G. artilleryman's opinions re:air service

[Gregvan]

Hi All,

One of my good friends here on the Forum is fond of pointing out that German troops had a very low opinion of their own air service, and offers quotes from German divisional histories to support his point. I don't argue with that; no doubt many frontline troops (of any nationality) wondered where their own airmen were whenever they were being bombed or strafed by the enemy. I have seen (and offered here on the forum) a few quotes from American ground troops which run exactly in that vein.

However, I have recently been reading a wonderful book entitled With the German Guns; 50 months on the Western Front 1914-1918 by Herbert Sulzbach (translated from Zwei lebende Mauern by Richard Thonger - Frederick Warne, London, 1981). Sulzbach was a unique individual. Born into a respected Jewish family in Frankfurt-on-Main, Sulzbach served in the 63rd (Frankfurt) Field Artillery Regiment, and the 5th Field Artillery Reg't., for four years - nearly always on the Western Front. He received the Iron Cross 1st Class and the Frontkämpfer Ehrenkreuz. In 1937 he left Germany (for obvious reasons) and emigrated with his wife to Britain. Making a long story short, after internment as an enemy alien, he served in the British Army in WWII. He eventually served as a translator in POW camps, managing to convince even rabid Nazis of the error of their ways.

But my purpose here is to offer evidence from his diary (in the book) of a German frontline-serving officer's opinions of his own Air Service. Being an artilleryman, Sulzbach worked closely with the Luftstreitkräfte, and besides that was an avid "fan" of the fighter aces and frequently noted down their scores - and deaths - from the army bulletins which he read. In fact, he tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to transfer to the air service. Try as I might, I couldn't find any disparaging remarks by him about his own air service. Yes, he does recount attacks by French airmen on his own positions in the offensives of 1918, and he does so honestly and quite candidly. However, he was full of admiration for the exploits of his own side's airmen, and recounted chance meetings with both Wilhelm Frankl and the Richthofens. It's a wonderful book - Basil Liddell Hart called it, "One of the most notable on the Great War." In the hope that his comments may prove of interest to some of our members, here are a few excerpts from Sulzbach's frontline diaries:

30 June 1917 – A rumor is circulating that the British have put a price on Richthofen’s head – 5,000 pounds and the Victoria Cross. Richthofen is the terror of the French and British, and not only Richthofen; his heroic exploits alone are quite enough to induce more and more airmen to train themselves up to his standard.

1 November 1917 – (As he returned to the Front following a machine-gun course) – On the journey I met Flieger Leutnant (Hans Joachim) Rolfes, who was at school with me and is in command of Jasta 32. For the first time I was given a fighter pilot’s personal account of his experiences, from the last battle of Cambrai, watching attacks made by tanks, infantry, even cavalry, and heard how much personal pluck and daring you need in an air battle.

12 January 1918 – In a restaurant, I met Rittmeister Freiherr von Richthofen and his brother. It made quite an overwhelming impression on me. He has truly become a national hero; people seemed quite paralyzed with respect for the two brothers.

15 March 1918 – Von Richthofen’s 65th air victory. Our airmen on the Italian front have bombed Naples, while Paris has once again been given a substantial ‘blessing’.

[Gregvan]

22 March 1918 – Now we trot along at a trot to positions near Artemps, and put up a short burst of fire in support of our right-flank neighbors, the 238th and 5th Guards Division. From our observation post I can see the fighting in progress; our infantry support planes are coming quite low to attack with machine-guns, the fighter planes keeping above them to protect their colleagues. The advance has got moving to such an extent that even the captive balloons at our rear are being brought forward…

30 March 1918 - Incidentally, a French plane crashed in flames just in front of us, and the pilot fell out – he was dead when he hit the ground – just a few paces from our position.

31 March 1918 - Then I go on observation duty, watch a number of dogfights in the air and admire the splendid way our new triplanes are operating. Nimble, lively, highly maneuverable and incredibly fast, they climb almost vertically to take on one enemy plane after another, and our triplane's victories – and in fact its very superiority – are overpowering to watch; but it’s still dreadful to see the final act of one of these dogfights, especially when the enemy pilots crash from a height of some 800 metres. The dogfights go on in the afternoon; our squadrons have knocked down five enemy planes in the course of today in our sector alone.

21 April 1918: It is evening now, and more German planes than you can count are flying, heavily laden with bombs, into the French rear areas. When we get a quiet time, that’s the signal for it to start properly up above, because the amount of air fighting done at night has become very considerable.

