![]() ![]() ![]() He was too late: “If I had succeeded in catching a hold of Hentschel I should have remained with him in the Dniester. ![]() Reaching the other side, the crew of the other Stuka collapsed beside Rudel. Their clothes and hands ripped, they caught their breath before diving into the icy, flooded river. Confronted by a steep cliff overlooking the river, the four of them slid downhill through thorny bushes. Pursued by Soviet infantry, Rudel and his companions ran four miles to the Dniester. He (Hans Rudel) flew over 2,500 combat missions in WW2, most of them on the deadly Eastern Front, where many pilots didnt survive their first few missions. Memorability Metrics Hans-Ulrich Rudel - The Surrender of Germany's Most Decorated Ace 1945 1.8M Page Views (PV) 71. He was a highly decorated officer and was the most successful ground-attack pilot in the history of aerial warfare. Landing to rescue them, Rudel’s own plane got stuck in the mud. Hans-Ulrich Rudel was a German Luftwaffe military aviator during World War II. ![]() Rudel found the crew in a field waving from beside their downed plane. A new pilot lagged behind and, riddled by Soviet Lag-5 fighters, veered off into Soviet territory. Promoted to major on March 20, 1944, Rudel led an attack against a Dniester bridge. Rudel’s Stukas were transferred north from the southern front to aid the encircled Cherkassy pocket, then back south to north of Odessa. During the titanic Battle of Kursk, Stuka “Gustavs” blasted tungsten-core shells through Soviet tanks, while Stuka “Doras” knocked out Soviet antiaircraft guns. ![]()
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