Gottfried Dulias paper

[Thijs Lepstra]

Hello all,

Been a while since my last update regarding Gottfried Dulias. My paper on Dulias is finaly finished and can be downloaded here:
http://members.chello.nl/~s.lepstra/dulias/Dulias.pdf

regards,

Thijs

[David N]

Dulias has an article in the May issue of WWII History Magazine. It is an excerpt of his book titled, "Surviving the Soviet Gulag."

[David Ransome]

An excellent piece of investigative work with solid pointers to further investigation/research. Now is the time for others to give further information for or against the Dulias story.

I agree with your comments relating to training pattern and aircraft types and they tie in with what I have been told by at least two former aircrew. I previously did some checking into Fred Browning with MoD and the DSS (latter relating to War Pensions etc) and nothing came up particularly for the periods covered. I don't know much about fighter units in the Luftwaffe to be able to make comment on the units and timelines relating to the Dulias case.

The route to a Flak unit seems most reasonable and was certainly common at the time, I believe, again mainly connected with fuel shortages and a need for more ground defence.

Let's hope for meaningful responses, without huff and puff, to this balanced piece of work!

David

[Nick Beale]

Thanks for an excellent piece of work.

My (completely unscientific) feeling when I first heard Dulias's story was that the part about his Soviet imprisonment rang true but that if he'd been a successful fighter pilot, contemporary evidence would have shown up for at least some part of his career.

[Peter Spoden]

Hi Thijs,

thanks for the good research and paper.
Being an old veteran myself I think that many of these old men (incl. me) have bad dreams after all the years and if they finally talk they tend to exaggerate sometimes to get attention.

regrds Peter

[Brian Bines]

Really good research by Thijs. I did wonder about the Lt. Browning story and noted a Typhoon pilot P/O R Downing was taken POW on 17th. August when several Typhoons were lost. Is there a chance that Dulias in whatever capacity Pilot/Flak/ or prisoner escort did meet Downing and after many years got the name and aircraft type wrong. Has Dulias ever been approached to request a copy of his own service records. Whatever transpired the man seemed to have got his wings and been a POW in harsh conditions.

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Goed stuk Thijs! (Good paper!)[.

Best regards,

Marcel

[Flitzer]

Very professional paper you've done there Thijs. My opinion is that he did serve in the Luftwaffe but not in a flying capacity. He probably served in a flak outfit and was captured by the Russians. His descriptions of his air combats just don't ring true. I think, in describing his life to his co-author and lady friend, he started trumping up his story a bit. Then the suggestion to write a book, and here we are. His story would be much more interesting if we could separate fact from fiction.

[Andreas Brekken]

Hi, guys.

Excellent paper, Thijs.

I cannot help feeling a bit sad about this whole story. It also raises several questions with regards to the kind of research and focus groups like ours have - if the focus could swing a bit from the glorification and worship of aces to trying to fill out all the more or less blank areas surrounding these luminaries, the stories and histories in my opininon might get even better?

Taken into account the preliminary conclusions as made by Thijs - would you guys rather get a fake story about an ace pilot - or the true story about a young cadets experiences while training in the Luftwaffe, maybe even participating in the destruction of mr Downing's Typhoon and other aircraft as a member of a Flak unit, and also probably a more than grim story about the desperate battles against the Soviet forces on the south eastern front?

Just some food for thought!

Regards,
Andreas B

[David Ransome]

Hi Andreas,

No doubt on my side, I'd go with the latter! In war there are no glory boys, everyone regardless of side needs/needed to do their bit, it's all part of a balancing act. Ground forces rely on air forces, naval forces and vice versa. I would rather read a true account of a lesser story than a lot of bulled up fakery regardless of who it is telling it.

Incorrect stories and 'fakery' do nothing but detract from and belittle the genuine people of all sides.

I've been in the unfortunate situation of having to unmask one story faker who eventually ended up in court and was ultimately convicted of fraud. Those he had convinced of his truthfulness were the ones that suffered, and in some cases still are.

Truth any day on this!

With regard to Herr/Mr Dulias maybe now any genuine supporting evidence from the period would be beneficial, either way.

David