1914 The outbreak of World War I disrupted the young aviator's progress. On 1 July, Berthold was recalled from his schooling to rejoin his infantry regiment. After a fortnight's refresher course in soldierly skills, he was returned to flying training. On 17 July 1914, he was officially transferred out of the 3rd Brandenbergers to aerial service. His infantry refresher course had aborted his pilot training, and he had to settle for duty as an
aerial observer. On 1 August, he entrained for the
Royal Saxon Air Base at
Grossenhain. By 7 August, Berthold was assigned to
Feldflieger-Abteilung 23 (Field Flier Detachment 23, FFA 23), supporting the German 2nd Army. By 9 August, FFA 23 was encamped at
Monschau near the
Belgian border. On 15 August, Berthold was chosen for the unit's first
reconnaissance mission. Two days later, his pilot strayed off-course; Bertholdt and his pilot landed, lost. They evaded French cavalry, to direct retrieval of their
DFW biplane. In his diary, Berthold noted his decision to complete pilot's training. Berthold was also the observer on flights on 1 and 3 September. He saw panicked French troops retreating across the
Marne River. Later in the month, he discovered the French counter-thrust between the German 1st and 2nd Armies. German staff officers' disbelief led to Berthold personally briefing
Generaloberst Karl von Bülow on the situation. Bülow moved his troops to higher ground; the
First Battle of the Aisne began. General Bülow had received the initial Second Class
Iron Cross for the 2nd Army; he personally awarded the second one to Berthold on 13 September. On 4 October, Berthold was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class by General Bülow. Again, Berthold received his award second only to Bülow. As November's winter weather limited combat flying, Berthold arranged to continue his pilot's training at a nearby flight park. He became friends with a fellow student,
Hans Joachim Buddecke.
1915 Berthold finally qualified as a military pilot on 18 January 1915. He arranged Buddecke's transfer into FFA 223. Berthold was assigned an observer, Leutnant Josef Grüner, for flying reconnaissance
sorties; they quickly became friends. In June, they were finally supplied with
machine guns for their aircraft; Berthold could cease futile assaults on the enemy with his pistol. At about the same time, Berthold was laid up for a
fortnight with
dysentery. FFA 223 was re-equipped with
AEG G.II bombers in August. The twin-engine giant was armed with two swiveling machine guns and manned by a pilot and two gunners. The unit also received its first single-seat fighter with a
synchronized gun, a
Fokker Eindekker. Berthold knew he could cross the lines searching for opponents in the AEG G.II, while the Eindekker was restricted to patrolling behind German lines. Berthold took command of the big bomber, and left the Eindekker to Buddecke. This decision sped Buddecke on his way to being a member of the
first wave of German aces that included
Oswald Boelcke,
Max Immelmann, and
Kurt Wintgens. Meanwhile, Berthold damaged his original G.II in a landing accident on 15 September, and had to return to piloting an old two-seater. Shortly thereafter, he returned to Germany to pick up a replacement G.II. By 1 October, he was using it as a gunship for air defense missions, as well as for bombing. On 6 November, one of those missions turned deadly; a British
Vickers F.B.5 gunner mortally wounded Grüner. Berthold was depressed by his friend's death, and sent on home leave. In early December, Buddecke was seconded to the
Turkish Air Force and Berthold fell heir to his Eindekker. He accompanied
Ernst Freiherr von Althaus when the latter shot down enemy planes on both 5 and 28 December 1915.