22 April 1918: My old enthusiasm for flying is starting up again. I should so much like to have another try at getting into the Air Corps. I have hardly read about Richthofen’s 80th victory when a rumour begins to fly about that Richthofen has been shot down: that would be a dreadful thing indeed.

24 April 1918: Richthofen has really been killed in action! I am completely shattered by the news. No word will sufice to do justice to his deeds, or to describe the grief which every German feels at the loss of this national hero; it is just impossible to grasp; he has been buried by the British with the highest military honours...The British are indeed truly chivalrous, and we must thank all of them for honouring our great airman.

[Gregvan]

31 May 1918: We stay in Noyant for the night….For the first time, the enemy Air Force is particularly active. Today their planes appeared to have intentions regarding our captive balloons, which have been moving up behind our assault with conspicuous promptness. The first attack made by one of these planes was unsuccessful, in so far as our observer got away by parachute; we could see it clearly here up at the front….very suddenly, four (French) planes dived down on our captive balloons from a very great height…The enemy squadron then came up forward and picked us as a target, but fortunately a few German triplanes made a sudden and welcome appearance, you heard the usual tack-tack-tack, and we cheered as two of the enemy up there were ‘taken apart’; one in fact came down in three separate pieces.

5 June 1918: New flying stars have appeared in the Flying Corps sky: Udet has got to his 26th, Menckhoff to his 31st, and Loewenhardt to his 27th.

10 June 1918: I must note that another new type of plane is flying over our sector: a Fokker biplane. In spite of the enemy’s superiority in numbers, our tactical superiority in the air is simply overwhelming; the engineers and technicians at home are working away all the time, improving and improving…

12 June 1918: A plane circles over us, a German plane; he comes down close, just above us, circles again, and throws down a huge bundle of newspapers right near us – a wonderful present!

23 July 1918: Divisional Orders state that we carried out a brilliant operation by breaking a triple enemy assault and thus giving the whole front on this sector, which had begun to lose its firmness, sufficient stability to halt the enemy thrust. All branches of the service had contributed equally to this success. In one day we shot down fifty-three enemy planes…

24 July 1918: Ltn. von Richthofen has scored his 31st air victory; he is flying again after being wounded three times. The Richthofen Geschwader can now notch up its 500th air victory.

9 August 1918: We have had more big successes in the air. Udet has brought down his 47th, von Richthofen his 35th, Loewenhardt his 51st. We now have monoplane fighter planes once again…Almost daily one can find news of fresh heroic deeds by our Air Corps in the military communiqués: We can thank Ludendorff for the spirit which our flying men have shown; it was he who demonstrated his clear-sighted forethought in 1917 by issuing his stirring appeal to recruit flying officers for 1918…

It’s a real August heat-wave, with warm, clear starlit nights; on one such evening we are sitting outside our dugouts;…up above it begins to hum, and goes on humming; there they are again, those giant birds, lumbering along heavy-laden to carry their deadly cargo across to the French. They seem just like ghosts as they move across the sky, and – as usual – it doesn’t last long before we hear the heavy crump of their bombs bursting in the French rear..

16 August 1918: Army Orders of 18 August report that a German bomber group has dropped 36,000 kg of bombs over there in a single night, during which the same group, with the same crews, flew five times there and back, taking on fresh bomb-loads every time they returned to the airfield.

Udet has received a personal letter of thanks from the Kaiser on the occasion of his 50th air victory, and in the meanwhile has brought his score up to 56…

[steven brown]

Excellent information Grevan! Thank you for posting all that.

[Gregvan]

I'm glad you liked it, steven brown. It took me a good deal of effort to type up!

Greg

['14-'18aviationcollector]

Hi Greg,

That truly is an absolutely fantastic first hand account! I am sure it did take you quite a long time to type it all - as it certainly took quite a long time to read!

Regards,

David.

[Gregvan]

Hi David,

I'm glad you liked it as well. I would suggest trying to find a copy through a lending library, etc. - it's a great read, and not just for his comments on air warfare, of course (and I have not included all his comments, by any means). He was a very patriotic and dedicated German soldier from 1914-1918.

On 11 November 1915, Sulzbach wrote: "Today a French aircraft was trying once again to knock down a German captive balloon, when a German fighter plane which was guarding the balloon swooped down like a bird of prey; then you heard the usual tack-tack-tack, tack-tack-tack - and down went the French plane. It was the first successful air-battle I'd ever seen."

