Günther Schack

Günther Schack
Günther Schack
Born	(1917-11-12)12 November 1917 Bartenstein
Died	14 June 2003(2003-06-14) (aged 85) Schmidt near Nideggen
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Luftwaffe
Years of service	1939–1945
Rank	Major
Unit	JG 51, JG 3
Commands	9./JG 51, I./JG 51, IV./JG 3
Battles/wars	World War II Eastern Front
Awards	Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves

Template:Foreignchar Günther Schack (12 November 1917 – 14 June 2003) was a German World War II fighter ace who served in the Luftwaffe from 1939 until the end of World War II in 1945. A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. He claimed 174 enemy aircraft shot down, all of them on the Russian front. He survived being shot down 15 times during his 780 combat missions. After the war he lived secluded in the Eifel Mountains, and devoted himself to philosophical research.

Early life

Günther Schack was born in Bartenstein, a small town in Eastern Prussia, on 12 November 1917 as the son of Dr. Willy Schack and his wife, Dorothea (maiden name: Nietzki). He studied at the University of Stuttgart and at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule in Aachen. In 1937, when he first tried to join the Luftwaffe, he was categorised as wehruntauglich (unsuited for military service) because of a sports injury earlier in his life.

Military career

Günther Schack resubmitted an application as a volunteer and was accepted into the Luftwaffe on 2 September 1939. After being trained as a fighter pilot, Gefreiter (Private) Schack was posted to 7th Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51—7th Squadron of the 51st Fighter Wing) on 18 March 1941.

Schack claimed his first aerial victory in combat on 23 July 1941 on the Eastern front. He achieved his third aerial victory after 100 combat missions on 10 November 1941. He flew his 250th combat mission on 30 July 1942. when he claimed his 5th aerial victory. He had been promoted to the rank of Unteroffizier (Corporal). In November, his unit returned to Jesau in East Prussia to re-equip onto the new Fw190A fighter, whereupon his career started to take off.

Five men all wearing military uniforms and decorations standing in row. The man on the far right is shaking hands with another man whose back is facing the camera. Another man is standing behind the men shaking hands.

Alfred Grislawski, Emil Lang, Günther Schack (3rd from left), Otto Kittel and Anton Hafner receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves from Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring at the Berghof, Obersalzberg on 5 May 1944. Hafner is shaking Hitler's hand

He returned to the Eastern front, serving in the 7th Staffel of JG 51. On 17 December 1942, on his first mission back at the front, Schack shot down five Soviet Petlyakov Pe-2 bombers within minutes of each other. On 29 January 1943 Schack almost repeated this when his Schwarm (flight of four aircraft), on a Junkers Ju 87 escort mission, encountered eight Soviet Petlyakov Pe-2 flying in a line astern crossing the German lines at Novosil. Within five minutes all eight were shot down including four by Schack. . He was promoted to Leutnant (Second Lieutenant) on 1 January 1943, and after his 48th aerial victory (on 1st April 1943), he was ordered back to Germany to serve as a flight instructor with Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost.

He returned to the front in mid-July 1943, this time posted to 8./JG51, now back on the Me109G. Part of III./JG51, it was based at Bryansk covering the northern pincer attack for the Battle of Kursk. He claimed 10 victories in July and a further 40 in August. Flying out of Konotop on 1 September, he flew four missions, and had to belly-land after each one. He reached his century mark in aerial combat on 3 September 1943, and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 26 October for 116 victories. On 9 December 1943, he was made Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 9./JG 51.

