Joachim Blechschmidt

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German fighter ace and Knight's Cross recipient

title: "Joachim Blechschmidt" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1912-births", "1943-deaths", "military-personnel-from-thuringia", "people-from-schleiz", "people-from-the-principality-of-reuss-gera", "luftwaffe-pilots", "german-world-war-ii-flying-aces", "recipients-of-the-gold-german-cross", "recipients-of-the-knight's-cross-of-the-iron-cross", "luftwaffe-personnel-killed-in-world-war-ii"] description: "German fighter ace and Knight's Cross recipient" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Blechschmidt" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary German fighter ace and Knight's Cross recipient ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox military person"]

FieldValue
nameJoachim Blechschmidt
birth_date28 December 1912
death_dateM.I.A.
imageJoachim Blechschmidt (1941).jpg
captionJoachim Blechschmidt (1941)
birth_placeSchleiz
death_placedisappeared near Orel, Russia
allegianceNazi Germany
branchLuftwaffe
serviceyears? – 1943
rankOberstleutnant (Posthumously)
commandsI./ZG 1
ZG 1
battlesWorld War II
awardsKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross
::

|name=Joachim Blechschmidt |birth_date=28 December 1912 |death_date= M.I.A. |image=Joachim Blechschmidt (1941).jpg |caption=Joachim Blechschmidt (1941) |birth_place= Schleiz |death_place= disappeared near Orel, Russia |nickname= |allegiance=Nazi Germany |branch=Luftwaffe |serviceyears=? – 1943 |rank=Oberstleutnant (Posthumously) |unit= |commands=I./ZG 1 ZG 1 |battles=World War II

Joachim Blechschmidt (* 28 December 1912 in Schleiz/Thuringia; missing since 13 July 1943 after shooting down near Oryol/Central Russia) was a German lieutenant colonel in the German Air Force during the Second World War. He is counted among the aces of the German Air Force.

Biography

Joachim Blechschmidt was born on 28 December 1912 in Schleiz/Thuringia (Germany) as the youngest of twelve children of the grammar school professor and pastor Heinrich Blechschmidt (1867-1946) and his wife Maria, née Kruse (1875-1918). His childhood was overshadowed by the First World War and the early death of his mother. After his secondary school time in Schleiz he decided to become an officer in the police force and was taken over by the army in Worms with a patent from April 1, 1934. There he realised his dream to become a pilot. In 1940 he married Gabriele Döber, at that time living in Katowice/Upper Silesia (today Poland), who, according to his official missing persons report on August 1, 1944, is said to have emigrated to the USA at the end of the Second World War. The marriage was childless.

Military career

After a strict entrance examination in Jena-Rödinger he came to Perleburg in Priegnitz in 1935, where he was trained as a fighter pilot. From 1939 to 1942 he was a combat and transport pilot. During this time he took part in the campaigns to Poland (September 1939), France (May to June 1940) and the Battle of Britain (July to November 1940). For his merits he was awarded the Iron Cross second and first class. On 24 April 1941 he was promoted to captain and became captain of a squadron Ju 52 of the second transport squadron (Battle Group for Special Use 9). In June 1941 his squadron was transferred to Russia, where it participated in the Operation Barbarossa until December 1941. On 4 February 1942 he received the German Cross in Gold for his outstanding achievements. On 20 August 1942, he became Group Commander of I. Gruppe I of Zerstörergeschwader 1 ("Wespengeschwader" because of the wasp emblem on the nose section of the aircraft), equipped with heavy twin-engined Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighter aircraft. His squadron was instrumental in the crushing of strong enemy attacks on the Stalingrad Front. Major Blechschmidt and his group flew missions in the Great Don Arc from an airfield surrounded by the enemy, probably Tazinskaya. Although Soviet tanks advanced to the edge of the airfield, the destroyer group under his command flew rolling missions against tanks, artillery and infantry positions of the Soviets despite the lowest cloud height, snowdrift and lowest visibility conditions and despite the artillery and mortar fire lying on the airfield. These flights led to the prevention of an enemy breakthrough. On 17 March 1943 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross shortly afterwards he was promoted to Major and on 12 April 1943 to Commander of Destroyer Squadron 1. On 13 July 1943 he was shot down by Noël Castelain in air combat with Soviet and Allied fighters east of Orel near Ulyanovo-Bolkhov. He succeeded with his Bf 110 G-2 (W.No. 6295) "S9+BA" in an emergency landing with burning engines behind enemy lines. Together with his radio operator, Sergeant Wörl, he was able to leave the aircraft alive and take refuge in a Russian occupied forest. He was subsequently promoted to lieutenant colonel in absence. On August 1, 1944 he was officially listed as missing. According to Soviet sources, he fell into Russian captivity, further whereabouts unknown, and is believed to have shot down two Russian fighter planes of the type Lavochkin LaGG-3 on March 25, 1943, and a La-5 on May 10 of the same year. By 2 April 1943 he had carried out 400 enemy flights and achieved 17 air victories, all on the Eastern Front.

