A question regarding Rolf Hermichen
 

Guys:

I'm in the process of reading Caldwell & Mueller's book, 'The Luftwaffe over Germany' & I'm enjoying it very much right now...but I came across a factoid that puzzled me: Rolf Hermichen was a very experienced Gruppe Kommandeur & after the 8th AAF raid of May 12, 1944 he was relieved of his combat command & assigned to 'fly a desk' for the duration of the war; does anyone know why such an experienced officer was permanently taken off of combat duty? He had been shot down on May 12 but apparently suffered no injuries;
Any clues guys?

TIA

NickM

Re: A ?? RE: Rolf Hermichen
 

small footnote in the Prien history refers to this as one of the few examples of a formation leader being accorded "considerate treatment" (Schonung in the text) - presumably withdrawn from the front before he got killed - and posted to staff and training positions where his experience could be utilised ..

Re: A ?? RE: Rolf Hermichen
 

Ah, Thanks....I guess the shock of Gunther Rall being shot down & wounded the SAME day must have given someone 'higher up in the chain of command' food for thought! And I thought he was withdrawn as some sort of punishment for some kind of wrong doing or failure of mission;

NickM

Re: A ?? RE: Rolf Hermichen
 

My guess is he was probably at the end of his rope and needed a break. He flew virtually every major action of his gruppe between October 1943 and his downing on 12 May.