Heinrich Ehrler

Heinrich Ehrler

Heinrich Ehrler (born September 14, 1917 in Oberbalbach , Baden-Württemberg , † April 4, 1945 via Stendal ) was a German Air Force officer , most recently a major , and a highly decorated fighter pilot in World War II .

Second World War

Heinrich Ehrler joined the artillery in 1935 and took part in the Spanish Civil War as an anti-aircraft artilleryman in 1936 .

During the Second World War he completed his training as a pilot in 1940 and joined the 4th Squadron of Jagdgeschwader 77 on February 1, 1941 , where he achieved eleven aerial victories. On July 20, 1942 he became squadron captain of the 6th squadron of Jagdgeschwader 5 . On September 4, 1942 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for 64 kills and on March 18, 1943 he was promoted to captain . On June 1, 1943 he took over the II. Group of Jagdgeschwader 5 as commander. He was awarded the Knight's Cross Oak Leaves on August 2, 1943 for 112 kills, and on August 1, 1944, he was appointed commodore of Jagdgeschwader 5.

On November 12, 1944, a Lancaster formation was sighted. Ehrler started alone with his Rottenflieger without the rest of the unit. The Lancaster sank the battleship Tirpitz without Ehrler intervening. 902 sailors lost their lives. Ehrler was then brought to justice and sentenced to death by a court martial. Due to the massive bombing of the Allies, good fighter pilots were urgently needed and so the sentence was changed to three years of forced labor and suspended after the war.

His friend Theodor Weissenberger brought him to the newly established Jagdgeschwader 7 , which was equipped with the Me 262 jet fighter . Ehrler achieved about eight more aerial victories with this machine. He last shot down two B-24s on April 4, 1945 . When he ran out of ammunition, he rammed a third B-24 and brought it down as well. He himself fell fatally. His last words to Theodor Weissenberger about radio traffic were: Theo, Heinrich here! Shot down two bombers; Ammunition is all. I'm ramming now. Goodbye, see you in Walhalla !

Grave in the Stendal cemetery

Normally his remains should have been in this grave (see photo) since his crash. His bones were found by the missing person researcher Uwe Benkel and should be recovered in the near future.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves
  • Knight's Cross on September 4, 1942
  • Oak leaves on August 2, 1943 (265th award)
• German cross in gold on March 18, 1943

literature

• Ernst Obermaier: The Air Force Knight's Cross, Volume I: Fighter Pilot , ISBN 3-87341-065-6
• Raymond F. Toliver, Trevor J. Constable : These were the German fighter pilot aces 1939-1945 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1972, ISBN 3-87943-193-0 .
• Edward H. Sims: Fighter pilots - The great opponents of yore. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1996, 16th edition, ISBN 3-87943-115-9 , p. 33.
• Mike Spick: The fighter breed of the German Air Force. Published by Bernard & Graefe (January 2000), ISBN 3763759786

See also

• List of German fighter pilots in World War II

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Axel Vogel: Second World War: Uwe Benkel is looking for aircraft debris . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . December 11, 2018, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed December 11, 2018]).
2. ↑ ^{a b} Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 290.