun. We also did standard bombing missions in addition to tank hunting. We were all over the front from the Baltic down to the Crimea.

MH: Did you volunteer for this unit or just get assigned to it?

Neumann: I volunteered. It was the sort of mission I wanted.

MH: Did you ever meet Lt. Col. Hans-Ulrich Rudel?

Neumann: No, I never personally met him but I am sure that we flew on the same missions. He was a legend among Stuka pilots.

MH: How much ammunition did each cannon hold?

Neumann: Each one held 12 rounds. The ammunition was specially made to go through 4 to 5 inches of steel.

MH: How many tanks did you destroy?

Neumann: I got 68 tanks. I got about 30 with bombs and the rest with the cannons.

MH: What was your favorite method of attacking the tanks?

Neumann: It depended. The T-34 had sloping armor so we had to attack it from a high angle and then it was like cheesecake. So for the T-34, from the front was best. I considered the Joseph Stalin the toughest. We first met them around the end of 1944. It had some special armor on it. On

新用户注册返回首页
首页上一页下一页尾页页次1/1 转到第页