By
the twilight of 1944, the Luftwaffe was virtually destroyed as a fighting force
and could no longer shield Germany from impending doom using conventional
methods. Although certain defeat loomed ahead, Adolf Hitler and many of his
closest confidants still believed that victory could be salvaged by
implementing unconventional weapons known as “Wunderwaffen” and other highly
unusual projects. One such operation called “Wehrwolf”
was launched on April 7th, 1945, just one month before Germany’s surrender.
Hundreds of young pilots were recruited and tasked to ram their modified Bf-109
fighters into American bombers. In the long run, Luftwaffe command intended to
shock the Allies into suspending daylight bombing raids long enough for the new
Messershmitt-262 jet fighter to be deployed in large enough numbers to turn back
the tide of war.
Germany
was bombed flat and greatly resembled a post-apocalyptic world. There were
tired, hungry, homeless, and injured individuals roaming the streets and hiding
under toxic rubble. On top of the horrific scenery, civilians chocked on the ripe
stench of the dead rotting beneath it. At night instead of beautiful lights
illuminating the city, there were small, flickering fires. Berliners simply
burned anything that could keep them warm. Hitler’s promise to deliver a
Germany that would be unrecognizable to the rest of the world during his rise
to power was certainly realized but not as he intended. In spite of the
extensive devastation, Germany’s will to fight was still far from broken.
At the time, Adolf Hitler blamed Reich Marshall Göring and
several other high-ranking commanders for the Luftwaffe’s failures causing him
deep disgrace. His only path to redemption was to accomplish the impossible
task of repelling the entire Eighth Air Force with only a handful of
operational aircraft and untested pilots. Germany’s supply of raw materials was
in a critical state which meant access was limited exclusively to top priority
programs. Many subordinate commanders such as Hajo Hermann, Otto Skorzeny,
Oberst Edgar Peterson, and Hanna Reich believed the only way to deliver such
losses to the Allies was by implementing “Totaleinsatz”; meaning suicide attack.
She proposed the establishment of “Selbstopfermänner” meaning self-sacrifice
men. Reich’s popularity as a key Luftwaffe test pilot gave her great
influential power but ultimately, her idea was never realized because Hitler refused
to implement outright suicide attacks. He stated that he didn’t require his
pilots to lay down their lives as the Japanese did across the globe. However,
if the situation required self-sacrifice, then they were expected to do so. He
continued to entertain unconventional ideas where the risk of death was far
greater than normal.
Otto Skorzeny suggested modifying the existing V-1
rockets to accommodate a pilot. The pilot of such a craft would not be intended
to survive the mission. Skorzeny believed the use of a human pilot would ensure
pin-point accuracy and greatly paralleled the Japanese Okha program. Regular
V-1 rockets were unguided and operated using automatic gyros which kept the
rocket on course using the horizon. The rocket was highly temperamental and inaccurate.
To make matters worse, the rocket was slower than most Allied propeller driven
aircraft and could be easily shot down. In addition, the piloted V-1 would not
be equipped with a forward firing armament leaving the pilot defenseless. With
a small cockpit added along with some basic rudimentary controls, it could be
guided to hit strategically valuable Allied targets. Implementing such a
radical solution would require a strong fighter escort which the Luftwaffe was
ill- equipped to provide. Clearly, suicide was not the only reason Skorzeny’s idea
was rejected. At this point, it was clear to the Luftwaffe’s high commanders
that suicide was off the table and as a result, ideas quickly evolved from
suicide to ramming.
Two figures emerged as rival contenders for the
Luftwaffe’s final solution. The first was Oberst Edgar Peterson who presented a
plan similar to the earlier “Mistel”
project. The “Mistel” was an unpiloted bomber packed with explosives and guided
via remote control from an Fw-190 or Bf-109 fighter. The fighter was attached
to the massive bomber which towed it into the air. When the target was in range
of the craft, the pilot launched the bomber from its undercarriage and guided
it using a remote control installed in the cockpit. Peterson’s proposal also
would use bombers packed with extra explosives. The discrepancies between the “Mistel”
program and Paterson’s vision were many. First, the bombers themselves were to
be piloted and didn’t have to be carried into battle by another aircraft. His
plan was to pack bombers with extra explosive and wire them to a timer which
the pilot could manually trigger. Then, the pilot would aim the bomber at a
formation of Allied bombers, engage the timer, and bail out shortly before
impact. Although the pilot was intended to survive the mission, the chances of
survival was only the toss a coin. The potential of Peterson’s idea was never realized
probably because of the extremely limited success of the “Mistel”
project as it only sank two Allied warships.
