Hermann Staiger (6 April 1915 – 22 June 1964) was a 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 was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. For the fighter-pilots it was a quantifiable measure of their skill and success. Hermann Staiger was credited with 63 aerial victories during World War II, 49 on the Western Front and 14 on the Eastern Front.
Early life and career
Joining the Luftwaffe in 1935 to start his flight training, by the start of the war in September 1939 he was a Leutnant flying with 1./JG 20 (the 1st squadron of the 20th Fighter Wing). This was a wing in name only, being just a single Gruppe (Fighter Group) that had been set up just prior to the outbreak of war, in July 1939. His Staffelkapitän (Squadron Leader) was the Legion Condor veteran Walter Oesau.
World War II
For the Polish campaign his unit was based at Sprottau, to protect the Silesian industrial area from Polish bombers, but after a week of inactivity it returned to Berlin and then onto Bönninghardt on the Dutch border under the command of Jagdgeschwader 51.
The attack on France in May 1940 was very quiet for JG 51 and I./JG 20 as they quickly cleared the skies over the Low Countries. It was only at the end of that month, when the units transferred to Ghent, in Belgium, for the battle for the beaches of Dunkirk that Staiger opened his scoresheet. He shot down an RAF Spitfire northwest of that city on 31 May, among the dozen claims by the Gruppe that day.
Soon after his second victory (a Blenheim bomber on 30 June), the relationship between JG 51 and I./JG 20 was formalized on 4 July when the latter was renamed III./JG 51 (the third Gruppe of JG 51), and Staiger's squadron became 7./JG 51. He was reasonably successful in the ensuing Battle of Britain shooting down a further seven aircraft.
Squadron leader
On 24 August 1940, Oesau was given command of III. Gruppe of JG 51, replacing Hauptmann Hannes Trautloft in this capacity. In consequence, Staiger was given command of 7. Staffel as Staffelkapitän (squadron leader).
After the invasion was postponed (indefinitely) JG 51 was withdrawn to winter quarters back in the Reich. It would return to the Channel Front for a time in early 1941 although now nominally on the defensive. Staiger still managed to pick up three further victories before the units were sent to the east for the upcoming invasion of the Soviet Union.
Eastern Front
On the opening day of the Operation Barbarossa he shot down three SB-2 bombers. JG 51 was leading the charge eastward racking up a huge number of victories. On 30 June, when JG 51 became the first Geschwader to claim 1000 victories. Staiger shot down a further four bombers in the first great encirclement battle, over Minsk. On 14 July, he was seriously injured when his Bf 109 F-2 (Werknummer 8083—factory number) was hit by Soviet anti-aircraft fire and shot down near Stara Bychow, approximately south of Mogilev on the Dnieper. In consequence, command of 7. Staffel passed to Oberleutnant Herbert Wehnelt.
While Staiger was recovering in hospital, he and another pilot of JG 51 were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () on 16 July, Staiger for 25 aerial victories, and Oberleutnant Hans Kolbow from 5. Staffel posthumously after 27 aerial victories. After an extended period of convalescence he served in a number of pilot-training units for the next two years, and was promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) on 1 February 1943. Staiger briefly returned to JG 51 on the Eastern Front where he claimed a Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 fighter shot down while flying with 9. Staffel. On 5 July, Staiger was transferred to the Western Front where he was appointed Staffelkapitän of 12. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter" (JG 26—26th Fighter Wing), replacing Oberleutnant Erwin Leykauf who was transferred. The Staffel was subordinated to III. Gruppe of JG 26 commanded by Hauptmann Klaus Mietusch and based at Cuxhaven-Nordholz Airfield.
Defence of the Reich
Based back on the Channel Front it was fighting a whole new type of war: In the past year the American 8th USAAF had arrived in Britain and started daylight bombing operations against Germany's industry. The heavily armed four-engined B-17 and B-24 bombers ("Viermots") were very hard to shoot down but Staiger quickly learned his combat technique. Over the next month he accounted for five Viermots, becoming one of the first bomber-aces.