作者qilai (合眾國的榮華也快完了)
看板Warfare
標題[訃聞] 史上第三王牌飛行員京特．拉爾逝世
時間Tue Oct 13 20:57:30 2009
※ [本文轉錄自 IA 看板]
作者: qilai (合眾國的榮華也快完了) 看板: IA
標題: [訃聞] 史上第三王牌飛行員京特．拉爾逝世
時間: Tue Oct 13 07:57:13 2009
標題:Generalleutnant Günther Rall
新聞來源:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/air-force-obituaries/6299837/Generalleutnant-Gnther-Rall.html (須有正確連結)
Generalleutnant Günther Rall, who has died aged 91, was one of the few
outstanding German fighter leaders to survive the Second World War; by the
end of the conflict he was the third-highest-scoring fighter ace of all time
with 275 aerial victories.
In postwar years he was one of the founding fathers of the modern German Air
Force and rose to become its chief.
In the spring of 1941 Rall was a squadron commander in Jagdgeschwader
(fighter wing) JG-52 flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109 based in Romania. By
this time Germany and the Soviet Union were at war and Soviet bombers were
attacking the crucial oil refineries. In five days Rall and his men destroyed
some 50 Soviet bombers and were next sent to the southern sector of the
Eastern Front where Rall's victories mounted rapidly against the inferior
Soviet fighters and bombers.
After shooting down his 36th victim, Rall was attacked by an enemy fighter
and his aircraft badly damaged. He just managed to cross the German lines
before crash landing in a rock-strewn gully. He was severely wounded and
knocked unconscious but German tank crews dragged him clear. He eventually
reached a hospital in Vienna where it was found that he had broken his back
in three places. Here he was treated by a woman doctor, Hertha, who later
became his wife.
When Austria was annexed in 1938 Hertha had helped Jewish friends escape to
London, even as Nazi discrimination and anti-Semitic policy made their lives
intolerable. Indeed, while Rall was always a devoted soldier in the service
of his country, when the facts of the Holocaust were presented to him he came
to look on them as "the greatest madness of this insane war".
"We knew about Dachau, the concentration camps, but not exactly what happened
there," he later explained. "During the war I was hardly in Germany. The
airfields were on the front, we had no idea of what was happening behind our
backs. When I heard of Auschwitz, I did not believe it. We said clearly:
'That's propaganda'."
Having been paralysed for months Rall returned to operational duty in August
1942. On September 3 he was decorated with the Knight's Cross of the Iron
Cross after his 65th victory. During the following month his score increased
beyond 100, bringing him the oak leaves for his Knight's Cross, the 134th
recipient of the coveted award. In November they were presented to him
personally by Hitler. Afterwards, as they sat together by the fire, Rall
asked Hitler: "Führer, how long will this war take?" Hitler replied: "My
dear Rall, I don't know." That surprised him. "I thought our leaders knew
everything," Rall recalled, "and suddenly I realised they didn't know
anything."
In April 1943 Rall was promoted to command III/JG-52. He was constantly in
action for the next 11 months. On August 29 he recorded his 200th victory on
his 555th operational flight and on September 12 he was again summoned to
Berlin when Hitler awarded him the Swords to his Knight's Cross, the 34th man
to be so honoured. Rall returned to operations and in October accounted for
another 40 aircraft – more than many of Germany's best pilots achieved
throughout the entire war.
As the war progressed, the obsolete Soviet fighters were steadily replaced by
others with far superior performance. Nevertheless, the great majority of
Rall's successes were in fighter-to-fighter combat. During his time on the
Eastern Front, Rall came up against many excellent Soviet pilots and was
himself shot down seven times. Finally, in April 1944, he returned to
Germany.
The son of a merchant, Günther Rall was born on March 10 1918 in Gaggenau in
the Black Forest. When he was three, his family moved to Stuttgart where he
completed his education at the High School. On graduation in 1936 he joined
the Army to be an infantry officer and whilst at the Dresden Kriegsschule met
an old friend whose tales of flying convinced him that he should apply to be
a pilot.
During the 1930s Rall had viewed the rise of Hitler with no particular
enthusiasm but, like many soldiers, approved of the way in which Hitler and
the National Socialists had ended decades of humiliation for German-speaking
people.
"When Hitler became chancellor," Rall remembered, "there was no unemployment,
no more Rhineland occupation, no more reparations to the victors [of the
Great War]. That impressed us as young soldiers, no doubt about it."
In 1939 Rall trained as a fighter pilot on a base east of Berlin and was
transferred to JG-52. Flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109, he saw his first air
combat in May 1940 during the Battle of France. On May 18 he shot down a
French Air Force Curtis Hawk fighter flown by a Czech sergeant who escaped by
parachute. With the fall of France, Rall's unit moved to Calais.