Finally, Cornel Hajo Hermann submitted the idea that
received Reich Marshall Goering’s approval. Without a doubt, his successful
career with the Luftwaffe gave him an edge over other contenders presenting
their visions in front of the humiliated Goering. He was a born leader and a
skilled tactician. Since boyhood, Hermann was extremely enthusiastic about
flight and often participated in gliding competitions. By 1935, he officially
joined the Luftwaffe (just 5 months after its official formation) and once
again, he got to fly his old pride and joy (gliders) during his training for
combat. He became a bomber ace by sinking 12 allied ships flying Ju-88s. He
also served in Poland, Greece, Norway; and England during the Battle of
Britain. By 1942, he was promoted to General der Kampflieger and became
responsible for the development of Germany’s bomber force. From that point on,
he became a staunch advocate of reducing Germany’s bomber production and
increasing fighter production. Unfortunately, it came to no avail because the
German High Command still believed in an offensive campaign against the Allies
using bombers. His prestige may not have been enough to influence Germany’s
bomber production but it was enough to have his final solution approved by Göring
in late 1944.
Hermann’s blueprints for the mission involved using
conventional Bf-109 fighters to ram allied bombers. Ramming was not an
unfamiliar concept to Luftwaffe command. Prior to the deployment of the
Sonderkommando Elbe, there was a unit known as the “Sturmgruppen.” Its pilots
were instructed to ram bombers only as a last resort. The pilots flew heavily armored
Focke-Wulf-190 fighters and were usually accompanied by an escort of regular
fighters. Hermann believed if 800 fighters attacked and only half of them
destroyed their targets, the allies would suspend all daylight bombing raids
over Germany. He believed that the allies would be shocked into suspending
raids for four to six weeks which would give Germany enough time to deploy
sufficient numbers of the new Me-262 jet fighter. The Me-262 was vastly
superior to the best Allied fighter in service. It was the world’s first
operational jet fighter and could fly up to one hundred miles per hour faster
than the fastest Allied fighter; the P-51 Mustang. To make matters worse, it
was equipped with four 30mm cannons housed in its shark-shaped nose which could
disintegrate Allied bombers with just a few solid hits. Luftwaffe high command
believed in spite of the fuel shortage that deploying the Me-262 in great
numbers alone would be enough to turn the tide of World War II. Hermann’s
original plan called for about 1,500 Bf-109 high altitude fighters to be
stripped of their weapons and armor. By stripping the aircraft down, it’s
performance would be greatly enhanced and enable them to climb faster which was
imperative for the mission. This would enable them to climb out of the reach of
the Allied escort fighters and dive on the bombers from above at a fairly steep
angle. Each 109 was fitted with only a single 13mm machine gun for self-defense
making it ideal for the mission.
The pilots were young volunteers with no
combat experience. Goering advertised the mission as “top secret” and
“dangerous” during February 1945. Shockingly, over 2,000 student pilots
volunteered. Stupidity, fear, and ignorance probably played a much bigger role
than bravery when the young pilots decided to volunteer for the mission and
definitely had no idea what to expect. This was far too many for the limited
number of fighters initially promised for the operation. Over 1,500 Bf-109
fighters were to be delivered for the operation but by March, the number
dwindled to a few hundred primarily because maintaining the war effort at the
front lines took priority over Hermann’s attack. As a result, only the most
qualified pilots were chosen for the mission. Trainees that logged at least 50
hours in a Bf-109 were eligible to begin training for the ramming mission. The
pilots were kept in the dark about the details of the mission until their
arrival at Stendel where Cornel Herman personally briefed them. Here, their
rudimentary and rushed training began.
