Strana 39
Bf 109G-4/R6/Trop, Obfw. Stephan Litjens, 4./JG 53, La Marsa, Tunisia, April 1943
Bf 109G-4/R3/Trop, Oblt. Jürgen Harder, 7./JG 53, Bizerta, Tunisia, February 1943
Stephan “Steff” Litjens was born on October
13, 1913, in Hasselt-Kleve. In August 1937 he
completed his fighter pilot training and joined
4./JG 53 in October 1939. He scored two kills
during the French campaign and four more in
the Battle of Britain. On the Eastern Front he
managed to achieve five kills in one day on
August 25, 1941. On September 11, 1941, he was
forced to bail out after a dogfight with VVS
fighters. Although he achieved his 23rd kill
during this engagement, he suffered a serious
injury to his right eye, which he eventually lost.
Despite this, he returned to 4./JG 53 in October
1942, the unit was then stationed in Italy and
flew missions over Malta. In November 1942,
4./JG 53 moved to Tunisia, where Litjens scored
eight victories over Allied pilots by April 1943.
He then went on a long leave and did not return
to flying with 4./JG 53 until November. At the
time, the unit was a part of the defense of the
Reich system. On March 23, 1944, Litjens shot
down two B-17s but was himself hit by return
fire and made an emergency landing. He was
wounded in his left eye, which meant the end
of flying for him. He flew a total of 444 combat
sorties and scored 38 kills, 17 in the east and
21 in the west. In five cases, his victims were
four-engine bombers. Stephan Litjens died on
February 25, 2002, in Kalkar-Hasselt.
Jürgen Harder was born on June 13, 1918, in
Swinemünde (currently the town of Świnoujście
in Poland). He joined Luftwaffe in 1939 and
served in III./JG 53 after his fighter pilot training.
With this unit he went through the initial phase
of the invasion of the Soviet Union. In May 1942
the III. Gruppe moved from south of Italy to North
Africa. From February 5, 1943, Oblt. Harder was
the commander of 7./JG 53 and on February 15,
1944, he was in command of the whole III. Gruppe
of JG 53. On February 1, 1945, as commander of
JG 11, he was awarded Knight’s Cross of the Iron
Cross with Oak Leaves. On February 17, 1945,
flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109G-14, he crashed
near the town of Strausberg due to a damaged
engine. During the WWII operations he achieved
64 victories. The aircraft of Jürgen Harder from
the time he was operating in the Southern
Front were painted in a standard camouflage of
RLM 78/79 and spots of RLM 80. The additional
markings were white wingtips, white propeller
spinner and white band on the aft fuselage.
The rudder bore symbols of aerial victories,
under the cockpit there was a HARRO inscription
to commemorate Harder’s brother, who was
shot down above the English Channel on August
12, 1940. The resources state that he was shot
down by P/O David Crook of No. 609 Squadron
RAF.
KITS 06/2025
INFO Eduard
39
June 2025