He was too late: “If I had succeeded in catching a hold of Hentschel I should have remained with him in the Dniester. Reaching the other side, the crew of the other Stuka collapsed beside Rudel. Their clothes and hands ripped, they caught their breath before diving into the icy, flooded river. Confronted by a steep cliff overlooking the river, the four of them slid downhill through thorny bushes. Rudel was one of Hitler's personal favorites, and when he decorated Rudel with a high award he ussually forbade him any further combat. I think he got credit for around 500 tanks destroyed, about the equivelent of one entire Red Tank Army's inventory. Pursued by Soviet infantry, Rudel and his companions ran four miles to the Dniester. The Stuka, already dangerously slow was even more so with these guns attached. Landing to rescue them, Rudel’s own plane got stuck in the mud. Rudel found the crew in a field waving from beside their downed plane. A new pilot lagged behind and, riddled by Soviet Lag-5 fighters, veered off into Soviet territory. Autobiography of World War Two Luftwaffe pilot Hans Ulrich Rudel, the most highly decorated German serviceman of WW2, and the only one to be awarded the. He also claimed 9 aerial victories, and the destruction of more than 800 vehicles of all types, over 150 artillery, anti-tank and anti-aircraft. Promoted to major on March 20, 1944, Rudel led an attack against a Dniester bridge. Hans-Ulrich Rudel (2 July 1916 18 December 1982) was one of the best Luftwaffe military aviators, a ground attack pilot credited with the destruction of 519 tanks, as well as a number of ships. Rudel’s Stukas were transferred north from the southern front to aid the encircled Cherkassy pocket, then back south to north of Odessa. During the titanic Battle of Kursk, Stuka “Gustavs” blasted tungsten-core shells through Soviet tanks, while Stuka “Doras” knocked out Soviet antiaircraft guns.

Stuka pilot rudel