1916 As the Germans pioneered use of aircraft with synchronized guns, they began to group the new aerial weapons into
ad hoc units to protect reconnaissance and bombing aircraft. These new units were dubbed
Kampfseinsitzer Kommando (Single-seater fighter detachment). On 11 January,
Kampfseinsitzer Kommando Vaux formed near FFA 223; Berthold was placed in charge. Even as the pioneering fighter units formed, on 14 January, the British
Royal Flying Corps (RFC) Headquarters directed that any reconnaissance craft crossing into German-held territory be escorted by at least three protective aircraft. On 2 February, Berthold and Althaus shot down a French
Voisin LA apiece. It was Berthold's first aerial victory. He scored another three days later. Then, on 10 February, Berthold was himself downed, with a punctured fuel tank and a slightly wounded left hand. He was rewarded with one of the 12
Military Merit Orders awarded to aviators during the war. Berthold continued flying a bomber on missions as well as to patrol in his fighter. After he scored another victory, he was again honored by his native
Kingdom of Bavaria, this time with the Knight's Cross of the
Military Order of Saint Henry on 15 April. On 25 April, Berthold made an emergency landing after enemy bullets crippled his Fokker's engine. He took off again in a
Pfalz E.IV. He reawakened two days later in
Kriegslazarett 7 (Military Hospital 7) in
Saint-Quentin. Besides a badly broken left leg, Berthold had suffered a broken nose and upper jaw, with attendant damage to his optic nerves. He was prescribed
narcotic painkillers for chronic pain. At that time, German military doctors used three narcotics as remedies—
opium,
morphine, and
codeine. Doctors prescribed
cocaine to counteract the
somnolence of these three depressant drugs. Berthold's exact prescription is unknown. Eventually, although Berthold's eyesight returned, he was unable to fly for four months, but nevertheless remained in command of
KEK Vaux. Between the message traffic brought to him, and the accounts of his visiting subordinates, he learned of ongoing casualties. His brother Wolfram had been killed in action as an infantryman on 29 April. Max Immelmann perished in battle on 18 June. After Immelmann's death, Germany's highest scoring ace,
Oswald Boelcke, was grounded for fear that his loss would be disastrous to morale. In the meantime, Berthold was scheduled to be evacuated back to Germany. Instead, in late July, he commandeered a car and returned to his unit. Unable to fly, he could still command. He made his
orderly help him bend his knee and flex strength back into his withered leg. '' on 12 October 1916. On 24 August, Berthold scored his sixth victory, although he had to be helped into his fighter. The next day,
KEK Vaux became
Jagdstaffel 4 (Fighter Squadron 4) under Berthold's command; the new unit started with a starred roster—
Wilhelm Frankl,
Walter Höhndorf, and
Ernst Freiherr von Althaus were early members—all fated to become prominent aces. On 27 August, Berthold received the
Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. Berthold was very near attaining the Prussian
Pour le Merite for eight victories. After disallowed claims on two occasions, on 26 September, Berthold was finally credited with his eighth victory. He received his
Blue Max, considered
Imperial Germany's supreme award for valor, on 12 October 1916. His was only the tenth award for aviators. Five of the other living recipients attended the 16 October celebration of the award, including Buddecke, Althaus, Frankl, Höhndorf, and
Kurt Wintgens. The following day, Berthold's was assigned as
Staffelführer (Squadron Commander) of
Jagdstaffel 14 (Fighter Squadron 14).
Jagdstaffel 14 was newly formed when Berthold took command at
Sarrebourg, France. Its motley assortment of fighters included two
Fokker E.IIIs, a
Halberstadt D.II, and seven
Fokker D.IIs. It had had no success when it was still the ad hoc
Fokker Kampstaffel Falkenhausen. Berthold took advantage of being in a quiet sector, and trained his troops hard. He brought in new
Albatros D.I and
Albatros D.II replacement fighter aircraft, and renovated the officers' mess. In mid-December, following the unit's first victory, they were inspected by
Kaiser Wilhelm II and
Crown Prince Wilhelm.
