Erich Axthammer

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Erich Axthammer
Born 3 December 1920
Mariahof, Austria
Died 22 December 2015 (aged 95)
Allegiance  Nazi Germany (to 1945)
 West Germany
Service/branch Luftwaffe
Years of service 1938–45
1958–79
Rank Oberfeldwebel (Wehrmacht)
Stabsfeldwebel (Bundeswehr)
Unit SG 1
SG 152
SG 77
SG 10
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Other work Miner

Erich Axthammer (3 December 1920 – 22 December 2015) was an Oberfeldwebel in the Luftwaffe during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Career

Born 3 December 1920 in Neumark, Austria, Axthammer joined the Luftwaffe in November 1938, and during 1941 was posted to the Eastern Front with 7./Schlachtgeschwader 1 flying the Henschel Hs 123 ground attack biplane. On 10 March 1943 he flew his first combat mission near Krasnohrad on the Eastern Front, and flew over 300 missions before being awarded the German Cross in Gold in November 1943. He then served with 1./Schlachtgeschwader 152, 5./Schlachtgeschwader 77 and later 8./Schlachtgeschwader 10 by August 1944. Oberfeldwebel Axthammer was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in April 1945, one of the last pilots to be thus awarded.

During his wartime career he flew 530 missions, 300 with the Hs 123 and the remainder with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. He claimed four Soviet aircraft destroyed in aerial combat (plus two unconfirmed victories) and numerous ground targets, including 42 trucks, 27 other vehicles, two tanks, two artillery pieces, two anti-aircraft positions, and two aircraft on the ground. After the war he worked as a miner and in 1958 he joined the German Air Force of the Federal Republic of Germany. He served until 1979 retiring as a Stabsfeldwebel. Axthammer died in December 2015 at the age of 95.[1]

Awards and decorations

References

Citations

  1. http://en.ww2awards.com/person/21591
  2. Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 19.
  3. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 118.
  4. Scherzer 2007, p. 196.

Bibliography

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External links