Sonderkommando Elbe

The Luftwaffe’s Kamikaze Force

Walter S. Zapotoczny Jr.

• Publisher: Fonthill Media
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781036152291
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

A detailed account of Sonderkommando Elbe, Germany's late-war Luftwaffe unit using suicidal tactics against Allied bombers.

By September 1944 the Third Reich was under constant attack by Allied bombers and suffering an onslaught by the Red Army to the east. The Nazi high command struggled for ideas to reduce the effect of the ceaseless bombing and thereby create some breathing space to build and strengthen their new weapon: jet-propelled aircraft. They believed that this new invention could turn the tide of the war.

At the end of 1944 a proposal was offered by Oberst Hans-Joachim "Hajo" Herrmann. His plan called for 1,500 fighter aircraft to conduct a massive attack against an Allied bomber formation on April 7, 1945, inflicting such casualties that the Allies would think twice about continuing their bombing campaign. Attacking bombers was not a new idea, but the method of attack was new. The German pilots were to fly their planes into the bombers, causing enough damage to bring down the aircraft. Unlike the Japanese Kamikaze pilots who carried explosives on board and died in the attack, the German pilots were instructed to bail out and parachute to safety to fly another day. Sonderkommando Elbe: The Luftwaffe’s Kamikaze Force is the full story of the unit and its pilots.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 The Bombing of Germany
• 2 The Strategic Situation in Late 1944/Early 1945
• 3 Defending the Skies of the Reich
• 4 The State of the Luftwaffe in Late 1944/Early 1945
• 5 Special Aviation Units Before Sonderkommando Elbe
• 6 Creation of Sonderkommando Elbe
• 7 Use of Pervitin by Sonderkommando Elbe Pilots
• 8 Eighth Air Force Target List for April 7, 1945
• 9 The Attack on April 7, 1945
• 10 Sonderkommando Pilots
• 11 Allied Reports
• 12 Damage to Allied Bombers
• 13 The Aftermath of the Sonderkommando Elbe Mission
• 14 Epilogue
• Appendix A: Abbreviations and Definitions
• Appendix B: U.S. Eighth Air Force Aircraft Types Used on April 7, 1945
• Appendix C: Aircraft Used by Sonderkommando Elbe on April 7, 1945
• Appendix D: Aircraft Used by the Wilde Sau
• Appendix E: United States Airborne Weapons
• Appendix F: German Airborne Weapons
• Appendix G: Selected Biographies
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Plates