Kurt Ebener


Kurt Ebener was a Luftwaffe fighter 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. Ebener was credited with 57 victories in 150 missions, 52 over the Eastern Front.

Career

Ebener was born on 4 May 1920 in Könitz, present-day a municipality of Unterwellenborn, at the time in Thuringia of the Weimar Republic. He volunteered for military service in the Luftwaffe on 17 November 1939. Following completion of flight and fighter pilot training, was posted to 4. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" on 1 December 1941. The Staffel was subordinated to II. Gruppe of JG 3 and based at Wiesbaden-Erbenheim Airfield and preparing for deployment to Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of [World War II|Mediterranean theater]. At the time, 4. Staffel was commanded by Oberleutnant Walther Dahl while II. Gruppe was headed by Hauptmann Karl-Heinz Krahl.
In early January 1942, II. Gruppe received orders to relocate to Sicily where the II. Fliegerkorps concentrated forces during the Siege of Malta. On 18 January, the first aircraft from 4. Staffel arrived at Comiso Airfield. On 25 April, the Gruppe flew its last mission to Malta, escorting bombers.

War against the Soviet Union

On 27 April 1942, II. Gruppe arrived at Pilsen, present-day Plzeň, following their deployment to the Mediterranean theater. The Gruppe was then placed under the command of Hauptmann Kurt Brändle after its formed commander Krahl had been killed in action. During the next three weeks, the Gruppe underwent a period of maintenance and overhaul before on 18 May began deploying to the southern sector of the Eastern Front. Too late to participate in the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula, it was located on the left wing of Army Group South, assigned to an airfield at Chuguyev in the Kharkov area where they arrived on 19 May. On 23 May, Ebener claimed his first two victories when he shot down two I-61 fighters, an early German designation for a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 fighter.
In December 1942, Ebener volunteered for the Platzschutzstaffel of the Pitomnik Airfield. Ebener, whose oldest brother Walter had been killed in action on the Eastern Front, was motivated to volunteer since his older brother Helmut served with a Panzer-Jäger regiment in Stalingrad. The Staffel, largely made up from volunteers from I. and II. Gruppe of JG 3, was responsible for providing fighter escort to Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft and Heinkel He 111 bombers shuttling supplies for the encircled German forces fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad. II. Gruppe pilots claimed 39 aerial victories between 16 and 26 December, including 13 by Ebener. In total, Ebener claimed 33 aerial victories with the Platzschutzstaffel which made him the most successful Luftwaffe fighter pilot over Stalingrad. On 17 December, Ebener claimed his 20th aerial victory when he shot down an Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft. Two days later, the Luftwaffe managed to fly in 289 tons of supplies. That day, Ebener became an "ace-in-a-day" when he claimed four Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 fighters and two Petlyakov Pe-2 bombers shot down.
On 1 March 1943, Ebener was transferred to Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost, a fighter pilot training unit for pilots destined for the Eastern Front, as an instructor. On 18 March, Ebener was awarded the German Cross in Gold, and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 7 April for 52 aerial victories claimed. Simultaneously, he was promoted to the rank of Leutnant.

Squadron leader

On 31 March 1944, he was transferred to 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 11 and on 15 July, he was appointed the Staffelkapitän of 5. Staffel of JG 11. At the time II. Gruppe of JG 11 was based at Wunstorf Air Base for a period of rest and replenishment. On 12 August, the Gruppe began its relocation to the invasion front where they supported the retreat of the 5th Panzer Army and 7th Army west of Falaise. The Gruppe arrived at a makeshift airfield near Ballancourt-sur-Essonne the following day. The Gruppe had lost many aircraft during its relocation. Of the 72 Bf 109s which had left Wunstorf, only 18 were operational on 14 August. That day, the Gruppe flew its first mission in France, a training exercise to familiarize the pilots with the area of operation. During the landing approach at Ballancourt, the Gruppe came under attack by Supermarine Spitfire fighters. In this encounter, Ebener claimed a Spitfire shot down, his first claim on the Western Front. The next day, ground forces were fighting north and south of Falaise. In support, Ebener claimed a United States Army Air Forces Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter shot down.
On the evening of 16 August, II. Gruppe moved to Juvincourt Airfield and then to an airfield near Beaurieux, approximately southeast of Laon, the next day. On 19 August, during the fighting in the Falaise pocket, Ebener claimed his last aerial victory when he shot down a P-47. He was shot down himself in a dogfight with USAAF fighters southeast of Paris while flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-14 on 23 August 1944. Although saved by his parachute near Troyes, he was badly burned and become a prisoner of war. Initially posted as missing in action, he was replaced by Leutnant Paul Schalk as commander of 5. Staffel. Due to his serious injuries he was repatriated to Germany in January 1945.

Later life

Ebener died on 7 May 1975 at the age of in Fischbach, West Germany from complications of his war-time wounds.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Ebener was credited with 57 aerial victories. Obermaier and Spick also list Ebener with 57 aerial victories, 52 on the Eastern Front and five over the Western Allies, claimed in approximately 150 combat missions. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 51 aerial victories, all of which claimed on the Eastern Front.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference, for example "PQ 4911". 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