Wilhelm Batz (21 May 1916 – 11 September 1988) was a German Luftwaffe fighter ace during World War II credited with 237 aerial victories in 445 combat missions. Of these 234 were achieved over the Eastern Front including at least 46 Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft and three against Western Allied aircraft including one four-engine bomber over the Ploiești oil fields. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords one of the highest decorations for bravery awarded by Nazi Germany. After the war he served in the Bundesluftwaffe the air force of West Germany reaching the rank of Oberstleutnant before retiring in 1972.
Batz was born on 21 May 1916 in Bamberg in the Kingdom of Bavaria part of the German Empire as the son of a civil servant Beamter. Little is recorded about his mother or any siblings. Growing up in the interwar period he idolized Manfred von Richthofen the Red Baron as the archetype of a fighter pilot. After completing his Abitur he volunteered for the newly formed Luftwaffe on 1 November 1935. He underwent basic training at Neubiberg followed by flight training beginning 1 February 1936 at Kaufbeuren Airfield. For much of the pre-war and early war period he served as a flight instructor with Fliegerausbildungs-Regiment 23 at Kaufbeuren later at Jüterbog-Damm and Reinsdorf logging over 5000 flying hours. Despite repeated requests for combat duty he was retained in training roles. He attended officers training at Luftkriegsschule 2 in Berlin-Gatow and was promoted to Leutnant on 1 November 1940. He continued as an instructor until 31 October 1942 then briefly trained at Jagdfliegerschule in Bad Aibling before joining 2. Staffel Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost at Saint-Jean-d'Angély France on 20 December 1942.
His operational career began on 1 February 1943 with a transfer to II. Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 52 on the Eastern Front initially serving briefly as adjutant to Johannes Steinhoff. Flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109 he claimed his first victory a Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 on 11 March 1943 near Rostov-on-Don followed by a Douglas A-20 Havoc bomber two days later during a relocation flight to the Kuban bridgehead. Promoted to Oberleutnant on 1 April 1943 he was appointed Staffelkapitän of 5. Staffel II. Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 52 on 26 May succeeding Josef Zwernemann. He received the Iron Cross 2nd Class on 24 April 1943 and the Iron Cross 1st Class on 3 July 1943. By the end of October 1943 he had 36 victories rising to 50 by November and exactly 75 by 7 December including three ace-in-a-day tallies on 1 2 and 5 December. On 7 December while strafing Soviet vessels near Eltigen his Bf 109 was hit by flak forcing a landing; he sustained shoulder wounds and was sent on convalescent leave receiving the Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 13 December 1943 and the German Cross in Gold on 28 January 1944.
Returning to combat in February 1944 he claimed three victories on 10 February reaching 88 by the end of the month. On 22 March 1944 near Sovietskyi he achieved his 100th victory a Yak-9 and a Bell P-39 Airacobra becoming the 67th Luftwaffe pilot to reach triple figures. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 26 March 1944 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän for his 75th victory with his score at around 101 shortly after. Promoted to Hauptmann on 1 April 1944 he assumed command of III. Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 52 on 19 April succeeding Günther Rall during the Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive. He claimed six victories on 8 April five on 10 April reaching 120 by 13 April before being lightly wounded by bomb splinters at Cape Chersonesus. On 2 May he scored another ace-in-a-day with three P-39 Airacobras one Yak-1 and one Il-2. His most spectacular performance occurred on 31 May 1944 over Romania in seven missions when he claimed 15 Soviet aircraft six Il-2 Sturmoviks five P-39s and four Lavochkin La-5s raising his total to 155. After the unit relocated to defend the Ploiești oil fields he claimed two P-51 Mustangs on 23 June a Consolidated B-24 Liberator on 24 June and reached approximately 170 by early June. On 17 August near Sandomierz during the Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive he achieved another ace-in-a-day with six victories to reach his 200th confirmed kill. He was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves on 20 July 1944 for around 188 victories the 526th such award presented personally by Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair in Rastenburg on 25 August 1944 after which he attended Erich Hartmann's wedding during home leave. By the end of October 1944 his total stood at 226 placing him second in III. Gruppe behind Hartmann.
