According to the book JG26 - Top Guns of the Luftwaffe, the book by Guenther Bloemertz is a work of fiction. Here's the extract (starting after the death of Lt Wilhelm Mayer):
At Nordhorn that evening, the Second Gruppe's adjutant, Oblt. Guenther Bloemertz, filled in Meyer's casualty report - an especially painful chore, since the two pilots had joined the Geschwader together back in 1942. Bloemertz had been shot down and severely burned in 1943 and, after a year's hospitalisation, had returned to his old Gruppe in a non-flying capacity. It was Bloemertz's fate to watch from the ground as his old Abbeville comrades took off and, one by one, failed to return. The sensitive Bloemertz brooded on the effect this latest death would have on mayer's closest friend, Gerhard Vogt. Vogt and Mayer were inseperable on the ground, and Bloemertz felt certain that Vogt would soon join Mayer in death. After the war, Guenther Bloemertz expunged his feelings of guilt over his own survival by writing a novel, Dem Himmel am Naechsten. It was based on his experiences in II/JG26 and was meant as a tribute to the fallen fighter pilots of the Gruppe. The book, which appeared in English in 1953 as Heaven Next Stop, proved quite successful, and it was translated in to several languages.
I agree that it is a great book, however it is a work of fiction - or, as Hollywood would say, 'based on a true story'. Try reading I Flew for the Fuhrer by Heinz Knoke - unfortunately, Heinz is what you might call a steriotypical Nazi and was active in nationalist polotics after the war, however his book makes great reading. Some of his experiences are terrible - several times his 'squadron' (I forget the correct term) were reduced to two or three survivors, and the lonelyness and despair comes through clearly. So does the anger at the Allied attacks. Whatever your feelings on his political views you should read his book to get a view on what it must have been like to fly for the LW from 1941 onwards.
Regards
TC
[This message has been edited by Topcat (edited 08-11-2000).]
