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Old 8th April 2021, 10:58
Monaco Monaco is offline
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Re: Hartmann: claims vs. victories

Quoting from Iwan´s article:

https://warspot.ru/3125-hartman-nad-...one-za-mechami


"Finally, on June 4, 1944 the German ace decided that it was time to take the magic barrier of the number 250 and declared six victories at once - one for a LaGG (16:25) and five over Aerocobras (16:10, 18:23, 18:53, 19:15 and 19:18). The P-39 announced last and was Hartmann's 250th victory. What do the Soviet documents say about these "festivity events"? Of the units armed with the Airacobra, only the regiments of the 9th Guards IAD, which lost two fighters, suffered losses again. The Germans also "drank blood" on that day from 427th IAP of the 294th IAD, which immediately missed four "Yaks". However, all these losses have nothing to do with the claims of the "hero of the day", since they are the successes of other JG 52 pilots!
The real achievements of Hartmann, perhaps, include hitting at 18:53h an Aircobra of the 16th Guards IAP. From departure in the period 18: 20–19: 15, the fighter of junior lieutenant G.G. Statsenko returned with damages: in battle his "Airacobra" received one bullet hole in the stabilizer, two - in the radio transmitter, three - in the rear compartment frame, and one - in the main landing gear. The pilot had a minor shrapnel wound in the soft tissues of his right leg.
Judging by the time and place of applications, the ace achieved his 250th victory in a battle with the pilots of the 438th IAP. In the the period 18: 55-19:45h, eight "Airacobras", headed by captain V.S. Semykin, patrolling in the Sculeni-Buimecheni area, met 10 German fighters identified as Fw 190. As a result of the air battle the Soviet pilots declared one shot down and shot up "Focke-Wulf" without loss.
Unfortunately, the time of departure of the pilots of the 152nd Guards IAP of the 12th Guards IAD, which lost three Yaks and three pilots that day, is still unknown. The regiment commander, Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant Colonel V.A. Merkushev was shot down from the ground and taken prisoner, and junior lieutenants I.A. Chubarov and V.V. Pavlov did not return from a combat mission: one of them, presumably, also became a victim of German anti-aircraft gunners, and the second was on the account of German fighters. Whether Hartman has anything to do with these losses is not yet known, but, in any case, there are several other applications from the German side for these successes.

So we got for Hartmann 1 damaged P-39 against his claims for 5 and the possibility for a verified LaGG (= Jak).

The only thing that we can say in regard of Hartmann is we are sitting here at the desk not risking our lives in daily combat, he was young, the darling of the NS propaganda and in that way not alone among the fighter arm. Pilots tended to overclaim when they were in reach of magic figures that would bring them fame, awards and a rent for their wifes or beloved ones in case of death or injuries (even in the successor country of Nazi-Deutschland the FRG). In contrast widows and victims of Nazi persecution mainly got no rent in the FRG, because of "lack of documents"...though not the theme maybe worth a footnote.

Regards

Michael
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