In October 1942, Hartmann was assigned to fighter wing
Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52—52nd Fighter Wing), based at
Maykop on the
Eastern Front in the
Soviet Union. The wing was equipped with the
Messerschmitt Bf 109G, but Hartmann and several other pilots were initially given the task of ferrying Junkers Ju 87 Stukas down to
Mariupol. His first flight ended with brake failure, causing the Stuka to crash into and destroy the controller's hut. Hartmann was assigned to III.
Gruppe of JG 52, led by
Gruppenkommandeur (group commander)
Major Hubertus von Bonin, and placed under the experienced
Oberfeldwebel Edmund "Paule" Roßmann, although he also flew with such experienced pilots as
Alfred Grislawski,
Hans Dammers and
Josef Zwernemann. After a few days of intensive mock combats and practice flights, Grislawski conceded that, although Hartmann had much to learn regarding combat tactics, he was a talented pilot. Hartmann was placed as wingman to Paule Roßmann, who acted as his teacher, and one of the factors that enabled Hartmann's success. Grislawski also gave Hartmann pointers on where to aim. Hartmann eventually adopted the tactic "See – Decide – Attack – Break". The tactics were learned from Roßmann who had been injured in one arm and was not able to fly in physically demanding dogfights. Roßmann's solution was to "stand off", evaluate the situation, then select a target that was not taking evasive action and destroy it at close range.
Early aerial combat On 19 September 1942, III.
Gruppe had relocated to an airfield named Soldatskaja, located approximately halfway between
Mozdok and
Pyatigorsk. The
Gruppe stayed at this airfield until 1 January 1943. During this period, the pilots occasionally also operated from airfields at Mozdok (15, 18, 19, 21, 22 and 23 October) and from
Digora (5 to 17 November 1942), supporting
Army Group A in the
Battle of the Caucasus. Hartmann flew his first combat mission on 14 October 1942 as Roßmann's wingman. When they encountered 10 enemy aircraft below, an impatient Hartmann opened full throttle and separated from Roßmann. He engaged an enemy fighter, but failed to score any hits and nearly collided with it. He then ran for cover in low cloud, and his mission subsequently ended with a crash landing after his aircraft ran out of fuel. Hartmann had violated almost every rule of air-to-air combat, and von Bonin sentenced him to three days of working with the ground crew. According to
Günther Rall, who later became Hartmann's
Gruppenkommandeur, Roßmann refused to fly with Hartmann again following this incident. Hartmann was then paired up with Grislawski as his wingman. Twenty-two days later, Hartmann claimed his first victory, an
Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik of the 7th Guards Ground Attack Aviation Regiment, but by the end of 1942, he had added only one more victory to his tally. As with many high-claiming aces, it took him some time to establish himself as a consistently successful fighter pilot. On 5 November 1942, debris from an Il-2 damaged his Bf 109 G-2 engine resulting in a
forced landing at Digora. His
Gruppe was moved to the combat area of the
Kuban bridgehead on 1 April 1943 where it was based at an airfield at
Taman. Operating from Taman until 2 July, III.
Gruppe also flew missions from
Kerch on 12 May, from
Sarabuz and
Saky on 14 May, Zürichtal, present-day Solote Pole, a village near the urban settlement
Kirovske on 23 May, and
Yevpatoria on 25/26 June. Hartmann's youthful appearance earned him the nickname "Bubi" (the
hypocoristic form of "young boy" in the
German language; roughly equivalent to "Kid"), and
Walter Krupinski, to whom Hartmann was assigned as wingman, would constantly urge him: "Hey, Bubi, get in closer" or chastise him with "What was that, Bubi?" The danger of this method was evident on 25 May 1943 when he collided with a Soviet fighter instead of shooting it down. Nevertheless, Hartmann steadily improved. In Krupinski's absence, from the third week of May to the first week of August, Hartmann's number of claims rose from 17 to 60. In preparation for
Operation Citadel, III.
Gruppe was relocated to the central sector of the eastern Front. The
Gruppe first moved to
Zaporizhzhia and then to
Ugrim on 3 July. There, under the command of
Luftflotte 4, they supported
Army Group South fighting on the southern flank of the salient. On 5 July Hartmann claimed four victories during the large dogfights that took place during the
Battle of Kursk. The day ended badly when Hartmann was unable to prevent Krupinski from being shot down and wounded over Ugrim airfield. Hartmann remarked; "the departure of Krupinski was a severe strike against the
Staffel, and particularly against me." According to authors Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike and Bock, Krupinski was injured when his aircraft flipped on its back during landing in an attempt to evade other Bf 109s taking off. During Krupinski's convalescence, Hartmann served as temporary
Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 7.
