Back to start       The 465th over the Lechtal Alps August 3 1944     Hptm Werner Gerth

Karl-Heinz von den Steinen was a young officer in Werner Gerth's 11 Staffel. As a pupil of arguably the most aggressive Experte in the Sturmgruppe his career as a fighter pilot was always likely to be spectacular if short. Over Oschersleben on the 7th July 1944 he was credited with his first two heavy bomber victories. Filmed by the Deutsche Wochenschau celebrating IV./JG 3's first successful Sturm action, he appeared alongside Walther Dahl and Gruppenkommandeur Willi Moritz on cinema screens throughout Germany. On the 18 July mission from Memmingen a problem with his Zusatz tank that had been improperly secured forced von den Steinen to return to base early. He was on the ground as the 483rd BG laid their carpet of bombs that was to kill some 170 ground personnel and destroy or seriously damage some 50 aircraft. Gerth's 11 Staffel was in action again on August 3 1944 as the Sturmgruppe escorted by I./JG 300 was scrambled from Schongau to meet 15th AAF formations attacking Friedrichshafen . At about 11.40 that morning high over the Alps, the Sturmgruppe was in position behind a Combat Box of some 30 B-24 Liberators of the 465th BG. Hptm Moritz gave the order for the Sturm attack. The sky was suddenly filled with flame and smoke as exploding B-24's plunged out of their formation. Von den Steinen's 3rd victory was witnessed. Some 19 Liberators were to go down. But return fire from the tail-gunners was intense and a number of Focke Wulfs were now trailing plumes of smoke. The fighter escort alerted by the cries for help over the RT was quickly on the scene. Willi Unger's 10 Staffel was virtually wiped out in the ensuing air battle. In total, ten Fw 190 Sturmböcke were shot down, easily the Sturmgruppe's highest loss since their formation . Von den Steinen was posted missing that evening. For many of his Kameraden that would be the last they ever heard of him. In fact, hit by the bombers return fire, von den Steinen had struggled from his doomed machine and parachuted to safety. He was badly burned and would spend long months in hospital. Willi Unger worked tirelessly post war to establish the fates of many of his fallen comrades sending many reports to the DVK in Kassel, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfursorge or German War Graves commission. It was not until 1975 that he was able to establish that von den Steinen was in fact alive and well. The photo above is the result.