This post is the result of my long-term joint work with the Samara historian Alexei Stepanov, who was behind the idea of this topic. We worked on the topic at the turn of the 80s and 90s, but then youth, youthful maximalism and lack of information did not allow us to complete the study with serious scientific work. Now, for more than 20 years, a lot of new information has been revealed, but the intensity of passions has died down. Therefore, this article lost the then indignant and accusatory pathos, addressed to the Soviet historical "pseudo-science", but it was significantly replenished with specific information. In addition, today I have absolutely no desire to engage in scientific activity and create serious, but boring scientific work, riddled with references to sources that make reading difficult. Therefore, I present to all those interested in a simple publicistic article about the heroes of air rams who were not lucky to be born in the USSR, and therefore they lost the right to respect for their bravery among the Russian people, who generally always appreciated courage and heroism. I warn you right away, since a lot has been written about Soviet battering rams, I will only talk about foreign “battering rams”, mentioning ours only in case of their primacy - “not for humiliation, but for justice” …
For a long time, the Soviet official historical science, using the example of air rams, emphasized the special patriotic heroism of Soviet pilots, unattainable for representatives of other nations. In our literature in Soviet times, only domestic and Japanese air rams were always mentioned; Moreover, if the rams of Soviet pilots were represented by our propaganda as heroic, conscious self-sacrifice, then the same actions of the Japanese for some reason were called "fanaticism" and "doom". Thus, all Soviet pilots who committed a suicidal attack were surrounded by a halo of heroes, and Japanese kamikaze pilots were surrounded by a halo of "antiheroes." Representatives of other countries in the heroism of air ramming by Soviet researchers were generally denied. This prejudice persisted until the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the legacy of many years of suppressing the heroism of foreign pilots is still felt. “It is deeply symbolic that in the vaunted Hitler's Luftwaffe there was not a single pilot who, at a critical moment, deliberately launched an air ram … There is also no data on the use of a ram by American and British pilots,” wrote in 1989 in a special work on ramming Major General of Aviation A. D. Zaitsev. “During the war, such a truly Russian, Soviet form of air combat as air ramming became widespread,” says the major work on the history of Russian aviation “Air Power of the Motherland”, published in 1988. “Air ram is a standard of feat of arms. The diametrically opposite attitude to the ram was the first moral defeat of the vaunted Nazi aces, the harbinger of our victory”- this is the opinion of the best Soviet ace of the Great Patriotic War Ivan Kozhedub, expressed by him in 1990 (by the way, Kozhedub himself did not commit a single ram during the war). There are many examples of such a nationalist approach to this problem. Soviet specialists in the history of aviation either did not know, or deliberately lied and hushed up data on ramming committed by foreign pilots, although it was enough to turn to the memoirs of Soviet pilots or foreign works on the history of aviation to make sure that air ramming is a broader phenomenon. than our historians imagined. Against the background of this attitude to history, it no longer seemed surprising confusion in the domestic literature on such issues as: who committed the second and third aerial rams in the world, who rammed the enemy for the first time at night, who committed the first land ram (the so-called "feat of Gastello"), etc. etc. Today, information about the heroes of other countries has become available, and all people interested in the history of aviation have the opportunity to turn to the relevant books to learn about their exploits. I am publishing this post for those who are not familiar with aviation history, but would like to know something about respectable people.
