Hermann Staiger

Hermann Staiger
Born	6 April 1915 Tennenbronn
Died	22 June 1964(1964-06-22) (aged 49) Freiburg
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Luftwaffe
Years of service	1935–1945
Rank	Major
Unit	JG 51 JG 26 JG 1 JG 7
Commands held	I./JG 26 II./JG 1 II./JG 7
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of France Battle of Britain Operation Barbarossa Defense of the Reich
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Hermann Staiger (6 April 1915 – 22 June 1964) was a German Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. For the fighter-pilots it was a quantifiable measure of their skill and success. Hermann Staiger was credited with 63 aerial victories during World War II, 49 on the Western Front and 14 on the Eastern Front.

Military career

Joining the Luftwaffe in 1935 to start his flight training, by the start of the war in September 1939 he was a Leutnant flying with 1./JG 20 (the 1st squadron of the 20th Fighter Wing). This was a wing in name only, being just a single Gruppe (Fighter Group) that had been set up just prior to the outbreak of war, in July 1939. His "StaKa" (Staffelkapitän - Squadron Leader) was the Legion Condor veteran Walter Oesau.^[1] For the Polish campaign his unit was based at Sprottau, to protect the Silesian industrial area from Polish bombers, but after a week of inactivity it returned to Berlin and then onto Bönninghardt on the Dutch border under the command of Jagdgeschwader 51.

The attack on France in May 1940 was very quiet for JG 51 and I./JG 20 as they quickly cleared the skies over the Low Countries. It was only at the end of that month, when the units transferred to Ghent, in Belgium, for the battle for the beaches of Dunkirk that Staiger opened his scoresheet. He shot down an RAF Spitfire northwest of that city on 31 May, among the dozen claims by the Gruppe that day.^[2]

Soon after his second victory (a Blenheim bomber on 30 June), the relationship between JG 51 and I./JG 20 was formalized on 4 July when the latter was renamed III./JG 51 (the third Gruppe of JG 51), and Staiger's squadron became 7./JG 51. He was reasonably successful in the ensuing Battle of Britain shooting down a further seven aircraft. Now an experienced pilot and promoted to Oberleutnant, he was appointed Staffelkapitän of his 7./JG 51 on 25 August when Oesau was himself promoted to Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 51.

After the invasion was postponed (indefinitely) JG 51 was withdrawn to winter quarters back in the Reich. It would return to the Channel Front for a time in early 1941 although now nominally on the defensive. Staiger still managed to pick up three further victories before the units were sent to the east for the upcoming invasion of the Soviet Union. On the opening day of the Operation Barbarossa he shot down three SB-2 bombers. JG 51 was leading the charge eastward racking up a huge number of victories. On 30 June, when JG 51 became the first Geschwader to claim 1000 victories^[3] Staiger shot down a further four bombers in the first great encirclement battle, over Minsk. However the combat wasn't all one-sided, and on 15 July he was himself seriously injured when his BF 109F2 (Werk Nummer 8083 - factory number) was hit by Soviet anti-aircraft fire.^[4][5]

While recovering in hospital he was awarded the Knight's Cross on 16 July in recognition of his 25 victories to date. After an extended period of convalescence he served in a number of pilot-training units for the next two years, and was promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) on 1 February 1943. He briefly returned to his old unit, JG 51, at the end of May 1943^[6] before taking up his new combat command as Staffelkapitän of 12./JG 26 on 5 July. Based back on the Channel Front it was fighting a whole new type of war: In the past year the American 8th USAAF had arrived in Britain and started daylight bombing operations against Germany's industry. The heavily armed four-engined B-17 and B-24 bombers ("Viermots") were very hard to shoot down but Staiger quickly learned his combat technique. Over the next month he accounted for five Viermots, becoming one of the first bomber-aces.

He would go on to survive and become one of the leading anti-bomber pilots. In one of the biggest Luftwaffe success over the 8th USAAF, on 17 August 1943, the combined Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission he claimed a B-17 near Mönchengladbach. On 10 October, in heavy raids on Münster, he shot down his seventh B-17, but this time was wounded by the return fire of the defensive 'boxes' of bombers. For his continuing leadership and 34 victories he was awarded the German Cross in Gold on 29 October.

Further heavy losses caused a pause and re-evaluation of strategy by the Allies, who desperately needed long-range fighter escorts to cover the bomber missions into the Reich. Finally, in December 1943, the balance started to change with the introduction of the P-51B Mustang. As the winter weather cleared, operations picked up again and the Americans launched Operation Argument (Big Week) on 20 February. Over the week Staiger shot down a further three aircraft. March's bombing target was mostly focused on Berlin, and he scored another five Viermots. After his Gruppenkommandeur, Klaus Mietusch, was injured on 8 March, he took up temporary command of III./JG 26 for three weeks in his absence, while still remaining as squadron leader of 12./JG 26 at the same time.

April was to be Staiger's most successful month, claiming 8 aircraft. Five of these were on the 24th. III./JG 26 had been temporarily transferred to Munich, with very little to do except play cards. That morning however, the alarms sounded and the pilots (including Staiger) with only a few hours' sleep, took to the air nursing fearsome hangovers, sucking in the pure oxygen (a well-known hangover cure!).^[7] Flying a heavily armed Me 109 with a 30mm MK108 cannon firing through the spinner, he managed to down 2 bombers in as many minutes, then another plus two Herausschüsse (formation separations) within minutes of each other a half-hour later.^[8] In May, a series of devastating raids crippled Germany's oil production, severely limiting flight operations.

