BOXART STORY

#82111

Friedrich Eberle

The bombing mission of the 8th AF on 22.12.1943 against

transport targets in Osnabruck and Munster took place

in very difficult conditions. Thick cloud cover, coupled

with a radar malfunction of one of the lead aircraft,

caused great navigational problems and ultimately the

impossibility of good target aiming. Of the 402 B-17 and

B-24 bombers from 8th AF, only 311 were able to attack

their targets. Lessons learned by VIII. Bomber Command

headquarter from previous heavy losses of four-engine

bombers, which were attributed to Luftwaffe fighters,

led to the dispatch of strong fighter protection. The

bombers were protected by 40 Lightnings and 448

Thunderbolts from the 8th AF, along with 28 Mustangs

from the 9th AF. Still, bomber losses were quite heavy five B-17s and twelve B-24s, with three more bombers

written off on their return.

Fighters from JG 1, JG 3, JG 11, ZG 26, and JG 54 flew

against the intruders. They claimed victory over seven

American fighters in addition to the eighteen bombers.

However, losses among the "little brothers" amounted to

only two Lightnings and one Thunderbolt.

The two P-38s lost belonged to the 55th Fighter

Group based at Nuthampstead. While one of them, Lt.

R. W. Brown managed to crash-land his aircraft near

Onnerpolder, Holland, after a dogfight with German

fighters and was captured, the other, Lt. J. R. Pruitt

crashed and is still listed as missing. His aircraft

probably crashed near Wilsum, Germany.

The conqueror of Lt. Pruitt was Hptm. Friedrich Eberle,

commander of III./JG 1 and thus became his fifteenth

victory. At the time, the recently thirty-year-old Austrian

Eberle was an experienced fighter and commander.

His combat career began with the outbreak of war in

September 1939, when he served with JG 51. He scored

his first kill, a French Morane, on 23 November 1939.

This was followed by involvement in the Battle of Britain,

during which he scored two more kills. In November 1940

he was appointed commander of 1st Staffel JG 51. With

June 2023

this unit he raised his score to twelve. Various command

posts in training and replenishment units followed from

the end of 1941, after which, already at the rank of Hptm.,

he was assigned to 9./JG 1 on 8 October 1943.

The battle of 22 Dec 1943, depicted in Koike Shigeo's

painting, also falls into this period. The victory depicted

was achieved by Hptm. Eberle in the cockpit of

a Bf 109G W.Nr.160303 marked "White 20". He was shot

down himself in the same machine on 30 January 1944.

It happened after a duel with Lt. Robert Booth of the

359th FG.

Although Eberle was wounded in combat, he continued

to command the unit until 22 April 1944, when he

turned it over to Maj Hartmann Grasser. He himself was

transferred to the Frontflieger-Sammelgruppe (depot of

operational pilots) at Quedlinburg, and after less than

a month's rest, he became the Staffel commander at

Kdo. Skagerrak. At that time his victory score stopped

at number 33.

On 1.7.1944 he was sent to Rotenburg/Wümme, to

become the commander of the newly formed III. Gruppe

of Jagdgeschwader 4. In this new command position

has not achieved any victory. Neither air nor personal.

According to the pilots of his unit, he showed a strong

tendency to avoid danger, even to cowardice. Many times

he turned his aircraft back after takeoff because of

alleged malfunctions. This happened already on the very

first combat operation of his fresh Gruppe on Monday,

September 11, 1944. The premonition came true. III./JG

4 suffered heavy losses that day in an encounter with

3rd BD bombers and their fighter escorts. Sometimes

he withdrew from combat alone, at other times he led

his entire unit out of the possibility of encountering the

enemy. Failure to obey orders, self-interpretation of

instructions... The pilots of III./JG 4 still remembered his

defeatism decades later with considerable disdain.

But it's very easy to judge. At that time, they were all

young boys shortly out of training, full of vigor to

Text: Jan Zdiarský

Illustration: Shigeo Koike

fight and could not put themselves in the skin of their

commander. He himself had been through many battles

since the beginning of the war, he had been shot down

and wounded several times, rescued by parachute,

made crash landings. In addition, he witnessed many

times how pilots under his command died, he must

have been the one who sent out casualty reports, wrote

letters to the families.

Whether justified or not, the situation with the unit's

leadership in combat was repeated on 1 January 1945

during Operation Bodenplatte. That day, Hptm. Eberle led

I. and III./JG 4 to the Belgian A-89 Le Culot airfield. In

a combination of successive problems and navigational

difficulties, Hptm. Eberle turned his III Gruppe back

shortly after crossing the battle lines. Confusion ensued

among the other pilots, some continuing on to a target

they could not find, some returning. Eberle faced severe

punishment for this action. Although some sources state

that he was court-martialled in a field trial, it was more

likely a sort of public pillorying involving the pilots of

I. and III. Gruppe JG 4. An actual field trial would probably

have had a more far-reaching impact on Eberle himself,

but also on the commander of JG 4, ObstLt. Michalski.

Friedrich Eberle retained his military rank, but had to

leave the unit. It is impossible to know what was going

through his mind during the flight to LeCulot. What is

certain, however, is that his decision probably saved the

lives of quite a few pilots in his unit. Whether he had any

idea what a disaster the whole Bodenplatte would be for

the Luftwaffe is questionable. This last act of Friedrich

Eberle in command of III./JG 4 is indicative of the

psychological strain and exhaustion that could easily

befall a commanding officer in a war that lasted several

years, rather than the personal courage or failure of any

particular pilot.

Not only for courage in combat, but for the art of

defying what we consider to be senseless and beyond

dangerous, those who can do so deserve great respect.

INFO Eduard

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