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

WALTER SCHUCK uniform and rifle. The C.O. received him and said: “Take off your helmet, put away your rifle and sit down.” Then he continued in a fatherly tone: “Gefreiter Schuck, this is a sad story. I can’t have half my personnel court-martialled, so I will have the whole case dropped. But I think you can understand that you will have to receive some kind of punishment. All the pilot trainers know what you have done. What you know you have to forget. Report to the commander of the Schiilerkompanie tomorrow morning. He will give you a suitable punishment. Then you have to forget everything.” Quite content, Schuck left the C.O.’s office. The next morning he reported to a very strained Oberleutnant, who gave Schuck five days of detention. Walter Schuck looked forward to five quite easy days when he reported to the detention sergeant. But the sergeant in charge of the detention centre proved to be an outright sadist. Each day he subjected the convicts to his form of physical exercise: Inside the detention barrack there was a 25-metre running track, and the sergeant had them run it up and down until they were totally exhausted. One day the sergeant had an idea. “Let’s play a game,” he said: “Buttock bashing!” This “game” simply consisted of everyone standing in row to smack the buttock of one, who bent over and was held firmly by one man on a chair. The meaning of the “game” was that the victim would guess who had hit him the last time. When he succeeded in guessing the identity of the striker, it was the striker’s turn to bend over and receive the beating. This kind of bullying of defenceless soldiers sounds weird today, and of course it was not allowed in a deten­ tion centre for German soldiers. However, in those days the practise of “buttock bashing” was a not uncommon traditional penalty in the German armed forces. See for instance the memoirs of German fighter pilot Peter Dtitt- mann, Wir kampften in einsamen Hohen”. Among the convicts was a huge guy with arms like a gorilla. He was suspected for manslaughter, and was kept in the detention centre while the investigation was being made. When it was Schuck’s turn to bend over as victim, the suspected killer thought it would be funny to strike this tiny little guy - the smallest among all the convicts - with all his force. The strike hit Schuck with such force that he was flung, head forward, into the man on the chair. The whole world was filled with pain and Schuck saw stars before his eyes. The suspected killer was roaring with laughter as Schuck finally came on his feet, and with a groggy look pointed out the perpetrator. The human gorilla bent forward and was still gig­ gling as the others started bashing him with some cau­ tion. “I can’t feel anything! When will you start?” the human gorilla yelled, mocking everyone. Then it was Walter Schuck’s turn. He had nothing but revenge in his mind, and it was spurred by the “goril­ la’s” scorn. When Schuck struck, he twisted his hand rapidly, describing a bow in the air, and hit the gorilla right on his right kidney. It was a terrible blow. Roaring like an injured beast, the “gorilla” flung himself onto his feet, hurling the poor man on the chair onto the floor, and twisted around. With a fierce look on his face, he stared at the gathered men and screamed: “Who did that? Who the hell did that? I swear I will kill him!” Everyone was laughing, but when the gorilla started to threaten them, the laughters stopped. Fearing that he might get the blame, one of the convicts pointed out Schuck. By that time, the guards had brought forward their arms and kept the “gorilla” and Schuck apart. When the “gorilla” was brought back to his cell, Schuck could hear him scream: “I will kill you! By God, I swear that I will kill you!” The next day, Schuck blatantly refused to leave his cell. He did not even go to the lunch room. It didn’t mat­ ter that the sergeant threatened to have him reported for insubordination, Schuck refused. That afternoon, some of Schuck’s friends called him from outside his barred window. They asked if they could do anything for him. That came just in time! Schuck asked them to go into his room and fetch the chocolate bars which he had brought from Prague dur­ ing a flight to that city only a couple of days previously. Thanks to those chocolate bars, Schuck was saved from starving during the last days in detention. When he was released, Schuck was called to report to the C.O. again. “Gefreiter Schuck, I don’t know what’s the mat­ ter with you,” said the C.O. “First you show clearly above-average flight skills and you earn your ‘wings’ long before anyone else in your course. Then suddenly you turn into the regiment’s black sheep. You go berserk in an aircraft, then you threaten to report your Ober­ leutnant to the military court, and now you have refused to obey the detention sergeant’s orders. I demand an explanation!” Schuck had no choice but to tell the commander the whole story of the bullying and the death threats he had receiced in the detention centre. As a result, the deten­ tion sergeant was immediately dismissed from his duty. But Schuck also had to leave. “As I figure you can understand,” said the C.O., “you are not exactly popular among some people here. I can’t have you remaining here while we wait for a place for you at a С school. I will have your papers arranged immediately, and then you will be transferred to any combat flight school with a free place.” That was how Walter Schuck missed the training to a reconnaissance pilot at a С school and instead was sent to a fighter pilot school. T