One of the leading
four engined bomber destroyers of IV./JG3. He was born on 10th May 1923 in
Pforzheim. Served with 7th Staffel of III./JG 53 in Italy in late summer
1943 and flew his Bf 109 G-6 in the hard fought battles over Sicily and then
southern Italy following the Allied landings in July and September
1943. He was wounded in the bombing raid on Ciampino on September 17 which
Jürgen Harder describes on p990 of Jochen Prien's 'Pik As' - Geschichte
des Jagdgeschwaders 53 Teil 2..." Am 17.9 kam der Engländer mit
Viermotorigen und vernichtete die ganze Gruppe..."...on the 17 th September
the English four-engined bombers destroyed the entire Gruppe. It was terrible.
Lying on the ground with no cover as bombs rained down on us..". The Gruppe
had no warning of the impending attack and many aircraft were destroyed and
some ten pilots injured.
His experiences in Sicily and brush with death must have been a defining moment in Werner Gerth's career. Recovered from his wounds Gerth volunteered to join Sturmstaffel 1 under the lead of Maj. Hans-Günther von Kornatzki in January 1944, where he was to become one of the most aggressive and successful pilots, in Obermaier's words one of the 'draufgängerischsten Jagdflieger der Reichsverteidigung ', the most daredevil of fighter pilots. He destroyed his first four-engined bomber on 22nd February, his first victim a B-17 . On 6th March he shot down a B-17 ,destroying another a few moments later. On 11th April Gerth again recorded 2 kills, shooting down his first two B-24 Liberators. When the two ranking officers of Sturmstaffel 1 were not flying on operations ( von Kornatzki was ill and Bacsila wounded in the hand ) Lt Gerth led the Staffel.
He was an ace aviator as well as marksman.
Obermaier relates how on one occasion Gerth was surprised by P-51 Mustangs
on coming into land . Sensing the danger he retracted his undercarriage
and got off a deadly deflection shot as the Mustang overshot. Gerth's
daredevil flying had earlier led to the tragic death of his wingman
or Rottenflieger Uffz Heinz Grosskreuz on 1st March 1944. The
two men had enjoyed a firm but very competitive friendship and were
always vying with each other in the air. The two Sturmstaffel
pilots had been dogfighting when Gerth's Fw 190 collided with his wingman's
plunging Grosskreuz to his death. This incident, related in Mombeek's
Sturmstaffel 1 had been a nasty shock for Werner Gerth who was now to throw
himself into the combat against the bombers with a reckless disregard for
his own safety .
On 20th April 1944 he became Staffelkapitän of
11.Sturm/JG 3, but still serving with Sturmstaffel 1. In fact, Sturmstaffel
1 members joined his 11th staffel, later renamed to the 14th staffel on 10th
August 1944. On 29th April 1944 Sturmstaffel 1 attacked a force of
perhaps 40 bombers and within half an hour almost half of the American bombers
had been shot down . Werner Gerth in this action recorded two four-engined
bombers, which he shot down at 11:07 and so scored his 7th and 8th victory
(one Herauschuss). In the battle over
Oschersleben on 7th July he downed
two Liberators for his 13th and 14th victories. In the picture reproduced
below , Hptm Wilhelm Moritz and the victorious pilots of 11 Staffel including
Werner Gerth at extreme right are congratulated by Major Dahl following the
Oschersleben battle, a scene re-enacted for the Wochenschau cameras later
that July at Illesheim. The tall figure behind Gerth would appear to be Gerhard
Vivroux and the pilot between Moritz and Dahl Lt Karl-Heinz von den
Steinen who had recorded his first two victories on the 7th July.
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By the end of July 1944 he had shot down some 20 four-engined bombers and scored multiple victories on at least three occasions. On 3rd August 1944 he shot down a B-24 Liberator and on 11th September he shot down a B-17 and P-51 Mustang. He received the Ritterkreuz on 29th October 1944 after some 26 victories.
October 1944 was a relatively quiet month for the Sturmgruppe and was largely taken up with training flights for the new pilots arriving from the Ergänzungsgruppen. As Staffelkapitän of 14 Staffel Gerth had new pilots sign the Sturmgruppe affidavit as recorded by Uffz Karl Kapteina who joined 14 Staffel in October 1944. In his welcome speech to new arrivals Gerth made light of the commitment to ram given the efficacy of the Sturm tactic and weapons although went on to describe how a pilot should carry out the Rammstoss and successfully bail out. On 2nd November 1944 he was hit while in the process of shooting down a B-17 over Halle. Having rammed it (according to all the literature) and bailed out, his parachute did not open. He was flying a Sturmbock Fw 190A-8/R-2 W.Nr. 682057 . Posthumously he was promoted to Hauptmann. There is some confusion as to his final victory total. Obermaier says 37, Mombeek in Sturmstaffel 1 says 27 and 37. Victory total is nearer 27, mostly American and at least 22 bombers (17x B-17, 5x B-24). He himself was shot down possibly eleven times. He died aged just twenty one.
Researcher Barry Smith intends
to publish more details of Werner Gerth's career in his forthcoming volume
on the Sturmstaffel including photos of Gerth's funeral which show his award
pillow (Ordnenskissen) with Ritterkreuz. Gerth never received the award.
It did not arrive at the unit until after his death. Incidentally, Smith
has found no solid evidence that Gerth rammed a bomber on the day of his
death although this is often stated. ( see above ). Oskar Bösch was
his wingman on this date and cannot confirm that Gerth died after ramming
a Viermot but rather was attacked by fighters.
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Werner Gerth's grave is in the Main cementery in Pforzheim.
The inscription on the little white shield near the flowers reads "Dein Staffelkamerad Oskar Boesch ,Canada". This photo was very generously sent in by Werner Farwick who has amassed a huge collection of Ritterkreuzträger grave site photos.
This profile image below shows what may have been Werner Gerth's Fw
190A-8/R2 in July 1944. The source for this image is the well known still
taken from the Wochenschau footage. The white Rumpfband is present
and a tarpaulin hides the JG 3 Udet emblem . Most representations of this
aircraft depict the eagle wing design in yellow. Painting out of the
Sturm markings was started in early August 1944 and as more and more
replacement aircraft came into the unit they were simply left
unpainted.
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