DEFENDER OF THE REICH WW II as seen by a Luftwaffe Ace

Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring was in rare form, his eyes full of fire as he faced one of the better known of Germany’s aces, Oberst Walther Dahl. “Göring’s reply astonished even me,” Dahl remembered. “In the presence of pilots with heads, arms and legs in plaster, he yelled: ‘You cowards! Now I know why your Geschwader holds the record for parachute jumps: you jump so as not to fight.’

- J. RICHARD SMITH AND EDDIE J. CREEK

“Göring continued, his face reddened and streaked with protruding veins.

“‘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.’ He was raving like a madman. Everyone fell silent as, turning to me once again, he said ominously: ‘I came here today to give you this.’ Momentarily, he opened a leather case in which the Oak Leaves glittered. ‘But now I cannot. Today I must make an example. From this moment, you have lost your command and are degraded. There will be a court-martial, and you will be shot.’ The case snapped shut. Raising his Reichsmarschall’s baton to the attendant officers in a stiff farewell, he climbed into his giant Mercedes and shouted: ‘Away! Drive me out of this sink!’

“To be shot for cowardice—or was it mutiny? It seemed a strange reward for shooting down over 80 enemy aircraft, bailing out 15 times, being wounded three times, and having no leave, except in hospital, since the war began.”

Walther Dahl was claiming born on March 27, 1916, at Lug near Bad Bergzabern, southwest of Landau on the Franco/German border. Dahl’s military career began when he was 19, when he joined Infantry Regiment 119 of the German Army based at Stuttgart. Typical of many pilots who were later to become famous, he quickly transferred to the Luftwaffe, which had only been revealed to the world in 1935. He was soon promoted to Leutnant and eventually became a flight instructor. His cherished ambition of joining an operational unit was not realized until October 1, 1940, when, as an Oberleutnant, he was posted to the Geschwader Stab (headquarters flight) of JG 3 based at Desvres in France. The Battle of Britain was almost over, and Dahl saw little operational flying until the summer of 1941 when JG 3 was transferred to Hostyn- Zamocs airfield on June 18.