WWII: What was it like commanding JG-300?

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Rall: I came to the unit in late February or early March 1945. This was no longer a wing, just a ruin of the former wing because one group was in the north. As you know, a wing has three groups. In the meantime, the Americans got to the Elbe River, cutting this group off, and some managed to escape to the south. I had only two rudimentary groups, and I will tell you something that was typical: when I arrived at the wing to take over, I came by jeep because I had no aircraft. While I was commander of the Fighter Leaders School, they sent me a jeep and said, “You are going up to Plattling in Bavaria to take over as commander of JG-300,” and when I approached the base I saw that some airplanes were standing out on the apron, and my driver said, “Oops, we are being attacked!” We stopped and ran off the road. It was an attack by P-38 Lightnings, and when I finally arrived there were 15 of our aircraft in flames.

WWII: These were the Bf-109s?

Rall: Yes, and this marked my entrance into the wing. The next day we were transferred to the south, and from there on we had no solid operations. We had no radar, no air situation. We had only narrow contact to higher authority in the division, so we relocated to the area south of Munich. On the way to Salzburg I dissolved the wing, as the war was over, and told the group commanders, “This thing is over and you had better go home.” We gave all that we had, including our food, to the airmen and ground personnel. Then we gave a final salute, and everyone went on his own. As you can imagine, at that time there was no solid warfare. Even the higher ranks came to my headquarters and asked if they could stay there because they wanted to get through it. You could only get out using your feet in a normal unit. So this was a very bad time, and there were no firmly planned or controlled missions. The main fight for me was to try and get fuel for the aircraft. Without it we could not fly, naturally. Even if you listened to the fact that wing so and so dissolved at the hands of the Americans, it was because of this situation, that you were alone and on your own.

WWII: What was the mission of JG-300? Were you still expected to intercept and attack bombers?

Rall: That was early on, and that time had passed. It did not usually work well. Now we had normal fighter missions. In February 1945, there were no normal fighter missions left, you know. What we were doing was looking for targets of opportunity. We had no idea where the enemy was at any time. We were totally in the dark.

WWII: What is your knowledge of Operation Bodenplatte, the fighter sweeps against Allied airfields that took place on January 1, 1945?

Rall: I was in the hospital because my left thumb had been shot off, and the wound was still open and I had an infection. I listened in on the higher staff, so this was how I learned about Bodenplatte. As you know, we lost many of our most experienced unit leaders, irreplaceable losses. A total of 58 unit leaders were lost in that operation, I believe.

WWII: Which Allied fighter was the most difficult to shoot down in combat?

Rall: At the beginning of the war we flew short-range missions and encountered Spitfires, which were superior. And do not forget the Hurricanes. I think that the Supermarine Spitfire was the most dangerous to us early on. I flew the Spitfire myself, and it was a very, very good aircraft. It was maneuverable and with good climbing potential. Then in Russia the first aircraft we encountered were obsolete. The Russians lost about 7,000 aircraft in the first three to four months of the war, but they learned their lessons well and began building better aircraft–the MiGs, Yaks, and the LaG-5. Developed by Semyon A. Lavochkin and Mikhail I. Gudkov from their earlier, unsuccessful LaGG-3 with an in-line, water-cooled engine, the LaG-5 came out in 1943 and had a big radial engine. It was a powerful, excellent aircraft and served as the basis for even better versions: the La-5FN and the La-7.

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