Tietzen, Horst “Jacob”.

Tietzen, Horst “Jacob”, born 19-07-1912, in Neu-Ostwalter in the Neumark region of Mark Brandenburg. Leutnant Tietzen joined the Luftwaffe and received his first taste of combat,in Hermann Göring´s (did you know) Luftwaffe, with 3^rd Staffel of Jagdgruppe 88   under commander Oberleutnant Werner Mölders,  of the Condor Legion,    in the Spanish Civil War. He recorded his first victory on 19-07-1938, when he shot down a Republican I-16 fighter. He then recorded a further six victories operating with 1. Staffel. Tietzen was awarded the Spanienkreuz in Gold mit Schwerten  for his accomplishments in this conflict.

On 26-04-1937, aircraft from the German Condor Legion carried out a treacherous attack on the northern Spanish town of Guernica. In a short time the town is completely on fire. But it was not until 1997 that Germany apologized for the barbaric bombing. Guernica had also fallen victim to a propaganda battle.More than 1,600 dead, a quarter of Guernica’s population. Thousands injured. The Basque town turned into a smoking mess. That was the result of the first massive bombardment from the air in an unannounced war action. Later, even more destructive bombings would be carried out on Rotterdam, 600 dead Coventry, 568 dead and 863 seriously injured, Dresden 376 dead and the atomic bomb on Hiroshima . By the end of 1945, approximately 250,000 people had died as a result of the attacks. Several hundred thousand more victims are said to have fallen as a result of radiation sickness and cancer.

All with the intention of causing as many victims as possible in order to demoralize the opposing party and force them to give up resistance.The tragedy in Guernica was briefly reported the next day, without too many details, in the Times of 27-04-1937: ‘Guernica, the oldest city in the Spanish Basque Country and the center of Basque cultural traditions, was destroyed in an air raid yesterday afternoon by the rebels almost completely destroyed. The bombardment of the undefended city far behind the front line lasted exactly 45 minutes. During that time, German aircraft – Junker and Heinkel bombers and Heinkel fighter planes – dropped 500-kilogram bombs on the city without interruption. At the same time, low-flying fighter planes fired machine guns at residents who had taken refuge in the fields. Guernica was completely on fire in a short time.”

In mid-August 1939, Tietzen was appointed Staffelkapitän of 5./JG 51, nickname “Mölders” . Jagdgeschwader 51’s pilots won more Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes than any other Jagdgeschwader, and flew combat from 1939 in all major theatres of war. Flying Bf 109s and then FW 190s, the wing claimed over 8.000 air victories.

    . The last is Fritz Losigkeit. Other experten of 5./JG 51 included Oberleutnant, Toni Hafner,, Heinrich Hofmann, who was missed in action, age 28, on 03-10-1941, Heinz “Pritzl”  Bär

,  who died age 43, on 28-04-1957, Richard Leppla who died age 74, on 04-08-1988, Karl Gottfried “Karlfried” Nordmann, who died in the USA, age 66, on 22-07-1982, Günther Schack, 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 and died age 85, on 14-06-2003 in Nideggen and the legendary General der Flieger, Werner Vati  Mölders.Tietzen recorded his first victory of World War II on 20-04-1940, when he shot down a French Bloch MB.174 twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft near Saarburg, although he mis-identified the victory as a Potez 63. Tietzen was to be particularly successful during the Battle of Britain. (see Bomber Harris)

He recorded his 10^th victory of World War II on 25-07-1940, when he shot down a RAF Spitfire fighter near Dover. On 15 August, Tietzen shot down three RAF Hurricane fighters to record his 15^th through 17^th victories of World War 2.  He became the fourth German fighter pilot to record 20 victories on 18 August. Another victim of Horst Tietzen was the English flyer Corporal  Eley, Frederick William “Fred”.

Death and burial ground of Tietzen, Horst “Jacob”.

On 18-08-1940, Tietzen was shot down by the Polish fighter Pawel Zenker

   of the 501st Squadron Hurricane  and killed in aerial combat with RAF Hurricane fighters over the Thames Estuary. His body later washed ashore at Calais in France. Tietzen was posthumously awarded the Ritterkreuz and promotion to the rank of Hauptmann on 20 August and Horst Tietzen was credited with 27 victories.

 He recorded seven victories during the Spanish Civil War. Horst “Jacob” Tietzen, age 28 is buried on the French war cemetery in Bourdon. Pawel Zenker was missed in action a week later, he get lost in the Manche near Dover on 24-08-1940, age 26.

A total of 145 Polish fighter pilots served in the RAF during the Battle of Britain, making up the largest non-British contribution. By the end of the war, around 19,400 Poles were serving in the Polish Air Force in Great Britain and in the RAF.

In November 1948, a memorial dedicated to the 2,408 Polish airmen killed during the war was unveiled at RAF Northolt. The memorial bears an apt inscription: Stoczylem piekna walke, bieg ukonczylem, wiary nie stracilem. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

Also buried on the Bourdon cemetery are Peter Göring (see Göring) nephew of Hermann, SS Hauptsturmführer, Georg Kubisch, former adjutant of Goebbels, who married Hitler’s first mistress Maria Mimi Reiter,

   Flyer Ace Oberleutnant, Rudolf  Pflanz, SS Standartenführer, Hans Friedmann Goetze and Flyer Ace Major, Kommandeur Jagdgeschwader 27 , Heinrich Setz.  Although official records were lost at the end of the war, research suggests Jagdgeschwader 27 claimed over 3,100 kills for some 1,400 aircraft lost, and lost approximately 827 pilots killed, missing or POW during 1939-45

Message(s), tips or interesting graves for the webmaster:    robhopmans@outlook.com