My grandpa flew in the Luftwaffe. Until he got shot down by a Spitfire over the Libyan Desert in June 1942. Got captured by the British and ended up in England as a POW where he married my grandma - an English lady.
Dan Houlder My father was killed by a dive bomber on June 14 1942 in the Battle of Gazala. My mother however never felt any animosity towards the Germans and I spent two happy years in Germany as a mechanic in the RAF in 1959. A sad time but there were brave men on all sides.
Makes me wonder about all those untold stories out there, of guys who went through so much yet had no one to tell their stories when they died. Love this stuff. It's good to see people documenting history like this.
+Daniel Griggs All too true - there is something that makes some of them want to forget, but they never can forget the hell they've been through. My uncle went through Italy and then D-Day and it scarred him for life; his son accompanied him to the one unit reunion he went to, and a veteran came up and introduced himself. when he found out who my cousin's father was, he began telling him how my uncle saved his life in Italy. My uncle rushed over and whisked him away before he could hear the story - it was never mentioned again and my cousin never heard anything from his father about the war. A highly decorated man, but all he wanted to do was forget.
it was one of the few theatres of the war where their was respect on both sides. If you where captured you where well treated by both sides. Also the British and commonwealth soldiers had a great respect for Rommel due to is brilliance as commander which they appreciated
john lewis Although if you were an ally captured by an SS group, you were in for a real bad time. Apparently most SS shot pilots as soon as they found them.
Most of the "replies" are not addressing the original comment. They deliberately go off point to vent. My father was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. I never heard him express any hatred towards the Japanese.
bd C They were all soldiers doing their duty, no questions asked. Guess that's why they respected each other. Same with the German army, the Wehrmacht (but not the fanatics like SS and Gestapo), they won the respect of the allied forces when the war ended. Important to say that it is from a historical point of view, and not in any way defending nazism. By the way, your father must have a lot to tell (if he is still here, of course).
DevilTrigger Americans where noble as well there’s a story of American soldiers in Berlin giving coke and camel cigarettes to the captured German soldiers and they could hear gun shots going off from Russians Executing German soldiers.... Erich Hartmann with 351 kills best Luftwaffe pilot at the end of the war purposefully surrendered to the yanks instead of the soviets I am Canadian but Americans get way to much hate man some men are noble some are not not all British soldiers where noble not all Americans not all Russian not all German it depends on the individual
@DevilTrigger The pilot who shot him down wasn't British. He was shot down by Captain DB Hauptfleisch of the South African Air Force. Both pilots became friends after the war.
He was an ardent Nazi. He tells that he was classified so upon arriving at the POW camp. He does not deny it. In other clips he justifies the invasion of Poland with one of the propaganda incidents Hitler concocted. He shows no remorse and no understanding of the war and the dark force of Naziism.
@@Craigx71 Your comment makes no sense in relation to this thread. However, I have watched every one of the doctor's interviews and payed attention. He quite clearly expresses his Nazi sentiment, first as I related above about his classification as a hard core Nazi, and later his apologia for the false premises for invading Poland.
I suppose he was nearly 90 years old. A good age to pass away. I knew for my self an old pal flewing an He-111 in the Kg-26, he was one of our dropping pilots when i was younger and a skydiver and he knew some good storys to tell. He died maybe ten years ago with an age nearly 90 years old. And he was a real good pilot. Instead of him i fly the same airplane, i'm a dropping pilot now, but i will never be a good pilot as he was. Never...
I had the honor to meet this man in person, year 2000, Cape Town. 80 years old, he stood tall and gave us 1,5 hour lecture about war, airplanes and his capture in North Africa. Rest in peace, Heinz, you are well remembered by those who attended the meeting.
ProVisions3187: That's a lot of crap! Don't you think, old British, American, Spanish, French, and pilots of many other nations, couldn't tell equally good stories ?
Yes,you are correct. Had these men been alive today in numbers they would have prevented the likes of Merkel turning Germany into a multicultural shithole!!! We need their type nowadays!!!
Great story! First Stuka pilot encounter for me! They were human after all ! They rained so much hell and destruction on so much innocent humanity, with their relentless bombings and screaming sirens, that they had become so impersonal to me, almost like a “built in” part of the airplane but there you have it, not a devil at all, but, putting aside great surges of emotions to the contrary, l find a living, breathing, rather charming, at times comical, and warm hearted person! What great mysteries we humans truly are! Great Video! Thanks!
great story! i love how he said the brit pilot was a gentlemen and let me land to be captured. its great to see that even in such a horrible war they still had some respect for one-another.
interesting to contemplate that the stuka ju-87's were like the most iconic aircraft from this war, yet by 1942 they were largely obsolete due 2 their low speed...operating in places were the germans did not have air superiority they were shot down in great numbers..
Thank you for posting this. There really is nothing in the world that can drive away the darkness of ignorance like the light of a first person account.
The Luftwaffe was dedicated to stop the slaughter of Germen civilian after all I was one of them. Millions who were killed what a holocaust that was. I was born 1942 august learned to fly in Australia and my CFI was a man that dropped bombes on me on the 22 September 1944. 500 lb penetrated to the cellar but did no go off that's why at 18 he and I got rotten drunk. Made him and me feel better lot of tears flowed that night.
I admire and respect these men, and I am pleased to know that many have survived, but unfortunately few have left us their stories. The Luftwaffe pilots were only soldiers doing their duty to their homeland, and they were always heroic in doing so, like their RAF and USAF congeneres.
