| The message of the unconditional surrender reached the Colonel and Commodore of the "Stukageschwader Immelmann" Hans-Ulrich Rudel in Czechia on May 8th, 1945. It was ordered that till 23.00 hours he had to submit everything to the Russian. But Rudel arranged an evacuation of the airman and the ground staff to the American occupied area in the south of Germany, though. Some pilots tried to land nearby their place of residence to avoid captivity. At Kladno, northwestern of Prague, the convoy of the ground crews met Russian tanks, handed over their weapons and where allowed to march ahead. Just a short time later they got attacked, maltreated and murdered brutishly by armed Czech. Only some could struggle through to the west, most were taken Czech or Russian prisoner. Rudel flew with a group of three JU87 and four FW190 to Kitzingen. After the landing he faced a machine gun and the American soldier tried to snatch the golden oak leaves. Approaching officers prevent an escalation of the situation. Rudel is taken to the hospital because his leg needed medical care. In the night everything got stolen of him and his comrades they didn't wear. After a short stay in a villa, Rudel was taken to London for an examination where he arrived at 16 May. The treatment of the Englishmen was correct and the examination changed to a zealous conversation about aviation and the war just ended. After 14 days he got transferred to an American POW camp in the north of England. Catering is bad and medical care of his inflamed leg stump got refused. Three weeks later he got transferred with other injured soldiers to Cherebourg. During the journey the prisoners got no food because the American crew of the freighter liked to increase their military payment by selling the food to the French population. At Camp Carentan the prisoners were greeted by the Frenchmen with stones. The conditions in that camp where equal to the conditions in England. Suddenly Rudel got transferred to a RAF-school for unit leaders in England. The transfer was arranged by the RAF-pilot Captain Bader who flew with artificial legs also. After a short relaxation in England, the Americans notify their claim on him and he got transferred back to the Camp in France. After some days he were send to a hospital in Fürth. His leg stump could recuperate and he got repatriated April 1946. |