Russian pilot Peter Nesterov; battering ram of Nesterov (postcard from the 1st World War); Russian pilot Alexander Kozakov
It is well known that the world's first air ram was carried out by our compatriot Pyotr Nesterov, who destroyed the Austrian Albatross reconnaissance aircraft on September 8, 1914 at the cost of his life. But for a long time the honor of the second ram in the world was attributed either to N. Zherdev, who fought in Spain in 1938, or to A. Gubenko, who fought in China in the same year. It was only after the collapse of the Soviet Union that information appeared in our literature about the real hero of the second air ram - Russian pilot of World War I Alexander Kozakov, who on March 18, 1915, over the front line, shot down the Austrian plane "Albatross" with a ramming strike. Moreover, Kozakov became the first pilot to survive a suicidal strike on an enemy plane: on the damaged Moran, he managed to make a successful landing at the location of the Russian troops. The prolonged suppression of the feat of Kozakov is due to the fact that later this most productive Russian ace of the 1st World War (32 victories) became a White Guard and fought against Soviet power. Such a hero, naturally, did not suit Soviet historians, and his name was deleted from the history of Russian aviation for many decades, it turned out to be simply forgotten …
However, even taking into account the hostility of Soviet historians to the White Guard Kozakov, they did not have the right to assign the title of "ramman number 2" to either Zherdev or Gubenko, since during the 1st World War several foreign pilots also carried out air rams. So, in September 1916, the captain of the British Air Force, Eiselwood, who flew on a D. H.2 fighter, shot down a German Albatross by hitting the landing gear of his fighter, and then landed "on the belly" at his airfield. In June 1917, the Canadian William Bishop, having fired all the cartridges in battle, deliberately cut the wing struts of the German Albatross with the wing of his "Nieupora". The enemy's wings folded from the blow, and the German fell to the ground; Bishop made it safely to the airfield. Subsequently, he became one of the best aces of the British Empire: he ended the war with 72 aerial victories …
But, perhaps, the most amazing aerial ram in the 1st World War was carried out by the Belgian Willie Coppens, who rammed the German Draken balloon on May 8, 1918. After unsuccessfully firing all the cartridges in several attacks on the balloon, Coppens hit the Draken's skin with the wheels of his Anrio fighter; the propeller blades also slashed across the tightly inflated canvas, and the Draken burst. At the same time, the HD-1 engine choked due to gas gushing into the hole of the ruptured cylinder, and Coppens literally miraculously did not die. He was rescued by the oncoming air stream, which unscrewed the propeller with force and started the Anrio's engine as it rolled off the falling Draken. It was the first and only ram in the history of Belgian aviation.
Canadian ace William Bishop; HD-1 "Anrio" Coppens breaks off the "Draken" he rammed; Belgian ace Willie Coppens
After the end of the 1st World War in the history of air rams, of course, there was a break. Again the ram, as a means of destroying an enemy aircraft, the pilots remembered during the Spanish Civil War. At the very beginning of this war - in the summer of 1936 - the Republican pilot Lieutenant Urtubi, who found himself in a stalemate, firing all the cartridges at the Franco planes that surrounded him, rammed the Italian Fiat fighter from the front view on the slow-moving Nieuport. Both planes crumbled on impact; Urtubi managed to open his parachute, but on the ground he died of his wounds in battle. And about a year later (in July 1937), on the other side of the world - in China - for the first time in the world, a sea ram was carried out, and a massive ram: at the very beginning of Japan's aggression against China, 15 Chinese pilots sacrificed themselves, falling from the air on enemy landing ships and sinking 7 of them!
On October 25, 1937, the world's first night aerial ram took place. It was carried out in Spain by a Soviet volunteer pilot Yevgeny Stepanov, who in the most difficult conditions destroyed the Italian Savoy-Marcheti bomber by hitting the landing gear of his Chato biplane (I-15). Moreover, Stepanov rammed the enemy, having almost full ammunition - an experienced pilot, he understood that it was impossible to shoot down a huge three-engine aircraft with his small-caliber machine guns in one go, and after a long line at the bomber he went to ram so as not to lose the enemy in the dark. After the attack, Evgeny returned safely to the airfield, and in the morning in the area indicated by him, the Republicans found the wreckage of the Marcheti …
On June 22, 1939, pilot Shogo Saito made the first ram in Japanese aviation over Khalkhin Gol. Gripped "in the pincers" by Soviet planes, who shot all the ammunition, Saito went for a breakthrough, cutting off a part of the tail of the fighter closest to him with his wing, and escaped from the encirclement. And when a month later, on July 21, saving his commander, Saito tried to ram the Soviet fighter again (the ram did not work - the Soviet pilot dodged the attack), his comrades gave him the nickname "King of Ramming". The "ram king" Shogo Saito, who had 25 victories on his account, died in July 1944 in New Guinea, fighting in the ranks of the infantry (after losing the plane) against the Americans …
Soviet pilot Evgeny Stepanov; Japanese pilot Shogo Saito; Polish pilot Leopold Pamula
The first air ramming in World War II was carried out not by a Soviet, as is commonly believed in our country, but by a Polish pilot. This ram was carried out on September 1, 1939 by the deputy commander of the Interceptor Brigade covering Warsaw, Lieutenant Colonel Leopold Pamula. Having knocked out 2 bombers in a battle with superior enemy forces, he went on his damaged plane to ram one of the 3 Messerschmitt-109 fighters that attacked him. Having destroyed the enemy, Pamula escaped by parachute and made a safe landing at the location of his troops. Six months after the feat of Pamula, another foreign pilot made an air ramming: on February 28, 1940, in a fierce air battle over Karelia, a Finnish pilot, Lieutenant Hutanantti, rammed a Soviet fighter and died in the process.
