World War II in Europe had begun on Friday 1 September 1939 with the German
Invasion of Poland. In February 1940, I./ZG 1 was placed under the command of
Hauptmann (Captain)
Wolfgang Falck. With the start of the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940, I./ZG 1 was moved to
Aalborg airfield. There, the airfield came under night attacks by
Royal Air Force (RAF)
Bomber Command, leading Falck to conduct his first experiments of nocturnal aerial combat. During the
Battle of France, Knacke claimed an unconfirmed aerial victory on 10 May 1940 over a
Bristol Blenheim bomber in the vicinity of
Waalhaven. Flying numerous combat missions during this campaign, he was awarded the
Iron Cross 2nd Class (), which was presented to him on 15 July 1940 and was promoted to
Oberleutnant (first lieutenant) on 1 October 1940.
Night fighter career Following the 1939 aerial
Battle of the Heligoland Bight, RAF attacks shifted to the cover of darkness, initiating the
Defence of the Reich campaign. By mid-1940,
Generalmajor (Brigadier-General)
Josef Kammhuber had established a night
air defense system dubbed the
Kammhuber Line. It consisted of a series of control sectors equipped with
radars and
searchlights and an associated night fighter. Each sector, named a
Himmelbett (canopy bed), would direct the night fighter into visual range of a bomber. In 1941, the Luftwaffe started equipping night fighters with airborne radar such as the
Lichtenstein. This airborne radar did not come into general use until early 1942. Following the Battle of France, Falck was ordered to establish the first Luftwaffe night fighter wing,
Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1—1st Night Fighter Wing). His former unit, I./ZG 1 formed the nucleus of I.
Gruppe of NJG 1 which was placed under the command of
Oberleutnant Werner Streib. Now flying in the 2.
Staffel of NJG 1, sources vary with respect to when Knacke claimed his first nocturnal aerial victory. According to Foreman, Parry and Mathews, he claimed a
Vickers Wellington bomber shot down on 9 March 1941. According to Obermaier and Stockert, Knacke was credited with his first aerial victory on the night of 2/3 May 1941. He received the
German Cross in Gold () on 14 April 1942, after his 18th claim.
Squadron leader and death Knacke was appointed
Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 1.
Staffel (1st Squadron) of NJG 1 on 1 April 1942. On 25/26 June 1942, RAF Bomber Command launched the third
thousand-bomber raid and bombed
Bremen. That night, Knacke, assisted by his radio operator
Unteroffizier Günther Heu, claimed three aerial victories. On the night of 25/26 July 1942, Knacke shot down a Bristol Blenheim bomber
R3837 from
114 Squadron on its intruder bombing mission to
Venlo airfield. Three nights later, Knacke became the first German night fighter pilot to claim a
de Havilland Mosquito destroyed. The aircraft, Mosquito
DD677 from
23 Squadron, was shot down near
Haps. On 16/17 September 1942, 369 British bombers attacked Germany, losing 39 of their number, a very high 10.6 percent loss rate. Knacke, shot down five bombers that night, which made him an "
ace-in-a-day". At the end of 1942, Knacke was one of the leading night fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe, which at the time included Lent (49 nocturnal claims),
Ludwig Becker (40 nocturnal claims), Werner Streib (39 nocturnal claims) and
Paul Gildner (37 nocturnal claims). He was promoted to
Hauptmann on 1 January 1943. On the night of 2/3 February 1943, Knacke shot down a
Short Stirling bomber on its mission to bomb
Cologne. The Stirling I
R9264 MG-L from
7 Squadron was a
Pathfinder aircraft equipped with the new
H2S airborne ground scanning radar. The radar was recovered by German forces and sent to Berlin where it was examined by
Telefunken. Knacke then attacked a Halifax bomber near
Achterveld which he shot down but his aircraft was also hit by one of the bomber
air gunners. The radio operator,
Unteroffizier Kurt Bundrock, managed to
bail out from the burning aircraft. Knacke was found dead next to his crashed Bf 110 F-4 (
Werksnummer 4683—factory number) "G9+DK" east of Achterveld. Knacke was posthumously awarded the
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves () on 5 February 1943. He was the 190th member of the German armed forces to be so honored. Originally buried near
Deelen airfield, he was reinterred at the
German War Cemetery Ysselsteyn (Block M—Row 4—Grave 80) at
Venray. ==Summary of career==