Hans-Ekkehard Bob and a few others escaped and heard the surrender on the radio. Bob made it home on foot following a journey of over a thousand miles that lasted six weeks. Schuhmacher was also captured and released after nine weeks. Galland, being a celebrity, was taken to England, while Bär, Krupisnki, Herget, Hohagen, Barkhorn, and Walther Dahl joined Galland later. Following their light interrogations, they were taken by ship to Cherbourg, France. This was where Krupinski was assaulted, receiving a near fatal head trauma, courtesy of a French rifle butt as two soldiers stole his Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves. His log book had already been stolen by an American soldier before he went to England.
Such was the end of JV-44, the most unique unit in history. All were brave men, most of them highly decorated and successful pilots. Some members of the unit always stood out as enigmatic figures, such as “The Rammer” Schallmoser, “Count Punski” Krupinski, and the nearly dead “Macky” Steinhoff, although perhaps none were as respected, controversial, and determined as Günther Lützow, as stated by its commanding officer, Adolf Galland:
“I was a mild and meek creature when it came to Lützow. This man was a fearless fighter and a great ace, and a demanding yet fair leader who never asked his men to do anything he had not already done. He would also be the first to fly a new aircraft, just in case there were any problems. Lützow was the spokesman as always; he was a great leader and a true knight, a gentleman. He was also a very serious person, and in all the years that I knew him I can probably count the number of times I ever saw him laugh on one hand.
“However, Lützow was a cold pilot, very unemotional, even on the radio in combat he was the calmest person I ever knew, even in a fight. It was as if he never exhibited any emotion except anger, and, ironically, this was usually directed at Göring, and never the enemy. He was never angry in combat, and he never hated his enemies.”{3}
The final days of JV-44 and the leadership challenges faced by Galland were also chronicled. Galland did not want men to fly and die in a war that was irretrievably lost; he only wanted volunteers. He would not order men to die needlessly:
“On April 25, with no sign of Lützow, I called my men around, and told them the war was lost. I knew that I was not providing them with anything that they did not already know. What I did tell them, was that with the war lost, I would fly only with volunteers who wished to continue. I would not issue an order that may see them killed at this late day in the war. No one stepped aside, much to their credit.
“I ordered the remaining aircraft flown to Innsbruck, where Hans-Ekkehard Bob was located. I had sent Wilhelm Herget with Hugo Kessler in a [Fieseler Fi-156] Storch to get a message to General [Dwight D.] Eisenhower, for arranging a special surrender for JV-44. Herget was bringing back the message to Bär, but his plane was shot down. Herget was all right, just tossed around a bit, but the message never made it.
“Hearing nothing from Herget, I surrendered the unit, blew up the jets, and the Americans took me into custody. I was then sent to the RAF base at Tangmere, where I was interrogated and held until my release over a year later. Günther Rall was also there, along with [Hans-Ulrich] Rudel and others, all of those they thought could serve the American and British cause after the war. I guess that even at that time they were concerned about their Soviet ally.”{4}
There has been great debate many decades after the war, as to what might have been had Germany had the jets much earlier. Gen. James Doolittle gave his impressions, believing the war would have still been won, but it would have been a much longer and more protracted, agonizing conflict. It could have also been the death knell of strategic bombing, had three thousand jets been made available in 1943 or perhaps even half that number. Had the loss percentages of heavy bombers exceeded twenty percent for even three months, it is highly likely that the U.S. Congress would have pulled funding for the expenditures for heavy bomber production, or at the very least focused upon the strategic bombing of Japan instead.
Another JV-44 pilot, retired Generalleutnant Johannes Steinhoff, had his own opinion as welclass="underline" “I really think that had we had about a thousand jets or so in mid-1943, with a like production every month and with the trained pilots to fly them, I think that there could have been an even greater terrible toll inflicted upon the American bombers, as much as fifty percent in many cases, as long as we had enough fighter cover protecting our bases.
“I do not think that it would have won the war for us outright, but I really do think that the Allies would have had to re-think their unconditional surrender declaration. I also think that, as tragic as it would have been, the war would have dragged out long enough for the Western Allies to see the true intentions of Stalin and perhaps re-evaluated their alliance. But this is sheer speculation. It is better that things ended when they did. In fact, I would have been happier if Hitler had died much earlier and taken the Third Reich with him.”{5}
Regarding flying with JV-44 and his experience in the Me 262, retired Generalleutnant Walter Krupinski ruminated upon his response during his interview and gave his thoughts on the unit, the jet, and the war in generaclass="underline"
“I served with JG-52 during most of my career in the east, but later served with JG-5, JG-11, JG-26, and Jagdverband 44, flying the Me 262 jet in the west from April 1, 1945, onward—not much combat time in jets. The fighting against the American fighter escorts and bombers was the worst, since they were excellent fliers and had so much top-rated equipment. I did manage to score kills in the jet, but I believe that only two were eventually confirmed, and I did damage a few other aircraft, all bombers. That was interesting. Galland once told us that if we did not have holes in our planes upon returning, then we must not have been doing our jobs. But that comes much later in the story.
“The B-17s and B-24 Liberators were difficult to engage due to their potent fifty-caliber defensive fire, and the American fighters made it even harder to get close, since they outnumbered us somewhere around ten to one on the average until later in 1944, when it often felt more like fifty to one. I found this all very frustrating and had to change the way I thought about things.
“I was only distraught over the fact that we did not have this plane sooner. Steinhoff had told me about the jet a few months earlier, after he had taken over JG-7 for a short time. He loved the jet, and he explained the delicate nature of the engines, the problematic takeoff and landing characteristics, but also the great advantages of the 262.
“Galland was using Steinhoff as his recruiting officer, and they had collected some of the best in the business. They also got Barkhorn and tried to get Hartmann, but Erich still had a soft spot for JG-52. His decision to remain with this unit would prove very costly. As you know, he spent over ten years in Soviet prison camps after the war, after the Americans handed them over to the Red Army in May 1945. I would not see him again until the late 1950s, and he was never the same man afterward.
“I still do not know how Galland and Steinhoff managed this, but I suppose when two officers enter wearing those high decorations, and who are both well-known heroes, very few low-ranking medical officers are going to rub them the wrong way. Galland had that way about him; cigar in his mouth, that smile and his very persuasive way of speaking. I can say that no matter how angry he was I never heard him raise his voice. He just stared into a person, made his point and never wavered. He even did this with his boss, the ‘Fat One.’