Every war is a terrible grief for any nation that it affects in one way or another. Throughout its history, mankind has known many wars, two of which were world wars. The First World War almost completely destroyed Europe and led to the fall of some large empires, such as the Russian and Austro-Hungarian. But even more terrible in its scale was the Second World War, in which many countries from almost all over the world were involved. Millions of people died, and even more were left without a roof over their heads. This terrible event still affects modern man in one way or another. Its echoes can be found throughout our lives. This tragedy left behind a lot of mysteries, disputes over which have not subsided for decades. The Soviet Union, which was not yet fully strengthened from the revolution and civil wars and was only building up its military and civilian industry, took on the heaviest burden in this battle not for life, but for death. Irreconcilable rage and a desire to fight the invaders who encroached on the territorial integrity and freedom of the proletarian state settled in the hearts of people. Many went to the front voluntarily. At the same time, the evacuated industrial capacities were reorganizedfor the production of products for the needs of the front. The struggle took on the scale of a truly popular one. That is why it is called the Great Patriotic War.
Who are aces?
Both the German and Soviet armies were well trained and equipped with equipment, aircraft and other weapons. The personnel numbered in the millions. The collision of these two war machines gave birth to its heroes and its traitors. One of those who can rightfully be considered heroes are the aces of World War II. Who are they and why are they so famous? An ace can be considered a person who has achieved such heights in his field of activity that few people managed to conquer. And even in such a dangerous and terrible business as the military, there have always been professionals. Both the USSR and the allied forces, and Nazi Germany, had people who showed the best results in terms of the number of destroyed enemy equipment or manpower. This article will tell about these heroes.
The list of World War II aces is extensive and includes many famous personalities for their exploits. They were an example for the whole nation, they were adored, admired.
World War II air aces
Aviation is without a doubt one of the most romantic, but at the same time dangerous branches of the military. Since any technique can fail at any moment, the pilot's work is considered very honorable. It requires iron restraint, discipline, the ability to control oneself in any situation. Therefore, aviation aces were treated with great respect. After all, being able to showa good result in such conditions, when your life depends not only on technology, but also on yourself, is the highest degree of military art. So, who are the aces of World War II, and why are their exploits so famous?
Soviet aces pilots
One of the most productive Soviet aces pilots was Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub. Officially, during his service on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, he shot down 62 German aircraft, and he is also credited with 2 American fighters, which he destroyed at the end of the war. This record-breaking pilot served in the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment and flew the La-7 plane.
The second most successful during the war was Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin (who was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union three times). He fought in southern Ukraine, in the Black Sea region, liberated Europe from the Nazis. During his service he shot down 59 enemy aircraft. He did not stop flying even when he was appointed commander of the 9th Guards Aviation Division, and won some of his air victories already in this position.
Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev is one of the most famous military pilots, who set a record - 4 sorties for one destroyed aircraft. In total, during his military service, he destroyed 57 enemy aircraft. Awarded twice the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Kirill Alekseevich Evstigneev also had a high result. He shot down 55 German aircraft. Kozhedub, who happened to serve for some time with Evstigneev in the same regiment,spoke very respectfully of this pilot.
Dmitry Borisovich Glinka is also a Soviet ace. He destroyed 50 enemy aircraft in 100 sorties. Awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union twice.
As you can see, the Soviet aces of the Second World War knew how to fight and did it courageously and selflessly.
Allied Aces
But the aces of the allied aviation had very good performance. Many brave pilots can be singled out among them, but in terms of performance they still fall short of the Soviet Falcons.
Major Richard Bong had a list of victories, which included 40 downed enemy vehicles. He is one of the most productive Allied pilots. After the war, Bong became a test pilot, but died while testing a new F-80 aircraft after failing to parachute out of it after the aircraft's engine failed.
British Johnson James shot down 34 enemy vehicles during the war years. He commanded one of the aircraft strike groups during the Normandy landings in 1944. He began fighting in March 1943, flying Spitfire fighters.
American pilot Major Thomas McGuire shot down 38 enemy planes. He was awarded many American awards, including the Congressional Medal of Honor. Killed in action near Los Negros Island at the age of 24. This happened on January 7, 1945.
Frenchman Pierre Klostermann won 30 victories in the air, and also destroyed a large number of ground equipment - locomotives, cars and trucks. Already at the age of 24, he was able to achieve the rank of colonel of aviation, in which he graduatedwar.
German aces
Aces of the Luftwaffe of the Second World War are deservedly considered the most productive pilots in history. One of them even became the champion of the Guinness Book of Records. Who was this brave pilot?
