Ludwig Nitsch 38 "kills"...?

[Stig Jarlevik]

Hans

I have my own theory about how these 38 'claims' came about. Nothing exiting just a human reflection on why people tell white lies, not knowing or realizing they will pop up in historical circumstances later.

In 1945 he was quite young (18 years sounds a little too young but may perhaps indicate when he joined the Luftwaffe?). A little odd he stayed for 8 months with an advanced fighter pilot school like JG 108 and never filtered through any of the Ergänzungsunits available or sent quicker to a frontline unit, who were constantly screaming for more pilots, which may indicate he was not the "born" fighter type. Anyway the reputed three claims for B-17s must have been made while with this unit since there is no way they can have been scored with JG 54. Somehow they feel very unlikely to have happened.

He must anyway have been a very inexperienced pilot when arriving to JG 54. It feels extremely unlikely that this youngster would all of a sudden start to outshine the 'veterans'. He may have made a few claims, but going from nothing to suddenly make an average claim of some 3-4 per week is at least to me simply not believable.

I suggest you contact Andrew Arthy (send him a PM) and ask if he has got anything on Nitsch. He is deep into research with regard to the Kurland/Courland pocket.

Cheers
Stig