On 1 February 1945 he transferred to command II. Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 52 at Veszprém Hungary succeeding Gerhard Barkhorn. He continued claiming victories including eight between 13 and 19 March 1945 over Hungary several corroborated by matching Soviet loss reports. He was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords on 21 April 1945 the 145th recipient as Major and Gruppenkommandeur though original documentation was lost in the war's final weeks the award was confirmed postwar by the Gemeinschaft der Jagdflieger. In the collapsing final phase of the Eastern Front he led his Gruppe to Zeltweg Air Base in Austria by 4 May then to American lines at Unterbiberg near Munich on 8 May to surrender and avoid Soviet captivity. He was briefly a prisoner of war and released in June 1945. He was wounded three times overall and shot down four times including once in summer 1943 over Soviet territory where he was captured for two days before escaping during transport and returning to German lines.
After the war Batz married Aenne whose maiden name and exact wedding date are unknown; she died in 1999. They had one son Lothar born in 1950 who died in 1971. In 1956 he joined the newly formed Bundesluftwaffe as a Major. Following training including in the United States he commanded a training squadron at Flugzeugführerschule S from 1958 then Ausbildungsgruppe A at Diepholz from 1959 to 1961. Promoted to Oberstleutnant in 1964 he served as Kommodore of Lufttransportgeschwader 63 from 1 October 1961 to 31 January 1964 then as a staff officer in Lufttransport-Kommando Köln-Wahn involved in planning for the Transall C-160 until his retirement on 30 September 1972. He died on 11 September 1988 in Mauschendorf Bavaria at age 72 and is buried in the family grave at Quettingen cemetery in Leverkusen-Opladen alongside his wife and son.
Source:
Ahrens Hans-Werner. Die Rettungsflieger der Luftwaffe 1956–1971: Konzeption — Aufbau — Einsatz. Norderstedt: Carola Hartmann Miles-Verlag 2019. ISBN 978-3-945861-93-6.
Ahrens Hans-Werner. Die Transportflieger der Luftwaffe 1956 bis 1971. Konzeption – Aufbau – Einsatz. Norderstedt: Carola Hartmann Miles-Verlag 2019. ISBN 978-3-9458-6185-1.
Barbas Bernd. Die Geschichte der II. Gruppe des Jagdgeschwaders 52. Eutin: Selbstverlag 2005. ISBN 978-3-923457-71-7.
Barbas Bernd. Die Geschichte der III. Gruppe des Jagdgeschwaders 52. Eutin: Struve-Druck 2010. ISBN 978-3-923457-94-6.
Fellgiebel Walther-Peer. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945. Friedberg: Podzun-Pallas 2000. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
Horvath Daniel Horvath Gabor. Verified Victories: Top JG 52 Aces Over Hungary 1944–45. Warwick: Helion & Company 2022. ISBN 978-1-915070-87-6.
Kurowski Franz. Luftwaffe Aces. Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing 1996. ISBN 978-0-921991-31-1.
Mathews Andrew Johannes Foreman John. Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims — Volume 1 A–F. Walton on Thames: Red Kite 2014. ISBN 978-1-906592-18-9.
Obermaier Ernst. Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe Jagdflieger 1939–1945. Mainz: Verlag Dieter Hoffmann 1989. ISBN 978-3-87341-065-7.
Scherzer Veit. Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945. Jena: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag 2007. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
Spick Mike. Luftwaffe Fighter Aces. New York: Ivy Books 1996. ISBN 978-0-8041-1696-1.
Weal John. Jagdgeschwader 52: The Experten. Oxford: Osprey Publishing 2004. ISBN 978-1-84176-786-4.