1917 In January, Berthold and his squadron were subordinated to
Armee-Abteilung A (Army Division A). Anticipating the future need for air protection, Berthold made an unheeded plea for amassing air power into larger units, and supported his proposal with detailed professional analysis. In February,
Jagdstaffel 14 scored only two victories. However, it was slated to move to more active duty in
Laon, and began to rearm with
Albatros D.III fighters. Berthold flew to
Laon to find there were no quarters for his men. He was adamant that he would not move his squadron until quarters were furnished. In mid-March, a convoy of trucks hauled the squadron to Marchais, France. They began operations on 17 March. Berthold had an Albatros D.III prepared as his assigned aircraft. Its guns were test-fired to check its
synchronization gear. It was painted with his personal insignia of a white-winged sword of vengeance on either side of the
fuselage. By September, his entire squadron had adopted his basic scheme of royal blue fuselages and scarlet
cowlings, plus additional personal insignia. On 24 March, Berthold resumed his successful air assaults and was credited with four more victories by mid-April. On 24 April he engaged a French
Caudron R.9 until driven back to base by a bullet through his right shin. This wound added more chronic pain to his misery, and caused him to convalesce at home from 23 May to 15 June. By now, his narcotics addiction was an open secret to his pilots. From reports, Berthold determined that his squadron's performance declined, and believed this was due to the lack of in-air leadership. In early August, he returned to his old training facility in Grossenhain and wrangled a medical clearance from its doctor. Berthold returned to his unit to await the paperwork, to discover that he was being transferred to command
Jagdstaffel 18 (Fighter Squadron 18) in
Harelbeke, Belgium, on 12 August. On 18 August, Berthold was finally certified to resume flying. Before Berthold's arrival,
Jagdstaffel 18 had had little success; their new commander promptly emphasized training even as they flew combat missions. Shortly after assuming command, Berthold again pitched his idea of using fighters
en masse;
4th Armee headquarters responded by grouping
Jagdstaffelen 18,
24,
31, and
36 into the
ad hoc Jagdgruppe 7 with Berthold in command. He shot down a
SPAD on 21 August, raising his tally to 13. It was the beginning of a string of 16 aerial victories. During September he scored 14 more victories, bringing his tally to 27. On 2 October he scored his 28th victory, his final one of the year. During a dogfight on 10 October, a British bullet
ricocheted within the cockpit of Berthold's aircraft and entered his arm at an angle that pulverized his right
humerus. Berthold overcame the handicap of half-severed
ailerons and remained conscious long enough to make a smooth one-handed landing at the
Jagdstaffel 18 home airfield. He passed out after his safe arrival. His unconscious body was lifted from his Fokker and rushed to the
field hospital in
Courtrai. The Coutrai hospital lacked the facilities to heal such a complex injury; however, it sufficed to keep him alive. It was three weeks before the wounded ace was stable enough to be transferred. On 31 October, he was shipped back to Germany. His pilots alerted his elder sister, Franziska, who was a nursing supervisor in
Viktoria-Lazarett (Victoria Hospital), Berlin. She arranged for her brother's diversion to the Berlin clinic of one of Germany's pre-eminent surgeons, Doctor
August Bier, pioneer of cocaine usage in spinal anesthesia. Berthold entered the clinic on 2 November 1917. He was there for four months and Doctor Bier labored to save the mangled arm from
amputation. Meantime, counter to Berthold's wishes, Oberleutnant Ernst Wilhelm Turck assumed Berthold's dual commands of
Jagdstaffel 18 and
Jagdgruppe 7. Berthold spent his convalescent leave learning to write with his left hand. He believed, "If I can write, I can fly." Meantime, his right arm remained paralyzed as it slowly healed and he remained dependent on narcotics.
1918 Return to duty By February, Berthold could get out of bed. In mid-month, he volunteered to return to command of
Jagdgruppe 7. On 1 March, he reported to the medical office of
Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung 5 (Replacement Detachment 5) in
Hannover. He was returned to command of
Jagstaffel 18, but denied permission to fly. On 6 March, with his arm in a sling, he rejoined his old squadron at its new duty station. Within two days, on 8 March, Berthold had arranged for Hans-Joachim Buddecke's transfer into the unit to lead it in the air. Two days later, Buddecke was killed in action. On 16 March, Rudolf Berthold was transferred to command
Jagdgeschwader II (Fighter Wing 2) to replace Hauptmann
Adolf Ritter von Tutschek, killed in action the previous day. The new wing had been copied from the pioneering
Jagdgeschwader II; it was crucial to the
German spring offensive that was to be launched on 21 March. Berthold was in a tenuous and stressful situation. He had suffered the loss of his best friend, left his familiar old squadron, was taking command of an unfamiliar and newly formed larger unit, and was not on flight status. His solution to his dilemma was to take advantage of a loophole. Customarily, a
Luftstreitkräfte commander being transferred swapped a small cadre of his unit into his new assignment. Berthold designated
Jagdstaffel 15 (Fighter Squadron 15) the wing's
Stab Staffel (command squadron). Then he effected a wholesale exchange of
Jagdstaffel 18 people and aircraft into
Jagdstaffel 15. In turn,
Jagdstaffel 15 personnel and airplanes moved to
Jagdstaffel 18, completing the trade. Berthold then departed for Buddecke's funeral in Berlin on 22 March. He returned to his new assignment two days into the new German offensive, to find that the infantry divisions his wing was supposed to support were complaining about their lack of air cover.
