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

WALTER SCHUCK О ENCOUNTER WITH REICHSKOMMISSAR TERBOVEN After another two or three days, Schuck was instructed to go to Bardufoss in Norway where he would receive treatment from an expert dentist. He took off in a Fi 156 Storch to fly to Bardufoss. As he flew away, he saw a sight which symbolised the end of Germany’s presence in Finland. In Salmijarvi, a huge factory chimney was blown up as the Germans destroyed the industrial facil­ ities as part of their newly commenced scorched earth tactic. While in Bardufoss, where a professor who had arrived from Oslo, made a tooth extraction and removed the shrapnel from Schuck’s tooth root, the news arrived that Schuck on 30 September 1944 had been awarded with the Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross. After his convalescence, Schuck was to report to Reichsmarschall Goring in Berlin for the award ceremony. The dentists at the clinic in Bardufoss became so enthusiastic that they created a silver oak leave which they attached to Schuck’s Knight’s Cross. While Schuck recovered from the surgical operation, General Josef Kammhuber was removed from his posi­ tion as C-in-C of the Luftwaffe in Norway and northern Finland. Kammhuber, a creative man with many new ideas, had repeatedly clashed with the top echelon of the Third Reich. For this he had been sacked from his previ­ ous position as commander of the night fighter force, and now his outspoken attitude again resulted in his removal from a command position. But before Kammhuber flew to Germany, where he simply was placed in the “Luft­ waffe reserve,” he held a farewell dinner for a selected group of Luftwaffe officers. One of those who became invited to this dinner was Leutnant Schuck. The staff officers looked wide-eyed at the boyish little Leutnant whom General Kammhuber placed on his left hand side at the table. Later Kammhuber was elevated to become General Plenipotentiary of the Luftwaffe for Jet Air­ craft. After the war, he was appointed the first inspector of the new Bundesluftwaffe. Fully recovered after the surgical operation, Schuck flew to the Norwegian capital Oslo in late October, where he was instructed to report to Kammhuber’s suc­ cessor as commander of the Luftwaffe forces in Nor­ way, Generalmajor Eduard Ritter von Schleich. Known as the “Black Knight,” von Schleich was a living leg­ end. He was a First World War fighter ace, and had been awarded with the Pour le Merite (“Blue Max”) for 35 air victories. Generalmajor Ritter von Schleich intro­ duced Schuck to Reichskommissar Josef Terboven, the self-willing administrator and head of the German occu­ pation of Norway. By this time, Terboven had just signed the orders which called for an immediate implementation ofHitler’s orders to burn the whole Norwegian Finnmark region - including Kirkenes, Vardo and Vadso - in accordance with the scorched earth tactic. The Reichskommissar was feared among both the subdued Norwegian popula- T