Waldemar Semelka

Waldemar Semelka
Born	8 January 1920 Doubrava, Czechoslovakia
Died	21 August 1942(1942-08-21) (aged 22) Stalingrad, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Luftwaffe
Years of service	?-1942
Rank	Leutnant
Unit	JG 52
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of Britain Eastern Front Battle of Stalingrad
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Waldemar Semelka (8 January 1920 – 21 August 1942) 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 skill and combat success. Waldemar Semelka was killed on 21 August 1942 over Stalingrad, Soviet Union. During his career he was credited with 75 (or 65^[1][2][3]) aerial victories.

Military career

Upon completing his flight training Oberfähnrich Semelka was posted to 4./JG 52 (4th squadron of the 52nd Fighter Wing). He scored his first victory in the opening hours of Operation Barbarossa - the German invasion of the Soviet Union - on 22 June 1941, downing an I-15 biplane fighter. Perhaps due to its poor performance during the Battle of Britain, JG 52 was split up as gap-filler units and scattered up and down the front: II/JG 52 was seconded to JG 27, tasked with covering the Stukas supporting the drive onto Smolensk and Moscow.

Under the patient leadership of his squadron commander, the future great ace Johannes Steinhoff, Semelka (now commissioned as a Leutnant) along with his fellow pilots of 4./JG 52, started to score regularly. This included three victories on 23–24 September at the start of Operation Typhoon, the attack on Moscow. His Gruppe was stationed in Kalinin and so close to the front line that their airbases were shelled by Russian artillery, and ground crew had to defend against enemy attacks.^[4] After enduring the shockingly cold Russian winter for several months, II/JG 52 was finally withdrawn to East Prussia for rest and refit in January 1942. At that time Semelka had a respectable 17 victories to his name.

His Gruppe returned to the east at the end of April, now under the command of Hptm Steinhoff, and finally in the same sector as the rest of the Geschwader. It immediately joined the assault of Sevastopol and the reduction of the Izyum 'bulge'. For the month of June 1942 Semelka was transferred temporarily to command 5.Staffel ^[5] from an injured Siegfried Simsch. Returning to 4./JG 52 on 1 July, he was awarded the Ehrenpokal on 6 July as the second summer offensive got properly underway - Fall Blau, the charge to the Caucausus. Initially II/JG 52 was covering the march on the Maikop oilfields. Right across the sector there was very intensive air combat and German pilots were racking up phenomenal scores. By this time, Semelka's own score moved on past 50 victories. On 25 July he was given temporary command of the 4th Staffel when his Staffelkapitän, Gerhard Barkhorn was injured.

On 18 August he shot down five fighters, in two missions over the Black Sea coast near Novorossiysk. The next day, Steinhoff led II/JG 52 to the Stalingrad sector to cover the imminent storming of the city. On 21 August, in their first operational sorties, Semelka shot down three fighters, bringing his total to 65. However, later that same day he was reported missing to the south of Stalingrad. It is possible he was shot down and killed by return fire from Pe-2 bombers of 86 BAP.^[6][7]

Waldemar Semelka flew over 240 missions and scored 65 victories (some sources say 75 victories^[8]), all over the Eastern Front. At the time of his death he was the third-highest scorer in II/JG 52. He was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross a fortnight after his death on 4 September 1942, and the German Cross in Gold on 7 September 1942.^[9]

Victories (Partial list)

Awards

• Flugzeugführerabzeichen
• Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe
• Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe (6 July 1942)
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• German Cross in Gold (21 August,^[12] or 7 September 1942^[13])
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 4 September 1942 as Leutnant and pilot in the 4./Jagdgeschwader 52^[14]

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

• World War 2 Awards.com
• "Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries". Waldemar Semelka.  Retrieved 7 January 2013
• "Luftwaffe Fighter Claims". Waldemar Semelka.  Retrieved 7 January 2013
• "Luftwaffe Air Units: Single–Engined Fighters". Jagdgeschwader 52.  Retrieved 27 August 2013

v t e Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients of Jagdgeschwader 52 Heinrich-Wilhelm Ahnert Herbert Bachnick Gerhard Barkhorn (Oak Leaves & Swords) Wilhelm Batz (Oak Leaves & Swords) Helmut Bennemann Hans-Joachim Birkner Hubertus von Bonin Johannes Bunzek Hans Dammers Gustav Denk Adolf Dickfeld (Oak Leaves) Peter Düttmann Heinz Ewald Wilhelm Freuwörth Otto Fönnekold Heinrich Füllgrabe Hermann Graf (Oak Leaves, Swords & Diamonds) Karl Gratz Berthold Graßmuck Alfred Grislawski1 (Oak Leaves) Friedrich Haas Karl Hammerl Erich Hartmann (Oak Leaves, Swords & Diamonds) Gerhard Hoffmann Dietrich Hrabak2 (Oak Leaves) Berthold Korts Walter Krupinski (Oak Leaves) Gerhard Köppen (Oak Leaves) Karl-Heinz Leesmann Helmut Lipfert3 (Oak Leaves) Rudolf Miethig Willi Nemitz Friedrich Obleser Viktor Petermann Werner Quast Günther Rall (Oak Leaves & Swords) Anton Resch Rudolf Resch Edmund Roßmann Heinz Sachsenberg Franz Schall Heinz Schmidt (Oak Leaves) Waldemar Semelka Siegfried Simsch Karl Steffen Leopold Steinbatz (Oak Leaves & Swords) Johannes Steinhoff4 (Oak Leaves & Swords) Heinrich Sturm Ernst Süß Rudolf Trenkel Friedrich Wachowiak Hans Waldmann Johannes Wiese (Oak Leaves) Franz Woidich Walter Wolfrum Josef Zwernemann (Oak Leaves) 1 Oak Leaves with JG 1. 2 Knight's Cross with JG 54. 3 Oak Leaves with JG 53. 4 Swords with JG 77.