By the end of March, Hermann’s plan was finally being
implemented. Three groups of ramming units were deployed near the Elbe River
which was located along known bomber routes. Unfortunately, only 180 Bf-109
fighters were properly modified for the mission at the time and couldn’t
fulfill Hermann’s original request of 800 fighters. They were escorted by Me-262
jet fighters from Kommando Nowotny. Shortly after take-off, many unfortunate
pilots discovered their planes were not flyable and had severe engine trouble
which further reduced their strength down to only 120 fighters. At this point,
it was nothing more than sending men to the slaughter. Even if all 120 flyable
bf-109s destroyed their target, that would amount to only one quarter of Hermann’s
intended success rate. In other words, if every fighter destroyed one bomber,
it still would not have mattered. For the German’s, the only practical function
of the mission was that it provided false hope.
Once the fighters were airborne, they were
vectored to the bombers by radio. The pilots were instructed at Stendal to
select their own individual targets rather than use the Luftwaffe’s traditional
method of attacking in groups. Then, after a steep climb, the pilots were
instructed to dive on the target at a high speed while aiming his fighter at
the bomber’s key weak points. Such areas included the wings, the ball turret,
the tail surfaces or the cockpit. On April 7th, the numbers of the Eighth
Air Force bombing raids were awesome in comparison to the meager 120 Bf-109s.
It wasn’t even a David and Goliath comparison. The bombers totaled 1,300 strong
accompanied by a fighter escort of 800 fast, agile, elegant P-51 and P-47
fighters. The Sonderkommando Elbe pilots must have been shocked to discover
that air combat was nothing like they expected and to make matters even worse,
their mission wasn’t even a normal interception mission.
Imagine being stuffed into the highly claustrophobic
cockpit of a Bf-109 fighter. The undercarriage is narrow which could cause the
aircraft to tip over. The canopy slams shut when it dawns on you that the
Bf-109 is likely to be your coffin. The intense vibrations of the engine fill
the cockpit. It feels like a giant picked you up and started shaking you
violently. In the chaos, the crewmen wave you off with no pre-flight check
leaving your fate tied to your aircraft. Shortly after take-off, it’s time for
the high G climb toward the Allied bombers. It feels like two to three hundred
pounds are pushing you in your seat and a black curtain slowly descends over
your field of vision. Your training was rushed and your body simply is not prepared
and if you don’t release pressure on the stick soon, you will pass out. You
begin searching the sky for Allied fighters but the glare of the plexiglass
canopy makes it difficult to see anything clearly. In addition, the 109 does
not have a bubble canopy and therefore, you can’t see what’s behind you.
Suddenly, a wingman is shot down shortly after reaching 40,000ft by fighters
swarming around the formation. You can hear the crunching sound of the aircraft
being torn apart. A long black trail of smoke belches from the flaming engine
shortly before unleashing an explosion that echoed across the sky and ripping
apart the formation. Now you are alone and surrounded by American fighters. These
were the sights and sounds experienced by pilots like Heinrich Henkel, Heinrich
Rosner and Clouse Hahn who survived the mission.
The
1st, 2nd and 3rd Air Divisions from the Eighth
Air Force were dispatched to destroy strategic targets throughout Germany. The 398th Bomb Group was routed to
destroy a munitions factory in Krummel. Other strategic targets included
and ordinance depot in Güstrow, oil tanks in Büchen and marshalling yards near Neumünster.
The Güstrow ordinance depot was located near the eastern front which
made it an important target for the 3rd AD. Its destruction would
hurt the Germans ability to supply their infantry units. Aircraft from the 487th
BG from the 3rd Air Division targeted an Me-262 base at Parchim.
The destruction of Me-262 airfields was extremely important not only because it
was a superior aircraft but because it was significant in Hermann’s plan. Once
the Allies were frightened into temporarily suspending bombing raids, the 262
would be made available in sufficient quantities to repel the relentless Allied
bombing campaign. The 262 was designed to destroy bombers. Using its speed and
heavy armament, it could accelerate far beyond its normal top speed and shoot
down Allied planes before the pilots knew what hit them. They were too fast for
turret gunners to track them across the sky and were flown by the Luftwaffe’s
most experienced pilots. Before any of this could come to pass however, the
young Luftwaffe pilots of the Sounderkmmando Elbe squadron had to complete
their suicidal mission.
