WORLD WAR 2 IN REVIEW: Walther Dahl, Jagdflieger

by Ian Primmer

Walther Dahl was born on 27 March 1916 at Lug in the Rheinpfalz. He entered the Luftwaffe during the expansion period of 1935-38 and was promoted to the rank of leutnant on 18 January 1938. His cherished ambition of joining an operational unit was not realized until 1 October 1940 when, as an oberleutnant, he was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet.” He was posted to the Geschwader Stab, being appointed as an assistant to the adjutant.

Dahl saw little operational flying until the summer of 1941 when JG 3 was transferred to the airfield of Horstyirne. Early on the morning of 22 June 1941, Major Günther Lützow, Kommodore of JG 3, spoke to the assembled geschwader: “Men, with today’s dawn we begin the war against the Soviet Union.” Oberleutnant Dahl was in the cockpit of his Bf 109F before 0250 hours when the unit took off and flew to the demarcation line where they remained until first light. At 0400 they again took off to escort bombers attacking the airfield at Lemberg. For the opening assault, JG 3 was attached to V Fliegerkorps which was part of Luftflotte 4 whose task it was to cover the movements of Army Group South.

To achieve maximum penetration, all available aircraft and pilots were airborne in the gray morning light. Dahl was flying in the van of the formation when suddenly directly in front of him appeared a Russian I-16 Rata fighter. Dahl quickly dispatched it to the ground, the victory being witnessed by Major Lützow. Another Russian fighter had, however, slipped in undetected and scored hits on the engine of Dahl’s Messerschmitt. Finally the engine cut and he was forced to make a dead-stick landing miles behind enemy lines. After a forced march of three days, a very disheveled Dahl returned to his unit. A few days later he was posted to the II Gruppe of JG 3 as adjutant, the Kommandür being Hauptmann Gordon Gollob.

On 24 July, Dahl received the Eiserne Kreuz 2.Klasse (Iron Cross 2nd Class). Each day the gruppe flew operations over all the focal points of the southern sector of the Russian front: Korovograd, Uman, Shitmir, Kiev, Kremmenchug, Tscherkassy, Dnepropetrovsk, Nikolayev and Cherson. By 14 September, Dahl had scored fourteen victories and had received the Eiserne Kreuz 1.Klasse. Other battles followed: Jochnow, Wjasma, Briansk, Orel; then on 3 October, the gruppe took off on its first mission over the Soviet capital, Moscow. The city was protected by a sky full of bursting anti-aircraft shells and the machine flown by Dahl was so badly riddled that he was forced to make an emergency landing on the airfield of Setschinskaia.

By 15 October, the gruppe had moved again, this time to the Crimean Peninsula. Dahl’s victory tally had risen to seventeen. In December 1941, Hauptmann Gollob left the gruppe, being posted to the Erprobungsstelle at Rechlin. Under his leadership, Dahl had flown over one hundred missions.

Early in 1942, II./JG 3, now under the command of Hauptmann Karl-Heinz Krahl, moved to the island of Sicily in the Mediterranean where it was attached to Oberstleutnant Günther von Maltzahn’s Jagdgeschwader 53. Operating from the airfields of Sciaccia and San Pietro, the gruppe carried out both high- and low-level missions against the island fortress of Malta. Dahl was now staffelkapitän of 4./JG 3. On 14 April, the Kommandür, Hauptmann Krahl, was shot down and killed by ack-ack fire during a low-level attack. A new Kommandür was appointed from JG 53: Hauptmann Kurt Brändle.

During the month of May, II./JG 3 was transferred back to Russia for the new summer offensive which was about to begin and all available aircraft were needed. Shortly afterward, Dahl was posted back to the Geschwader Stab as adjutant. As the catastrophe of Stalingrad began, Dahl flew with other members of the geschwader from the airfield of Pitomnik. This airfield, in the middle of the defense zone, was the only connection the Sixth Army had with the outside world. From here the wounded were flown out as meager supplies were flown in.

In the defensive fighting of mid-December to mid-January 1943, Dahl scored twenty-five victories, increasing his score to fifty, for which he was awarded the German Cross in Gold. As the Soviets broke through, Dahl and the others flew out to the main supply airfield for the Stalingrad airlift, Morosowskaia. There, too, they were threatened with encirclement and on one particular day, Soviet T-34 tanks broke through the outer defense perimeter onto the airfield. In a daring attack with hand grenades, Dahl destroyed a tank. On 1 March 1943, he was promoted to hauptmann.