Staffel until 12 August. Hartmann began to score successes regularly in a target rich environment. On 7 July, he for the first time became an "
ace-in-a-day", claiming seven aerial victories that day, three Il-2 ground attack aircraft and four
Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov (LaGG) fighters. This figure includes two Il-2s from the 1 ShAK regiment claimed shot down on an early morning mission. On 8 July, he claimed four aerial victories and three the next day. On the former date, Hartmann claimed two aircraft on each mission he flew. In the first, Soviet records show at least one La-5 was lost. Major Tokarev of the 40 IAP (Fighter Aviation Regiment—) was killed. In the afternoon, a two-man patrol with Rall resulted in two claims, and a third for Rall. A Soviet after-battle analysis mentioned this specific engagement; "Eight Yak-1s in the Provorot region observed two Me 109s off their flight path. Paying no attention to the enemy aircraft our fighters continued. Seizing a convenient moment, the German fighters attacked our aircraft and shot down three Yak-1s." At the start of August 1943, his tally stood at 42, but Hartmann's tally had more than doubled by the end. The
Red Army began a counteroffensive in the region to contain the German operation and destroy its forces (
Operation Kutuzov and
Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev). JG 52 was engaged in defensive operations throughout the month. On 1 August 1943, Hartmann again became an "ace-in-a day" by claiming five victories over LaGG fighters. Another four followed on 3 August and five on 4 August. On 5 August, III.
Gruppe was ordered to an airfield named Kharkov-
Rogan, east of Kharkov where they fought against the Soviet
Belgorod–Kharkov offensive operation. That day, he again claimed five aircraft destroyed, followed a single on 6 August, and a further five on 7 August. On 8 and 9 August he claimed another four Soviet fighters. Hartmann's last claim of the month came on the 20th, when he accounted for an IL-2 for his 90th victory. The next month, on 2 September, he was appointed
Staffelkapitän of 9./JG 52. He replaced
Leutnant Berthold Korts in this capacity who had been reported
missing in action on 29 August. In his first year of operational service, Hartmann felt a distinct lack of respect towards Soviet pilots. Most Soviet fighters did not even have effective gunsights and their pilots, some cases in the early weeks, were forced to draw one on the windscreen by hand: "In the early days, incredible as it may seem, there was no reason for you to feel fear if the Russian fighter was behind you. With their hand-painted gunsights they couldn't pull the lead properly (deflection shooting) or hit you." Hartmann also considered the
Bell P-39 Airacobra, the
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, and the
Hawker Hurricane to be inferior to the
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and Bf 109, although they did provide the Soviets with valuable gunsight technology. Hartmann said the German pilots themselves still learned from their enemy. Oil freezing in the
DB 605 engines of the Bf 109G-6s made them difficult to start in the extreme cold of the
Russian winter. A captured Soviet airman showed them how pouring fuel into the aircraft's
oil sump would thaw the oil and enable the engine to start on the first try. Another solution, also learned from the Soviets, was to ignite fuel under the engine.
Fighting techniques In contrast to
Hans-Joachim Marseille, who was a marksman and expert in the art of
deflection shooting, Hartmann was a master of stalk-and-ambush tactics, preferring to ambush and fire at close range rather than dogfight. When the decorated British test pilot Captain
Eric Brown asked Hartmann how he had accomplished his total, Hartmann remarked, that along with firing at close range, inadequate Soviet defensive armament and manoeuvre tactics allowed him to claim a victim in every attack. His preferred method of attack was to hold fire until extremely close ( or less), then unleash a short burst at point-blank range—a technique he learned while flying as wingman of his former commander, Walter Krupinski, who favoured this approach. This technique, as opposed to long-range shooting, allowed him to: • Reveal his position only at the last possible moment • Compensate for the low muzzle velocity of the slower-firing 30 mm
MK 108 equipping some of the later Bf 109 models (though most of his victories were claimed with Messerschmitts equipped with the high-velocity 20 mm
MG 151 cannon) • Place his shots accurately with minimum waste of ammunition • Prevent the adversary from taking evasive action Hartmann's guidance amplified the need to detect while remaining undetected. His approach was described by himself by the motto: "See–Decide–Attack–Reverse"; observe the enemy, decide how to proceed with the attack, make the attack, and then disengage to re-evaluate the situation. Hartmann's instinct was to select an easy target or withdraw and seek a more favourable situation. Once the attack was over, the rule was to vacate the area; survival was paramount. Another attack could be executed if the pilot could re-enter the combat zone with the advantage. If attacked in-kind Hartmann
flew straight and used the rudder [yaw] to point the Bf 109 in a slightly different direction to mislead the attacker in the amount of deflection needed. Hartmann then forced the column into the corner of the cockpit beginning the outside rotation of an oblique loop. It was an emergency measure if ambushed and it saved his life several times. These tactics inflated Hartmann's successes over the summer of 1943. By 7 July he had claimed 21 Soviet aircraft destroyed and by 20 September he had claimed over 100.
