Walther Dahl

[Leo Etgen]

Hello Nick

Yes, I am sure that you will. I believe that one of the reasons that Kacha abandoned work on his web site was that he began a family, if I am not mistaken. I must say that I have found your posts regarding the identification of the various opponents of Luftwaffe aces to be of great value and immediately update my aces thumbnail biographies with it as soon as possible. Many thanks for your efforts!

Horrido!

Leo

[Russ Fahey]

Originally Posted by Jean-Yves Lorant

Gentlemen,

First of all let me suggest to Michael "Knusel" not to trust this very "unreliable" Czech site.
I prefer the rigor of the list proposed by Hector.
When I asked him specific questions about his book "Rammjäger" in 1979, Walther Dahl advised me to read it again, making sure everything was correct. I had good reasons to doubt. A little later, in discussion with Walther Loos and especially Günther Ritzka, my doubts proved to be well founded.
Walther Dahl's voluntary collision with a B-17 on September 13, 1944 is pure fiction, none of his wingmen remember this event, there is no material loss to the Stab./JG 300 on that day. This voluntary collision does not appear in his "Leistungbuch" which Hans Ring gave me the copy, a document written during the war and therefore theoretically more reliable than his colourful autobiography . He nevertheless inverted the dates of September 11 and 13, 1944 in this document, the writing of which might have been entrusted to a not talented secretary. This Leistungbuch poses many other problems because it is often difficult to find allied losses at the places and times indicated. Unfortunately, I did not access Walther Dahl's logbook of the 1945 war missions, which may have dispelled some of my doubts because even the presence of both Fw. Walther Loos and Fw. Werner Bohnenkamp is an insoluble problem.


Finally, I find it very surprising that the impetuous Inspekteur der Tagjäger was able to perform as many war missions in 1945 and reach a total score of ... 133 aerial victories (see Leistungbuch's last page). But one thing is sure: "Ramm-Dahl" never rammed !


Regards
Jean-Yves Lorant

Hello Jean-Yves,

Yes, I agree, there was never any evidence (aside from his book!) of Dahl's intentional crash into a B-17 on September 13, 1944. Most telling, there is no mention of the "ramming" on that date in his flugbüch. However, Dahl did record claims for an Abschuss & Herrausschutz against B-17s on September 13. Attached is the relevant page from Dahl's FB.

Regards,

Russ

[knusel]

Good morning Russ,

thanks for posting this interesting document.
However, as far a I can see the Flugbuch entry for 1+1HSS kills is for 13Sep.
Is there an according entry in his Leistungsbuch ? (Mr Lorant mentioned above that there is no ramming documented in the latter.)

Best autumn greetings from Germany,

Michael

[Russ Fahey]

Originally Posted by knusel

Good morning Russ,

thanks for posting this interesting document.
However, as far a I can see the Flugbuch entry for 1+1HSS kills is for 13Sep.
Is there an according entry in his Leistungsbuch ? (Mr Lorant mentioned above that there is no ramming documented in the latter.)

Best autumn greetings from Germany,

Michael

Hello Michael,
Yes, of course you are correct! Post changed.......
Regards,
Russ

[Martin Gleeson]

Nick,

I have to say I really appreciate the detailed contributions you and others make on the Eastern Front air war. I do not research it but am very interested in it. All the more so when we finally see the Soviet losses and especially when we see names of real people.

Keep it up and thanks again.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

[Nick Hector]

Originally Posted by Martin Gleeson

Nick,

I have to say I really appreciate the detailed contributions you and others make on the Eastern Front air war. I do not research it but am very interested in it. All the more so when we finally see the Soviet losses and especially when we see names of real people.

Keep it up and thanks again.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

Martin, you're very welcome

[Russell]

Hello to all

A substantial amount of information being presented, for which I for one am most appreciative. I wonder if Jean-Yves Lorant, could post the page of Dahl's Lesitungsbuch covering claims 105 to 116, otherwise there is a nice big gap on what Dahl was up to in that period and I have not seen anything covering these claims anywhere and certainly as not as comprehensively as the pages before and after..

Thanks in advance

Russell

[Jean-Yves Lorant]

Hi Michael,

Except for his inexplicable lie about the September 13 voluntary collision, the victories claimed by Walther Dahl during the year 1944 (he confused however November 2 and 5) are consistent and credible. The discomfort settles as soon as he takes over as Inspekteur der Tagjäger at the end of January 1945, as apparently continues to fly regularly with his wingmen from the Stab./JG 300. I would like to know from what airfields it happened. Assigned to the Stab./JG 300 at the fall of 1944, Unteroffizier Günther Ritzka was certain never have seen his former Kommodore again from February to May 1945.
Claims 105-116: Dahl was flying Fw 190s. He flew again a Me 262 on 24 and 26 April 1945.
The analytical work done by Nick Hector about Wilhelm Lemke and Heinrich Graf von Einsiedel is very impressive, my congratulations. When I visited Wolfgang Ewald in the 1980s, he was still angry about his former wingman von Einsiedel, who had joined the communist theses during his captivity in the Soviet Union and came to boast of the advantages of the "Soviet paradise" to a stunned Wolfgang Ewald. As always in this kind of conversion, we may wonder if this was not a strategy to shorten the captivity duration ...


Regards
Jean-Yves Lorant

[RT]

we may wonder if this was not a strategy to shorten the captivity duration ...

Or reflect the fact that at that time , communism was not only a paradise , but also the future for Europe nd the whole world, but events , with help of Franco nd WW II, bias the trend ..

Rémi

Many thks for all the facts regarding the achievments of Walther Dahl, I always thought that Dahl, was not the bad boy depaint after the war

[knusel]

Originally Posted by Jean-Yves Lorant

Hi Michael,
….
Claims 105-116: Dahl was flying Fw 190s. He flew again a Me 262 on 24 and 26 April 1945....

Good evening Mr. Lorant,

thanks a lot for the additional info.
I keep trying hard to identify the date indicated for claim #100.
I remember having heard Dahl said his 100th kill was achieved on 1March.
However, the date in your Leistungsbuch looks more like a 4March...(?)

Best greetings from Brandenburg,

Michael