In the early morning hours of 5 July 1943, the German Army on the Eastern Front went on the offensive for the last time. Called Operation Zitadelle, the operation was covered by no fewer than eight jagdgruppen, two of these plus a geschwader stab coming from JG 3. On the ninth day of this operation, i.e. 14 July, the Kommandür of III./JG 3, Major Wolfgang Ewald was shot down and made a POW. Dahl was immediately posted to fill the vacant position. In early August 1943, the gruppe was withdrawn from the Eastern Front and transferred back to Germany. It was in this theater that Dahl rose to become one of the top four-engined bomber destroyers of the Luftwaffe.

At 1308 hours on 14 October 1943, Dahl led the takeoff of twenty-five Bf 109Gs from his gruppe which was based at Worishofen near Memmingen. Their task was to intercept a large formation of American bombers approaching from England to bomb the ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt. Mission 115, as it was labeled by the U.S. Eighth Air Force, was on: 226 heavy bombers were returning to Schweinfurt. They had been there on a previous date, 17 August. Of the 226 bombers that set out, only twenty-five returned undamaged. Sixty-one bombers were shot down, III./JG 3 claiming, for the loss of one of its pilots, eighteen bomb-ers. Dahl personally accounted for two of these.

Other raids followed and Dahl continued to add to his score. On 29 January, he shot down two B-17s, on 23 February two B-24s and a P-38, and the next two days saw four bombers and another P-38 fall to his accurate fire. Previously, on 1 January 1944, he had been promoted to the rank of major, and on 11 March, in recognition of his sixty-four kills, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz.

On 20 May 1944, Dahl received orders to report to the General der Jagdflieger, Adolf Galland, at Wiesbaden-Erbenheim. Galland told him that he had been closely watching his exploits during the past few months, and congratulated him on having the most successful jagdgruppe operating in the defense of the Reich. He then put forward his scheme for the formation of a special unit to combat the depredations of the U.S. Eighth Air Force. Galland proposed that the unit be called Jagdgeschwader z.b.V. and asked Dahl if he would lead the formation.

Dahl enthusiastically agreed, and after a talk with the Chef des Stabes beim General der Jagdflieger, Major Müller-Trimbusch, he returned to Bad-Worishofen. Later the same day, Hauptmann Karl-Heinz Langer, Staffelkapitän of 7./JG 3 became the new Kommandür of III./JG 3 and the unit transferred to Ansbach. Towards the evening, Dahl also left for Ansbach, and by 22 May, Jagdgeschwader z.b.V. had been created. It comprised five jagdgruppen: III./ JG 3 under Hauptmann Karl-Heinz Langer, I./JG 5 under Major Horst Carganico, II./JG 27 under Hauptmann Ludwig Franzisket, II./JG 53 under Hauptmann Julius Meimburg, and III./JG 54 under Hauptmann Werner Schrür.

On 23 May 1944, Dahl took off for the first time at the head of the newly-created unit. However, no contact was made with the enemy and the geschwader landed back at Ansbach and its surrounding airfields after one hour and thirty-five minutes flying time. On the following day, the second operation against a bomber formation with heavy fighter escort heading for Berlin was flown. They were set upon by the Mustang fighter escort over Rangsdorf, and despite a pitched fighter-versus-fighter battle, some aircraft managed to get through to the bombers.

On 27 May, the geschwader became involved in a heavy engagement with an American bomber formation over Strasbourg. The Kommandür of I./JG 5, Major Horst Carganico, was shot up by a bomber and while attempting to make a forced landing, crashed into high tension wires and was killed. For eighteen months prior to May 1944, I./JG 5 had been operating from narrow wooden-planked airstrips in the Bergen area of Norway. Further operations were flown by JG z.b.V. on 31 May but from 1 to 5 June, the geschwader was grounded owing to bad weather conditions.

During the night of 5/6 June, a combined force of British and American troops landed in the area of the Seine Bay … D-Day had arrived. The next few days were extremely hectic for the defending Luftwaffe. Even the Reichsverteidigung was denuded of all fighter aircraft apart from the four machines that constituted the stabschwarm of Jagdgeschwader z.b.V. All other jagdgruppen were rushed to the invasion front. The Luftwaffe’s first sturmgruppe, IV./JG 3 was soon found to be unsuitable for the type of operations flown in the area and was soon transferred back to Illesheim where it came under the direct control of Dahl.

