Hanna Reitsch: Femal Heroe or Fanatic Nazi devil?

von Greim and Hanna had the hots for one another.
Both were admirers of Hitler up to the end. She flew a wounded von Greim out of Berlin after Hitler appointed him C-in-C of the Luftwaffe as a result of Bormann's plottings against Gõring.

The thing I find interesting is what Rudel intimated about Hitler's appointment of a new Luftwaffe C-in-C in his book. After Bormann convinced Hitler that Gõring was a traitor, Hitler ordered Rudel to fly into Berlin for a new appointment. In the book, it appears Rudel is stating the appointment is to take command of the Luftwaffe, but he never directly states this. Instead he says, von Greim was reached first and it was easier for him to report to the Führer.

Does anyone know more about this very late developing situation. For the life of me I cant figure out why Hitler didnt can Gõring months or even years before the spring of 1945. He certainly knew for a long time that fat Herman was incompetent.

[rammjaeger]

Sorry for the "female heroe" - I missed the word heroine.

After using a search machine I found Ingrid Rimland´s infamous Zündel-site dealing with HR in the length and in the broadth and also justifying the SO-flyer idea. Al mentioned such things before. A biography is available on another site.

I saw also short parts of an American or British movie some nights ago which showed the Reitsch during a test flight with the "manned" V1 (Reichenberg-Gerät) but I was too tired and an empty video cassette not at hand.

Vigilant,
I give you later more details, maybe tomorrow.

Just pretend she was a communist. No one ever seems to hold that against anyone.

[Barrett]

I think that Hanna flew v Greim into Berlin using a Fieseler Storch (Gerhard Fieseler is one of the most under-rated aces of WW I, BTW.) The movie was "Operation Crossbow" with George Peppard and that good-looking blonde heifer...Susan something. No towels in the film that I recall, Jeni.
If Hitler knew that Göring was incompetent, it mattered less than the fact that G was compliant. At that level, political reliability becomes the ultimate determinant--no nation seems immune to the virus. Germany had some exceptional leaders who actually stood up to Hitler and Göring but got sent to the Eastern Front or worse for their trouble. The US of A, however, still doesn't have anyone wearing stars who's willing to stand up to the likes of Patsy Schroeder.

[rammjaeger]

Part 3 (of 4) of the series "The last 120 days" in the (East)German magazine "Flieger Revue" mentioned the SO-activities. I am summarizing:

SO-Airbase: Jüterbog - Altes Lager near Berlin

Used aircraft: Bf 109, FW 190, Ju 87, Ju 88 with reduced armament and equipment but fitted with additional explosives and bombs.

Targets: The Soviet-held or -built Oder-bridges.

1.attack: In the evening of the first day of the last Soviet offensive (16.April 1945). The pilots, very well-supplied with alcohol and excellent food during the last days, smashed their glasses with vine or sparkling vine against the airframes, gave their rings and personal things away and started.
Bf 109 K-4 "Yellow 11" exploded during the start.
16 other aircraft flew to the bridges between Küstrin and Frankfurt/Oder (not Main!) and dived.
Heavy Russian AAA. Not a very successful attack.

Escort: was given by III./JG4. Always two fighters covered one SO-aircraft. Uffz. Heinz Zimmer was among the escort pilots. He had flown "Yellow 11" some days ago and given away the Messerschmitt because of battle damages! Hptm. Schumann told the JG4-pilots the OKL would search for further volunteers.

Second group of 20 (?) pilots started on the early morning of 20.April (?). One aircraft exploded immediately after first Soviet AAA opened up. Jurleit reports: Another pilot, Lt. Röhm, saved himself (deserted??). 18 reached the targets, 17 dived and 1 vanished.
It was possible to hear all the last commands, swears and yelling screams in the headphones of the Flugleitung.

Volunteer Hans Joachim Hartung reported the speech of Hanna Reitsch - idolized by the young pilots - was decisive for their own selfmurderish decisions.

At first Buzz bombs Fi 103 Reichenberg and/or Me 328 should be used for SO-flights but both were not available and so the volunteers were trained on FW 190 in Wesendorf (Lübecker Heide) in winter 1944/45.

Second report (source) later.

[rammjaeger]

Hi Vigilant & Co.,

the second article in the "Flieger Revue" was written by Hendrik Schulze in Number 6/1996. This article gives some other numbers and dates than the first.

The SO-idea came already up in 1943. In January 1944 79 flyers volunteered for such a mission and 16 are reported to have signed "I am aware that this mission will end with the death."

In the evening of the 15.April 1945 a group of 13 volunteers under command of Lt. Hawig came from Pilsen to Jüterbog. This group was called SO-Gruppe A.
Another group of four under Lt. Eck called SO-Gruppe B was already there.
A third group of nearly 50 men was also concentrated in Jüterbog.

Hermann Heiß (Heiss), volunteer in the A-group, recalled that the briefing was hold by General der Flieger Fuchs. The plan was to destroy 32 Oder-bridges, mostly built by Soviet pioneers, and to win 6-8 weeks time on this way.

The author reports only nine SO-aircraft flew in the evening of the 16.April (other source:17).
The second attack was started with 30 (other source:20) available aircraft on 17.April 19.00.

Results of this attack: 3 of 30 aircraft came back because it was impossible to find "their" targets. The Soviets used heavy fog and smoke curtains to cover the bridges. 22 aircraft were shoot down by Soviet AAA or missed their targets. The railway bridge of Küstrin was destroyed by Olt. Baumann and his crew in a Ju 188 loaded with two anti-ship bombs (1000 kg each). Fähnrich Bleichel destroyed the bridge of Zellin with his FW 190 (500 kg bomb).

Alltogether 17 bridges were reported destroyed on this day but I guess as a result of all kinds of attacks (Mistel-Gespanne, Marine combat divers, SO-Flieger, torpedoes and so on).

A unknown number of SO-flyers started on 18.April again. During next day SO-flights were stopped and in the morning of the 20.April Soviet tanks reached Jüterbog.

On 24.April a General Fiebig tried to convince the members of JG51 to take part in SO-flights but nobody volunteered. (I guess the first use of own brains again after a long row of years.)

The pernicious role of Hanna Reitsch was also mentioned in this article.

[rammjaeger]

Sorry, last part of my self-entertainment.
Looked for another source and found this:

General Fiebig visited IV./JG51 in Döberitz near Berlin and told the flyers that Germany would expect SO-flights to stop the enemies at the gates of Berlin. The fighter pilots were sceptical but especially pilots of KGs (Kampfgeschwader), who had lost their relatives during bombing raids before, volunteered for a SO-unit called "Kampfgruppe Freiheit (Freedom)". Strength and history unknown.

So. Another question. Who is Patsy Schroeder - sounds like the new wife of German chancellor Schroeder?

The beauty actress in "Operation Crossbow" was blond and (I guess) blue eyed? Hanna Reitsch too??
Did she ever think about changing her first name like Josef Goebbels? (I guess my first name is also of Hebrew descent.)

Hannes,

Speaking strictly for myself, I found your SO Flieger entries quite interesting.

I'm not sure if Patsy Schroeder is the marrying type, however. She is a high profile Democrat member of congress in the U.S. We usually see her on television whenever feminist issues are being discussed.

Regards

MDD