Joachim Müncheberg

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Joachim Müncheberg (left) with Erwin Rommel (center) in North Africa , 1941

Joachim Müncheberg (born December 31, 1918 in Friedrichshof , Dramburg district , Pomerania ; †  March 23, 1943 at Al Miknasi , Tunisia ) was a German Air Force officer and, with 135 confirmed aerial victories, was one of the most successful fighter pilots in World War II .

Military career

Joachim Müncheberg joined the infantry on December 4, 1936 as a flag junior and in September 1938 switched to the air force as a senior ensign . First he served in I./JG 234 in Cologne and after his promotion to lieutenant from September 1, 1939 in JG 26 " Schlageter " in Düsseldorf. On September 23, 1939 he became adjutant at the III. Group of the squadron .

With the shooting down of a Bristol Blenheim of the Royal Air Force on November 7, 1939 near Opladen , he achieved his first aerial victory. On August 22, 1940 he was squadron commander of the 7th season, and shortly thereafter to lieutenant promoted. As part of the Battle of Britain , he achieved his 20th victory in the air on September 14th, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

In February the 7th Squadron of Jagdgeschwader 26 was transferred to Sicily under Müncheberg's command. By May, 42 enemy aircraft had been shot down over Malta without losses, with Müncheberg's 19 victories earning him the honorary title of Fighter of Malta . After 43 victories in the air, he received the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Italy honored him with the highest honor in the country, the Golden Medal of Valor . This rare award was only given to one other German, Hans-Joachim Marseille .

In the period from February to June 1941, Müncheberg's staff was transferred frequently: from Sicily for three days in April to Taranto , then back to Gela , from there to Catania and via the Peloponnese finally to Libya in June . On July 29th he achieved his 48th and last aerial victory on the African continent, as the relocation to the French Channel coast took place three days later . Promoted to captain on September 19, 1941 , he led II./JG 26 as group commander . He achieved his 80th victory in the air on June 2, 1942.

Since July 22, 1942, Müncheberg was transferred to the staff of JG 51 "Mölders" on the Eastern Front to brief the Commodore and from August 5, 1942, he was appointed to deputy command of the squadron for the injured Commodore Karl Gottfried Nordmann. After 103 kills he was awarded the swords for the oak leaves of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. On October 1, 1942 he was transferred to North Africa as a commodore of JG 77 and in December 1942 he was promoted to major .

On his 500th enemy flight on March 23, 1943, he shot down his last of a total of 46 Spitfires with his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 trop southwest of Al Miknasi / Tunisia . As a result of a collision with wreckage of the downed machine of the American pilot Ted Sweetland, his plane also crashed, both pilots were killed. After Müncheberg was buried in a soldier's grave near El Aounia, he was transferred to a larger military cemetery in Tunis . Sweetland remains lost.

Awards

See also

literature

  • Hans-Joachim Röll: Major Joachim Müncheberg. From the king of the Malta hunters to the legendary hunter ace of Tunis. Flechsig Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-803500144 -.
  • Ralf Schumann and Wolfgang Westerwelle: Joachim Müncheberg. the hunter of Malta. Unitec-Medienvertrieb, 2010. ( Knight's Cross-Bearer Profile, 8.)
  • Jane Sweetland: Sons at War: The True Story of Two Young Men Destined from Birth to Collide in Death. Amazon, 2017. (Jane Sweetland, Ted Sweetland's niece, tells the résumés of Joachim Müncheberg and Ted Sweetland up to their last stand in parallel.)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter A. Musciano: The famous Me 109 and their pilots. Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1955, ISBN 3-89350-557-1 , p. 118.
  2. ^ Anthony Rogers: The Malta Squadron. Spellmount Publication, ISBN 1-86227-274-3 , s. 185. (English.)
  3. ^ Chancellery of the Italian President
  4. ↑ Walter A. Musciano: The famous Me 109 and their pilots. Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1955, ISBN 3-89350-557-1 , p. 120.
  5. ↑ Detailed list of all his kills
  6. ↑ Walter A. Musciano: The famous Me 109 and their pilots. Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1955, ISBN 3-89350-557-1 , p. 120.
  7. ↑ 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. 559.
  8. ↑ The reports of the High Command of the Wehrmacht. Volume 1. Parkland-Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-89340-063-X , p. 269.
  9. ↑ a b The reports of the High Command of the Wehrmacht. Volume 2. Parkland-Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-89340-063-X , p. 108 u. 312.
  10. ↑ The reports of the High Command of the Wehrmacht. Volume 3. Parkland-Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-89340-063-X , p. 134.
  11. ↑ The reports of the High Command of the Wehrmacht. Volume 4. Parkland-Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-89340-063-X , p. 85.
personal data
SURNAME Müncheberg, Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German major and fighter pilot
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Friedrichshof , Dramburg district , Pomerania
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 1943
Place of death near Al Miknasi , Tunisia