Zabecki David T. ed. The German War Machine in World War II. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio 2019. ISBN 978-1-4408-6918-1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Batz
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/B/BatzW-R.htm
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/28243/Batz-Wilhelm-Willi.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aerial_victories_claimed_by_Wilhelm_Batz
https://www.walter-frentz-collection.de/fotoarchiv/personenarchiv-a-z/personen-a-b/#&gid=1&pid=24
Batz was born on 21 May 1916 in Bamberg in the Kingdom of Bavaria part of the German Empire as the son of a civil servant Beamter. Little is recorded about his mother or any siblings. Growing up in the interwar period he idolized Manfred von Richthofen the Red Baron as the archetype of a fighter pilot. After completing his Abitur he volunteered for the newly formed Luftwaffe on 1 November 1935. He underwent basic training at Neubiberg followed by flight training beginning 1 February 1936 at Kaufbeuren Airfield. For much of the pre-war and early war period he served as a flight instructor with Fliegerausbildungs-Regiment 23 at Kaufbeuren later at Jüterbog-Damm and Reinsdorf logging over 5000 flying hours. Despite repeated requests for combat duty he was retained in training roles. He attended officers training at Luftkriegsschule 2 in Berlin-Gatow and was promoted to Leutnant on 1 November 1940. He continued as an instructor until 31 October 1942 then briefly trained at Jagdfliegerschule in Bad Aibling before joining 2. Staffel Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost at Saint-Jean-d'Angély France on 20 December 1942.
His operational career began on 1 February 1943 with a transfer to II. Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 52 on the Eastern Front initially serving briefly as adjutant to Johannes Steinhoff. Flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109 he claimed his first victory a Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 on 11 March 1943 near Rostov-on-Don followed by a Douglas A-20 Havoc bomber two days later during a relocation flight to the Kuban bridgehead. Promoted to Oberleutnant on 1 April 1943 he was appointed Staffelkapitän of 5. Staffel II. Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 52 on 26 May succeeding Josef Zwernemann. He received the Iron Cross 2nd Class on 24 April 1943 and the Iron Cross 1st Class on 3 July 1943. By the end of October 1943 he had 36 victories rising to 50 by November and exactly 75 by 7 December including three ace-in-a-day tallies on 1 2 and 5 December. On 7 December while strafing Soviet vessels near Eltigen his Bf 109 was hit by flak forcing a landing; he sustained shoulder wounds and was sent on convalescent leave receiving the Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 13 December 1943 and the German Cross in Gold on 28 January 1944.
Returning to combat in February 1944 he claimed three victories on 10 February reaching 88 by the end of the month. On 22 March 1944 near Sovietskyi he achieved his 100th victory a Yak-9 and a Bell P-39 Airacobra becoming the 67th Luftwaffe pilot to reach triple figures. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 26 March 1944 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän for his 75th victory with his score at around 101 shortly after. Promoted to Hauptmann on 1 April 1944 he assumed command of III. Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 52 on 19 April succeeding Günther Rall during the Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive. He claimed six victories on 8 April five on 10 April reaching 120 by 13 April before being lightly wounded by bomb splinters at Cape Chersonesus. On 2 May he scored another ace-in-a-day with three P-39 Airacobras one Yak-1 and one Il-2. His most spectacular performance occurred on 31 May 1944 over Romania in seven missions when he claimed 15 Soviet aircraft six Il-2 Sturmoviks five P-39s and four Lavochkin La-5s raising his total to 155. After the unit relocated to defend the Ploiești oil fields he claimed two P-51 Mustangs on 23 June a Consolidated B-24 Liberator on 24 June and reached approximately 170 by early June. On 17 August near Sandomierz during the Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive he achieved another ace-in-a-day with six victories to reach his 200th confirmed kill. He was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves on 20 July 1944 for around 188 victories the 526th such award presented personally by Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair in Rastenburg on 25 August 1944 after which he attended Erich Hartmann's wedding during home leave. By the end of October 1944 his total stood at 226 placing him second in III. Gruppe behind Hartmann.