Pamula and Hutanantti were not the only foreign pilots to ram at the start of World War II. During the German offensive against France and Holland, the pilot of the British bomber "Battle" N. M. Thomas accomplished a feat that we today call “the feat of Gastello”. Trying to stop the rapid German offensive, the allied command on May 12, 1940 gave the order to destroy the crossings across the Meuse north of Maastricht at any cost, along which enemy tank divisions were crossing. However, German fighters and anti-aircraft guns repelled all British attacks, inflicting terrible losses on them. And then, in a desperate desire to stop the German tanks, flight officer Thomas sent his "Battle" destroyed by an anti-aircraft gun into one of the bridges, having managed to inform his comrades about the decision …
Six months later, another pilot repeated Thomas's feat. In Africa on November 4, 1940, another Battle bomber pilot, Lieutenant Hutchinson, was hit by anti-aircraft fire while bombing Italian positions in Njalli, Kenya. And then Hutchinson sent his "Battle" into the midst of the Italian infantry, at the cost of his own death, destroying about 20 enemy soldiers. Eyewitnesses claimed that at the time of the ram, Hutchinson was alive - the British bomber was controlled by the pilot until the collision with the ground …
During the Battle of England, British fighter pilot Ray Holmes distinguished himself. During the German raid on London on September 15, 1940, a German Dornier 17 bomber broke through the British fighter barrier to Buckingham Palace - the residence of the King of Great Britain. The German was about to drop bombs on an important target when Ray appeared in his Hurricane. Swooping down on the enemy from above, Holmes, on a collision course, cut down the tail of Dornier with his wing, but he himself received such heavy damage that he was forced to flee by parachute.
Ray Holmes in his Hurricane's cockpit; battering ram of Ray Holmes
The next fighter pilots to take mortal risks to win were the Greeks Marino Mitralexes and Grigoris Valkanas. During the Italian-Greek war on November 2, 1940, over Thessaloniki, Marino Mitralexes rammed the Italian bomber Kant Zet-1007 with the propeller of his PZL P-24 fighter. After the ram, Mitralexes not only landed safely, but also managed, with the help of local residents, to capture the crew of the bomber he shot down! Volkanas accomplished his feat on November 18, 1940. During a fierce group battle in the Morova region (Albania), he shot all the cartridges and rammed an Italian fighter (both pilots were killed).
With the escalation of hostilities in 1941 (the attack on the USSR, the entry into the war of Japan and the United States), rams became quite common in air warfare. Moreover, these actions were characteristic not only of Soviet pilots - pilots of almost all countries participating in the battles performed rams.
So, on December 22, 1941, the Australian Sergeant Reed, who fought in the British Air Force, used up all the cartridges, rammed the Japanese Ki-43 fighter with his Brewster-239, and died in a collision with it. At the end of February 1942, the Dutchman J. Adam also rammed a Japanese fighter on the same Brewster, but survived.
The rams were also carried out by the US pilots. The Americans are very proud of their captain Colin Kelly, who in 1941 was presented by propagandists as the first rammer of the United States to ram the Japanese battleship Haruna on December 10 with his B-17 bomber. True, after the war, researchers found that Kelly did not commit any ramming. Nevertheless, the American did indeed accomplish a feat that was undeservedly forgotten due to the pseudo-patriotic inventions of journalists. On that day, Kelly bombed the cruiser Nagara and diverted all the cover fighters of the Japanese squadron, allowing other planes to calmly bomb the enemy. When Kelly was shot down, he tried to the end to maintain control of the aircraft, allowing the crew to leave the dying car. At the cost of his life, Kelly saved ten comrades, but he did not have time to save himself …
Based on this information, the first American pilot to actually ram was Captain Fleming, commander of the Vindicator bomber squadron of the United States Marine Corps. During the Battle of Midway on June 5, 1942, he led his squadron's attack on Japanese cruisers. On the way to the target, his plane was hit by an anti-aircraft shell and caught fire, but the captain continued the attack and bombed. Seeing that the bombs of his subordinates missed the target (the squadron consisted of reservists and had poor training), Fleming turned and swooped down on the enemy again, crashing a burning bomber into the cruiser Mikuma. The damaged ship lost its combat capability, and was soon finished off by other American bombers.
