Rudolf Berthold

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Rudolf Berthold
Sanke423-Rudolf Berthold.jpg
Nickname "Iron Eagle"
Birth date 24 March 1891
Place of birth Ditterswind, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Death date 15 March 1920 (aged 28)
Place of death Harburg, Hamburg, Weimar Republic
Resting place Invalids' Cemetery (Invalidenfriedhof), Berlin, Germany
Allegiance  German Empire
Service/branch War and service flag of Prussia (1895–1918).png Prussian Army
Iron Cross of the Luftstreitkräfte.png Imperial German Army
Years of service 1910–1919
Rank Hauptmann
Unit FFA 23,
Commands held KEK Vaux
Jagdstaffel 4
Jagdstaffel 14
Jagdstaffel 18
Jagdgruppe 7
Jagdgeschwader II
Awards Pour le Mérite

Oskar Gustav Rudolf Berthold (24 March 1891 – 15 March 1920) was a German officer of the Prussian Army, the Imperial German Army and the Freikorps (Eiserne Schar „Berthold“), fighting the Bolsheviks in the Baltics. Between 1916 and 1918, the World War I flying ace of the Luftstreitkräfte shot down 44 enemy planes (Luftsiege),[1] most of them over the Belgium front. Berthold had the reputation as a ruthless, fearless and—above all—a very patriotic fighter. His perseverance and bravery made him one of the most famous German pilots ever.

Life

Berthold started his career as a soldier with the Infanterie-Regiment „Graf Tauentzien von Wittenberg“ (3. Brandenburgisches) Nr. 20 in 1910. He learned to fly at his own expense in 1913. Thus he transferred to the Imperial German Air Service when war broke out in August 1914, and over the next two years flew as an Observer on Halberstadt and DFW two seaters with FFA 23, winning the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class. Switching to Fokker Eindecker later in 1916 with Kek Vaux, Berthold was injured in the first of several crashes in his wartime career in April 1916, by which time he already had 5 victories. In August 1916, Kek Vaux became Jasta 4, which he handed over to the command of his longtime friend, Hans-Joachim Buddecke before in October 1916, joining Jasta 14 after 8 victories. He served with this unit until May 1917, when he was wounded in combat with a RFC scout, suffering a fractured skull, broken nose, pelvis and thigh. In August he was given command of Jasta 18, although during a dogfight a bullet crippled his upper arm in October. He refused to retire, however.

As one of the most successful German fighter pilots of World War I Hauptmann Rudolf Berthold was victorious in forty-four aerial combats. He was also shot down or forced to land after six fights and survived crash landings in every case. Early in World War I, when only fighter pilots were awarded the Kingdom of Prussia’s (and de facto, Imperial Germany’s ) highest bravery decoration, the Pour le Mérite, Rudolf Berthold became the tenth recipient of the honor. Of that early cohort of air heroes, only Berthold and one other pilot survived the war.

In March 1918 he returned to active service and took command of the 2nd Jagdgeschwader, transferring his Jasta 18 personnel into Jasta 15. Despite being in constant pain from his unhealed injuries, Berthold continued flying. He refused any surgical help because he was believed an operation would make it impossible for him to continue flying. Berthold didn't even have the bullet removed from his arm. Through the summer of 1918 Berthold continued flying, increasingly relying on morphine for pain relief. Such was his strength of will he also taught himself to write with his left hand.

With JG 2, Berthold often flew a Pfalz D.III in preference to the Albatros D.V, until May 1918 when the new Fokker D.VII entered service.Berthold had a personal insignia of a winged sword on the side of the blue fuselages and red noses sported by all aircraft of Jasta 15. His final wartime mishap came on August 10, 1918, when he shot down two RAF DH-4 bombers, but collided with the second of these victories and crashed into a house. He was hospitalised until after the war, ironically, this was the same date that Leutnant Erich Löwenhardt (de) was killed.

Death

Berthold was murdered on 15 March 1920 in Harburg during a riot between communist and patriotic factions, after taking part in the Kapp Putsch. During the coup d'état Berthold's unit was reportedly cornered in a Harburg school. Reports about the cause of his death then varied, with some accounts stating he was beaten, stabbed and shot dead, while other sources claim, more a myth, he was strangled with the ribbon of the 'Blue Max' medal he still wore. Hans Wittmann, who retrieved Berthold's body, described the scene:

Berthold doubled back through the school when the mob attacked. As he exited the back door, someone spotted his Pour le Merite and yelled the alarm. A mob overpowered Berthold. His handgun was taken from him and used to shoot him twice in the head and four times in the body as the mob mauled him. In the dirt of the street lay, lifeless, Hauptmann Berthold, his shoes and his overcoat robbed from him, his face crushed into a formless mass by the mob's feet, his paralyzed arm torn out of its socket, his bloody body punctured by gunshot wounds [...][2]

Ernst von Salomon, who was a member of the Freikorps "Berthold" and was there, described the events very vividly in his book "The Outlaws". Here a short summary:

“On 15 March 1920, fighting broke out in Leipzig, Magdeburg, Chemnitz, Halle, Kiel, Frankfurt am Main, Straßfurt, Hettstett and Bitterfeld. During 16 March, the situation worsened. Spontaneous outbursts of resentment have already occurred everywhere (note: from SPD supporters and trade unions against the Kapp putsch), which were immediately exploited by the Spartacists. In Heimfeld near Harburg, the men of the 9th Engineer Regiment locked up their officers and distributed weapons to the demonstrators. A Freikorps made up of former Baltic combatants under Captain Berthold, a seriously disabled fighter pilot, was locked up in a school (note: the Freikorps was on the rail transport to Hamburg when the train unexpectedly stopped; so Berthold decided with the men to stay in said school). The mutinous soldiers and the red militias, supported by several thousand armed demonstrators, attacked the building. The Freikorps men (note: around 700 in number) had to surrender when they had used up their ammunition and several of them had already fallen (note: their luggage had remained on the train and one had the school turned off the water). The attackers now rushed towards the disarmed, several of whom were wounded. When Captain Berthold refused to take off his epaulettes and the Pour le Mérite, he was killed. His body lay naked and bloodied in a gutter. His head was severed, his arms were ripped from his body and his legs were crushed. The mob danced around the desecrated corpse.”

On his first gravestone {since destroyed by communist border guards of the GDR} on the Invalidenfriedhof was allegedly the memorial: "Honored by his Enemy's, killed by his German brethren". However, after Germany's reunification, private donors raised the funds for a simple marker to be placed on his grave in 2003.

Awards, decorations and honours

Rudolf Berthold, Sieger in 44 Luftschlachten, Erschlagen im Bruderkampfe für Deutschlands Freiheit.jpg

Honours

  • City streets were named for him in Bamberg and Wittenberg, among others.

Further reading

  • Dr. phil. Ludwig F. Gengler: Kampfflieger Rudolf Berthold, Sieger in 44 Luftschlachten, Erschlagen im Bruderkampfe für Deutschlands Freiheit, Biographie seines Lebens 1914-1918
  • Alfred Becker: Fliegerhauptmann Rudolf Berthold, Mager-Verlag, 1934
  • Thor Goote: ... unvergleichlicher Franke ... Bild eines deutschen Soldaten, Westermann, 1935

References

  1. ↑ Victories of Rudolf Berthold
  2. ↑ Kilduff, Peter (2012). Iron Man – Rudolf Berthold: Germany's Indomitable Fighter Ace of World War I. Oxford: Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-908117-37-3.
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