Hans Fuß (19 September 1920 – 10 November 1942) was a former Luftwaffe

fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

and recipient of the

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (german: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. The Knight' ...

during World War II. Hans Fuss was credited with 71 victories in over 300 missions. All his victories were recorded over the Eastern Front.

Career

Fuß was born on 19 September 1920 in Altenhof near Meseritz in West Prussia, present-day Stary Dwór in western Poland. Following flight training, he was posted to 4. '' Staffel'' (4th squadron) of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 3 (JG 3–3rd Fighter Wing) in early 1941. This squadron was subordinated to the II. '' Gruppe'' (2nd group) of JG 3 and was headed by ''Hauptmann''

Gordon Gollob Gordon Gollob (16 June 1912 – 7 September 1987) was an Austrian fighter pilot during World War II. A fighter ace, he was credited with 150 enemy aircraft shot down in over 340 combat missions. Gollob claimed the majority of his victories ...

at the start of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

Eastern Front

II. ''Gruppe'' had been ordered to the Eastern Front in preparation for Case Blue, the strategic summer offensive in southern Russia. While based at Pilsen, ''Hauptmann''

Kurt Brändle Kurt-Werner Brändle (19 January 1912 – 3 November 1943) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator during World War II, a fighter ace credited with 180 enemy aircraft shot down in over 700 combat missions. The majority of his victories w ...

took over command of the ''Gruppe'' after the former commander ''Hauptmann''

Karl-Heinz Krahl Karl-Heinz Krahl (25 September 1914 – 14 April 1942) was a Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or su ...

had been killed in action over Malta. The ''Gruppe'' was then deployed on the left wing of Army Group South where it was based at Chuhuiv near the

Donets The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets, is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv, Don ...

on 19 May. There, Fuß served with the ''Gruppenstab'' as an

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

to Brändle.

Squadron leader

On 1 August, Fuß was appointed '' Staffelkapitän'' (squadron leader) of 6. ''Staffel'' of JG 3 after its former commander ''Oberleutnant'' Hans-Jürgen Waldhelm had been transferred. On 7 August, the German 6th Army attacked Soviet forces at Kalach, encircling elements of the Soviet

62nd Army The 62nd Army (russian: 62-я армия) was a field army established by the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. Formed as the 7th Reserve Army as part of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command in May 1942, the formation was desi ...

west of the Don. During this battle, II. ''Gruppe'' supported the advance, claiming 23 aerial victories, including six by Fuß, making him an " ace-in-a-day". On 14 September 1942, Fuß claimed a

Yakovlev Yak-1 The Yakovlev Yak-1 (russian: Яковлев Як-1) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. The Yak-1 was a single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings; production began in early 1940.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978 ...

fighter shot down, his last aerial victory claim. During this battle, he engaged with

Lydia Litvyak Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak (russian: Лидия Владимировна Литвяк; 18 August 1921, in Moscow – 1 August 1943, in Krasnyi Luch), also known as Lilya, was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II. Historians ...

and his

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...

G-2 (''Werknummer'' 13758—factory number) took a hit in the fuel tank causing his engine to seize. During the forced landing at Dedyurevo, an airfield approximately northeast of Smolensk, his aircraft crashed and Fuß was severely injured. Fuß died of

gangrene Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...

following the amputation of one of his legs at a Luftwaffe hospital in Berlin on 10 November 1942.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to US historian

David T. Zabecki David T. Zabecki (born 1947) is an American military historian, author and editor. Zabecki served in the U.S. Army both in the Vietnam War and in United States Army Europe in Germany attaining the rank of major general. Zabecki holds PhDs in eng ...

, Fuß was credited with 71 aerial victories. Obermaier and Spick also list Fuß with 71 aerial victories, of which claimed on the Eastern Front in over 300 combat mission. Mathews and Foreman, authors of ''Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims'', researched the

German Federal Archives The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv (BArch) (german: Bundesarchiv) are the National Archives of Germany. They were established at the current location in Koblenz in 1952. They are subordinated to the Federal Commissioner for Culture and t ...

and found records for 69 aerial victory claims, all of which claimed on the Eastern Front. Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = ''Planquadrat''), for example "PQ 4072". The Luftwaffe grid map () covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15

minutes Minutes, also known as minutes of meeting (abbreviation MoM), protocols or, informally, notes, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting and may include a list of attendees, a state ...

of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about . These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area in size.

Awards

* Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class * Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 23 March 1942 as '' Leutnant'' and pilot * German Cross in Gold on 10 July 1942 as '' Leutnant'' in the II./''Jagdgeschwader'' 3 *

on 23 August 1942 as ''Leutnant'' and pilot in the II./''Jagdgeschwader'' 3 "Udet"

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuss, Hans 1920 births 1942 deaths Luftwaffe pilots German World War II flying aces Luftwaffe personnel killed in World War II Recipients of the Gold German Cross Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Burials at the Invalids' Cemetery People from Międzyrzecz County German amputees Deaths from gangrene