Another American who rammed was Major Ralph Cheli, who, on August 18, 1943, led his bomber group to attack the Japanese airfield in Dagua (New Guinea). Almost immediately, his B-25 Mitchell was hit; then Cheli directed his flaming plane down and crashed into a formation of enemy planes on the ground, smashing five aircraft with the Mitchell's corps. For this feat, Ralph Chely was posthumously awarded the highest US award - the Congressional Medal of Honor.
In the second half of the war, air rams were also used by many Englishmen, although, perhaps, in a somewhat peculiar way (but with no less risk to their own lives). German Lieutenant General Erich Schneider, when describing the use of V-1 projectiles against England, testifies: "the brave British pilots shot down the projectile aircraft either in an attack with cannon and machine gun fire, or by ramming them from the side." This method of struggle was not chosen by the British pilots by chance: very often when firing, a German shell exploded, destroying the pilot who was attacking it - after all, during the explosion of the "Fau", the radius of absolute destruction was about 100 meters, and to hit a small target moving at great speed from a greater distance it is very difficult, almost impossible. Therefore, the British (also, of course, risking death) flew up to the "Fau" and pushed it to the ground by blowing wing on wing. One wrong move, the slightest mistake in the calculation - and only a memory remained from the brave pilot … This is exactly how the best English hunter for "V" Joseph Berry acted, destroying 59 German aircraft-shells in 4 months. On October 2, 1944, he launched an attack on the 60th "Fau", and this ram was his last …
Fau Killer Joseph Berry
So Berry and many other British pilots rammed German V-1 shells.
With the start of the American bombers' raids on Bulgaria, the Bulgarian aviators also had to carry out air rams. In the afternoon of December 20, 1943, while repelling a raid on Sofia of 150 Liberator bombers, which were accompanied by 100 Lightning fighters, Lieutenant Dimitar Spisarevsky fired all the ammunition of his Bf-109G-2 into one of the Liberators, and then, slipping over the dying car, crashed into the fuselage of the second Liberator, breaking it in half! Both planes crashed to the ground; Dimitar Spisarevski died. Spisarevski's feat made him a national hero. This ram made an indelible impression on the Americans - after the death of Spisarevski, the Americans feared every approaching Bulgarian Messerschmitt … The feat of Dimitar on April 17, 1944 was repeated by Nedelcho Bonchev. In a fierce battle over Sofia against 350 B-17 bombers, covered by 150 Mustang fighters, Lieutenant Nedelcho Bonchev shot down 2 of the three bombers destroyed by the Bulgarians in this battle. And the second plane Bonchev, having spent all the ammunition, rammed. At the time of the ramming strike, the Bulgarian pilot was thrown out of Messerschmitt along with the seat. Having barely freed himself from the seat belts, Bonchev escaped by parachute. After Bulgaria went over to the side of the anti-fascist coalition, Nedelcho took part in the battles against Germany, but in October 1944 he was shot down and taken prisoner. During the evacuation of the concentration camp in early May 1945, the hero was shot by a guard.
