Borchers was born on 10 February 1913 in Wendhausen near
Lüneburg. He had two brothers who also received the Knight's Cross.
Major Walter Borchers was a
night fighter pilot and
wing commander. A second brother, SS-
Hauptsturmführer Hermann Borchers served in the
9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen. He joined the
Luftwaffe in 1937 and participated as an
Unteroffizier in the
Spanish Civil War, flying with 1.
Staffel of
Jagdgruppe 88 (J/88—88th Fighter Group) in the
Condor Legion. After the Spanish Civil War he was transferred to 2.
Staffel (2nd squadron) of
Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77—77th Fighter Wing) which later became 10.
Staffel of
Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51—51st Fighter Wing). In this unit he fought in the
Invasion of Poland,
Battle of France and
Battle of Britain, claiming two aerial victories. On 19 May 1940, he claimed his first aerial victory over a
Hawker Hurricane in the vicinity of
Le Cateau Following aerial combat on 31 August 1940, Borchers ditched his
Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1 (
Werknummer 5808—factory number) in the
Thames Estuary but was rescued. That day, I.
Gruppe (1st group) of JG 77 lost seven Bf 109s in combat over southeastern England, with one pilot
killed in action and five taken
prisoner of war. On 21 November 1940, I.
Gruppe of JG 77 was officially redesignated and became IV.
Gruppe of JG 51.
Eastern Front During
Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, he accumulated further victories and by the end of 1941 his score had increased to 23 aerial victories. After being promoted to an
Officers rank, he was appointed
Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 11.
Staffel of JG 51 on 20 August 1942, replacing
Leutnant Wolfgang Böwing-Treuding who was transferred to 10.
Staffel. On 15 October, Borchers was awarded the
German Cross in Gold () for 31 aerial victories. By the end of 1942, his number of aerial victories had increased to 38. In early January 1943, IV.
Gruppe was based at an airfield named Isotscha, a makeshift airfield built on a frozen lake located approximately west of
Velikiye Luki. In February, the
Gruppe converted from the Bf 109 F-2 to the
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-4. In that combat area,
Army Group Centre had launched
Operation Büffel, a series of retreats eliminating the
Rzhev salient. For 78 aerial victories, Borchers was awarded the
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () on 22 November. He received the award together with fellow JG 51 pilot
Joachim Brendel.
Group commander On 10 June 1944, I.
Gruppe was ordered to an airfield named Peloniczna near
Lviv. Seven days later, they were moved to
Serpneve. On 11 June, Borchers was appointed
Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I.
Gruppe of
Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52—52nd Fighter Wing) replacing
Hauptmann Johannes Wiese. Wiese had been injured on 22 February. Intermittently, the
Gruppe had been led by
Oberleutnant Paul-Heinrich Dähne. Command of 11.
Staffel of JG 51 was then passed to
Oberleutnant Horst Walther. On 22 June, Soviet forces launched
Operation Bagration, attacking Army Group Centre in
Byelorussia, with the objective of encircling and destroying its main component armies. On 24 June, the
Gruppe transferred to
Galați and again to Peloniczna. Borchers claimed his 100 aerial victory on 24 July 1944. He was the 86th Luftwaffe pilot to achieve the century mark. The
Gruppe reached
Grabowiec in eastern Poland on 27 July and
Kraków on 1 August. On 12 August they were again relocated and moved to
Mzurowa. His 118th victory claimed on 2 September 1944, is also noted for claiming JG 52 10,000th aerial victory. On 19 September, Borchers made an
emergency landing in his Bf 109 G-6 near
Tarnów, in an area approximately east of Kraków. Borchers was given command to III.
Gruppe of JG 52 on 1 February 1945. He succeeded
Hauptmann Wilhelm Batz who was transferred to take command of II.
Gruppe of JG 52. Command of I.
Gruppe of JG 52 was passed to
Hauptmann Erich Hartmann. Together with his comrades he surrendered to U.S. forces only to be turned over to Soviet forces.
Later life After
World War II, Borchers was released from Soviet captivity in 1950. He then traveled to Steibis, part of
Oberstaufen in
Oberallgäu, Bavaria. There, he was reunited with his wife
Christl Cranz, a former German
alpine ski racer whom he had married in 1943. The marriage produced three children. In 1947, Cranz had founded a
Ski school for children, which the two then jointly operated. Borchers died on 9 February 1996 in Oberstaufen. ==Summary of career==