The most famous German ace of the Second World War and at the same time the man who set an unbeaten record for the number of downed aircraft by anyone is Erich Hartmann. On his combat account, there are 352 downed enemy aircraft, and more than half of the victories he won over fighters (260). Hartmann flew the Messerschmitt Bf 109G exclusively and said it was the best aircraft he had ever seen. At the end of the war, he surrendered to the Americans, who gave him to the Soviet troops. The result was almost 10 years of imprisonment in the camps, but Erich managed to return to his wife and children and died at an advanced age. The record set by him is truly amazing, because none of the Soviet or allied aces could achieve such an impressive result.
Hans-Joachim Marcel is a German pilot who fought mainly in Africa. During his military service, and it was short, he shot down a total of 158 American and British aircraft. Crashed in the desert, when approaching his airfield, after successfully completing a combat mission, and this happened due to a malfunction in the aircraft. Buried with great honors.
Gerhard Buckhorn is another German ace. On his combat account 301 aircraft. Buckhorn has been hit hard several times.injuries, because, in addition to a combat pilot, he was also a test pilot, in particular, he flew around the world's first jet fighter Me-262. After the war, he was engaged in testing aircraft for the restored German Air Force.
But were the German aces of the Second World War in aviation really so professional that they could single-handedly destroy the number of aircraft comparable to three air divisions? In many ways, their success is due to the rather poor flight training of Soviet pilots. The USSR at the beginning of the war lost about 1200 aircraft, which affected the state of all aviation. Naturally, along with the planes, people who knew how to fly also died. Under such conditions, accelerated flight courses were quickly organized, which were able to restore the number of pilots, but at the expense of quality. For example, the average flight time of a Soviet pilot at the school was 13-34 hours, while the Germans had a similar figure of about 400 hours. In addition, the German air combat tactics at the beginning of the war were head and shoulders above the Russian. Toward the end of hostilities, the situation changed in the opposite direction.
As we can see, the ace pilots of the Second World War showed really impressive results. But they were not the only ones famous for their exploits. What other military branches gave the world famous masters of military craft?
World War II tank aces
Armored troops are no less important in the course of hostilities. Tankers have always been very brave soldiers. Since there are many ways to destroy a tank,it is easy to guess that danger lay in wait for them everywhere. Nevertheless, tankers have always fought valiantly for the ideals of their country and no doubt gave their lives for them. And, of course, among them were the famous aces of World War II.
Soviet tank aces
The most famous Soviet tank master is Dmitry Lavrinenko, who boasted a personal combat score of 52 enemy tanks. This soldier fought the enemy in the famous T-34, which was one of the symbols of that war.
Another famous Soviet tanker of World War II - Zinovy Kolobanov. His feat was included in many textbooks and books, as he was able to destroy 22 German tanks in one battle (this is the second most result in the history of tank battles of World War II).
But, despite the fact that the tank troops were among the most numerous in the Soviet army, for some reason the USSR did not have aces tankers of the Second World War. Why this is so is unknown. It is logical to assume that many personal scores were deliberately overestimated or underestimated, so it is not possible to name the exact number of victories of the aforementioned tank battle masters.
German tank aces
But the German tank aces of World War II have a much longer track record. This is largely due to the pedantry of the Germans, who strictly documented everything, and they had much more time to fight than their Soviet "colleagues". Active actions of the German armystarted leading back in 1939.
German tanker 1 is Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann. He fought on many tanks (Stug III, Tiger I) and destroyed 138 vehicles during the entire war, as well as 132 self-propelled artillery installations of various enemy countries. For his successes he was repeatedly awarded various orders and signs of the Third Reich. Killed in action in 1944 in France.
You can also highlight such a tank ace as Otto Carius. For those who are somehow interested in the history of the development of the tank forces of the Third Reich, the book of his memoirs "Tigers in the Mud" will be very useful. During the war years, this man destroyed 150 Soviet and American self-propelled guns and tanks.
Kurt Knispel is another record-breaking tanker. He knocked out 168 tanks and self-propelled guns of the enemy for his military service. About 30 cars are unconfirmed, which does not allow him to catch up with Wittmann in terms of results. Knispel was killed in battle near the village of Vostits in Czechoslovakia, in 1945.
In addition, Karl Bromann had good results - 66 tanks and self-propelled guns, Ernst Barkmann - 66 tanks and self-propelled guns, Erich Mausberg - 53 tanks and self-propelled guns.
As you can see from these results, both the Soviet and German tank aces of World War II knew how to fight. Of course, the quantity and quality of Soviet combat vehicles was an order of magnitude higher than that of the Germans, however, as practice has shown, both of them were used quite successfully and became the basis for some post-war models of tanks.
But the list of military branches in which their masters distinguished themselves does not end there. Let's talk a little aboutasah-submariners.