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross The demands on fighter pilots increased after Kursk. In early August Hartmann flew 20 missions totalling 18 hours and 29 minutes in six days. By late August 1943, Hartmann had 90 aerial victories. On 20 August, in combat with Il-2s, his Bf 109 G-6 (
Werknummer 20485—factory number) was damaged by debris, and he was forced to land behind Soviet lines at 06:20 in the vicinity of
Artemivsk. Hartmann's
Geschwaderkommodore,
Dietrich Hrabak, had given orders to Hartmann's unit to support the dive bombers of
Sturzkampfgeschwader 2, led by
Hans-Ulrich Rudel in a counter-attack. The flight of eight German fighters engaged a mass of Soviet
Yakovlev Yak-9 and Lavochkin La-5 fighter aircraft. Hartmann claimed two enemy aircraft before his fighter was hit by debris and he was forced to make an emergency landing. In accordance with regulations, he attempted to recover the precision board clock. As he was doing so, Soviet soldiers approached. Realising that capture was unavoidable, he faked internal injuries. Hartmann's acting so convinced the Soviets that they put him on a stretcher and placed him on a truck. When Hartmann's Crew Chief, Heinz Mertens, heard what had happened, he took a rifle and went to search for Hartmann. Mertens was another important factor behind Hartmann's success, ensuring the aircraft was reliable. Hartmann subsequently escaped, and returned to his unit on 23 August. At least one source suggests the cause of the crash-landing was enemy fire. Lieutenant P. Yevdokimov, flying an IL-2, from the 232 ShAP, may have hit Hartmann. This period was very successful; during five days of August 1943, Hartmann claimed 24 Soviet aircraft in 20 missions. On 9 September, III.
Gruppe moved to an airfield at
Dnipropetrovsk, present-day Dnipro, where they stayed until 24 September. On 18 September, Hartmann downed two Yaks from the 812 IAP regiment for claims 92 and 93. On 20 September 1943, Hartmann was credited with his 100th aerial victory—he claimed four this day to end it on 101. He was the 54th Luftwaffe pilot to achieve the century mark. Nine days later, Hartmann downed the Soviet ace Major Vladimir Semenishin of the 104 GvIAP (Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment—
Gvardeyskiy Istrebitelny Aviatsionny Polk) while protecting bombers from
Kampfgeschwader 27 for his 112th victory. In October 1943, Hartmann claimed another 33 aerial victories. On 2 and 12 October he accounted for four victories and achieved a treble on 14, 15 and 20 October and double claims on 24, 25 and 29 October. On 29 October, he was awarded the
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (), at which point his tally stood at 148. By the end of the year, this had risen to 159. The
Gruppe reached an airfield near
Apostolovo on 1 November. With the exception of a brief period from 12 to 20 November when they also used an airfield at
Kirovohrad, the
Gruppe remained here until 7 January 1944. Here on 14 November, his Bf 109 G-6 (
Werknummer 20499) suffered engine failure resulting in a forced landing at Kirovohrad airfield. On 10 January 1944, III.