Bulgarian pilots Dimitar Spisarevski and Nedelcho Bonchev
As noted above, we have heard a lot about the Japanese suicide bombers "kamikaze", for whom the ram was actually the only weapon. However, it must be said that the rams were carried out by Japanese pilots even before the appearance of the "kamikaze", but then these acts were not planned and were usually carried out either in the excitement of a battle, or with severe damage to the aircraft, which precluded its return to base. A striking example of such a ramming attempt is the dramatic description by the Japanese naval pilot Mitsuo Fuchida in his book "The Battle of Midway Atoll" of the last attack by Lieutenant Commander Yoichi Tomonaga. The commander of the torpedo bomber squadron of the aircraft carrier "Hiryu" Yoichi Tomonaga, who may well be called the predecessor of the "kamikaze", on June 4, 1942, at a critical moment for the Japanese during the battle for Midway, flew into battle on a heavily damaged torpedo bomber, which had one of its tanks shot through in the previous battle. At the same time, Tomonaga was fully aware that he did not have enough fuel to return from the battle. During a torpedo attack on the enemy, Tomonaga tried to ram the American flagship aircraft carrier "Yorktown" with his "Kate", but, being shot by all the ship's artillery, fell to pieces literally a few meters from the side …
The predecessor of the "kamikaze" Yoichi Tomonaga
Attack by the torpedo bomber Kate, filmed from the aircraft carrier Yorktown during the Battle of Midway Atoll.
This is what Tomonaga's last attack looked like (it is quite possible that it was his plane that was filmed)
However, not all ramming attempts ended as tragic for the Japanese pilots. So, for example, on October 8, 1943, fighter pilot Satoshi Anabuki on a light Ki-43, armed with only two machine guns, managed to shoot down 2 American fighters and 3 heavy four-engine B-24 bombers in one battle! Moreover, the third bomber, which used up all the ammunition, Anabuki destroyed with a ramming strike. After this ramming, the wounded Japanese man still managed to land his wrecked plane "on an emergency" on the coast of the Gulf of Burma. For his feat, Anabuki received an award that was exotic for Europeans, but quite familiar to the Japanese: the commander of the Burmese District, General Kawabe, dedicated a poem of his own composition to the heroic pilot …
A particularly "cool" "rammer" among the Japanese was 18-year-old junior lieutenant Masajiro Kawato, who committed 4 air rams during his combat career. The first victim of the suicidal attacks of the Japanese was the B-25 bomber, which Kavato shot down over Rabaul with a blow from his Zero, which was left without ammunition (the date of this ram is unknown to me). Masajiro, who escaped by parachute on November 11, 1943, again rammed an American bomber, being wounded. Then, in a battle on December 17, 1943, Kawato rammed an Airacobra fighter in a frontal attack, and again escaped by parachute. The last time Masajiro Kawato rammed over Rabaul on February 6, 1944, the four-engine bomber B-24 "Liberator", and again used a parachute for rescue. In March 1945, the seriously wounded Kawato was captured by the Australians, and the war ended for him.
And less than a year before the surrender of Japan - in October 1944 - the "kamikaze" entered the battle. The first attack "kamikaze" was carried out on October 21, 1944 by Lieutenant Kuno, who damaged the ship "Australia". And on October 25, 1944, the first successful attack of a whole kamikaze unit under the command of Lieutenant Yuki Seki took place, during which an aircraft carrier and a cruiser were sunk, and one more aircraft carrier was damaged. But, although the main targets of the "kamikaze" were usually enemy ships, the Japanese had suicide units to intercept and destroy the heavy American B-29 Superfortress bombers with ram attacks. So, for example, in the 27th regiment of the 10th air division, a link of specially lightweight Ki-44-2 aircraft was created under the command of Captain Matsuzaki, which bore the poetic name "Shinten" ("Heavenly Shadow"). These "Heavenly Shadow Kamikaze" became a real nightmare for the Americans who flew to bomb Japan …
From the end of World War II to the present day, historians and amateurs have argued whether the "kamikaze" movement made sense, whether it was successful enough. In the official Soviet military history books, three negative reasons for the appearance of Japanese suicide bombers were usually highlighted: the lack of modern technology and experienced personnel, fanaticism and the "voluntary-compulsory" method of recruiting fatal flight performers. While fully agreeing with this, one must, however, acknowledge that, under certain conditions, this tactic also brought some advantages. In a situation when hundreds and thousands of untrained pilots were killed without any sense from the crushing attacks of superbly trained American pilots, from the point of view of the Japanese command it was undoubtedly more profitable that they, in their inevitable death, would cause at least some damage to the enemy. It is impossible not to take into account here the special logic of the samurai spirit, which was implanted by the Japanese leadership as a model among the entire Japanese population. According to her, a warrior is born in order to die for his emperor and "a beautiful death" in battle was considered the pinnacle of his life. It was this logic incomprehensible to a European that prompted Japanese pilots, even at the beginning of the war, to fly into battle without parachutes, but with samurai swords in the cockpits!
