Subordinates' opinions of Hans Dortenmann;

[NickM]

Originally Posted by yogybär

I read the famous (german) III./JG54 book. I got the impression that Dortenmann was a very good and indeed notbrainless believer in "Endsieg" or such. He was critical against senseless orders and fought against the enemy as a good soldier should.

Yes, one can (and maybe should) interprete this as negative under the given circumstances. Anyway, my "feeling" after the book is that he was a very good pilot and commander. Indeed, I like the image of him I got from that book.

One example: One day, his Gruppe had very high losses due to bad orders. His Staffel got the same idiotic orders. He did not follow them, his Staffel achieved some success and had no (or verys low) losses.

Thanks, that's the sort of stuff I was interested in; no doubt Dortenmann was a VERY skilled pilot & kept lots of his 'team' alive by virtue of said skill & leadership....but at the same time he DID put on a BIG push to get that Knight's Cross...

nm