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 Sturmjäger: the men

Willi Maximowitz was born on 29th January 1920 in Wuppertal-Barnen. When Major von Kornatzski at the end of 1943 was enlisting volunteers for Sturmstaffel 1, Maximowitz was an Unteroffizier with JG1. Like many young German  pilots who had encountered  at first hand the devastating aftermath of an American bombing raid on a German city, Maximowitz  in his rage and frustration at the seemingly invincible 'Flying Forts', resolved to volunteer for service with the new Sturmstaffel . The daring close combat tactics seemed to suit his 'wild man' personality, as Oskar Bösch remembered him. On 30th January 1944 at 11:50 he chalked up his first success when he downed a B-24 Liberator. On 6th March 1944 at 12:35 Willi Maximowitz achieved an Herausschuss of B-17, which was confirmed later as his second victory. On 23rd March 1944 he shot down his third four-engined bomber,shortly followed by his fourth victory, but his Focke-Wulf 190 A-6 W.Nr.551 099 " white 10" was hit hard and Maximowitz had to parachute out near Wuppertal. Maximowitz is pictured in the cockpit of 'white 10' in Rodeike's 'Jagdflugzeug 190..', armoured glass shattered and the fuselage  of his Focke Wulf ripped open, after an earlier mission. After recovering from his injuries he again returned to Sturmstaffel 1 and added one further kill on 29th April 1944 when he shot down a Boeing B-17 at 11:10 over Helmstedt.  

         Sturmstaffel 1 had proved the Sturm concept during the early months of 1944 and the unit was subsequently integrated into IV./JG 3 as 11. Staffel. The focus of the air war turned to Normandy, France in June 1944. IV./JG3 was hastily despatched to France where Maximowitz flew combat flights in support of  the ground army (Jaboeinsatz) and against ' die Landungsflotte' in a futile attempt to throw the Allied forces back ' im raschen Gegenstoss ins Meer..'. In these actions he flew together with IV.Gruppe from Dreux airfield, although as a specialist anti-bomber unit the Sturmjäger were quite unsuited as 'Jagdbomber'. In the face of the sheer scale of the Allied air umbrella over Normandy few if any aerial victories were registered and the unit was soon withdrawn. The next major action for the Gruppe occurred on the 7th July 1944, the famed 'Blitzluftschlact vom Oschersleben' as portrayed in the Wochenshau propaganda newsreels of the time. Assuming that Maximowitz flew this mission, he failed to score, although the victories list in Prien's '.. IV./JG3 ' shows that all the other experienced aces of the Gruppe did so. In action again on 20th July at 11:07 he got one B-17 which meant his 10th victory. On 28th July 1944 IV./JG 3 was in action against American four-engine bombers. Maximowitz was shot down by the fighter escort and was slightly injured. On 30th July he was promoted to Feldwebel but on the same day had to crash land his Focke-Wulf 190 A-8/R2 W.Nr.680 756. After resting his injury he returned to his unit (renamed on 10th August, 14./JG 3). On 27th September 1944 he downed a B-24 Liberator. Then he flew a short time as Kaczmarek of Gruppenkommandeur IV./JG 3 Hauptmann Wilhelm Moritz (44 victories, 15 four-engined bombers, RK).

During the aerial battles over the Reichsgebiet during the summer of 1944 Maximowitz had become one of the most experienced bomber-destroyer aces of the unit and subsequently achieved the award of the Deutches Kreuz in Gold that autumn. ( Awarded 01/01/1945 according to Mombeek in Sturmstaffel 1 ) His experiences were utilised in other areas. Maximowitz was one of the few pilots to have brought down Flying Fortresses by ramming; he had knocked out one bomber by ramming (on 23rd March1944) and rammed another bomber (date unknown). As Werner Zell recalls in ' Das bittere Ende der Luftwaffe' he gave instruction to the young recruits of Sonderkommando Elbe  which was to be a true specialist ramming unit.." In order to demonstrate to us the possibilities of surviving a ramming attack we were introduced to Feldwebel Willi Maximowitz of the Sturmgruppe Dahl. These Strumgruppen operated in tight formations and approached the bomber boxes with guns blazing  and kept firing until very close range. If the target bomber did not go down under this concentration of gunfire these pilots were obliged to bring the bomber down by ramming. They had signed a written testimony to this end. Maximowitz had been able to save his life after a ramming attack by baling out. The way in which he told us about the whole procedure made us discuss anew how best to ram a bomber, whether to do it from behind, from above, or below, whether the tail unit should be the aiming point, or even whether to do it head-on and aim for the cockpit......"  

Sturmgruppen operations against the bomber streams had virtually ceased by the early months of 1945. After Bodenplatte , the ill-fated Ardennes attack on Allied airfields, IV./JG 3 moved to the Russian Front at the end of January 1945 . On 11th March Maximowitz was credited with three Boston twin-engined bombers and one Russian fighter. On 20th April 1945 the planes of IV.Gruppe were again in combat. Maximowitz was by now a Schwarmführer with the Stabs flight flying the Dora-9. As the Langnasen returned to the airfield one Focke-Wulf was missing. It was  the aircraft of Ofw. Maximowitz of 14./JG 3. Maximowitz was killed, most probably in a struggle with Russian fighters around Frankfurt am Oder. He told Fw.Oskar Bösch (18 victories, 8 four-engined bombers) during this mission that he had an MP 40 in his cockpit and he was saving the last round for himself if he got shot down ! Maximowitz is still listed 'vermisst'. During the course of his researches Barry Smith has located Maximowitz's sister in Germany and unearthed a number of new photos to be presented in his forthcoming volume on Sturmstaffel 1 .