1944 saw the German forces pushed inexorably out of Russia and III./JG51 covered the retreat of Army Group Centre, moving from Orsha to Terespol then back to Minsk and Kaunus, with Günther scoring consistently. Leutnant Schack was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub) on 20 April 1944 for 133 aerial victories. Schack was then promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) on 1 July 1944 and scored his 150th victory on 13 August. On 16 December 1944, he became a Gruppenkommandeur (Group Commander), in charge of I./JG 51. By now, the Gruppe had been forced back to the Baltic coast in East Prussia. On 12 April he had to bale out following aerial combat, and suffered serious burns. Soon after the Gruppe was disbanded, in late April, and on 1 May 1945, he was named the final commander of the 4th Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet". By the end of the war, he had scored 174 victories in 780 aerial combats, and was shot down 15 times (taking to his parachute four times).

Schack was once shot down by Lieutenant Hollis "Bud" Nowlin of the 357th Fighter Group over East Prussia. Nowlin and Schack met again first in Germany and then again in the fall of 1991 at the 357th Fighter Group reunion in Georgia.

Later life

After the war Günther Schack worked as a Sales Manager in his uncle's manufacturing company. In 1968, he resigned from his job, left his wife and his three children and began a new life in an isolated cottage in the mountain area of Eifel, where he lived as a vegetarian, cultivating his own vegetables. During this time, he tried to deal with his trauma of the war and to develop and propagate his own philosophy of life: the "Homokratie".

Awards

• Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe (16 January 1943)
• German Cross in Gold on 26 February 1943 as Feldwebel in the III./JG 51
• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 29 October 1943 as Leutnant (war officer) and pilot in the 9./JG 51 "Mölders"
  • 460th Oak Leaves on 20 April 1944 as Leutnant (war officer) and Staffelkapitän of the 9./JG 51 "Mölders"

Works

• Schack, Günther (1995). Betet für die Juden, betet für die Christen. Nideggen. ISBN 3-9800329-3-0.
• Schack, Günther (1975). Die Homokratie im Erdkreis.
• Schack, Günther (1975). Die Homokratie im Lebenskreis.
• Schack, Günther (1975). Die Homokratie im Völkerkreis.

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Aders, Gebhard & Held, Werner (1993). Jagdgeschwader 51 'Mölders' Eine Chronik - Berichte - Erlebnisse - Dokumente (in German). Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 3-613-01045-3.
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945. Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
• Klinkowitz, Jerome (1996). Yanks Over Europe: American Flyers in World War II. Kentucky, USA: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-1961-8.
• Obermaier, Ernst (1989). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe Jagdflieger 1939 - 1945 (in German). Mainz, Germany: Verlag Dieter Hoffmann. ISBN 3-87341-065-6.
• Patzwall, Klaus D. and Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 - 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II. Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 3-931533-45-X.
• Schaulen, Fritjof (2005). Eichenlaubträger 1940 - 1945 Zeitgeschichte in Farbe III Radusch - Zwernemann (in German). Selent, Germany: Pour le Mérite. ISBN 3-932381-22-X.
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
• Spick, Mike (1996). Luftwaffe Fighter Aces. Ivy Books. ISBN 0-8041-1696-2.
• Weal, John (1996). Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Aces of the Russian Front. London, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-85532-518-7.
• Weal, John (2001). Bf109 Aces of the Russian Front. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Limited. ISBN 1-84176-084-6.
• Weal, John (2006). Aviation Elite Units: Jagdgeschwader 51 'Mölders. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Limited. ISBN 1-84603-045-5.

External links

• "Aces of the Luftwaffe". Günther Schack. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
• "Luftwaffe 39-45 Historia". Günther Schack. Retrieved 24 November 2011. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
• "Lexikon der Wehrmacht". Günther Schack. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
• "O.K.L. Fighter Claims Chef für Ausz. und Disziplin Luftwaffen-Personalamt L.P. (A) V Films & Supplementary Claims from Lists Eastern Front (Ostfront) August–December 1942". Retrieved 26 March 2011.
• "O.K.L. Fighter Claims Chef für Ausz. und Disziplin Luftwaffen-Personalamt L.P. (A) V Films & Supplementary Claims from Lists Eastern Front (Ostfront) January–June 1943". Retrieved 26 March 2011.
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