Konrad Bauer (musician)

Konrad Bauer (9 February 1919 – 17 June 1990) was a Luftwaffe fighter pilot during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Bauer claimed 57 aerial victories, 39 over the Western Front and 18 over the Eastern Front.

Bauer claimed his first of 18 victories over the Eastern Front on 20 March 1943. In 1944 he was transferred to the Western Front where he claimed another 39 victories. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 31 October 1944 after his 34th victory. After the war he joined the new Luftwaffe and retired as a Hauptmann in 1960.

Career

Bauer was born on 9 February 1919 in Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhrgebiet of the Weimar Republic.

In January 1944, Bauer flew with the '' Stabsstaffel'' (headquarters squadron) of JG 51 which was based at Bobruysk and headed by ''Hauptmann'' Diethelm von Eichel-Streiber. Bauer claimed his first aerial victories with the ''Stabsstaffel'' on 10 January, flying fighter escort missions for Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers attacking Soviet positions in the area of Zhlobin. That day, Bauer was credited with the destruction of a Yakovlev Yak-7 fighter and an Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft. Two days later Bauer was credited with his last aerial victories on the Eastern Front in the same combat area. He claimed three Petlyakov Pe-2 bombers destroyed but received credit for only two of them.

Defense of the Reich

On 10 June 1944, Bauer was transferred to II. '' Sturmgruppe'' (2nd assault group) of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 300 "Wilde Sau" (JG 300—300th Fighter Wing) flying defense of the Reich missions. There, he was assigned to 5. ''Staffel''. At the time, the ''Sturmgruppe'' was based at Merzhausen and moved to Frankfurt Airfield on 12 June. Three days later, the ''Sturmgruppe'' relocated to Unterschlauersbach, present-day part of Großhabersdorf. Here on 7 July, a force of 1,129 B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force set out from England to bomb aircraft factories in the Leipzig area and the synthetic oil plants at Boehlen, Leuna-Merseburg and Lützkendorf. This formation was intercepted by a German ''Gefechtsverband'' (combat formation) consisting of IV. ''Sturmgruppe'' of JG 3, led by ''Hauptmann'' Wilhelm Moritz, escorted by two ''Gruppen'' of Messerschmitt Bf 109s from JG 300 led by ''Major'' Walther Dahl. Dahl and Moritz drove the attack to point-blank range behind the Liberators of the 492d Bombardment Group before opening fire. 492d Bombardment Group was temporarily without fighter cover. Within about a minute the entire squadron of twelve B-24s had been annihilated. The Germans claimed 28 USAAF 2nd Air Division B-24s that day and were credited with at least 21. The majority to the ''Sturmgruppe'' attack. In this encounter, also known as the ''Luftschlacht bei Oschersleben'' (aerial battle at Oschersleben), Bauer claimed his first aerial victories with JG 300, two B-24 bombers shot down near Artern, and a few minutes later an escorting Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter near Wernigerode.

On 12 July, II. ''Sturmgruppe'' moved from Unterschlauersbach to Holzkirchen. On 27 July, the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force sent 295 B-24 and 109 B-17 bombers on mission to bomb the armament factories located at Budapest. This formation was first intercepted by fighters at 09:25 over Lake Balaton from I. ''Gruppe'' of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 302 (JG 302—302nd Fighter Wing), II. ''Gruppe'' of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 27 (JG 27—27th Fighter Wing) and the Hungarian 101st Home Air Defence Fighter Group (). Twenty to thirty minutes later, Bretschneider led an attack of 15 Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters from II. ''Gruppe'' in an attack on a combat box formation of B-24 bombers in the area Pápa and Budapest. In this attack, Brettschneider claimed three B-24 bombers shot down but also had to bail out of Fw 190 was hit in the engine.

On 9 August, Bauer made a forced landing in his Fw 190 A at Griesheim Airfield following combat with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. In August, the ''Sturmgruppe'' moved to Erfurt–Bindersleben Airfield. On 15 August, the USAAF Eighth Air Force attacked various Luftwaffe airfields in Germany. That day, Bauer claimed a B-17 bomber shot down. On 11 September, the USAAF Eighth Air Force sent a force of 1,131 bombers against German oil refineries and synthetic-fuel factories. That day, Bauer claimed three escorting North American P-51 Mustang fighters shot down in aerial combat ranging from . In this encounter, Bauer's Fw 190 A-8 (''Werknummer'' 681469—factory number) was also hit, resulting in a forced landing near Nordhausen. Bauer, who had two fingers shot off from his right hand, struggled to escape from his cockpit when his aircraft came under strafing attack from marauding P-51 fighters. Crouched up behind the armor plating, he survived the attack and was hospitalized at Nordhausen. Six weeks later, he rejoined his unit but did not fly regularly for the final months of the war. Bauer was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () on 31 October for 34 aerial victories.

On 9 February 1945, the USAAF Eighth Air Force attacked German synthetic-fuel manufacturing and transportation infrastructure with a force of 1,296 bombers escorted by more than 800 fighter aircraft. II. ''Gruppe'' attacked a formation of B-24 bombers near Magdeburg. Avoiding the fighter escorts, the ''Gruppe'' claimed two B-24 bombers shot down eat of Magdeburg, including one by Bauer, his first claim since the injuries sustained on 11 September 1944. On 22 February, II. ''Gruppe'' was placed under command of ''Oberleutnant'' Waldemar Radener. On 30 April, Bauer belonged to a group of ten soldiers hiding in a forest near Holzkirchen to avoid capture by advancing American forces.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Bauer was credited with 57 aerial victories. Obermaier also lists Bauer with 57 aerial victory claims, 39 over the Western Front, including 32 four-engine bombers, and 18 over the Eastern Front. According to Weal, he was credited with 68 aerial victories. Mathews and Foreman, authors of ''Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims'', researched the German Federal Archives and found documentation for 38 aerial victory claims, plus further ten unconfirmed claims. The number of confirmed claims includes 16 on the Eastern Front and 22 on the Western Front, including 13 four-engine bombers.

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = ''Planquadrat''), for example "PQ 35 Ost 25281". The Luftwaffe grid map () covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about . These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area in size.

Awards

* Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
* Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 8 May 1944 as ''Feldwebel'' and pilot
* German Cross in Gold on 10 July 1944 as ''Feldwebel'' in the 5./''Jagdgeschwader'' 300
* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 31 October 1944 as ''Feldwebel'' and pilot in the 5./''Jagdgeschwader'' 300

Notes

References

Citations

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bauer, Konrad
1919 births
1990 deaths
Luftwaffe pilots
German World War II flying aces
Recipients of the Gold German Cross
Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
German Air Force personnel
Military personnel from Gelsenkirchen