The advantage of the suicide tactics was that the range of the "kamikaze" in comparison with conventional aircraft was doubled (there was no need to save gas to get back). The enemy's casualties in people from suicide attacks were much greater than the losses of the "kamikaze" themselves; in addition, these attacks undermined the morale of the Americans, who experienced such horror in front of suicide bombers that the American command during the war was forced to classify all information about the "kamikaze" in order to avoid complete demoralization of the personnel. After all, no one could feel protected from sudden suicide attacks - not even the crews of small ships. With the same grim stubbornness, the Japanese attacked everything that could swim. As a result, the results of the activities of the kamikaze were much more serious than the allied command then tried to imagine (but more on that in the conclusion).
Such attacks "kamikaze" terrified American sailors
In Soviet times, in Russian literature, not only was there never even a mention of air ramming committed by German pilots, but it was also repeatedly asserted that it was impossible for "cowardly fascists" to perform such feats. And this practice continued in the new Russia until the mid-90s, until, thanks to the appearance in our country of new Western studies translated into Russian, and the development of the Internet, it became impossible to deny the documented facts of the heroism of our main enemy. Today it is already a proven fact: German pilots during World War II repeatedly used a ram to destroy enemy aircraft. But the long-term delay in the recognition of this fact by domestic researchers causes only surprise and annoyance: after all, to be convinced of this, even in Soviet times, it was enough just to take a critical look at least at Russian memoir literature. In the memoirs of Soviet veteran pilots, from time to time there are references to head-on collisions over the battlefield, when the planes of the opposing sides collided with each other from opposite angles. What is this if not a mutual ram? And if in the initial period of the war the Germans almost did not use such a technique, then this does not indicate a lack of courage among the German pilots, but that they had at their disposal sufficiently effective weapons of traditional types that allowed them to destroy the enemy without exposing their lives to unnecessary additional risk.
I do not know all the facts of rams committed by German pilots on different fronts of World War II, especially since even the participants in those battles often find it difficult to say for sure whether it was a deliberate ram, or an accidental collision in the confusion of a high-speed maneuverable battle (this also applies to Soviet pilots, which recorded battering rams). But even when listing the cases of ramming victories of the German aces known to me, it is clear that in a hopeless situation the Germans boldly went to a deadly and for them collision, often not sparing their lives for the sake of harming the enemy.
If we specifically talk about the facts known to me, then among the first German "rammers" can be called Kurt Sohatzi, who on August 3, 1941 near Kiev, repelling the attack of Soviet attack aircraft on German positions, destroyed the "unbreakable Cementbomber" Il-2 with a frontal ramming strike. In the collision, Messerschmitt Kurt lost half of his wing, and he had to hastily make an emergency landing right on the flight path. Sokhatzi landed on Soviet territory and was captured; nevertheless, for his accomplished feat, the command in absentia awarded him the highest award of Germany - the Knight's Cross.
If at the beginning of the war the ramming actions of the German pilots who won on all fronts were a rare exception, then in the second half of the war, when the situation was not in Germany's favor, the Germans began to use ram attacks more and more often. For example, on March 29, 1944, in the skies of Germany, the famous Luftwaffe ace Herman Graf rammed an American Mustang fighter, receiving serious injuries, which put him in a hospital bed for two months. The next day, March 30, 1944, on the Eastern Front repeated the "feat of Gastello" by the German assault ace, holder of the Knight's Cross Alvin Boerst. In the Yass region, he attacked a Soviet tank column in an anti-tank version of the Ju-87, was shot down by an anti-aircraft gun and, dying, rammed the tank in front of him. Boerst was posthumously awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross. In the West, on May 25, 1944, a young pilot, Oberfenrich Hubert Heckmann, in a Bf 109G rammed Captain Joe Bennett's Mustang, decapitating an American fighter squadron, and then escaped by parachute. And on July 13, 1944, another famous ace - Walter Dahl - shot down a heavy American B-17 bomber with a ramming strike.