IV. (Sturm)/JG 3 owed its origins to a unit known as Sturmstaffel 1 created during the spring of 1944. The unit was equipped with specially-armored Focke-Wulf FW 190A-6s and the pilots had to sign a special document which read as follows:

“I [pilot’s name] herewith promise to destroy, either by shooting, or failing this by ramming, at least one enemy bomber on every mission on which I encounter enemy aircraft.”

Several pilots volunteered quite freely for this assignment, but to others who had a bad record it was pointedly suggested that flying with this unit offered them a chance to expiate their former wrong-doings. Failure to live up to the terms of the document was several times dealt with by court-martial, the charge being “cowardliness in the face of the enemy.”

Originally the sturmstaffel was placed under the direct control of Göring, but during April 1944 it was incorporated into IV./JG 3. Shortly afterward, the entire gruppe became a sturmgruppe under the command of Hauptmann Wilhelm Mortiz. After the unit’s return to Illesheim in June 1944, it was joined by two former “Wilde Sau” units, I. and II./JG 300. The stab of JG z.b.V. was re-designated as the stab of JG 300, the unit exchanging its Bf 109Gs for FW 190As. Dahl flew the FW 190 for the first time on 1 July 1944 and on the 7th he shot down a B-24. It was during this operation, known as the “air battle over Oschersleben,” that the combined unit was able to claim the destruction of fifty-eight bombers, no less than thirty of these falling to the guns of IV./JG 3.

The composite gruppe enjoyed mixed success during the autumn of 1944. During one battle, IV. (Sturm)/JG 3 destroyed no less than thirty-two American bombers, but often the gruppe lost its fighter escort upon which it relied for protection from USAAF fighters. The escort, known as the “Leichte Gruppen,” would find themselves engaged in dogfights with the bombers’ fighter escort and leave the sturmgruppen to their own devices. The heavily-armed and armored FW 190s were no match for the fast and maneuverable P-47s and P 51s of the USAAF and they often suffered crippling losses. Eventually, in November 1944, Moritz, then a major, was forced to give up his command owing to complete exhaustion, and he was transferred to IV./EJG 1.

Meanwhile, Dahl continued to add to his personal score, destroying a B-17 on 15 August, two B-17s on 11 September, a B-17 on the 13th and a further B 17 on 28 September. Twice Dahl destroyed USAAF bombers by ramming attacks and on 1 November he was promoted to oberstleutnant. On 30 November, the geschwader, now based at Jüterborg airfield near Berlin, received a visit from the chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring. Göring almost immediately asked Dahl why his geschwader was not airborne. Dahl replied that the bad weather would prevent the unit getting into formation.

Göring’s reply took the assembled personnel completely by surprise. “You cowards,” he ejaculated. “Now I know why your geschwader holds the record for parachute jumps … you jump so as not to fight!”

His further ravings were temporarily quieted by blaring air raid sirens but when Göring returned from the shelter, he grabbed Dahl by the lapels and shook him. “Why have you not obeyed my orders? You cowards. I shall order my flak to shoot you from the skies.”

Dahl protested strongly, but his protests fell on deaf ears. “Hold your tongue, you rebel! You and your rotten fighter pilots are at last going to feel my hand. Before the sun sets tonight I shall have you shot!”

The next two months were very worrying for Dahl because he had no idea if Göring was going to carry out his threat. But, to his surprise, the next time they met face to face, on 2 February 1945, Göring presented him with the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz, the award being dated from the previous day. Previously, on 26 January, Dahl had been appointed to the position of Inspekteur der Tagdjäger (Inspector of Day Fighters), his place as commander of JG 300 being taken by Major Anton Hackl.

Dahl’s new position did not prevent him from flying combat operations. On 27 March, he shot down two P-47s to register his 102nd and 103rd victories and on 4 April he scored his 110th. In a ten-day period following this, from 9 to 19 April, he shot down thirteen Soviet aircraft, mainly Il-2s and Yak-9s, and on the 19th an American P-51 fell to his guns. On 24 April, he destroyed a B 17, two days later another P-51, and on 30 April he was promoted to the rank of oberst.

On 8 May 1945 the war in Europe came to an end and Dahl, together with many other high-ranking Luftwaffe officers, was taken into captivity. Through five years of uninterrupted combat flying, Dahl amassed some 128 victories during six hundred missions. Of this total, seventy-seven were scored on the Eastern Front and thirty-six were four-engined bombers.

