Georg Seelmann


Georg Seelmann was a German Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II - for the fighter pilots, it was a quantifiable measure of skill and success.

Early life and career

Seelmann was born on 4 February 1917 in Bamberg in the Kingdom of Bavaria within the German Empire. On 3 November 1937, he joined the military of service of the Luftwaffe and was trained as a fighter pilot. Seelmann began his flight training at Herzogenaurach Airfield and Dornstadt before in July 1939 transferring to the Jagdfliegerschule in Schleißheim where he completed his fighter pilot training. In September 1939, Seelmann was posted to 2. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77, a squadron of I. Gruppe of JG 77. At the time, I. Gruppe was based at Oedheim in southern Germany. The Gruppe relocated to Frankfurt Rhein-Main to protect the Zeppelin hangar.

World War II

World War II in Europe had begun on Friday, 1 September 1939, when German forces invaded Poland. Seelmann claimed hist first aerial victory during the Battle of France on 14 May 1940, when he shot down a Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighter near Charleroi. On 25 August 1940, I. Gruppe of JG 77 relocated from Wyk auf Föhr to Marquise located near the English Channel to fight in the Battle of Britain. On 7 September 1940, I. Gruppe participated in Operation "Loge", 350 bombers escorted by 648 fighters, attacked various targets in the greater London area. On this mission, Seelmann claimed a Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire fighter shot down at 18:05 and another one at 18:30. For his two aerial victories claimed to date, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class on 29 September.
Following the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe fighter units were consolidated. On 21 November 1940, I. Gruppe of JG 77 was officially redesignated and became IV. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 51. In consequence, Seelman's 2. Staffel of JG 77 became 11. Staffel of JG 51. On 5 March 1941, Seelmann was forced to bail out of his Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-4 after his engine exploded over Wideham.

Operation Barbarossa

On 15 June, IV. Gruppe began transferring east and was located at the airfield Krzewicze, approximately west Brest-Litovsk on the western bank of the Bug River. On 22 June, German forces launched Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. JG 51, under the command of Oberstleutnant Werner Mölders, was subordinated to II. Fliegerkorps, which as part of Luftflotte 2. JG 51 area of operation during Operation Barbarossa was over the right flank of Army Group Center in the combat area of the 2nd Panzer Group as well as the 4th Army. In these initial weeks, Seelmann was particularly successful over the poorly trained and led Russian pilots. He quickly reached his 20th victory on 16 July and then his 30th on 9 August. On 30 August, Seelmann's Bf 109 F-2 was rammed by a Soviet aircraft, forcing him to bail out near Novgorod. He successfully evaded capture and made his way back to his unit. On 6 October 1941, Seelmann, together with Unteroffizier Franz-Josef Beerenbrock, were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross after 37 and 42 aerial victories respectively.

Instructor and squadron leader

On 26 December 1941, Seelmann was posted to Ergänzungsgruppe JG 51 - the Geschwader's training squadron - as an instructor and Staffelkapitän of 2. Staffel, replacing Oberleutnant Egon Falkensamer. The unit was based at La Rochelle, France. In January 1942, 2. Staffel of Ergänzungsgruppe JG 51 moved to Kraków where in February it became the newly formed Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost. Consequently, Seelmann then commanded 1. Staffel of Erg. Ost.
Seelmann returned to front-line duty on 1 August 1942, taking command of 11. Staffel of JG 51 as the Staffelkapitän, replacing Hauptmann Franz Hahn. At the time, IV. Gruppe was based at Novodugino. Two days later, Seelmann was shot down in aerial combat with Ilyushin DB-3 bombers in an area southwest of Rzhev. He bailed out of his Bf 109 F-2. Severely injured, Seelmann was temporarily replaced by Leutnant Wolfgang Böwing-Treuding before command of 11. Staffel was passed on to Oberleutnant Adolf Borchers on 20 August.

Mediterranean theatre

II. Gruppe of JG 51 had been withdrawn from the Eastern Front in early October 1942 and sent to Jesau in East Prussia, present day Yushny, Bagrationovsky District, for conversion to the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Conversion training began on 7 October and on 4 November, the unit received the order to convert back to the Bf 109 and to transfer to the Mediterranean theatre. Via various stopovers, II. Gruppe moved to Sidi Ahmed airfield, arriving on 14 November. There, the unit was subordinated to Fliegerführer Tunis. During this period, Seelmann had recovered from his injuries and was given command of 4. Staffel on 5 November.
On 17 March 1943, Seelmann transferred command of 4. Staffel to Oberleutnant Karl Rammelt. After further recuperation, in summer 1943 he was instead transferred to a non-combat role as the Staffelkapitän for the training squadron 1. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 103, where he ended his successful combat career.

Later life

Seelmann died on 18 September 1989 at the age of in Lichtenfels, West Germany.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to Obermaier, Seelmann flew 550 combat missions and was credited with 39 aerial victories. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 39 aerial victory claims, including three aerial victories on the Western Front and 36 on the Eastern Front.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference, for example "PQ 47582". The Luftwaffe grid map 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. These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area in size.

Awards