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Sonderkommando Elbe - April 1945


Fritz

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Mut der Verzweiflung - alles oder nichts!  Documentary. 7. April 1945, as a last desperate attempt to stem the tide of Allied bombers over Germany - a new plan was set up, all were volunteers. The mission was to ram and bring down as many bombers as possible, and at the same time to bail out if possible. The chances of not surviving were estimated at around 90 percent, despite this, 2.000 volunteers came forward, 300 were selected.  Used were  Fw 190s and Bf 109s, where the armour, armament and amunition was stripped down to a minimum to save weight and increase speed, each pilot had 50 rounds of ammunition, and fuel was very short.
180 Fighters took off to challenge a formation of 1.300 US bombers supported by 800 long range fighters. It was not a suicide mission compared to the Japanese Kamikaze - the pilot had every chance of bailing out, if he survived the collision, his weapons were his airplane, the steel propellor and 50 rounds of ammunition.  Three ramm-pilots who survived give an account of their ordeal.

 

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