Awards

Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class

Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe (23 December 1941)

German Cross in Gold on 2 December 1942 as Oberleutnant in the Stab/JG 3

Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Knight’s Cross on 11 March 1944 as Major and Gruppenkommandeur of the III./JG 3 “Udet”

724th Oak Leaves on 1 February 1945 as Major and Geschwaderkommodore of JG 300

Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht on 8 July 1944

Victories

No.	Date	Time	Aircraft Type	Unit	Location / Comments
1.	22.6.1941	4:30	I-18	Stab II./JG 3
2.	16.7.1941	15:45	I-16	Stab II./JG 3
3.	1.8.1941	13:00	I-16	Stab II./JG 3
4.	8.8.1941	13:30	DB-3	Stab II./JG 3
5.	24.8.1941	8:55	I-180	Stab II./JG 3
6.	24.8.1941	15:55	I-16	Stab II./JG 3
7.	13.9.1941	9:30	I-16	Stab II./JG 3
8.	13.9.1941	17:20	Il-2	Stab II./JG 3
9.	13.9.1941	17:27	Il-2	Stab II./JG 3
10.	14.9.1941	6:05	I-153	Stab II./JG 3	Near Mironovka
11.	19.9.1941	13:57	SB-3	Stab II./JG 3
12.	11.10.1941	11:55	SB-3	Stab II./JG 3
13.	18.10.1941	10:10	I-16	Stab II./JG 3
14.	19.10.1941	15:25	I-16	Stab II./JG 3
15.	23.10.1941	10:56	I-61	Stab II./JG 3
16.	23.10.1941	11:00	I-61	Stab II./JG 3
17.	23.10.1941	11:20	I-16	Stab II./JG 3
-	2.4.1942	15:30	Spitfire	4./JG 3	Hurricane (BV174) of 229 Sqn RAF, damaged – not confirmed, possibly occurred 1/4/42
18.	26.8.1942	8:30	Yak-7	Stab JG 3
19.	7.9.1942	15:36	La-5	Stab JG 3
20.	19.9.1942	11:44	Yak-7	Stab JG 3
21.	24.9.1942	11:03	Yak-1	Stab JG 3
22.	24.9.1942	11:09	Yak-1	Stab JG 3
23.	27.9.1942	16:03	Il-2	Stab JG 3
24.	29.9.1942	10:17	Il-2	Stab JG 3
25.	30.9.1942	16:10	Il-2	Stab JG 3
26.	30.9.1942	16:15	P-40	Stab JG 3
27.	30.9.1942	16:16	P-40	Stab JG 3
28.	14.10.1942	7:07	Il-2	Stab JG 3
29.	14.10.1942	7:15	Il-2	Stab JG 3
30.	17.10.1942	9:15	Yak-1	Stab JG 3
31.	25.10.1942	10:20	LaGG-3	Stab JG 3
32.	25.10.1942	10:39	Il-2	Stab JG 3
33.	25.10.1942	14:21	Il-2	Stab JG 3
34.	26.10.1942	14:02	Il-2	Stab JG 3
35.	26.10.1942	14:07	Il-2	Stab JG 3
36.	26.10.1942	14:08	Il-2	Stab JG 3
37.	26.10.1942	14:12	Il-2	Stab JG 3
38.	27.10.1942	10:00	Yak-1	Stab JG 3
39.	30.11.1942	8:10	Il-2	Stab JG 3
40.	30.11.1942	8:12	Il-2	Stab JG 3
41.	30.11.1942	13:25	Yak-1	Stab JG 3
42.	2.12.1942	9:10	Il-2	Stab JG 3
43.	16.3.1943	14:25	Boston	Stab JG 3
44.	21.3.1943	14:55	LaGG-3	Stab JG 3
45.	15.4.1943	16:28	LaGG-3	Stab JG 3
46.	15.4.1943	16:30	LaGG-3	Stab JG 3
47.	16.4.1943	15:08	P-39	Stab JG 3
48.	16.4.1943	15:10	P-39	Stab JG 3
49.	16.4.1943	15:15	P-39	Stab JG 3
50.	17.4.1943	15:06	LaGG-3	Stab JG 3
51.	17.4.1943	15:06	LaGG-3	Stab JG 3
52.	6.9.1943	11:15	B-17 HSS	Stab III./JG 3
53.	6.9.1943	11:30	B-17	Stab III./JG 3
54.	14.10.1943	14:30	B-17	Stab III./JG 3	Aschaffenburg-Würzburg
55.	14.10.1943	14:35	B-17 HSS	Stab III./JG 3	Aschaffenburg-Würzburg
56.	19.12.1943	12:25	B-17	Stab III./JG 3	Innsbruck-Bolzano
57.	29.1.1944	11:07	B-17	Stab III./JG 3	Mannheim-Bastogne
