In The Odin Mission I refer to a Panzer Mk VI, which has prompted quite a response from keen-eyed observers of the Second World War, all pointing out the Mk VI Tiger tank did not come into service until 1942 and therefore could not have been in Norway in 1940.  However, there were earlier panzers desgnated Mk V and Mk VI – the Panzerkampfwagon Neubaufahrzeuge – or, to give it its more manageable abbreviation, the Pz.Kpfw NbFz.  ‘Neubaufahrzeuge’ means ‘new construction vehicle.’  It was a heavy tank made by Rheinmetall and Krupp with a 75mm gun, and in keeping with the panzer designation numbers, the Model A was designated the Pz V and the Model B the Pz VI.  The Bs, or Mk VI variants, were used the Norwegian campaign but they were very unweildy  and slow and were scrapped in 1941.  Because they never went into full production and because they were scrapped, when the Panther and Tiger heavy tanks came out in 1942, they were given the Mk V and VI numbers instead.  Anyway, attached is the original Mk VI, the NbFz Model B.  This photo was taken in Lillehammer in 1940 which is why I included it in the book.

GETTING TO THE PARTY

It was war time. The Germans may not have invaded, but the Blitz had rained hundreds of thousands of bombs on Britain’s cities, bringing destruction on a scale never before witnessed by a civilian population. There was rationing – of food, drink, petrol – of everything, it seemed. Abroad, Britain had suffered one disaster after another: Norway, Dunkirk, the loss of the Channel Islands, Crete, the debacle of Dakar. Her lifeline, the convoys from America, were suffering such losses that Hitler’s promise to slowly strangle Britain into submission looked sure to become a reality.  In short, things were not going well.  The future looked rather bleak. Read more…

I have now posted up three more interviews with Luftwaffe pilots, all of which I did back in May.  Karl Spreitzer, a Stuka pilot in  St.G.2 and Knight’s Cross winner, who saw action in Norway, the Battle of Britain, Greece, Crete, Malta, North Africa and Russia and stacked up a stagging 600+ combat missions.  He was a delightful man, and his memories sharp and clear – but he was ill too.  I sensed he was dying from cancer, and I wonder whether he is still alive.  Johannes Naumann was also a Knight’s Cross winner but a fighter pilot with JG26, flyingunder Adolf Galland. He flew throughout the Battle for France and the Battle of Britain and later was involved in the ‘Channel Dash’ when he shot down and killed Swordfish pilot Euene Esmonde.  Finally, Julius Neumann was also a fighter pilot, but with JG27.  He was shot down over England in August 1940 and became a prisoner of war.  The photgraph of him taken at Victoria Station is one of the more famous to have been taken during this time.  Sadly, only Julius Neumann still has his logbook.  The other two had theirs ‘taken by the Americans’ at the end of the war.  Where they are now is anyone’s guess.

Hajo Herrmann was a former Heinkel 111 and Junkers 88 bomber pilot with III/KG 4 in the Polish campaign, the blitzkrieg in the west and during the Battle of Britain. He was shot down over Dunkirk, escaped to safety and flew many combat missions over England. Later, he flew over Malta and then joined the Luftwaffe General Staff before taking command of his brainchild, the ‘Wilde Sau’ Fw190 night-fighter group in defence of the Reich. At the war’s end he was captured by the Russians and spent ten years as a prisoner in the Soviet Union. On his return to Germany, he became a lawyer.

Hajo Herrmann will be featuring in my new book about the Battle of Britain, but you can find his interview now on the Air Foce section of the Oral History Archive on this site.

Last week and I spent a fascinating few days interviewing former Battle of Britain pilots in Germany and Austria.  As soon as they are all transcribed I shall post them up on the Oral History Archive, but I learnt much from them. 

When I first thought about doing a book about the Battle of Britain from both sides I felt certain that including the German perspective would lead to a very different overall view of the battle, and so far I have not been proved wrong.  Among the things of interest that emerged were the obvious problems of stress and battle fatigue that affected a number of the pilots, and also that the nuisance raids on their airfields by Blenheims of Bomber Command also got under their skin.  There was also a problem of aircraft shortages – one fighter pilot had to wait three weeks after joining his staffel before there was a Me 109 for him to fly. Read more…