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

WALTER SCHUCK Walter Schuck was a jazz fan of the highest order. That derived from the “French days” in the Saar region, when French soldiers had listened to American Jazz music. Later, Schuck heard Jazz on French radio. This however was not entirely easy in a Germany marked by Gleichschaltung, including the very conservative cul­ tural policy. Jazz records were more or less impossible to get hold on in Germany. But in the Netherlands with its liberal traditions - even though it was occupied by the Germans - it was different. Filled with enthusiasm, Schuck went in and out of the small Dutch radio stores and bought as many Jazz records as possible. Within a short space of time, he had amassed a collection of over one hundred Jazz and Blues records. These included records by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Fletcher Hen­ derson, Robert Johnson - artists who were not seen with pleasure in the Third Reich. But Schuck could not care less. He was happy to play his records until late in the evenings, much to the despair of many of his mates. Towards the end of the summer of 1941, the unit experienced the first encounters with the enemy. It was clear that following the failed German air offensive against the British Isles and the withdrawal of most of the Luftwaffe to the Eastern Front, the RAF intended to go on the offensive. On 12 August 1941, the RAF unex­ pectedly sent several bomber formations roaming across the Netherlands on low level, escorted by a large num­ ber of Spitfires. Oberstleutnant Adolf Galland’s famous JG 26 “Schlageter” rose to intercept the British planes, and in the rugged fighting which followed, they reported the shooting down of ten British planes against one own loss. Eight days after this incident, some pilots from Graf von Sponeck’s Staffel were scrambled against a new intrusion. Afterward, one of the pilots, Leutnant Joa­ chim Kirschner, landed to report his first victory. RAF 66 Squadron’s Sergeant A. Parsons failed to return from that mission. Already the next day, 21 August, some of Graf von Sponeck’s pilots clashed with Spitfires of No. 130 Squadron, resulting in Unteroffizier Werner Schu­ macher shooting the Spitfire of Pilot Officer William Roy Bloyce into the sea; another of the Spitfires fell vic­ tim to Flak. On 29 August, a scrap between twin-en- gined Me 110s of II./ZG 76 and Spitfires cost RAF No. 19 Squadron a loss of four pilots. Meanwhile, the British carried out regular nocturnal bombings of German cities. At around this time, Schuck had his first encounter with the enemy. Together with Feldwebel Franz Dorr, Schuck was conducting an early dawn patrol over the coast, when he spotted a multi-en- gined aircraft which flew very low above the grey waves below. The aircraft, which was flying towards the west, proved to be a four-engined bomber. Identifying it as a Handley-Page Halifax, the two German pilots immedi­ ately dived down and attacked. Schuck’s first burst of lead hit the bomber’s starboard wing, and it started to emit a white trail of leaking fluid. Then Schuck pulled up to avoid the rear gunner, who was sending his unpleas­ ant greeting at the German planes. Performing a wide loop, Schuck came back after the bomber. With the throttle handle slammed forward, he managed to reduce the distance to the escaping bomber quickly. Within fir­ ing range again, he aimed at the right pair of engines. He was determined not to hit the crew. Just as he was about to open fire, he heard Dorr in his earphones: “My oil pressure is rising!” Rising oil pressure could be quite dangerous above the sea, and there was no alternative than to return to base. Schuck wanted to shoot down this bomber, which had spread death and terror in a German city, but he also knew that he had to escort his mate home. Having the pair of engines of the Halifax in the mid­ dle of the haircross of his gunsight, Schuck squeezed both the triggers on the stick. The two cannons and two machine guns sent a deadly hailstorm against the Halifax. Schuck saw the bomber’s starboard wing catch fire, and as he passed by slightly above, he noticed that the outer engine was feathered. Then he turned to fol­ low his mate back to base. He was not able to establish whether the Halifax crashed or if it managed to limp back home. We don’t know if Generalleutnant Graf von Sponeck pulled some strings, but shortly after the RAF intrusions over the Netherlands started to become regular, Erg/JG 3 was shifted to Denmark, where the air was quieter. On 8 September 1941, the Me 109s landed at Esbjerg’s aerodrome, the unit’s new base. Apart from his precious record collection, Schuck brought along his phonograph and a large number of reserve needle pickups; one never knew where to find such in a country like Denmark. By this time, the Danish airspace was almost com­ pletely left undisturbed by the RAF. However, by pure coincidence, when the British at night time on 13 Octo­ ber 1941 sent a small group of Wellingtons against Denmark, they targeted Esbjerg’s harbour, hitting the slaughterhouse area. Feldwebel Franz Dorr, even was reported to have shot down a bomber. But otherwise, Denmark in 1941 was a tranquile to German fliers as had it been in peacetime. Schuck and his mates continued to fly and practise, and soon their experience justified them to regard them­ selves as full-blown masters on the Me 109. Meanwhile, the offensive on the Eastern Front stalled in the face of stiffening Soviet resistance. In early December 1941, the Red Army pushed back the Germans at the gates of Moscow. On the extreme southern flank of the Eastern Front, Generalleutnant Graf von Sponeck commanded the XXXXII Army Corps of the 11th Army at Kerch on the eastern tip of the Crimean Peninsula. On 26 Decem­ ber 1941, the Soviets made a landing near Feodosiya on Crimea’s southern coast, in the rear of the XXXXII Army Corps. Without awaiting instructions from the 11th Army headquarters, Generalleutnant Graf von Spo­ neck instructed his troops to withdraw in order to save them from annihilation. T