Alfons Schertl

Henn wasn't a warrior but he did his duty from 1943 to 1945 with his war ending when he crashed his FW-190 and lost his legs in the accident. This memoir chronicles his view of German airmen asked to do the impossible by fighting the American Air Force in Italy with its immense stores of airplanes that are much better craft then the Me 109 he flies. Eventually Hermann Goering visits his airfield and criticizes the airman for being cowards while claiming their aircraft are the best in the world. If the fliers had any respect for Fat Hermann before this, they had none after.

The German fliers can see that the war is lost and their leaders are crazy but they fight on in impossible conditions. When Henn describes his one trip home on injury leave, it is of a town destroyed and a people living in fear and hopelessness. Civilians look at him with hate and disgust because he hasn't been able to stop the bombers. Once a soldier approaches him after a battle and blames him for the army's destruction because he does not stop the Allied bombers.

Some photos of Henn and the planes he flew are included.… (mere)