Gruppe moved to an airfield at Novokrasne located approximately south-southwest of
Novoukrainka. While based at Novokrasne, elements of the
Gruppe also operated from
Ivanhorod (11 to 13 January), at
Velyka Lepetykha (3 to 22 February), and
Mykolaiv (2 to 23 February). In the first two months of 1944, Hartmann claimed over 50 Soviet aircraft. On 22 February, he crashed another Bf 109 G-6 on a transfer flight to
Uman. The successes included four on 17 January 1944 and on 26 February, a further 10 fighters were claimed shot down; all of them Soviet-flown P-39s to reach 202. His spectacular rate of success raised a few eyebrows even in the
Luftwaffe High Command; his claims were double and triple-checked, and his performance closely monitored by an observer flying in his formation. By this time, the Soviet pilots were familiar with Hartmann's radio call sign of
Karaya 1, and the Soviet Command had put a price of 10,000
rubles on the German pilot's head. Hartmann was nicknamed the
Cherniy Chort ("Black Devil") because of his skill and paint scheme of his aircraft. This scheme was in the shape of a black tulip on the engine cowling; though this became synonymous with Hartmann in reality he flew with the insignia on only five or six occasions. Hartmann's opponents were often reluctant to stay and fight if they noticed his personal design. As a result, this aircraft was often allocated to novices, who could fly it in relative safety. On 21 March, it was Hartmann who claimed JG 52s 3,500th victory of the war. Adversely, the supposed reluctance of the Soviet airmen to fight caused Hartmann's kill rate to drop. Hartmann then had the tulip design removed, and his aircraft painted just like the rest of his unit. Consequently, in the following two months, Hartmann claimed over 50 victories. In March 1944, Hartmann,
Gerhard Barkhorn, Walter Krupinski and
Johannes Wiese were summoned to
Adolf Hitler's
Berghof in
Berchtesgaden. Barkhorn was to be honoured with the Swords, while Hartmann, Krupinski and Wiese were to receive the
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (). According to Hartmann, all four of them got drunk on cognac and champagne. On arrival at Berchtesgarden, Hartmann was reprimanded by Hitler's adjutant for intoxication and for handling Hitler's hat. Also present at the award ceremony on 4 April were
Reinhard Seiler,
Kurt Bühligen,
Horst Ademeit,
Hans-Joachim Jabs, Dr.
Maximilian Otte,
Bernhard Jope and
Hansgeorg Bätcher from the bomber force, and the Flak officer
Fritz Petersen, all destined to receive the Oak Leaves.
Diamonds to the Knight's Cross In April and May 1944, 9./JG 52 resisted the Soviet
Crimean Offensive. In April Hartmann claimed five victories. In May, Hartmann filed claims number 208 to 231 which included six on 6 May. On 8 May 1944, JG 52 fled the region as the German defence collapsed. JG 52 subsequently took part in the
fighting on the Romanian border. III.
Gruppe relocated to
Roman on 18 May. Three days later, Hartmann engaged
United States Army Air Forces aircraft in
Defense of the Reich for the first time flying in defence of the
Ploiești oilfields and engaging
North American P-51 Mustang fighters for the first time over
Romania. On 24 June, the United States Army Air Forces' (USAAF)
Fifteenth Air Force attacked various targets in Romania with 377 bombers. A fraction of this attack force, consisting of 135
Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers and
Lockheed P-38 Lightning and P-51 fighters, headed for the Ploiești oilfields. Defending against this attack, Hartmann claimed a P-51 shot down. Only one other claim against this type was made by Hartmann in 1945. Later that month, P-51s ran his Messerschmitt out of fuel. During the intense manoeuvring, Hartmann ran out of ammunition. One of the P-51Bs flown by Lt. Robert J. Goebel of the 308th Squadron,
31st Fighter Group, broke away and headed straight for Hartmann while he hung in his parachute. Goebel was making a camera pass to record the bailout and banked away from him only at the last moment, waving at Hartmann as he went by. On 15 August, III.
Gruppe moved to
Warzyn Pierwszy, Poland. The airfield was located approximately west of
Jędrzejów. Two days later, Hartmann became the top scoring fighter ace, surpassing fellow JG 52 pilot Gerhard Barkhorn, with his 274th victory. On 23 August, Hartmann claimed eight victories in three combat missions, an "ace-in-a-day" achievement, bringing his score to 290 victories. He passed the 300-mark on 24 August 1944, a day on which he shot down 11 aircraft in two combat missions south of
Radom-
Lublin, representing his greatest ever victories-per-day ratio (a "double-ace-in-a-day") and bringing the number of aerial victories to an unprecedented 301. Every aerial victory filed by a pilot of III.
