Martin Drewes

Martin Drewes (20 October 1918 – 13 October 2013) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and night fighter ace during World War II. He was credited with 52 victories of which 43 were claimed at night whilst flying variants of the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter. The majority of his victories were claimed over the Western Front in Defence of the Reich missions against the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command.

Born in Lobmachtersen, Drewes grew up in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. Following graduation from school, he joined the military service of the Army in 1937 and transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1939. He flew his first combat missions in early 1941. In May 1941, he participated in the Anglo-Iraqi War where he claimed his first aerial victory on 20 May 1941. In November 1941, Drewes transferred to the night fighter force, initially serving with ''Nachtjagdgeschwader'' 3 (NJG 3—3rd Night Fighter Wing). He claimed his first nocturnal aerial victory on the evening of 17 January 1943. In February 1943, Drewes was appointed ''Staffelkapitän'' (squadron leader) and transferred to ''Nachtjagdgeschwader'' 1 (NJG 1—1st Night Fighter Wing) in August 1943.

Early life

Drewes was born on 20 October 1918 in Lobmachtersen, at the time in the district of Wolfenbüttel, present day a borough of Salzgitter, Lower Saxony. He was the son of pharmacist Wilhelm Drewes and his wife Margarete, née Hayder, and had an older sister Hanna and a younger sister Käthe. Drewes passed his ''Abitur'' (School Leaving Certificate) at the '' Reformrealgymnasium'' in Wolfenbüttel and joined the military service in the Army on 2 November 1937 as a ''Fahnenjunker''. He initially served with ''Panzer-Regiment'' 6, a regiment of the 3rd Panzer Division, in Neuruppin and was posted to the ''Kriegsschule'' in Munich, Bavaria on 15 November 1938 as a ''Fähnrich''. While stationed in Munich, Drewes befriended Chiang Wei-kuo, an adopted son of Republic of China President Chiang Kai-shek. In the Army, he commanded a PzKpfw I.

On 1 August 1939, Drewes was promoted to ''Leutnant'' (second lieutenant) and transferred to the Luftwaffe on 1 September. He was trained as a pilot, receiving his A/B-licenses in April 1940 at the ''Luftkriegsschule 3'' (LKS 3—3rd air war school), Wildpark-West near Werder. On 1 May, his flight training progressed at the ''Flugzeugführerschule'' (C)5 where he received his C-Certificate on 30 August followed by attending the ''Blindflugschule'' 3 (3rd Blind Flying School) at Königsberg, East Prussia. On 16 October, he then trained as a ''Zerstörer'' (destroyer) pilot at the ''Zerstörerschule'' 1 (ZS 1—1st destroyer school) at Schleißheim near Munich.

On 27 March 1943, in Germany, Martin Drewes married Wulfhild Ellen Erna Wegener, when she assumed the name Drewes, with whom he remained married until their divorce on 16 November 1948. From this marriage, his daughter, Wulfhild Drewes, was born on 10 January 1944 in Cuxhaven, Lower Saxony. In honor of his first wife, Drewes painted the initials "WD" on the tail of one of his aircraft.

World War II

World War II in Europe began on Friday 1 September 1939, when German forces invaded Poland. On 8 February 1941, Drewes was posted to 4. '' Staffel'' (4th squadron) of ''Zerstörergeschwader'' 76 (ZG 76—76th Destroyer Wing).For an explanation of the meaning of Luftwaffe unit designation see Organisation of the Luftwaffe during World War II. 4. ''Staffel'' was a squadron of II. '' Gruppe'' (2nd group) and was equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engine heavy fighter, flying combat air patrols over the North Sea and German Bight.

II. ''Gruppe'' of ZG 76, also known as the "Shark Group" () due to their distinct coloring scheme, was then transferred to Greece during the Balkans campaign. In May 1941, 4. ''Staffel'' of ZG 76 was order by ''Sonderkommando Junck'' (Special Force Junck), named after its commander ''Oberst'' Werner Junck and later renamed to '' Fliegerführer Irak'' (Flyer Command Iraq), to fly to Iraq. There, German forces under the cover name Special Staff F supported pro-Axis Iraqi forces during the Anglo-Iraqi War . In total, Drewes flew 36 combat missions, including 17 ground attack missions. On 20 May, he claimed his first aerial victory over a Royal Air Force (RAF) Gloster Gladiator biplane. His area of operations included Mosul, Kirkuk and lastly Aleppo, Syria. By 26 May, despite cannibalizing two machines damaged in a RAF raid on Mosul, no Bf 110 was left serviceable. That day, he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class (). Drewes, and two other pilots, was then flown to Rhodes, Greece on an Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 medium bomber, tasked with bringing new aircraft to Iraq. The return flight never made it past Aleppo where the task force was ordered to retreat to Athens and then to Leeuwarden, the Netherlands.

In mid-June 1941, 4. ''Staffel'' of ZG 76 was again flying patrols from Leeuwarden and De Kooy Airfield. Drewes received the Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Silver () on 2 July 1941. On 29 August, he claimed his second aerial victory over a Supermarine Spitfire shot down over the sea. Drewes was promoted to ''Oberleutnant'' (first lieutenant) on 1 November. His II. ''Gruppe'' of ZG 76 was then converted to a night fighter unit and renamed III. ''Gruppe'' of ''Nachtjagdgeschwader'' 3 (NJG 3—3rd Night Fighter Wing).

Night fighter career

Following the 1939 aerial Battle of the Heligoland Bight, RAF attacks shifted to the cover of darkness, initiating the Defence of the Reich campaign. By mid-1940, ''Generalmajor'' (Brigadier General) Josef Kammhuber had established a night air defense system dubbed the Kammhuber Line. It consisted of a series of control sectors equipped with radars and searchlights and an associated night fighter. Each sector named a ''Himmelbett'' (canopy bed) would direct the night fighter into visual range with target bombers. In 1941, the Luftwaffe started equipping night fighters with airborne radar such as the ''Lichtenstein'' radar. This airborne radar did not come into general use until early 1942.

In January 1942, III. ''Gruppe'' of NJG 3 moved from Stuttgart-Echterdingen to northern Germany, to airfields at Stade and Lüneburg. There, the unit was tasked with protecting Hamburg from air attacks. In February, Drewes flew missions in support of Operation Donnerkeil (11–13 February), an air superiority operation to support the ''Kriegsmarine'' (German Navy) Operation Cerberus. During the operation, the two battleships '' Scharnhorst'' and '' Gneisenau'' and the cruiser '' Prinz Eugen'', docked in the port of Brest, successfully escaped from France and reached German ports. In the timeframe May to June 1943, he flew six specialized task force missions in Norway, including escort missions for the battleship ''Tirpitz'' and a transport for heavy water. Drewes claimed his first aerial victory as a night fighter pilot on the evening of 17 January 1943 when he shot down a Short Stirling bomber.

''Staffelkapitän''

In February 1943, Drewes was appointed ''Staffelkapitän'' (squadron leader) of 7. ''Staffel'' of NJG 3. At the time, this squadron was based at Copenhagen, Denmark. He claimed his second nocturnal aerial victory on over a Handley Page Halifax bomber in the vicinity of Store Heddinge

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