German pilots: fighter ace Hermann Graf and assault ace Alvin Boerst
The Germans had pilots who made several rams. For example, in the skies of Germany, while repelling American raids, Hauptmann Werner Geert rammed enemy planes three times. In addition, the pilot of the assault squadron of the Udet squadron, Willie Maksimovich, was widely known for destroying 7 (!) American four-engined bombers with ram attacks. Wheely was killed over Pillau in an air battle against Soviet fighters on April 20, 1945.
But the cases listed above are only a small part of the air rams committed by the Germans. In the conditions of the complete technical and quantitative superiority of the Allied aviation over the German, which was created at the end of the war, the Germans were forced to create units of their "kamikaze" (and even earlier than the Japanese!). Already at the beginning of 1944, the Luftwaffe began the formation of special fighter-assault squadrons to destroy the American bombers that bombed Germany. The entire personnel of these units, including volunteers and … penalties, gave a written commitment to destroy at least one bomber in each sortie - if necessary, by ramming strikes! It was in such a squadron that the aforementioned Vili Maksimovich was included, and these units were headed by Major Walter Dahl, already familiar to us. The Germans were forced to resort to the tactics of mass rams precisely at a time when their former air superiority was nullified by hordes of heavy Allied Flying Fortresses advancing from the west in a continuous stream, and by armada of Soviet aircraft attacking from the east. It is clear that the Germans adopted such tactics not out of a good life; but this does not diminish the personal heroism of the German fighter pilots, who voluntarily decided to sacrifice themselves to save the German population, which died under American and British bombs …
Fighter Squadron Commander Walter Dahl; Werner Geert, who rammed 3 Fortresses; Vili Maksimovich, who destroyed 7 "Fortresses" with rams
The official adoption of ramming tactics required the Germans and the creation of appropriate technology. So, all the fighter-assault squadrons were equipped with a new modification of the FW-190 fighter with enhanced armor, which protected the pilot from enemy bullets at the moment of approaching the target closely (in fact, the pilot was sitting in an armored box that completely covered him from head to toe). The best test pilots worked out with battering ram attackers the methods of rescuing a pilot from an aircraft damaged by a ramming strike - the commander of German fighter aviation, General Adolf Galland, believed that attack aircraft should not be suicide bombers, and did everything possible to save the lives of these valuable pilots …
The assault version of the FW-190 fighter, equipped with a fully armored cockpit and solid bulletproof glass, allowed German pilots
get close to the "Flying Fortresses" and make a deadly ram
When the Germans, as allies of Japan, learned about the kamikaze tactics and the high performance of the Japanese suicide squads, as well as the psychological effect produced by the kamikaze on the enemy, they decided to transfer the eastern experience to the western lands. At the suggestion of Hitler's favorite, the famous German test pilot Hanna Reitsch, and with the support of her husband, Oberst General of Aviation von Greim, a manned projectile with a cockpit for a suicide pilot was created on the basis of the V-1 winged bomb at the end of the war (which, however, had a chance to use a parachute over the target). These man-bombs were intended for massive strikes on London - Hitler hoped to force Great Britain to withdraw from the war with total terror. The Germans even created the first group of German suicide bombers (200 volunteers) and began their training, but they did not manage to use their "kamikaze". The inspirer of the idea and the commander of the detachment, Hana Reitsch, fell under the next bombing of Berlin and ended up in the hospital for a long time, and General Galland immediately dismissed the detachment, considering the idea of suicide terror to be madness …
The manned analogue of the V-1 rocket - Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg, and the inspirer of the idea of "German kamikaze" Hana Reich
Conclusion:
So, based on the above, we can come to the conclusion that the ram, as a form of battle, was characteristic not only of Soviet pilots - rams were made by the pilots of almost all countries participating in the battles.
