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Hans-Joachim "Hajo" Herrmann (1 August 1913 – 5 November 2010)〔http://www.pro-sarrazin.net/archives/2549〕〔http://npd-thueringen.de/?p=430〕 was a Luftwaffe (Nazi Germany air force) bomber pilot. In World War II, he was a high ranking and influential member of the Luftwaffe, and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords ((ドイツ語:Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern)). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves and Swords was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. After World War II Hermann became a lawyer whose high-profile cases included the defense of neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers. == Military career == Herrmann was one of the Luftwaffe's most innovative air tacticians during World War II. Beginning his military career as an infantry officer, he was commissioned in the newly formed Luftwaffe in 1935. From 1936 until 1937, he was a bomber pilot in the Condor Legion. During the Spanish Civil War, Herrmann joined KG-4. When World War II began, he flew Heinkel He-111s in Poland and Norway. By 1940, he was Commander of the 7th Staffel of KG-4, and led many attacks on England during the Battle of Britain. In February 1941, his group went to Sicily, from where it attacked Malta and Greece. In one such attack, Herrmann dropped a single bomb on an ammunition ship, the SS Clan Fraser;〔Smith and Kay (1972), p. 405.〕 the resulting explosion sank 11 ships and made the Greek port of Piraeus unusable for many months. In early 1942, he was commander of III./KG 30, attacking Arctic convoys from Norway, including the attacks on PQ-17. July 1942 saw him assigned to the general staff in Germany, where he became a close confidant of Hermann Göring, the head of the Luftwaffe. During his career as a bomber pilot, Herrmann flew 320 missions and sank 12 ships totalling 70,000 tons. In 1942, Herrmann was appointed to the Luftwaffe Operational Staff. Gaining a reputation as a tactical and operational innovators, he was the creator of the Luftwaffe night fighter wing designated Jagdgeschwader 300, nicknamed ''Wilde Sau'' (German: wild boar), which was a response to the Royal Air Force Bomber Command's night raids on the Germany in mid-1943. RAF had achieved ascendancy over the Luftwaffe's ''Nachtjäger'' radar-guided night fighter forces through the use of the radar countermeasure chaff, and Herrmann's theory was for experienced night flying pilots and ex-instructors to be equipped with Fw 190 day fighters and visually 'free-hunt' the bombers by the light of the fires below and with the aid of special 'flare-carrier' Junkers Ju 88s following the bomber streams. He also called for the use of the Naxos radar detector units on some of these single engined fighters to located the bombers when they were aiming using radar. Herrmann himself flew more than 50 night fighter missions and claimed nine RAF bombers destroyed. Although JG 300 and subsequent units had promising initial success, the wastage of both pilots and aircraft due to high accident rates curtailed extensive use of 'Wilde Sau' beyond the start of 1944. In December 1943, Herrmann was appointed Luftwaffe Inspector of Aerial Defence. By 1944, he was Inspector General of night fighters and received the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. At the end of 1944, he led the 9. ''Flieger-division (J)''. At this time he was a leading exponent of the tactical deployment of the so-called ''Rammjäger'' ''Sonderkommando Elbe'' (German: ram fighters, task force Elbe), sent into action in April 1945. Pilot volunteers, often aged 18 to 20, were to be trained to be simply competent enough to control specially lightened and unarmoured Bf 109 fighters and charged with downing Allied bombers by deliberately ramming the tail or control surfaces with the propellers of their aircraft, and thereafter bailing out, if possible. Herrmann's intention was to gather a large number of these fighters for a one-off attack on the USAAF bomber streams, hopefully causing enough losses to curtail the bombing offensive for a few months. Fuel shortages prevented employment of the large numbers necessary, although from one mission of this type, on 7 April 1945, of the 120 planes thus committed only 15 came back.〔Smith and Kay (1972), p. 492.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hajo Herrmann」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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