Joachim Müncheberg- Ace

I heard on a video on Afrika Korps his name being mentioned along with Marseille´s:



Joachim Müncheberg was born on 18 December 1918 at Friedrichsdorf in the Dramburg region of Pommern. He joined the Wehrmacht as an infantryman in October 1936. In October 1938, Oberfähnrich Müncheberg transferred to the Luftwaffe.

He recorded his first victory on 7 November 1939: a RAF Blenheim twin-engine bomber shot down near Opladen.

On 14 September 1940, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz.

From February 1941, Müncheberg’s unit operated in the Mediterranean theatre from bases in Sicily. The unit was to achieve success out of all proportion to its size. The unit gained 52 victories without losing a single pilot. Müncheberg claimed almost half of the victories. In addition to flying missions over Malta, Müncheberg also flew over Yugoslavia in support of the German invasion of the Balkans.

On 7 May 1941, Müncheberg was awarded the Eichenlaub (Nr 12) and the Italian Medagalia d’Oro. Müncheberg had 43 victories to his credit. A sojourn in Libya during June-July 1941, to support Rommel’s Afrika Korps repel the British relief of Tobruk, saw Müncheberg add a further five victories to his tally. In August 1941, 7./JG 26 was transferred to France. Müncheberg shot down a RAF Spitfire fighter near Dunkirk on 29 August to record his 50th victory. From the time he returned from North Africa until he left JG 26 in late June 1942, Müncheberg was to claim 35 victories of which 34 would be Spitfires, including his 50th victory on 29 August, his 60th on 8 December, his 70th on 26 April 1942 and his 80th on 2 June.

On 9 September 1942, he was awarded the Schwertern (Nr 19) following his 103rd victory. Müncheberg achieved 33 victories over Russian aircraft (84 – 116).

On 1 October 1942, Major Müncheberg was appointed Kommodore of JG 77, operating over North Africa, Sicily and Tunisia. Müncheberg added 24 victories to his victory total but had to force-land his Bf 109 G-2 (W.Nr. 10725) following aerial combat with RAF Kittyhawk fighters on 10 December 1942. Müncheberg was killed on 23 March 1943 over Tunisia in combat with USAAF Spitfire fighters from the 52nd Fighter Group when, after shooting down one, he was in collision with a second. He crashed to his death in Bf 109 G-6 (W.Nr. 16381).

http://www.luftwaffe.cz/muncheberg.html

 

Kai,
Thats a great site you posted the info from.

For most Luftwaffe Experten he lists victories showing, date, location, type nad where possible, supporting information.

I am disappointed that he has no similar biography of Marseilles, I have serious doubts regarding his successes and have seen a few cases where his claims (and that of a few other pilots in the Desert) have been disproven. it seemed that the PR Department approved claims that usually took some time for the usually meticulous Luftwaffe system to confirm.

I still think he had 50+ victories, but not the 150 odd (which included a few dubious claims over the English Channel).

I would love directions to a site showing his record in some detail.

 

suggest you pick up a copy of Stab und I./JG 27 by Dr. Jochen Prien, Struve Druck Verlag/Eutin, Germany

you can find a listing of Marseilles claims and the rest of JG 27 of the stab and first gruppe. marseilles was always escorted by a wingman for his confirmations.

 

Thanks Erich, I'll have a look for it.

My doubts come from reviewing reports from the Allied side which in many cases dont tally with some of the claims. There were days when 6-8 victories were claimed and the RAF had only lost 2-3 aircraft. Marseilles also had his claims confirmed much faster than would have been the case on the Western or Eastern front.

Hope to read a bit more about it all.

 

Tad bit more info for ya.

Joachim Munchberg, Oberleutnant & Staffelkapitan 7/JG 26 "Schlageter." He recieved his on: September 14/1940. He was the 12th Recipient of the Oak Leaves on: May 7/1941 & the 19th Recipeint of the Swords on: September 9/1942.

 

A contemporary's thoughts on Muncheberg as a personality : -

'Joachim Muencheberg was a very fine man. I personally think he was as good a man as Steinhoff - with more experience and more quality....Muencheberg had the right point of view for the centre of things- for the resolution of complex problems. It is true he was a very young man, but he was a highly intelligent individual, with a capacity to distinguish between the important and the not-so-important....He was very hard against himself.'

Major Hartmann Grasser, quoted in Toliver & Constable, 'Fighter Aces Of The Luftwaffe' .

 

Hah, I was going to quote from a book "Horrido" and find that its by Toliver & Constable. by Bantam book, they must have printed it under a number of Titles.

 

Carl

I have found a website (I'll post the link ;ater, its on my work PC) which lists just about every claim made by the Luftwaffe in WW2. Its fantastic ans lists date, unit, pilot, enemy type, location & time and comes from Luftwaffe records.

On Marseille, of his 7 claims over England, only 1 is confirmed, the other 6 are mentioned but not as confirmed.

In the Desert, while the majority of his claimes are confirmed, am number were credited by JG27, not OKL (about 20) plus he has a lot of claims for P46 types (over a number of days). Toliver & Constables book makes a number of claims for P36 victories. Given Marseilles "fantastic eysight" and penchant for close in shooting, how could such an error occur.
He also made claims for victories in quick succesion, often a minute or 2 apart, but at locations up to 50 miles away.

Of course some of this is due to bad paperwork, battle pressure, but also opens his claims to query.

 

Thank you Ali, I will be looking forward to that link.

Best regards--Carl.

 

Carl,

Try the following

http://www.luftboard.ndo.co.uk/documents.htm

http://home.tiscali.be/ed.ragas/airwarstart.html

 

Nice site Ali, thank you. I looked at many and will be visiting them again.

 

Yes Carl, a lot of interesting info.

Not quite the Desert, but I have info day by day of RAF losses in the Battle of Britain(including serial numbers) and want to compare it against the Luftwaffe claims.

I would love to know if similar info exists for the Desert Air Force??

 

Hi Ali, I don't know but, you might ask Martin Bull on that, he might know.

Best regards-Carl.

 

Thanks Carl,

I've sent a message to Martin, I hope he still visits the forum.'

 

Quite welcome.

Martin does still visit these forums. Now, whether he can still read or not is another question?

Just kidding Martin.

 

All right, all right !!

As I've said to Ali, I don't know of any website which comprehensively lists RAF losses. For Bomber Command, we have Chorley's monumental 8-volume '.. Losses' work, with Fighter and Coastal Command losses following from Midland Counties Publications.

For the Desert Air Force, I'm really not sure. How about 'Mahross' who's working on a dissertation right now ?

 

I think I read that Muncheburg was shot down 2 times in his short stay on eastern front. What is his total times shot down ? From flak & from e/a?

 

All I've managed to find is a website stating that Muencheberg was shot down twice during his first four weeks' service on the Eastern Front - but no further details are given.