Hans-Ulrich Rudel on 8.Feb.45 - the article

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

My article about Rudel’s successes on 8.Feb.45:
https://warspot.ru/13416-trinadtsat-tankov-za-odnu-nogu
Original title was “Hard day of Oberst Rudel”.
The article was heavily edited. Anyway, the essence remained intact.
Text in Russian but at least the map is illustrative.

In brief:
8.Feb.45 was the day then Rudel lost his foot but, according to his memoirs, destroyed 13 Soviet tanks near Lebus (western bank of Oder, 10 km N Frankfurt).

60+ TsAMO folders were used for analysis.
Lebus was in the sector of 69.Army. 8.Guard Army (neighbor of 69.Army in Oder bridgehead) also checked in details – all units with tracked vehicles with guns, including light self-propelled guns SU-76, were took into account.
Two other armies were on Oder - 33.Army and 5.Shock Army. They were checked on the levels of armies war diaries, operative reports and combat reports.
1 T-34 was destroyed and 2 T-34 were damaged during the day – all of them near Lebus, from 68.independent tank brigade of 69.Army. Can’t find yet (but hope to find later) detailed report about the loss/damaged. In the different day summaries the reasons of the losses varied a bit:
- during the bombing by 30 planes between 16:00 and 17:00 msc
- by aviation and artillery
- by aircraft guns.
As for so vividly described destroying of «IS» heavy tank – first «IS» of 69.Army crossed the river at night 11/12.Feb.43, the sole lost «IS» of 69.Army in February was destroyed during the heavy artillery shelling on 26.Feb.45.

So Rudel’s description of 8.Feb.43 is somewhere between huge exaggeration and pure fantasy. Maybe it is too naively but I though before that his memoirs are closer to reality a bit. Of course it is the one day only, but anyway …

Can’t find for additional analysis any other day relevant to theme “Rudel vs tanks” with exact location and exact date.

Whether the time of Rudel’s forced landing on 8.Feb.45 is known?
Also interesting what is the source (apart from memoirs) of the info about his 30+ forced landings due to AA fire.

Best regards,
Andrey