Awards

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • {{Cite book |last=Bergström |first=Christer |year=2007 |title=Kursk - The Air Battle: July 1943 |location=Burgess Hill |publisher=Chevron/Ian Allan |isbn=978-1-903223-88-8
  • {{Cite book |last=Fellgiebel |first=Walther-Peer |author-link=:de:Walther-Peer Fellgiebel |year=2000 |orig-year=1986 |title=Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile |trans-title=The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches |language=de |location=Friedberg, Germany |publisher=Podzun-Pallas |isbn=978-3-7909-0284-6
  • {{Cite book |last=Fellgiebel |first=Walter-Peer |author-link=:de:Walther-Peer Fellgiebel |title=Elite of the Third Reich: The Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |publisher=Helion & Co. |year=2004 |location=Warwick
  • {{Cite book |last=Herhudt von Rhoden |first=Hans-Detlef |author-link=:de:Hans-Detlef Herhudt von Rohden |year=1993 |orig-year=1950 |title=Die Luftwaffe ringt um Stalingrad |publisher=Ullstein Verlag |isbn=978-3-548-34995-4 |location=Frankfurt a. M.
  • {{Cite book |last=Obermaier |first=Ernst |year=1989 |title=Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe Jagdflieger 1939 – 1945 |trans-title=The Knight's Cross Bearers of the Luftwaffe Fighter Force 1939 – 1945 |language=de |location=Mainz, Germany |publisher=Verlag Dieter Hoffmann |isbn=978-3-87341-065-7
  • {{Cite book |last1=Patzwall |first1=Klaus D. |last2=Scherzer |first2=Veit |year=2001 |title=Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II |trans-title=The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2 |language=de |location=Norderstedt, Germany |publisher=Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall |isbn=978-3-931533-45-8
  • {{Cite book |last=Scherzer |first=Veit |year=2007 |title=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 |trans-title=The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives |language=de |location=Jena, Germany |publisher=Scherzers Militaer-Verlag |isbn=978-3-938845-17-2
  • {{Cite book |last=Spick |first=Mike |year=1996 |title=Luftwaffe Fighter Aces |location=New York |publisher=Ivy Books |isbn=978-0-8041-1696-1
  • {{Cite book |last=Vasco |first=John |title=The Sting of the Luftwaffe - Schnellkampfgeschwader 210 and Zerstörergeschwader 1 "Wespengeschwader" in World War II |publisher=Schiffer Publishing |year=2001 |location=Atglen

| portal1=Aviation | portal2=Biography

References

  1. (1997). "Berühmte Vogtländer". Verein für vogtländische Geschichte, Volks- und Landeskunde e.V..
  2. Piegler, Theo. (1986). "Chronik der Familien Blechschmidt und Piegler in Schleiz/Th.". Selbstverlag.
  3. "Joachim Blechschmidt".
  4. (1943). "Panzer auf 15 Meter abgeschossen". Grenz-Zeitung.
  5. (1999). "Les As de l'Aviation, Inséparables jusque dans la mort (Albert Littolf, Noël Castelain)". Aéro-Journal, Histoire de l'Aviation.
  6. Zefirov, Mikhail. (2010). "Luftwaffe Aces. Who is who. Data.". AST.
  7. "Joachim Blechschmidt".
  8. de Zeng IV, Henry L.. (2017). "Joachim Blechschmidt".

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1912-births1943-deathsmilitary-personnel-from-thuringiapeople-from-schleizpeople-from-the-principality-of-reuss-geraluftwaffe-pilotsgerman-world-war-ii-flying-acesrecipients-of-the-gold-german-crossrecipients-of-the-knight's-cross-of-the-iron-crossluftwaffe-personnel-killed-in-world-war-ii