He flew throughout the Battle of Britain, when his unit was assigned to
escort Junkers Ju-87 Stukas (dive bombers), very slow-flying aircraft. The
fighters had to stick with them, giving up all of their superiority and
speed; the unit suffered heavy losses against the Spitfires and Hurricanes,
losing the group commander, the adjutant and all three squadron commanders in
a few weeks. Rall soon found himself rapidly promoted to squadron leader
before the unit was finally withdrawn in September to rebuild and train new
pilots.
Rall was critical of the tactics used which made his valuable and capable
aircraft vulnerable to attack by fighters. He always spoke very highly of the
RAF. During a postwar interview he said: "In my experience, the RAF pilot was
the most aggressive and capable fighter pilot during the Second World War."
Once the squadron had been brought up to strength, it was transferred to
Romania to defend the oil refineries and bridges over the Danube during the
spring of 1941. After providing support for the German airborne assault on
Crete, Rall's unit hurried back to Romania following the outbreak of war with
the Soviet Union.
After returning from the Eastern Front, Rall was made Gruppenkommadeur of
II/JG-11, flying Bf 109s on homeland defence duties, primarily against the
high-flying daylight bomber forces and their escorting fighters of the USAAF
8th Air Force. On May 12 1944 he attacked a large formation and shot down two
USAAF P-47 Thunderbolts, but was then himself shot down. He was severely
wounded in the hand but managed to bail out over Frankfurt. His wound became
badly infected and he remained in hospital for six months.
Because he was deemed too precious for the morale of the people, and could
not fire his guns because of a missing thumb, he was kept from combat. Rall
became an instructor, and studied several American planes that had fallen
into the possession of the Luftwaffe to find their strengths and weaknesses
and to develop better tactics to teach his students. He flew the P-51 and was
amazed at the luxury and quality of the American planes. He once explained
that being unable to fly in combat probably saved his life at a time when
Germany was totally outnumbered and the chances of staying alive were
drastically reduced. But he returned to active duty in November.
Rall's last command was as the leader of JG-300 and on arrival at the unit's
airfield he was forced to dive into a ditch as USAAF fighters strafed the
line up of Bf 109s – 15 were left burning. The Luftwaffe was in retreat and
he flew his final operations from Salzburg. During this time he flew the
Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter but never in combat. He and his
inexperienced pilots flew whenever Rall could commandeer fuel. There was no
organised air defence system, intelligence on Allied movements was negligible
and Rall led his pilots against targets of opportunity.
He flew his 621st and final mission at the end of April. Towards the very
last days of the war he asked the men in his command to try to stay alive
rather than get involved in senseless actions. He felt it was his
responsibility as a leader to try to save the few lives that he could as the
war was virtually over and its outcome could not be reversed. A few days
later he was captured by the Americans.
Rall flew against all the major Allied fighters and had a high regard for the
Spitfire and the Russian Lavochkin 7, which appeared on the scene as he was
leaving the Eastern Front, but he always considered the USAAF's P-51 Mustang
to be supreme.
By any standard, Rall's achievements during the Second World War were
outstanding and attracted great admiration from his former adversaries. An
American aviation historian of the Smithsonian Institute commented: "He
occupies a special niche among the celebrated military pilots of the
twentieth century."
Yet Rall never considered himself a hero. "We fought for our country and to
stay alive," he reflected. "We did not think about the personal nature of
killing in the air. We were proud of every victory in the air, and
particularly happy that we had not been hit ourselves. Of course, I tell
myself in quiet moments today: 'You've killed. In order to protect others and
not be killed yourself.' But in the end: for what? The Third Reich trained
30,000 pilots. Ten thousand survived the war. One-third. This is the highest
loss rate along with the U-boat sailors."
Returning to post-war Germany, Rall was unable to find work. He started a
small wood cutting business in the forest and eventually joined Siemens as a
representative, leaving in 1953. After meeting a wartime friend and Luftwaffe
pilot he joined the new Luftwaffe der Bundeswehr after the re-militarisation
of West Germany in 1955. He converted to jet fighters before becoming the
project officer for the introduction of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, which
became the German air force's main operational fighter until 1980. Among many
modifications he insisted upon, which led to the F-104G version, was the
replacement of the American ejection seat with the British Martin Baker seat.
Rall became the Chief of Staff of Nato's 4th Allied Tactical Air Force and
after serving as the Inspector General of the Luftwaffe he was appointed the
Chief of Air Staff, a post he held for three years. For two years he was the
German military representative at Nato headquarters before retiring in 1975.
In retirement Rall established firm friendships with his former British and
American adversaries and made many visits to each country. A greatly
respected, charming and modest man, he was in regular demand as a lecturer
and attended many functions to sign books and aviation art. He was still
fulfilling engagements until shortly before his death on October 4.
In 2004 he wrote his memoir, Mein Flugbuch (My Flightbook). He was an
honorary fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
Gunther Rall's wife, Hertha, died in 1985. He is survived by their two
daughters.
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