Rybin, Y. Luftwaffe ace Walter Schuck researched / Christer Bergstrom, Yuriy Rybin. - Sweden : [s. l.], 2019. - 190 p. : ill.

WALTER SCHUCK Petsamo, spring 1944: III./JG 5 ’s Me 109 G-6, “Yellow 5”, is prepared to take o ff at the planked runway. who sat on each of the general’s sides, were served good meat, white bread and butter. But Oberfeldwebel Schuck was placed at the end of the table and received nothing but bread and marmalade. General Schulz demanded that Schuck’s Knight’s Cross award should be celebrated with the base’s best brandy, and the base commander was eager to demon­ strate just how richly equipped his base was. This time, Schuck was more careful with the quantities of alcohol - which nevertheless could not be said concerning the base commander. In the small hours, the base com­ mander was more or less inconscious. Thus struck the hour of revenge. Two NCOs grabbed the base commander and carried him to his room. They put him in bed and then covered him with foam from a fire extinguisher. When they saw that the base commander did not wake up, one of them got a wild idea. He had discovered that the base com­ mander had an open stove, which was not permitted due to safety reasons. One of the NCOs “arranged” a small explosive device which he tied to a rope. He climbed up on the roof of the base commander’s small hut and care­ fully hung the rope with the explosive device down the stove pipe. Then he jumped down on the ground again. The second man lit the stove and dashed out. When General Schulz paid Schuck farewell before Schuck departed for the railway station next morning, he asked the fresh Knight’s Cross holder if he had heard the explosion in the night. “I think it was the base commander’s stove which exploded,” said the general. “I have told him that he should not have an open stove. Luckily, no one was hurt.” The train took Schuck to Helsinki, where Haupt­ mann Jung had arranged a seat aboard a Finnish DC-3 civil airliner which flew to Berlin. This time he just passed through Berlin. He had told his girlfriend that as long as the war went on, he would neither marry, nor get engaged; Schuck did not wish to contribute to creating another widow. Schuck spent eighteen days at home. Although much was the same, he could feel that there was something in the air which was different. One of the outspoken old ladies in the street was more outspoken than ever. When she was told that “young Herr Schuck” had been awarded with the Knight’s Cross, she exclaimed so that everyone could hear: “A Knight’s Cross? Is that something you can eat? Just wait and see - next time he will be awarded with a wooden cross!” T