In September 1916: "A highly unusual episode took place on the 11th; a small German fighter plane made a number of circular flights around our position, then landed in a highly unorthodox manner on the meadow beside our battery. The pilot was Leutnant von Mellenthin, using this method to come 'on a visit' to his father, the CO of the infantry regiment stationed in front of us. It sounds so simple, but it was such a daring and original thing to do, and we all felt highly enthusiastic when the young pilot flew off again. It was all the more shattering when we heard a day later that Mellenthin had been shot down on the Somme - as though it were a premonition of his death which had moved him to visit his father once more." (N.B.: This was Ltn. Ewald von Mellenthin of Jasta 3, KIA on 12 Sept. 1916 at Pozieres).

[Gregvan]

Hi,

I can't resist.

On 30 October 1916: "Boelcke has been killed in action after winning forty air battles. His name and Immelmann's can never be forgotten - they were heroes all through, fighters, knights of the air, human beings; we are all very much shaken by the news."

5 January 1917: "I am ordered to proceed to the rear, duties in St. Quentin again....One one of the next quiet days I rode over to Vaux, where (his friend) Kurt Reinhardt was stationed. We spent a lovely day, and also visited a fighter squadron stationed at Vaux, consisting of fourteen Albatros single-seaters. They're up and about all day in the beautiful flying weather, going on patrol in threes; they loop the loop, come whanging down in power dives and climb to 3000 meters in a few minutes. How perfect flying has become!"

[bristol scout]

Hi Gregvan,

Obviously a highly readable book that, (I almost feel like I've read it all)

It must be said though (as for those debates that I at least have been involved in fairly recently) that the French front IS different to the British front in relating the voracity of German ground attack---and, whilst not intending to re-fight 'old battles' as it were, the simple, inescapeable fact remains that few ----very few---British Regimental histories or personal recollections EVER mention the effect---except on one day----of German low flying ground attack --- either fighters or dedicated ground attack machines! This I would also extend to the American attacks---thus---

"....we found the country roads much blocked with troops and transport of all kinds. The Staff work has failed here, and for miles transport congested all the approaches. ONE ENTERPRISING BOCHE AIR SQUADRON, FLYING LOW, COULD HAVE PLAYED THE DEUCE ON THESE ROADS, BUT NONE CAME"
'Colonel Repington-----The First World War'-- who visited St.Mihiel the day after the attack started.

Sulzbach himself certainly does seem to worship the aces---indeed his thoughts on flyers trying to emulate those luminaries are not at all strange---and on all sides was perhaps the greatest value of the aces---that and public morale at home----and shooting down the enemy of course!

It is indeed evident that he 'toes the party line' a bit with expressions like 'Paris blessed' (to be bombed, that is)------and on the question of Bombing---I recall (at least twice) in recent debates mentioning the effectiveness of German night bombing on the British front.

I know of no one who has ever claimed that German attacks on ground troops did not take place---and Sulzbach confirms it----but, and here is the point----If those enterprising Germans had been on the British front-----where most of the enterprising German pilots were in that Spring of 1918--or Should have been----then perhaps the great offensives would have succeeded!

That they did not----that the pursuing of the Fifth army could only be done at the walking pace of the German soldier----that no arm of exploitation existed to Germany (all the cavalry tied up in the East with Ludendorff's Grandiose schemes) other than the German air force---and that without doubt playing little or no role on the British front-in the ground attack role---without doubt because the retreat did not become a rout---Is perhaps the greatest failure of high command in any war.

Dave. EDIT Basil Liddell-Hart's utterances down the years have done nothing for me to consider him worthy of any consideration.

[bristol scout]

And as just one--tiny, counterpoint to those diary entries---

" I can bear testimony to the splendid qualities of our troops, they are perhaps the biggest lot of growsers under the sun, but they have their gowse and finish with it and always fight well. No task is too great for them to undertake, but they must have their growse with it, it is part of their lives. I really believe as you say that Jerry will not digest the lump he has bitten, on the contrary I think he will recieve a severe attack of indegestion from us before long"

That diary entry ---from an ordinary man of the Royal Warwicks-- writing on 22nd. May 1918 After all they had endured! Their indomitable spirit was not touched---but the proper application of aeroplane ground attack wth shattering infantry numbers Should----and an 'all arms' attack probably would--have suceeded in denting that spirit---possibly fatally (we shall never know for there were no such attacks from the German air force)
But 'all arms' attacks were the forte of the British attacks later.
Dave.