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

WALTER SCHUCK FACTS 6 THE RARE FATE OF KAPITAN MIKHAIL PROTAS Kapitan Mikhail Protas of 36 MTAP performed his last combat mission on 27 September 1944, when he was shot down by Walter Schuck. There is little doubt that he actually was shot down by Schuck. Contrary to Schuck’s assumption, Protas was not the Soviet attack leader, but flew his photo reconnaissance A-20 alone at an altitude of 5,500 metres, while the rest of the Soviet aircraft flew at between 2,900 and 3,400 metres altitude. Among six “Bostons” claimed shot down by the German fighters during the operation on 27 September 1944, only one - the one which was registered as Schuck’s 170th victory - was recorded at 5,500 metres altitude. The others were scored at between 1,200 and 3,000 metres altitude. Mikhail Ivanovich Protas has a quite remarkable personal history. It is possible that Schuck by shooting him down saved him from a severe punishment. In fact, by that time, Protas was subject to an investigation by a military court. On 21 September 1944, Kapitan Protas returned triumphantly from a free hunting sortie with his Douglas A-20 torpedo bomber over the Norwegian coast. He reported that he had attacked and sunk an enemy submarine. However, it soon turned out that the submarine which Protas had destroyed was the Soviet Ts-402! When his A-20 was shot down by Schuck over Vadso on 27 September 1944, only Protas managed to bail out. The other two members of the crew were killed when the A-20 exploded. Protas managed to escape detection by the German troops, and approached a Norwegian civilian who promised to hide him in his house. Nevertheless, two days later a German patrol arrived to the house and captured the Soviet airman. In October 1944, Protas and all other Soviet PoWs were evacuated from the region, and eventually he was transported on a ship to a PoW camp in Germany. On 6 May 1945 he and the other prisoners at PoW Camp 1046 in Karlsbad (today’s Karlovy Vary) were liberated by American troops. Returning home, Protas was relieved to find that his unfortunate attack against a Soviet submarine seemed to have been forgotten. He was rehabilitated and returned to flying duty, serving with the torpedo aviation of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. But the Soviet secret service had not forgotten about Protas. A new case was opened against him. This time he was accused of having acted “passively” during his time of captivity in Germany - the main charge against him being that he had not participated in the PoW Camp’s Anti-Fascist Organisation. Thus, in April 1946, Protas was discharged from the Communist Party, and in 1948 he was dismissed from the Armed Forces. Parts o fKapitan Mikhail Protas’s Douglas A-20G, which was shot down by Walter Schuck on 27 Sep­ tember 1944, still lie scattered around Falkgarden near Vadso. Kapitan Mikhail Protas. T