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

WALTER SCHUCK Petsamo, 30 November 1942. 8./JG 5 ’s Feldwebel Hein- B f 109s o f III./JG 5 at Petsamo, winter 1942/1943. rich Bartels (centre) has received the Knight's Cross. Walter Schuck is seen to the left and "Jockel”Norz to the right in the photo. ered himself with four, five or even six rugs. Still he often woke up in the small hours, shivering with cold. A young soldier arrived at around six in the morning to put new coke to the stove so that the pilots could get up at all. Still, Schuck enjoyed the winter. He never got used to the never-ending midsummer sun which deprived him o f his sleep, and felt a relief when winter arrived. On occasion, the men could admire a peculiar sight in the sky - the northern lights. Not even the storm which raged in late November made Schuck change his mind about the winter. Even a slight breeze was freezing in the Polar winter. The storm sent every­ one else inside, but Schuck enjoyed dressing in a thick leather coat and he challenged the Polar wind by walking against the wind direction. After such a walk, he felt relieved. The airfield was kept operational through several measures. Day and night, two or three tractors drove slowly up and down the runway. Each tractor was equipped with a heavy roll which flattened the snow so the Me 109s could take off. The problem with the cold was, as far as the aircraft engines were concerned, solved by thinning down the lubricating oil with gasoline. This, nevertheless, gave the running engines a terribly loud, jarring sound. When the temperature went really low, hot air from a stove was continually led into the closed down engines through a hose. + When the Polar storm had settled in early December, Luftflotte 5 sent out its units to reconnoitre the Sovi­ et-controlled area. On one of those missions on Decem­ ber 2, Leutnant Guido Erber of 9./JG 5 was lost. He bailed out of his blazing Me 109 F-4, “Yellow 6,” and ended up in Soviet captivity. The Soviets continued to press their Allies for more Lend Lease deliveries, and on 15 December the reluc­ tant British sent the next convoy from Iceland, JW-51A. Consisted of only sixteen freighters, this convoy, much smaller in size than the PQ convoys of 1941 and 1942, set the standard for the rest of the war. Sailing under com­ plete darkness, the ships managed to reach Murmansk on 25 December without being detected by German air reconnaissance. In order to forestall any planned air attacks against the ships, which started unloading in Murmansk, the Soviets undertook a series of counteractions on 26 December, and this caused the air war in the Far North to flare up. Planes from the Air Army 7 VA attacked the aerodrome at Kemijarvi, destroying four of l.(H)/32’s Fw 189s. At the front, the Soviets meanwhile opened an artillery barrage against the southern flank of Ger­ man XIX Mountain Corps. This reinforced German fears for an upcoming Soviet offensive in the area. In consequence, it was decided to cancel the first of the T