Rudolph Berthold

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Rudolf Berthold
March 24, 1891 - March 15, 1920

Rudolf Berthold
Nickname Iron Knight
Place of birth Ditterswind
Place of death Hamburg-Harburg
Allegiance German Empire
Service/branch Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Army Air Service, forerunner of the Luftwaffe}
Years of service 1914-1918
Rank Hauptmann
Unit FFA 23, Jasta 4, Jasta 14, Jasta 18, JG II, KEK Vaux
Awards -Prussia: Pour le Mérite;
Iron Cross: 2nd class;
Iron Cross: 1st class
-Saxonia: Military Order of St. Henry, Class: Knight's Cross
-Bavaria: Order of Military Merit: 4th class
Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords

Rudolf Berthold (March 24, 1891–March 15, 1920) was a German World War I flying ace. Between 1916 and 1918 he shot down 44 enemy planes—most of them over the Belgium front. Berthold had the reputation as a ruthless, fearless and—above all—a very patriotic fighter. His perseverance and bravery made him one of the most famous German pilots ever.

Contents

[edit] World War I

Like many other German pilots, Berthold started his career as an infantry soldier. In 1916, he switched to the Imperial German Army Air Service (Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches, or Luftstreitkräfte) and became an observer on Halberstadt two seaters. Learning to fly and then switching to Fokker Eindeckers later in 1916, Bethold was injured in the first of several crashes in his wartime career. In October 1916, he joined Jasta 14, serving until May the following year when he was wounded in combat with a RFC scout, suffering a fractured skull, broken nose, pelvis and thigh. In August he was given command of Jasta 18, although a bullet crippled his upper arm in October. He refused to retire and said: Better to die like a man than to live like a faggot.

Despite being in pain from his unhealed injuries, Berthold continued flying. He refused any medical help because he was believed an operation would make it impossible for him to continue flying. Berthold didn't even have the bullet removed from his arm. In March 1918 he took command of Jagdgeschwader 2, transferring his Jasta 18 personnel into Jasta 15. His final wartime mishap came in August 1918, when he was shot down and crashed into a house and hospitalised until after the war. With JG 2, Berthold often flew a Pfalz D.III in preference to the Albatros D.V, until the summer of 1918 when the Fokker D.VII entered service. Berthold had a personal insignia of a winged sword on the side of the blue fuselages and red noses sported by all aircraft of Jasta 15.

[edit] Post-war

After the war Berthold became a fanatic patriot and nationalist. Berthold was a member of the anti-communist Free Corps (Freikorps). He took part in several demonstrations and fought against communists.

[edit] Death and gravestone

Berthold was shot in March 1920 in Harburg during a riot between communists and nationalists, after taking part in the failed Kapp Putsch. On his first gravestone {since destroyed} was allegedly the memorial: "Honored by his Enemys, killed by his German brethren". See [1] {reference only}. A photograph of his modern gravestone can be found on the German version of Wikipeta. {reference only}

[edit] External links

[edit] Sources

Franks, Norman and VanWyngarden, Greg. Fokker D VII Aces of World War 1: Part 1 / (Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 2003.)

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