Wilhelm Moritz

Eastern Front

At the time of his posting to JG 51, IV. Gruppe was based at Novodugino, north of Vyazma on the Eastern Front, and fighting in the Battle of Rzhev.^[14] The commander of the Gruppe was Hauptmann Johann Knauth.^[15] In October 1942, Moritz was given command of 12. Staffel of JG 51. He succeeded Oberleutnant Egon Falkensamer who was transferred.^[16] When on 11 July 1943, Major Rudolf Resch, then commander of IV. Gruppe, was killed in action, Moritz temporarily took command of the Gruppe until Major Hans-Ekkehard Bob officially took command of the Gruppe on 1 August.^[17][18]

In October 1943, Moritz was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" (JG 3—3rd Fighter Wing) where he was given command of 6. Staffel. In consequence, command of 12. Staffel of JG 51 was passed to Leutnant Rudolf Wagner.^[17]

Defense of the Reich

On 15 April 1944, Generalmajor Adolf Galland, at the time the General der Jagdflieger (General of Fighters), visited IV. Gruppe of JG 3 at the airfield in Salzwedel. At the time, Moritz served with Gruppenstab of IV. Gruppe. Galland announced that the IV. Gruppe would be converted to a Sturmgruppe (assault group), the first of such units, as a means to combat the bomber formations of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Similar to the experimental Sturmstaffel 1 (1st Assault Squadron) of JG 3, the Gruppe was equipped with the heavily armored variant of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A series. Every pilot of the Gruppe was asked to sign a contract, declaring that they would commit themselves to pressing attacks on the bombers to point-blank range, and that aerial ramming should be considered. Three days later, Moritz was officially appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of the IV. Sturmgruppe of JG 3. He replaced Hauptmann Heinz Lang, who had temporarily led the Gruppe after its former commander, Major Friedrich-Karl Müller was appointed Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) on 11 April.^[19][20][21]

Moritz claimed his first aerial victory in Defense of the Reich on 22 April when 803 bombers of the USAAF Eighth Air Force targeted various German transportation targets in western Germany, in particular the railroad classification yard in Hamm. IV. Gruppe was scrambled at 18:20 in Salzwedel and engaged Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers from the 2nd Air Division at 19:40 in a 20 minute aerial during which Moritz shot down one of the B-24 bombers.^[22] On 29 April, 679 USAAF bombers, escorted by 814 fighters, headed von Berlin to bomb the capital.^[23] IV. Gruppe flew two missions to defend against this attack.^[24] On the second mission, the Gruppe intercepted the bombers on their return from the target area at 13:20 in the vicinity of Gardelegen. In this encounter, Moritz claimed an Herausschuss (separation shot)—a severely damaged heavy bomber forced to separate from his combat box which was counted as an aerial victory—over a B-24 bomber.^[25]

On 6 July, VI. Gruppe relocated to Illesheim Airfield located 18 kilometers (11 miles) northeast of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.^[26] The following day, a force of 1,129 B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators of the USAAF Eighth Air Force set out from England to bomb aircraft factories in the Leipzig area and the synthetic oil plants at Boehlen, Leuna-Merseburg and Lützkendorf. This formation was intercepted by a German Gefechtsverband (combat formation) consisting of IV. Sturmgruppe of JG 3, led by Hauptmann Moritz, escorted by two Gruppen of Bf 109s from Jagdgeschwader 300 (JG 300—300th Fighter Wing) led by Major Walther Dahl. Dahl and Moritz drove the attack to point-blank range behind the Liberators of the 492d Bombardment Group before opening fire. 492d Bombardment Group was temporarily without fighter cover. Within about a minute the entire squadron of twelve B-24s had been annihilated. The Germans claimed 28 USAAF 2nd Air Division B-24s that day and were credited with at least 21. The majority to the Sturmgruppe attack.^[27] This event, also known as the Luftschlacht bei Oschersleben (aerial battle at Oschersleben), earned both Dahl and Moritz a reference in the Wehrmachtbericht, an information bulletin issued by the headquarters of the Wehrmacht, on 8 July.^[28] Moritz was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 18 July for 39 aerial victories, including six Herausschüsse.^[29]

On 19 November, IV. Gruppe was ordered to an airfield at Stömede, located approximately 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) south of Lippstadt. The plan was to consolidate all three Gruppen of JG 3 in northwestern Germany which were subordinated to the 3. Jagd Division (3rd Fighter Division) commanded by Generalmajor Walter Grabmann. On the afternoon of 26 November, JG 3 was ordered to take off to attack Allied fighter bombers. Weather conditions were adverse at Störmede, visibility less than 1,000 meters (3,300 feet), and cloud cover was down at 75 meters (246 feet). While I. Gruppe lost its commander in a takeoff accident, Moritz aircraft got stuck in the mud during taxiing. The mission ended in a fiasco for JG 3 and Moritz was threatened with court-martial. To avoid legal prosecution, Major Heinz Bär, the Geschwaderkommodore of JG 3, had Moritz transferred to IV. Gruppe of Ergänzungs-Jagdgeschwader 1 (EJG 1), a Luftwaffe replacement training unit.^[30] Moritz left JG 3 on 5 December and was replaced by Hauptmann Hubert-York Weydenhammer.^[31] He ended the war as commander of II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 4 (JG 4—4th Fighter Wing).^[32]

Aerial victory claims

Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 41 aerial victory claims, plus three further unconfirmed claims. This figure includes 28 aerial victories on the Eastern Front and 13 over the Western Allies, including nine four-engined bombers.^[34]

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 07671". The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about 360 square miles (930 km²). These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 km × 4 km (1.9 mi × 2.5 mi) in size.^[35]

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class^[2]
• Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 11 October 1943 as Hauptmann and Staffelkapitän^[62]
• German Cross in Gold in 1945 as Major in the IV./Jagdgeschwader 3^[63]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 18 July 1944 as Major and Gruppenkommandeur of IV./Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet"^{[64][Note 7]}