Masters of submarine warfare
As well as in the case of aircraft and tanks, the most successful are the German sailors. During the years of its existence, the Kriegsmarine submariners sank 2603 ships of the allied countries, the total displacement of which reaches 13.5 million tons. This is a truly impressive number. And the German submarine aces of World War II could also boast of impressive personal scores.
The most productive German submariner is Otto Kretschmer, who has 44 ships, including 1 destroyer. The total displacement of the ships sunk by him is 266629 tons.
The second place goes to Wolfgang Luth, who sent 43 enemy ships to the bottom (and according to other sources - 47) with a total displacement of 225712 tons.
Gunther Prien was also a famous sea ace, who even managed to sink the British battleship Royal Oak. This was one of the first officers to receive oak leaves for the Knight's Cross. Prien destroyed 30 ships. Killed in 1941 during an attack on a British convoy. He was so popular that his death was hidden from the people for two months. And on the day of his funeral, mourning was declared throughout the country.
Such successes of the German sailors are also quite understandable. The fact is that Germany began a naval war back in 1940, with a blockade of Britain, thus hoping to undermine its maritime greatness and, taking advantage of this, to carry out a successful capture of the islands. However, very soon the plans of the Nazis were thwarted, as America entered the war with itslarge and powerful fleet.
Did the Soviet Union have aces among submariners?
The most famous Soviet submarine sailor is Alexander Marinesko. He sank only 4 ships, but what! Heavy passenger liner "Wilhelm Gustloff", transport "General von Steuben", as well as 2 units of heavy floating batteries "Helene" and "Siegfried". For his exploits, Hitler put the sailor on the list of personal enemies. But the fate of Marinesko did not work out well. He fell out of favor with the Soviet authorities and died, and his exploits were no longer talked about. The great sailor received the Hero of the Soviet Union award only posthumously in 1990. Unfortunately, many aces of the USSR of the Second World War ended their lives in a similar way.
Also famous submariners of the Soviet Union are Ivan Travkin - sank 13 ships, Nikolai Lunin - also 13 ships, Valentin Starikov - 14 ships. But Marinesko topped the list of the best submariners of the Soviet Union, as he caused the greatest damage to the German navy.
Accuracy and ste alth
Well, how can we not remember such famous fighters as snipers? Here the Soviet Union takes the well-deserved palm from Germany. Soviet sniper aces of World War II had very high service records. In many respects, such results were achieved thanks to the mass state training of the civilian population in shooting from various weapons. About 9 million people were awarded the Voroshilovsky shooter badge. So, what are the most famous snipers?
The name of Vasily Zaitsev frightened the Germans and inspired courage in the Soviet soldiers. This ordinary guy, a hunter, killed 225 Wehrmacht soldiers from his Mosin rifle in just a month of fighting near Stalingrad. Among the outstanding sniper names are Fedor Okhlopkov, who (for the entire war) accounted for about a thousand Nazis; Semyon Nomokonov, who killed 368 enemy soldiers. There were also women among the snipers. An example of this is the famous Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who fought near Odessa and Sevastopol.
German snipers are less known, although in Germany since 1942 there were several sniper schools that were engaged in professional training. Among the most successful German shooters are Matthias Hetzenauer (345 killed), Josef Allerberger (257 destroyed), Bruno Sutkus (209 soldiers shot dead). Also a famous sniper from the countries of the Hitlerite bloc is Simo Hayha - this Finn killed 504 Red Army soldiers during the war years (according to unconfirmed reports).
The main weapon of any marksman was a Mosin rifle with a telescopic sight, but, depending on the situation, SVT was also used. In addition to the main features of their weapons, they also studied the disciplines necessary for survival - ste alth, the ability to wait, to be completely still, as well as orienteering.
Thus, the sniper training of the Soviet Union was immeasurably higher than that of the German troops, which allowed Soviet soldiers to wear the proud title of aces of World War II.
How did you become aces?
So, the concept of "ace of World War II"quite extensive. As already mentioned, these people achieved truly impressive results in their work. This was achieved not only due to good army training, but also due to outstanding personal qualities. After all, for a pilot, for example, coordination and quick reaction are very important, for a sniper - the ability to wait for the right moment to sometimes fire a single shot.
Accordingly, it is impossible to determine who had the best aces of World War II. Both sides committed unparalleled heroism, which made it possible to single out individuals from the general mass. But one could become a master only by training hard and improving one's combat skills, since war does not tolerate weakness. Of course, the dry lines of statistics will not be able to convey to a modern person all the hardships and hardships that war professionals experienced during their formation on an honorary pedestal.
We, the generation that lives without knowing such terrible things, should not forget about the exploits of our predecessors. They can become an inspiration, a reminder, a memory. And we must try to do everything to ensure that such terrible events as past wars do not happen again.