They were instructed to begin a steep dive
from a safe altitude above the targeted bomber formation. Heinrich Rosner dove
on a formation of B-24s from about 7,000ft above the formation. He overshot his
target and quickly found himself meandering through the 31 B-24s of the 398th
BG. He maneuvered his fighter so close to the other bombers that their gunners
could not open fire on him. When he finally meandered his way to the lead
planes at the front of the formation, he swung his fighter outside the
formation and then banked right positioning himself to impact the cockpit of
the lead plane called Palace of Dallas. According to Rosner, shortly after
impact with the Palace of Dallas, the momentum carried him into the deputy lead
bomber flying next to it. Terror and the urge to turn away would have filled
the German’s heart. On impact, Rosner would have heard crushing, screeching,
and groaning of metal. Rosner recalled being thrown around the cockpit like a
rag doll before he finally bailed out. The projected survival chance was only
ten percent and after studying Rosner’s attack, it is reasonable to understand
why. If the pilot wasn’t shot down by enemy fighters or turret gunners, the
pilot would most likely die in the violent impact. If the pilot was lucky
enough to survive to bail out of the aircraft, there was no shortage of
problems that further reduced chances of survival. For example, a bullet in the
right place could jam the canopy shut. In addition, the parachute could fail to
deploy as they often did. Allied fighters sometimes shot the pilots down floating
down with their parachutes. After bailing out and surviving the mission, pilots
were indeed expected to repeat the unthinkable ordeal.
The crews aboard the bombers were probably just as
frightened as the Germans who were tasked with ramming them. Just imagine the
sense of fear and helplessness as Colonel John Herboth watched Rosner’s 109
scream toward his plane with no indication of turning away. The Palace of
Dallas was the lead plane in a formation of about 1,500 bombers and escort
fighters. On impact, the pilot, co-pilot and group C.O. were killed instantly
and only three crewmembers managed to bail out. When Rosner careened into the
deputy lead bomber flying nearest to the Palace of Dallas, the Pilot quickly
lost control and the bomber quickly flipped over. The extensive negative
G-forces from being inverted consequently disintegrated the bomber. Although
the aircraft met a terrible fate, the entire crew managed to escape. Bailing
out of an aircraft at 40,000ft must have been an incredibly trying ordeal for
bomber crews. At 40,000ft, oxygen levels are extremely low not to mention it’s
also freezing. Many pilots who bailed out of their aircraft at this altitude
probably lost consciousness. If you have ever gone skydiving from 10,000ft,
imagine jumping from four times that altitude unable to see the ground because
of cloud cover. It must have been truly daunting.
Bombers during WWII were pressurized similarly
to today’s commercial aircraft. Each bomber had an oxygen supply that dispensed
it to the crew. However, in the case of a B-24 called Sacktime everything changed
after it was rammed by Heinrich Henkel. He recalled that shortly before impact
he saw Sacktime’s tail gunner, Robert Perkins, put his hands up in terror. The
right wing of Henkel’s Bf-109 sliced through Sacktime’s right vertical
stabilizer and his propeller drilled an enormous hole in the fuselage. Shortly
after impact, Henkel’s Bf-109 violently cartwheeled over the left wing of his
victim and fell out of the sky trailing thick black smoke. Heinkel recalled
being thrown from the aircraft shortly before what remained of it exploded. After
being violently thrown from his fighter he “played dead” because he was aware
that sometimes Allied fighters shot down pilots hanging from their parachutes
after bailing out. Henkel finally deployed his parachute at about 4,000ft and
became one of the few survivors of the mission.
Aboard Sacktime, the ruptured fuselage caused the
bomber to lose pressure and oxygen. If the oxygen system was damaged than the
pilot, Robert Winger, would have to descend to a lower altitude. However, with
the right vertical stabilizer sheered off, control of the bomber was extremely
limited. Winger and copilot, Jeff Nard, had to apply full right rudder and
aileron just to keep the aircraft aloft. Sack Time continued to lumber through
the sky with the left wing dipped 30 degrees. Once they arrived over the A-92
airfield near St-Truiden in Belgium, Winger assessed that the bomber could not
be landed safely and ordered the crew to bail out. In spite of the tremendous
damage to Sacktime, the entire crew survived.