On 15 May he was promoted to command of the Fw 190-equipped I./JG 26, while Maj Karl Borris was away. In June all the Allied attention turned to France, and the Normandy invasion (Operation Overlord). Immediately fifteen Gruppen, including Staiger's I./JG 26, were rushed to the west. But, now fighting low-level combats and often up against 20:1 odds, they stood no chance. On 1 August, with Major Borris' return, Staiger transferred to take up command of II/JG 1 which had also been struggling through the French campaign. With the Allied breakout at the start of August, II./JG 1 soon retreated east of the Seine, then a week later back to the Reich to rebuild and re-equip. Indicative of the devastation, in its 10-weeks over Normandy, II./JG 1 had lost 106 aircraft (out of a nominal complement of 68) and 27 pilots killed, for 32 confirmed victories. It would not be fit for action for three months, not re-engaging in combat until 26 November 1944. Staiger led by example, shooting down a B-17.

Although promoted to Major on 1 January 1945, Staiger was not involved in the ill-fated New Year's Day attack (Operation Bodenplatte). He was seconded to III./EJG 2 to get training on the Me262 jet. Staiger was tasked with setting up a new jet Gruppe, and on 12 January 1945 was assigned as Kommandeur of II./JG 7, authorized by renaming IV/JG 54 on 7 February. But with very limited aircraft (and, more particularly, engines) available for the other Gruppen, let alone his, it struggled to get operational. Its first ten aircraft, along with a pair of two-seater trainers, were delivered a week later to allow training to commence.^[9] By then Staiger had passed command of II./JG 7 over to Hptm Lutz-William Burckhardt. It is uncertain what he did for the remainder of the war, although Forsyth comments that he was a senior pilot still with II./JG 7 in April,^[10] although he did not score any victories in the Me 262 jet.

Hermann Staiger survived the war and was one of the very few 'start-to-finishers' to do so. He is credited with 63 combat victories, of which only 14 were over the Eastern Front. His total of 26 Viermot victories ranks him 5th equal in success against this formidable aircraft type - and the most successful Me 109-pilot over the Reich (Werner Schroer's 26 were split over the Mediterranean and Reich theaters).^[11] He died, at Freiburg, on 22 June 1964

Awards

• Flugzeugführerabzeichen
• Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe
• Sudetenland Medal (20 October 1939)
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• German Cross in Gold (27 October 1943)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 16 July 1941 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 7./Jagdgeschwader 51^[12]

Victories

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

• World War 2 Awards.com
• "Aces of the Luftwaffe". Hermann Staiger. http://www.luftwaffe.cz/staiger.html. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
• "Luftwaffe 39-45 Historia". Hermann Staiger. http://www.luftwaffe39-45.historia.nom.br/ases/staiger.htm. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
• "Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries". Hermann Staiger.  Retrieved 20 October 2013
• "Luftwaffe Fighter Claims". Hermann Staiger.  Retrieved 7 January 2013
• A Fighter Group in Normandy, John Schuelke. http://sturmvogel.orbat.com/FGnorm.html
• "Luftwaffe Air Units: Single–Engined Fighters". JG 51, JG 26, JG 1, JG 7.  Retrieved 20 October 2013
• "Ciel de Gloire". JG51 http://www.cieldegloire.com/jg_051.php . Retrieved 14 October 2013.
• "Jagdgeschwader 51 Victory Claims 1939-45". http://www.luftwaffe.cz/jg51_victories.html . Retrieved 20 October 2013.

Military Offices held

v t e Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients of Jagdgeschwader 51 Heinrich Bär (Oak Leaves & Swords) Friedrich Beckh Franz-Josef Beerenbrock (Oak Leaves) Wolfgang Böwing-Treuding Adolf Borchers Joachim Brendel (Oak Leaves) Kurt Dombacher Diethelm von Eichel-Streiber Erwin Fleig Josef Fözö Herbert Friebel Otto Gaiser Bernd Gallowitsch Hartmann Grasser (Oak Leaves) Anton Hafner (Oak Leaves) Heinrich Höfemeier Heinrich Hoffmann (Oak Leaves) Erich Hohagen Wilhelm Hübner Herbert Huppertz1 (Oak Leaves) Josef Jennewein Hermann-Friedrich Joppien (Oak Leaves) Günther Josten (Oak Leaves) Peter Kalden Heinrich Klöpper Kurt Knappe Hans Kolbow Heinrich Krafft Heinz Lange Heinz Leber Richard Leppla Anton Lindner Fritz Losigkeit Max-Hermann Lücke Fritz Lüddecke Heinz Marquardt Maximilian Mayerl Wilhelm Mink Werner Mölders2 (Oak Leaves, Swords & Diamonds) Joachim Müncheberg3 (Oak Leaves & Swords) Karl-Gottfried Nordmann (Oak Leaves) Walter Oesau4 (Oak Leaves & Swords) Josef Priller5 (Oak Leaves & Swords) Herbert Puschmann Karl Rammelt Alfred Rauch Oskar Romm Günther Rübell Günther Schack (Oak Leaves) Karl-Heinz Schnell Helmut Schönfelder Otto Schultz Georg Seelmann Hermann Staiger Hubert Straßl Hans Strelow (Oak Leaves) Otto Tange Kurt Tanzer Edwin Thiel Horst Tietzen Bernhard Vechtel Edmund Wagner Rudolf Wagner Karl-Heinz Weber (Oak Leaves) Ernst Weismann Walther Wever Otto Würfel 1 Oak Leaves with JG 2. 2 Knight's Cross with JG 53. 3 Knight's Cross and Oak Leaves with JG 26. 4 Oak Leaves and Swords with JG 3. 5 Oak Leaves and Swords with JG 26.