Nobody can judge veterans like this man is. Cuz nobody was there. Today everybody believes what medias and western documanteries saying, but dont forget that history is written by winners. Only veterans knows the real story.
+KAIROA '''Hollywod is a Jew Industry, so all their movies are about been persucutedd. and they have to be the good guys Whupping the bad guys in all their stuff,.@ the Jews allways have too win influences right through the movie and television industrys.
So I guess there are no German historians who have written about the war or indeed all the reputable historians since WW2 who have carried out scholarly studies. However one can imagine if the Nazis had won the war the account we would have got.
@Vernon Demerest Perhaps you ought to think before you speak. He didn't fight for a dishonourable cause. His cause was as noble as ours...stood for his Fatherland, his country, his home. From what I can see, he did so gallantly. Did the government which commanded him commit atrocities with which words do no justice? Absolutely. But the cause he stood for was not for those men. Soldiers don't fight for flags, or politicians, or out of hatred. They fight out of love of country, faith, family, and one another. It's something only soldiers truly understand. I see this man as much a hero as any American, Englishman, or Frenchman. Open your eyes and perhaps you will have the privilege to see the same.
+ Honolulu Paragliding Of course I do. That's exactly what I was talking about. He didn't fight for the Nazi Party. He fought for Germany. Read more carefully before you decide to sling mud, mate.
A wonderful and interesting story! Was extremely impressed with his command of the English language; beautiful grammar! Spent four years in Wiesbaden, Germany; lovely country; lovely people. The Stuka, BF-109, ME-109, and the Fiesler Storch 156 are some of my favorite aircraft. Listening to a Stuka pilot re-living his momentous flight, was impressive. If my wife could travel better, I'd return - Garmisch for sure! :-) Thanks, N-6395T
love listening to these guys, especially to hear it from those who at the time were our enemy.I realize it was war, but still what a shame they destroyed their Stuka
Chuck Biscuits quite right, I have seen the Stuka at Hendon and it is massive you would spot it from mile away it dwarfes the 109 and with no speed to run away!
It is very important that we preserve the totality of history To long we have heard only one side of the story I for one am fascinated to hear his tale This may not be a popular view but nonetheless
Chivalry ruled in the deserts of North Africa, over the years I have heard many stories from Veterans of this campaign, German, Italian, British & Aussie, all had one thing in common, they held each other in the utmost respect & admiration.
Hope his gunner did not perish out in that hostile desert. Fine story of that gentleman's war. Thank you for sharing. i love dive bombers, e.g. SBD5 Douglas Dauntless
The war in North Afrika between the Afrika Korps and the British 8th Army was a gentlemen's war,. conducted between armies that showed respect for each other and for the normal conventions of war. There were no SS troops in North Afrika.
He was very very fortunate to be captured. Likely he would have been killed in that Stuka sooner or later. Excellent bit of video and a classy man with a great story!
In the shelf in the background stands a Vinyl "Märsche", which means "Marches". I can imagine him walking with his old boots through his apartement and singing the old marches. www.musicstack.com/item/398736491
Cool interview. 1 poor stuka hanging in the Chicago museum of science and industry, 1 in england. 1 is still being built in a cool war museum in Washington state, I think the museum is closed permantly and I dont know what happened to the Stuka? It was supposed to fly, I hope somebody can continue rebuild it to flying status, I would love to see it in the air again!
the british pilot was a man of honor and not a killer. He had the mission to take the stuka pilot out of battle and that he accomplished in a smart and gentleman manner
OGreat stuff. Live old war tales. This Gentleman has very good English. What a great Officer, he protected his gunner to the last! Gunner lived for how long exactly?
Vorsicht mit dem Motorrad auf der Autobahn. Wow I can't believe it. I was born in Silesia same region where your grand mother took her first flying lessons. She began flying from an airport at Hirschberg. It's in a mountainous region ideal for gliding. I read her memoirs sometime ago and was very impressed with her career. She visted the US during the Kennedy administration and was awarded a medal on the Whitehouse lawn by the president. Your grand mother was a fine and courageous lady.
"a good troop, fine troop" some words you will NOT hear out of a british so easily *grins*. All the brits I encounter are always going off in a raid on how great their airforce was, how brave their soldiers, how courageous and heroic their paratroopers... And of course the germans are always the opposite. And they never can get away mentioning how ugly we all are *chuckles*... thanks for uploading!
@elvee88 If there was not a ww2, this man would have lived like a normal human beeing, without the awefull knowledge, that he once was trowing bombs on others!!! This is no monster, but a polite man, with a good heart!!! And if he could bring back all the dead people foe & enemy, he absolutely would have brought them all back to life!!!
@Jou Moer I was visiting a village near Paderborn. there the people have hochdeutsch und Plattdeutsch. Plattedeutsch is a language only spoken by farmers and in villages. The plattdeutsch is much mor similar to english than hochdeutsch. I guess the anglo saxon people came from norhern germany. So the old language sounds quite the same.
The Stuka was only effective when it enjoyed total air superiority. It was a sitting duck against enemy fighters. However, it was a very cool plane. Very effective in the ground attack role.
Heinz's gunner was also captured but because he was a NCO he was separated from the officers in captivity. Was also sent to Canada as POW. Heinz had contact with his gunner all the years and he even telephone called him once when I visited Heinz just before his death in 2010. His gunner became a policeman and retired as such.
Tinus le Roux Mr. le Roux, is good to know, that you keep track of these pilots. They went to war for what they believe in and because of that....all of them, Americans & Germans, have my respect.