58.	29.1.1944	11:13	B-17 HSS	Stab III./JG 3	Mannheim-Bastogne
59.	23.2.1944	12:08	B-24	Stab III./JG 3
60.	23.2.1944	12:12	B-24 HSS	Stab III./JG 3
61.	23.2.1944	12:20	P-38	Stab III./JG 3
62.	24.2.1944	13:12	B-17 HSS	Stab III./JG 3
63.	24.2.1944	13:12	B-17 HSS	Stab III./JG 3
64.	24.2.1944	13:20	P-38	Stab III./JG 3
65.	25.2.1944	12:27	B-17	Stab III./JG 3	Salzburg-Regensburg
66.	25.2.1944	12:48	B-17	Stab III./JG 3	Salzburg-Regensburg
67.	13.4.1944	15:04	B-17	Stab III./JG 3	20-30km NW Augsburg
68.	13.4.1944	15:08	B-17 HSS	Stab III./JG 3	30km N Augsburg
69.	24.4.1944	13:30	B-17	Stab III./JG 3	Near Augsburg
70.	24.4.1944	13:36	B-17	Stab III./JG 3	10km S München
71.	24.4.1944	13:45	P-51	Stab III./JG 3	Near München
72.	7.7.1944	9:45	B-24	Stab JG 300	N Quedlingburg
73.	15.8.1944	11:45	B-17	Stab JG 300	Daun-Kyllberg area
74.	15.8.1944	11:46	B-17	Stab JG 300	Koblenz area
75.	11.9.1944	11:55	B-17	Stab JG 300	Halle-Leipzig
76.	11.9.1944	12:05	B-17	Stab JG 300	Querfurt-Naumburg
77.	13.9.1944	-	B-17	Stab JG 300	rammed
78.	28.9.1944	12:45	B-17	Stab JG 300	Wolfenbüttel area
79.	6.10.1944	-	B-17	Stab JG 300
80.	7.10.1944	-	P-51	Stab JG 300
81.	26.10.1944	-	B-17	Stab JG 300
82.	5.11.1944	-	B-17	Stab JG 300
83.	3.12.1944	-	B-17	Stab JG 300
84.	5.12.1944	-	B-17	Stab JG 300
85.	5.12.1944	-	P-51	Stab JG 300
86.	27.1.1945	-	La-7	?
87.	28.1.1945	-	Il-2	?
88.	29.1.1945	-	Il-2	?
89.	29.1.1945	-	La-7	?
90.	30.1.1945	-	B-17	?
91.	30.1.1945	-	P-51	?
92.	31.1.1945	-	P-51	?
93.	4.2.1945	-	P-38	?
94.-99.	20.2.1945	-	La-7	?
94.-99.	21.2.1945	-	Il-2	?
94.-99.	21.2.1945	-	Il-2	?
94.-99.	II.1945	-	E/a	?
94.-99.	II.1945	-	E/a	?
94.-99.	II.1945	-	E/a	?
100.	28.2.1945	-	E/a	?
101.-125.	II.-III.1945	-	25 victories	?	All probably Eastern front
126.	27.3.1945	-	P-47	III./EJG 2	This combat possibly occurred 25.3.1945
127.	27.3.1945	-	P-47	III./EJG 2	This combat possibly occurred 25.3.1945
128.	26.4.1945	-	P-51	III./EJG 2	Near Dilligen

Dahl being filmed in the cockpit of his Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-8/R2, IV.(Sturm)/JG 300.

Dahl in the cockpit of his Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-8/R2, IV.(Sturm)/JG 300.

Walther Dahl.

Goring accuses Dahl and his pilots of cowardice. 30 November 1944.

Messerschmitt Bf 109G6/R3/R6, Stab III./JG3, Gruppenkommandeur Walther Dahl, Bad Worishofen, 14 Oct 1943.

Walther Dahl.

Walther Dahl (with cane).

Walther Dahl.

Walther Dahl with Fw 190.

Messerschmitt Bf 109G6/R3/R6, Stab III./JG3, Gruppenkommandeur Walther Dahl, Bad Worishofen, Sep 1943.

Walther Dahl.

Walther Dahl in cockpit of an Fw 190.

A 1944 drawing by Helmuth Ellgaard illustrating "ramming."

Major Dahl discussing Sturmjäger tactics with pilots of IV.(Sturm)/JG 3 "Udet" at Illesheim, possibly in a sequence taken from the Deutsche Wochenschau clip after the famous "Blitzluftschlacht über Oschersleben".