Gottfried Dulias

[Artist]

Sorry first time I tried to use one of the icons.

[John Manrho]

The doubt is not if he was with the Luftwaffe or not. One of the sites shows him as a Flieger (lowest rank, private in the LW). Millions were in the Luftwaffe he could have been one of them. The point what he claims to have been or has done. He claims to have flown in JG 53 as a Lt. in late 1944, shot down two Spitfires and later flew on the Eastern front with JG 53 (could only have been I./JG 53 if it is true) more claims there (sometimes on sites referred to as Yak's otherwise as I-16's) and shot down on 5th March 1945 and became POW.

Luftwaffe records or claims a relatively complete till late 1944. Records about losses relatively complete till March 1945. It is known that I./JG 53 flew no missions between 2. and 8. March 1945. Nowhere is there any reference to a lt. Gottfried Dulias.

If Mr. Dulias has pictures or documents it can be possible to verify his story. Maybe also not of these pic's show him as only a Flieger or Gefreiter. Finally, his story can be easily verified through the WASt. If he give shis permission his Personelfile can be obtained.

Finally.....his habit of walking in a LW Uniform does not make him very credible...

Enough said, don't want to waist more time on this guy, which, until proven otherwise, is a hoax to me.

Cheers,

John M.

[Jens]

An other interesting POW of Kursk was Olt. Lüty Pilot of JG-52, he was interogated by Soviets about JG-52.

About Dullas, I believe him more than Prien or the documents used for Priens book. I was myself in BA-MA and found indices of falsified loss/strength statistics. It is well known that Wehrmacht in the whole had very wrong loss figures (much too low).

[Andreas Brekken]

Hi, John.


Although it seems that I./JG 53 did not fly any missions between 2nd and 8th of March 1945, I have three losses recorded for the 6th, two of which would be accidents (category 20-24 probably) while the last one would be a category 1, although no crew member info was given. Not an operative mission perhaps, but they did thus have multiple aircraft in the air also between the dates You mentioned, and there might have been sorties not counting as 'Feindflüge' on the 4th.

Also, this is late in the war, and there surely are losses that are not recorded in the available files for this period.

I also find the details a bit 'fishy', and will ask a friend of mine who are VERY well into the opposite side if it at all is possible that the JG 53 would oppose I-16's this late in the war....

Also, I agree with You John: Dr. Prien has certainly had access to the NVM's of JG 53 during his research for the books he wrote on the unit, these however seems to thin out also after about February 10th 1945.....

So - we cannot really know without pulling his file at Aachen (or are they in Freiburg yet??), which should exist since he claims he was a Lt.

As he was a Lt and trained in 1943, and had a relatively short operational career, he would have had to attend the KS as far as I can see. (Thus a Tr.O and not a Kr.O?? right??)

Regard,
Andreas

[John Manrho]

O yeah, he must have been a Tr.O. and not a Kr.O. This means LKS. See also his age (born 1925....). So if he is genuine he must have been a Fhr., Ofhr. and then Lt. Look also at other Forums, several have been asking themselves this question too....is Mr. Dulias speaking the truth....??? It is not only the loss on that said date, it is the combination of his claims what he is that makes it doubtfull if he slipped thru the net. Also his own statement on the question why he isn't mentioned in Prien's JG 53...."he didn't make the cut as he had only 5 victories and Prien's book only list the pilots with more than 7 victories...." What a BS. If he is genuine the answer is in Aachen or Berlin.

[Artist]

Boy I hope you guys are wrong about Mr. Dulias. Because if you are not I feel like a total a**. Had him sign this when I met him at a lecture.

[David Ransome]

Hi,

Has anyone actually put any or all of this to Herr Dulias? With detailed questions he should be able to give detailed answers.

Back in the 1980s I was involved with a small film about part of the 'Battle of the Bulge'. One of my fellow advisors was a German man purporting to be an ex high ranking Panzer officer, highly thought of by the producers, but to me something didn't seem quite right, basically he was a 'hero' in just too many actions, in too many areas at just the right time. After approaching him with several pertinent questions, one to one, it transpired that he had in fact been a Gefreiter in a Panzer IV tank crew and had only got out of training late in '44. He had bulled up his rank and adventures because he enjoyed the attention and involvement and didn't think that too many would take him seriously as an advisor if they knew that he had ' only been a Gefreiter '. After advising him to the contrary he played down the Teutonic superhero role, and concentrated on general advising. His own story I actually found more interesting anyway, and he certainly had a great memory for detail - two weeks on he even showed me some of his old photos and memorabilia - something he couldn't have done if he'd stuck to his story!

I don't know enough about Luftwaffe rank and training systems to pass any further comment on Herr Dulias but it would be good for him and us to get this ironed out before someone ends up with 'egg on their chin'!

Regards

David

[edwest]

Hello David,


I've sent you a private message to help with sorting things out.


Ed

[Michael Chorney]

Gentlemen. I am involved in the hosting of veteran speakers at the MidAtlantic World War II weekend in Reading, PA. Gottfried has been a guest speaker over the past two years, and a special guest of the Luftwaffe re-enactors who participate in the event.

It is best to avoid speculation and go right to the source. This is the fairest and most direct recourse. I will alert him about this thread and ask him to kindly provide answers to your queries.

As an aside, Mr. Dulias is an outstanding guest and a true gentleman, whose message about his experiences focus on the extent and breadth of man's inhumanity to man. My opinion, worth little of offered nonetheless: The images, recollections and emotional conveyances of his career and especially of his comrades' tragic deaths in Russia are vividly valid independent of whether either a fighter type or a date is misidentified, or whether he fails to appear in rarefied and disheveled late war records. Sometimes the judgements on this site are a tad harsh and made with a bit too much alacrity without the full facts from all concerned (see the Fred Arnold thread, above)

I am sure that he will be able to clear this up quickly.

Michael Chorney

[Michael Chorney]

Apology in advance. In running out of my office and hurriedly posting, I made mention of a thread (Fred Arnold topic) which should have been a referral to that found on the history channel website, not that found on this discussion board which was started by Mr. Horta and which posed a legitimate question. This was a mistake on my part.