The quiet Willy
20. August 1943
The battle was actually small. In the next morning one scanned us [Iljuschin] IL 2 in about 20 m height. Our 2 Although cm could install hits, You abprallten but as a result of the sharp angle of the target. Otherwise hunters in our shot came during the day only to once. During the night but we learned the “quiet Willy” right to know. On a moonlit night, this biplane flew a and back again. Very many were however captured by the bright light headlamp tentacles and thus exposed to a concentric flak.
We took on many machines in the dark. The Russian pilots tried to the best defensive maneuver with their machines. One went for example. Dive stop download. We thought “Launch”, But shortly after he flew over us across. Another was fired on by us to 50 m above the ground: Then we had to stop shooting, because we would have otherwise done more damage to the Earth as in the air. One [Polikarpow] U-2 flew to us. Suddenly it rustled in the air, then just next to our B I stand a Puffen and a large narrow Earth fountain mounted high. He wanted to meet but really I state our B. He had probably seen our electric lighting. In short, that night, some were “quiet Willy's” shot down and the next day brought Oblt. Reinecking a piece of gray plywood, by a downed flier came with home. We saw also the Luftwaffe here very actively. So I could observe, as an association [Heinkel] He 111 put a bomb row, She had it in itself, on the hochsteigenden Earth as we- and saw columns of smoke.
Our pots were a novelty for the young and the old soldiers. Clearly, we saw the oblique rising plumes of this terrible missiles and shortly afterwards the huge detonation of Einschlages, We could even hear. One day as a blechener pop whistled it in the air, and shortly thereafter. Aha, the Russian scored in our vicinity. I got me pretty soon used to these new sounds and learned to distinguish soon launch and impact. But even in this position, you were numbered days. The order to the rebase was given, was again lifted to be given final.