Gruppe on 23 and 24 August was claimed by Hartmann, earning him two named reference in the
Wehrmachtbericht on 24 and 25 August respectively. The authors Prien, Stemmer, Balke and Bock speculate that the entire
Gruppe may have flown fighter protection for Hartmann to make this achievement possible. Hartmann became one of only 27 German soldiers in World War II to receive the Diamonds to his Knight's Cross. Hartmann was summoned to the
Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze, (the "Wolf's Lair") Adolf Hitler's military headquarters near
Rastenburg, to receive the coveted award from Hitler personally. Hartmann was asked to surrender his
side arm – a security measure heightened by the aftermath of the failed
assassination attempt on 20 July 1944. According to one account, Hartmann refused and threatened to decline the Diamonds if he were not trusted to carry his pistol. During Hartmann's meeting with Hitler, Hartmann discussed at length the shortcomings of fighter pilot training. Allegedly, Hitler admitted to Hartmann that he believed that, "militarily, the war is lost," and that he wished the Luftwaffe had "more like him and Rudel." The Diamonds to the Knight's Cross also earned Hartmann a 10-day leave. On his way to his vacation, he was ordered by
General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland to attend a meeting in Berlin-Gatow. Galland wanted to transfer Hartmann to the
Messerschmitt Me 262 test program but, at Hartmann's request, the transfer was cancelled on the grounds of his professed attachment to JG 52. Hartmann argued to Göring that he best served the war effort on the Eastern Front. On 10 September, Hartmann married his long-time teenage love, Ursula "Usch" Paetsch. Witnesses to the wedding included his friends Gerhard Barkhorn and
Wilhelm Batz. On 25 May, II.
Gruppe was ordered to transfer one
Staffel to the west in Defense of the Reich. Barkhorn, the commander of II.
Gruppe, selected
Leutnant Hans Waldmann's 4.
Staffel which was officially assigned to the II.
Gruppe of
Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" (JG 3—3rd Fighter Wing). On 10 August, this squadron officially became the 8.
Staffel of JG 3. In consequence, Hartmann was transferred on 30 September and tasked with creation and leadership of a new 4.
Staffel of JG 52. Command of his former 9.
Staffel was passed on to
Leutnant Hans-Joachim Birkner. At the time, II.
Gruppe was based in
Nagyrábé, Hungary. Before flying further combat missions, Hartmann had to train the new inexperienced pilots. He led this squadron until 16 January 1945 when he was given command of I.
Gruppe of JG 52, thus succeeding
Major Barkhorn in this capacity. Hartmann transferred command of 4.
Staffel to
Leutnant Friedrich Haas.
Last combat missions On 31 January 1945, Hartmann transferred command of II.
Gruppe of JG 52 to
Major Batz. From 1–14 February, he then briefly led I.
Gruppe of
Jagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53—53rd Fighter Wing) as acting
Gruppenkommandeur until he was replaced by
Hauptmann Helmut Lipfert, substituting for
Major Jürgen Harder who had been transferred. At the time, the
Gruppe was based in
Veszprém and was fighting in the
siege of Budapest. He claimed his only aerial victory with JG 53 on 4 February when he shot down a Yak-9 fighter. In March 1945, Hartmann, his score now standing at 337 aerial victories, was asked a second time by General Adolf Galland to join the Me 262 units forming to fly the new jet fighter. Hartmann attended the jet conversion program led by
Heinrich Bär. Galland also intended Hartmann to fly with
Jagdverband 44. Hartmann declined the offer, preferring to remain with JG 52. Some sources report that Hartmann's decision to stay with his unit was due to a request via
telegram made by
Oberstleutnant Hermann Graf. On 1 February, Hartmann was appointed
Gruppenkommandeur of I.
Gruppe of JG 52, succeeding
Hauptmann Adolf Borchers. Hartmann claimed his 350th aerial victory on 17 April, in the vicinity of
Chrudim. The last wartime photograph of Hartmann known was taken in connection with this victory. Hartmann's last aerial victory occurred over
Brno,
Czechoslovakia, on 8 May, the last day of the war in Europe. Early that morning, he was ordered to fly a reconnaissance mission and report the position of Soviet forces. Hartmann took off with his wingman at 08:30 and spotted the first Soviet units just away. Passing over the area, Hartmann saw a Yak-9, ambushed it from his vantage point at and shot it down. When he landed, Hartmann learned that the Soviet forces were within artillery range of the airfield, so JG 52 destroyed
Karaya One, 24 other Bf 109s, and large quantities of ammunition. Hartmann and Hermann Graf were ordered to fly to the British sector to avoid capture by Soviet forces while the remainder of JG 52 was ordered to surrender to the approaching Soviets. As
Gruppenkommandeur of I.
Gruppe, Hartmann chose to surrender his unit to members of the
US 90th Infantry Division. ==Prisoner of war==