Wilhelm Balthasar

Wilhelm Balthasar (born February 2, 1914 in Fulda , † July 3, 1941 in Aire-sur-la-Lys ) was a German air force officer and fighter pilot in World War II .

Military career

Balthasar joined the 3rd (Prussian) Artillery Regiment in Frankfurt (Oder) in 1933 . In 1935 he switched to the Air Force. On April 20, 1935 he was promoted to lieutenant .

After completing his fighter pilot training, Balthasar volunteered for the Condor Legion , where he became a member of Kampfgruppe 88 . For seven air victories he was promoted to first lieutenant on January 18, 1938 and awarded the highest level of the Spanish Cross.

When the attack on Poland in September 1939, Balthasar was a member of Jagdgeschwader 1 . After a few weeks he moved to the Western Front as commander of the 7th Squadron of the 27th Fighter Wing . At the end of the western campaign in June 1940, he was the most successful fighter pilot in the German Air Force with 23 victories. For this he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on June 14, 1940 as the second fighter pilot in the Air Force after Werner Mölders .

In July 1940 Balthasar was first commander of the III. Group of Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" and on February 16, 1941 the commodore of JG 2. On July 2, 1941, he was awarded the oak leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for 40 confirmed aerial victories in World War II as the 17th Wehrmacht soldier .

death

Grave site at the Illies military cemetery

On July 3, 1941, Balthasar was killed in an air battle with British fighter pilots over Aire-sur-la-Lys in France . When he tried to escape his opponent by spinning, the wings of his Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4 broke off and the machine hit near St. Omer . Balthasar had no chance to save himself by jumping. Balthasar was posthumously promoted to major and buried at the side of his father, who died in World War I, in Flanders . The high school for boys in his hometown Fulda (since 1959 Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gymnasium) was called "Wilhelm-Balthasar-Schule" from 1942 until the end of the war.

Awards

Spanish cross in gold with swords and diamonds on June 20, 1939
Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves
- Knight's Cross on June 14, 1940
- Oak leaves on July 2, 1941 (17th award)
Mentioned in the Wehrmacht report on June 15, 1940, July 2, 1941 and July 10, 1941.

family

Wilhelm Wolfgang Balthasar was the youngest child of the chief forester August Balthasar (* 1872 in Kassel; died on October 25, 1914 in Neuve Chacquelle) and his wife Ina Mühlhausen (1876–1949). 1940 married Wilhelm Lohre Drohn (* July 7, 1918, † November 21, 2016 in Braunschweig). In 1941 the son Wolff was born.

literature

Adolf Galland : The first and the last. The fighter pilots in World War II. Flechsig, Würzburg 2005, ISBN 3-88189-588-4 .

Individual evidence

^ Jörg Nimmergut : German medals and decorations until 1945. Volume 4. Württemberg II - German Empire. Central Office for Scientific Order Studies , Munich 2001, ISBN 3-00-00-1396-2 , p. 2091

↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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. 201.

personal data
SURNAME	Balthasar, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer and fighter pilot
DATE OF BIRTH	February 2, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH	Fulda
DATE OF DEATH	July 3, 1941
Place of death	Aire-sur-la-Lys

[1] Jörg Nimmergut : German medals and decorations until 1945. Volume 4. Württemberg II - German Empire. Central Office for Scientific Order Studies , Munich 2001, ISBN 3-00-00-1396-2 , p. 2091

[2] Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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. 201.