Another thing is that our pilots carried out much more rams than the "foreigners". In total, during the war, Soviet aviators, at the cost of the death of 227 pilots and the loss of over 400 aircraft, managed to destroy 635 enemy aircraft in the air with ram attacks. In addition, Soviet pilots carried out 503 land and sea rams, of which 286 were carried out by attack aircraft with a crew of 2 people, and 119 by bombers with a crew of 3-4 people. Thus, in terms of the number of pilots killed in suicidal attacks (at least 1000 people!), The USSR, along with Japan, undoubtedly dominates the gloomy list of countries whose pilots widely sacrificed their lives to achieve victory over the enemy. However, we must admit that the Japanese still surpassed us in the field of "purely Soviet form of combat." If we evaluate only the effectiveness of the "kamikaze" (operating since October 1944), then at the cost of the lives of more than 5,000 Japanese pilots, about 50 were sunk and about 300 enemy warships were damaged, of which 3 were sunk and 40 were damaged by aircraft carriers with a huge number of aircraft on board. …
So, in terms of the number of rams, the USSR and Japan are far ahead of the rest of the warring countries. Undoubtedly, this testifies to the courage and patriotism of Soviet and Japanese pilots, however, in my opinion, it does not detract from the same merits of the pilots of other countries participating in the war. When a desperate situation developed, not only the Russians and the Japanese, but also the British, Americans, Germans, Bulgarians, and so on. etc. went to the ram, risking their own lives for the sake of victory. But they walked only in a desperate situation; it is stupid and costly to use complex expensive equipment regularly as a banal “cleaver”. My opinion: the massive use of battering rams speaks not so much about the heroism and patriotism of a certain nation, but about the level of its military equipment and the preparedness of the flight personnel and command, which constantly put its pilots in a desperate situation. In the air units of countries in which the command skillfully lead units, creating an advantage in forces in the right place, whose aircraft had high combat characteristics, and the pilots were well trained, the need to ram the enemy simply did not arise. But in the air units of countries in which the command did not know how to concentrate forces on the main direction, in which the pilots did not really know how to fly, and the aircraft had mediocre or even low flight characteristics, ramming became almost the main form of combat. That is why at the beginning of the war, having the best aircraft, the best commanders and pilots, the Germans actually did not use rams. When the enemy created more advanced aircraft and surpassed the Germans quantitatively, and the Luftwaffe lost the most experienced pilots in numerous battles and no longer had time to properly train newcomers, the ramming method entered the arsenal of German aviation and reached the absurdity of "man-bombs" ready to fall on their heads civilian population …
In this regard, I would like to note that just at the time when the Japanese and Germans began the transition to the tactics of "kamikaze", in the Soviet Union, which also widely used air rams, the commander of the USSR Air Force signed a very interesting order. It said: “Explain to the entire personnel of the Red Army Air Force that our fighters are superior in flight and tactical data to all existing types of German fighters … The use of a“ram”in air combat with enemy aircraft is inappropriate, therefore, the“ram”should be used only in exceptional cases ". Leaving aside the quality of Soviet fighters, the advantages of which over the enemy, it turns out, had to be "explained" to front-line pilots, let us pay attention to the fact that at a time when the Japanese and German commanders were trying to develop a line of suicide bombing, the Soviet tried to stop the already existing tendency Russian pilots to suicidal attacks. And there was something to think about: only in August 1944 - the month preceding the appearance of the order - the Soviet pilots carried out more air rams than in December 1941 - during the critical period of battles for the USSR near Moscow! Even in April 1945, when Soviet aviation had absolute air supremacy, Russian pilots used the same number of rams as in November 1942, when the offensive at Stalingrad began! And this despite the "clarified superiority" of Soviet technology, the undoubted advantage of the Russians in the number of fighters and, in general, the number of air rams decreasing from year to year (in 1941-42 - about 400 rams, in 1943-44 - about 200 rams, in 1945 - more than 20 rams). And everything can be explained simply: with an acute desire to beat the enemy, most of the young Soviet pilots simply did not know how to properly fly and fight. Remember, this was well said in the film "Only Old Men Go to Battle": "They still cannot fly, neither do they know how to shoot, but - EAGLES!" It is for this reason that Boris Kovzan, who did not know at all how to turn on the onboard weapon, made 3 of his 4 rams. And it is for this reason that the former instructor of the aviation school, Ivan Kozhedub, who knew how to fly well, never rammed the enemy in 120 battles he fought, although he had situations that were not even favorable. But Ivan Nikitovich coped with them without the "ax method", because he had high flight and combat training, and his plane was one of the best in Russian aviation …
Hubert Heckmann 25.05. 1944 rams Captain Joe Bennett's Mustang, depriving the American fighter squadron of leadership
