Hugo Broch

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Hugo Broch (born January 6, 1922 in Leichlingen ) is a former German officer and fighter pilot , most recently a lieutenant in the German Air Force in World War II . The ace won in 324 sorties 81 confirmed aerial victories on the Eastern Front, including twelve double and three triple victories.

air force

Hugo Broch joined Luftwaffe-Baukompanie 42 / XII on January 15, 1940. of Luftflotte 3 and then received basic training in the flight candidate battalion. From November 10, 1940 to October 29, 1941, he attended the pilot school A / B 63 in Marienbad and Karlsbad in the Sudetengau as well as in Vilseck in the Upper Palatinate, then from November 18, 1941 to February 10, 1942 the fighter pilot school in Saxony Kamenz , where he acquired the pilot's badge on November 28, 1941 . Broch was trained as a fighter pilot from May 27 to November 2, 1942 at the Fighter Pilot School 2 in Zerbst .

After Hugo Broch trained for three weeks in Bussac, France, in the 1st squadron of the supplementary hunting group East , he was assigned to the 6th squadron of the 2nd group of Jagdgeschwader 54 on January 6, 1943 and collected as Kaczmarek under the Rottenführer Horst Ademeit and Heinrich "Bazi" Sterr his first experiences at the front. On March 7th, he reported his first kill, but this was not confirmed; the first recognized aerial victory took place on March 13, 1943. He received the Tagjäger front flight clasp in bronze on March 26, 1943, the Iron Cross of Class II on April 7, 1943. From Orel , Broch took part in May 1943 as part of the 1st Class 6th Flieger-Division der Luftflotte 6 participated in the Citadel enterprise . There, on June 10, 1943, he received the Tagjäger's front flight clasp in silver.

As a result of the counter-offensive near Orel, the air base of the 6th squadron had to be relocated to the Reichskommissariat Ukraine in Kiev , where it was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class on August 11 and the day fighter's front clasp in gold on August 23, 1943 for 110 enemy flights has been. On August 28, 1943 Broch finally achieved his 20th aerial victory. In October the squadron was commanded to Zhytomyr following the Battle of the Dnieper . After his 44th victory in the air, on November 6, 1943, he received the Cup of Honor for special achievement in the air war . Three weeks later, on November 26th, the NCO was awarded the German Cross in Gold .

From December 9, 1943 to February 2, 1944, Hugo Broch was stationed in Biarritz , southern France , and from March 4 to June 29, 1944 in Liegnitz, Lower Silesia, as a flight instructor for the supplementary fighter group East , but returned to his 6th squadron on August 16, 1944 back to Livonia after Wenden . After Broch was briefly stationed in Riga on September 22nd and from October in Libau in Courland , in November 1944 he was transferred to the 8th Squadron of Group II, which was also in Libau, and from there also flew mainly over Courland . At the end of 1944 he recorded a total of 71 victories. Stationed in Cīrava for three months , the sergeant received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross from Aviator General Curt Pflugbeil on March 12, 1945 after 79 aerial victories . With his squadron, he moved to the East Prussian Heiligenbeil in March 1945 .

Hugo Broch last received the Kurland cuff on April 20, 1945 . Of his total of 81 victories, 18 Soviet Shturmoviks were shot down . On May 8, 1945, the lieutenant flew to Flensburg, where he was captured by the British for 80 days.

post war period

Hugo Broch was a very active signer of autographs and memorabilia for years. At the age of 95, he became the first former Air Force pilot to fly in a Spitfire in the summer of 2017, as reported by the BBC and major British newspapers such as the Daily Mirror , The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail .

See also

literature

  • Peter Cronauer: Escape the trap. Airplane Classic 2/2014. GeraMond Verlag, Munich 2014.
  • Walther-Peer Fellgiebel: The bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 - Holders of the highest award of the Second World War of all parts of the Wehrmacht. Podzun-Pallas, Friedberg 1986, ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6 .
  • Ernst Obermaier: The knight's cross bearers of the Luftwaffe fighter pilots 1939-1945. Verlag Dieter Hoffmann, Mainz 1989, ISBN 978-3-87341-065-7 .
  • Klaus D. Patzwall & Veit Scherzer: The German Cross 1941 - 1945 history and owner Volume II. Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2001, ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8 .
  • 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 .
  • Ralf Schumann / Rolf Mehwitz: Hugo Broch - 'Ein Grünherzjäger' - Knight's Cross Bearer Profile No. 18. UNITEC-Medienvertrieb, Stengelheim 2018.
  • Mike Spick: Air Force Fighter Aces. Ivy Books, New York 1996, ISBN 978-0-8041-1696-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Luftwaffe ace flies in Spitfire - BBC News , on bbc.com, June 28, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2018
  2. ↑ 'It showed me the beauty of flying': Feared Nazi World War Two pilot takes to the skies in a Spitfire - Mirror Online , on mirror.co.uk, June 28, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2018
  3. ↑ WW2 Luftwaffe fighter ace flies in RAF Spitfire for the first time , on telegraph.co.uk, June 28, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2018
  4. ↑ German Luftwaffe ace takes to skies in an RAF Spitfire | Daily Mail Online , at dailymail.co.uk, June 29, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2018
  5. ↑ Robert Hardman watches a WWII vet return to flying roots | Daily Mail Online , at dailymail.co.uk, July 1, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2018

Web links

Wikiquote: Hugo Broch  - Quotes
personal data
SURNAME Broch, Hugo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German air force officer, fighter pilot and knight's cross holder
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Corpses