Luftwaffe shared victories (was: Hartmann ....352 victories or 80?)

[George Hopp]

Oh boy, I managed to get just about everything wrong in my previous posting on Heinz Knoke's victory. In fact, on reading the book and checking the Heinz Knoke website, this is what happened: The date was 5 Mar 42, and Heinz Knoke had managed to sneak above a PR Spitfire, and score damaging hits on it. But, suddenly his guns stopped firing. The Spitfire had slowed down but was still flying, and his smoke trail is becoming thinner. So a friend, Dieter Gerhand, coming into view, said, "Then let me finish him, Heinz." And, so he did, with the pilot managing to bail out. In addition to his joy in seeing the pilot survive, Heinz Knoke noted, "This is my first combat victory in the air." But, Dieter Gerhard was given sole credit for the victory.