Fortunately, most of the bombers and their crews landed
safely even after being rammed and Budd Wentz’s plane and crew are yet another
example. Wentz piloted a B-17 called My Best Bette with the 487 BG. The 487th
was tasked with bombing the Me-262 base at Parkem. He and his crew were unaware
that they were targeted by Clouse Hahn. Hahn almost didn’t survive the ramming
mission and from the very beginning, he faced set-back after set-back. Shortly
after take-off, Hahn encountered engine trouble and was quickly separated from
the main formation of attacking aircraft. With his engine sputtering, he then
encountered a small formation of P-51 Mustang fighters which he mistook for
German 109s. To his surprise, the aircraft surrounded him and opened fire. Hahn
later recalled during an interview that “It wasn’t a dogfight. It was a
barrage”. Rounds shredded his cockpit and fuselage causing him to tumble out of
the sky uncontrollably. As he plummeted earthward, he began to re-gain control
of the aircraft and his senses. Hahn later recalled, “I don’t know why I still
rammed. I won’t say it was courage. It was desperation”. In his descent, he
began to see the shapes of B-17 bombers from the 487th BG with the 3rd
AD and pulled out of the dive colliding with Wentz’s plane. The entire aircraft
shuddered as the propeller of Hahn’s 109 shredded the tail surfaces rendering
the rudder and elevator controls useless. Wentz quickly accelerated ahead and
out of the formation to avoid any further collisions. He realized that use of
the aircraft’s ailerons could cause the bomber to flip over and calculated another
way to control his plane called differential thrust. By increasing power to two
engines and decreasing power to the opposite two, it causes the aircraft to
turn in that direction. He ordered the crew to drop the ordinance and prepare
to bail out. Fortunately, Wentz was able to safely land the plane safely at an
emergency airbase in Belgium. Hahn, on the other hand, had a far more turbulent
experience. After the impact, he was knocked unconscious and his extensive
blood loss didn’t help. The tumbling fighter threw him from the cockpit and
didn’t open the parachute until he free – fell to only 5,000 feet.
The results of the mission firmly demonstrated
that the German’s staunch belief in salvaging victory from certain defeat was a
fantasy. Combat records show that the Allies shot down about 59 German
fighters. Most of them were probably from the Sonderkommando Elbe. Out of the 120
fighters that took off and made it to the bombers, only 8 successfully hit
their target and only 2 bombers were destroyed. Unlike the Japanese, the
Germans believed that resorting to suicide tactics was defeatist and
unglamorous. The mission accomplished little more than instilling terror in the
hearts of the Allied pilots for a single day. Nevertheless, the Allied bombing offensive
pressed on. Although there was nothing the Luftwaffe could do to turn the war
around in Germany’s favor, the implementing of ramming missions certainly
demonstrated their will to fight to the end. The ramming mission flown by the
Sonderkommando Elbe on April, 7, 1945 was their only attack. Due to the
mission’s dismal results, the program was promptly scraped.
Afterword
As a professional historian, I regularly use the skills that I intend to teach my students. To successfully study history, students must learn the skills I used in composing this article which was published in November 2020 in World at War magazine. Think of research as a crime scene and your objective is to find out who did it. This is the correct approach to the study of history an one of the best techniques here is cross examination. I read several books and in stead of taking their word at face value, I looked for the discrepancies between the authors writing, the words of those who were there and other authors. When you learn how to read between the lines, you can begin to uncover some truths. Unfortunately, I did not have much to go on in terms of research for this paper because there are few written accounts of the April 7th mission. To make matters worse, the AAF was aware of the situation and purposely hid the truth from bomber pilots and crews. Therefore, original documentation and literature about this is scarce which is the reason I chose to write this piece. In terms of education. I am aware of why I fell in love with this aspect of our history and therefore know how to inspire a strong foundation for a lifelong interest. When I was in my second year of high school, I played a video game called "Secret Weapons over Normandy." It was an older game for the Playstation 2 but I remember enjoying it and becoming excited about the aircraft in the game. As I continued to play, it sparked my curiosity causing me to investigate the truth about the airplanes in the game. After I did my homework, I found that many of them did exist! I went on to study these unconventional aircraft and have even seen them in person in museums!
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I took this photo of a German Me-262 jet fighter in 2014 shortly before my last year of my undergraduate study. This is the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.
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