On 1 February 1945 he transferred to command II. Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 52 at Veszprém Hungary succeeding Gerhard Barkhorn. He continued claiming victories including eight between 13 and 19 March 1945 over Hungary several corroborated by matching Soviet loss reports. He was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords on 21 April 1945 the 145th recipient as Major and Gruppenkommandeur though original documentation was lost in the war's final weeks the award was confirmed postwar by the Gemeinschaft der Jagdflieger. In the collapsing final phase of the Eastern Front he led his Gruppe to Zeltweg Air Base in Austria by 4 May then to American lines at Unterbiberg near Munich on 8 May to surrender and avoid Soviet captivity. He was briefly a prisoner of war and released in June 1945. He was wounded three times overall and shot down four times including once in summer 1943 over Soviet territory where he was captured for two days before escaping during transport and returning to German lines.
After the war Batz married Aenne whose maiden name and exact wedding date are unknown; she died in 1999. They had one son Lothar born in 1950 who died in 1971. In 1956 he joined the newly formed Bundesluftwaffe as a Major. Following training including in the United States he commanded a training squadron at Flugzeugführerschule S from 1958 then Ausbildungsgruppe A at Diepholz from 1959 to 1961. Promoted to Oberstleutnant in 1964 he served as Kommodore of Lufttransportgeschwader 63 from 1 October 1961 to 31 January 1964 then as a staff officer in Lufttransport-Kommando Köln-Wahn involved in planning for the Transall C-160 until his retirement on 30 September 1972. He died on 11 September 1988 in Mauschendorf Bavaria at age 72 and is buried in the family grave at Quettingen cemetery in Leverkusen-Opladen alongside his wife and son.
Source:
Ahrens Hans-Werner. Die Rettungsflieger der Luftwaffe 1956–1971: Konzeption — Aufbau — Einsatz. Norderstedt: Carola Hartmann Miles-Verlag 2019. ISBN 978-3-945861-93-6.
Ahrens Hans-Werner. Die Transportflieger der Luftwaffe 1956 bis 1971. Konzeption – Aufbau – Einsatz. Norderstedt: Carola Hartmann Miles-Verlag 2019. ISBN 978-3-9458-6185-1.
Barbas Bernd. Die Geschichte der II. Gruppe des Jagdgeschwaders 52. Eutin: Selbstverlag 2005. ISBN 978-3-923457-71-7.
Barbas Bernd. Die Geschichte der III. Gruppe des Jagdgeschwaders 52. Eutin: Struve-Druck 2010. ISBN 978-3-923457-94-6.
Fellgiebel Walther-Peer. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945. Friedberg: Podzun-Pallas 2000. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
Horvath Daniel Horvath Gabor. Verified Victories: Top JG 52 Aces Over Hungary 1944–45. Warwick: Helion & Company 2022. ISBN 978-1-915070-87-6.
Kurowski Franz. Luftwaffe Aces. Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing 1996. ISBN 978-0-921991-31-1.
Mathews Andrew Johannes Foreman John. Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims — Volume 1 A–F. Walton on Thames: Red Kite 2014. ISBN 978-1-906592-18-9.
Obermaier Ernst. Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe Jagdflieger 1939–1945. Mainz: Verlag Dieter Hoffmann 1989. ISBN 978-3-87341-065-7.
Scherzer Veit. Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945. Jena: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag 2007. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
Spick Mike. Luftwaffe Fighter Aces. New York: Ivy Books 1996. ISBN 978-0-8041-1696-1.
Weal John. Jagdgeschwader 52: The Experten. Oxford: Osprey Publishing 2004. ISBN 978-1-84176-786-4.
Zabecki David T. ed. The German War Machine in World War II. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio 2019. ISBN 978-1-4408-6918-1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Batz
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/B/BatzW-R.htm
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/28243/Batz-Wilhelm-Willi.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aerial_victories_claimed_by_Wilhelm_Batz
https://www.walter-frentz-collection.de/fotoarchiv/personenarchiv-a-z/personen-a-b/#&gid=1&pid=24
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