Scherzer, Veit (Hrsg.) Dortenmanns "Fliegers"

The experiences of Knight's Cross holder Hans Dortenmann in 1943/44 as a fighter pilot on the Eastern Front and as a squadron captain in 1944/45 on the invasion front and in the Reich's defence
The records of his wartime experiences entitled "My Diary 1939-1945", which are in his estate, are a stroke of luck for historians. They were written close to the time, in 1948, when the memory was still fresh and could not be diluted by post-war publications, post-war rumours, KameradweißtDu noch narratives, etc.

They have been handed down in the original, so demonstrably never edited, revised, supplemented
or even rewritten later, and Hans Dortenmann did not mince his words, used the plain names and spared no one. He allowed himself the latter because the 150 or so typewritten pages were intended only for himself, he wrote, as a memoir of wartime. So he did not write down his
experiences in order to publish them. And so he also honestly mentioned "the very big knuckle-draggers", including many a Knight's Cross recipient. Hans Dortenmann, like Erich Hartmann, who was almost the same age, was the most successful fighter pilot of all time at the end of the war with 352 confirmed aerial victories. Incidentally, there are astonishing parallels in the
vita of these two personalities. Both were the sons of a doctor, both attended a national political educational institution - probably even the same one and at the same time in Rottweil - both struggled as fighter pilots, both were extremely popular with
their subordinates - and both were born in Württemberg. Unlike Erich Hartmann, whose mother taught him to glide
and who was already a flight instructor with the FliegerHJ in 1937, Hans Dortenmann had no aviation background. Originally, he had not even thought about learning to fly or joining the air force. He was an infantryman in body and soul. And like his father, he was a passionate hunter. And hunting was also to blame for the fact that the
gunner Hans Dortenmann joined the air force after the French campaign. Written very briskly and rousingly, commented and illustrated by Veit Scherzer, this unsparing account reveals
what was really going on behind the scenes in the fighter squadrons.