Jagdgeschwader II's performance improved under its grounded commander's guidance, as the Germans advanced in eight days. On 6 April, nine
Siemens-Schuckert D.III fighters began to arrive. Despite high expectations for the craft because of its superior performance, it suffered engine failures after only seven to ten hours usage. The type was rapidly withdrawn from the wing. Meanwhile, Berthold had his men begin repainting the wing's aircraft with a common background marking. The wing's craft had standard dark blue paint applied to the fuselage, a la
Jagdstaffel 15. However, instead of also copying a scarlet nose from them, the other squadrons each sported their own hue on the cowlings.
Jagdstaffel 12 had white cowlings;
Jagdstaffel 13 had dark green ones;
Jagdstaffel 19 settled on yellow. To these markings, pilots added their own personal insignia. On the night of 12 April, French artillery directed by a reconnaissance aircraft began shelling the
Jagdgeschwader 2 airfield. By the following morning the airfield and its equipment had been hit over 200 times by shellbursts. Though no one was killed, damage was such that the wing was essentially out of action for the next three weeks, as it changed airfields and re-equipped. In the meantime, Berthold fretted, He kept his sister apprised of his medical condition. On 25 April, he wrote, Franziska Berthold wrote of her brother, During this inactive stretch, Berthold outlined his intended use of the wing in a memorandum to headquarters. He outlined an air defense warning net posted forward to alert his wing, and he pleaded for a transport column to maintain the unit's mobility. Aside from this memo, he planned personnel changes in his new wing. He felt that the squadron commanders were plotting to have him replaced. By 18 May, the last of them had been replaced. The wing's score improved for that month, totaling 19 victories.
Return to aerial combat Berthold had often flown a
Pfalz D.III in preference to the
Albatros D.V. In May 1918, the new
Fokker D.VII entered service. Berthold borrowed one of the new machines from
Jagdgeschwader 1 (Fighter Wing 1) for a surreptitious test flight. He liked its lightness on the controls, remarking hopefully that he could even fly it with his damaged right arm. On the morning of 28 May, he mounted a brand-new Fokker D.VII and for the first time, led his air wing into combat. Although it was a ground-support mission, he took the opportunity to score his 29th victory. The following day, he downed two more enemy aircraft, despite a malfunctioning gun synchronizer that nearly shot away his own propeller and caused a crash-landing. Berthold's drug addiction did not handicap him in the air.
Georg von Hantelmann, one of his pilots, noted that despite his undiminished martial skills, his morphine addiction made him temperamentally erratic. Nevertheless, his subordinates remained loyal to him. Berthold's victory tally increased by half a dozen victories during June. Meantime, on 18 June, Berthold again advised his sister of his ongoing medical problems. He took a break until 28 June, when he scored his 37th victory. That night, he wrote his sister, His festering wound was not his only stressor. As summer's heat came on, the engines of the
Fokker Triplanes of
Jagdstaffel 12 began overheating, aggravated by the lack of genuine
castor oil for lubrication. Occasionally, the lack of replacement
Triplanes grounded the squadron, and hampered its sister squadron,
Jagdstaffel 13. New Fokker D.VIIs arrived in the wing, but only sufficed to re-equip
Jagdstaffel 15. By mid-June, the triplanes of
Jagdstaffel 12 were deemed unserviceable.
Jagdstaffel 19 had only partially rearmed with new Fokker D.VIIs. The understrength wing also suffered fuel shortages. To remain operational, fuel and lubricants were channeled to the most useful craft, the D.VIIs. On 19 June,
Jagdstaffel 12 and
Jagdstaffel 19 had no usable aircraft, and the wing was reduced to half strength or below. The bereft squadrons would slowly restock with D.VIIs after the triplanes were removed from the wing. Relief finally came on 28 June, when a shipment of 14 Fokker D.VIIs arrived and were divided between
Jagdstaffel 12 and
Jagdstaffel 19. Berthold fought on, scoring two more victories in July. However, now that he had re-equipped his fighter wing,
influenza grounded all but three pilots from
Jagdstaffel 19 by 6 July. Berthold scored three more victories in early August, raising his tally to 42. On 10 August, he led 12 of his pilots into battle against a vastly superior force of British aircraft. He shot down a
Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a fighter for his 43rd victory and an
Airco DH.9 bomber for his 44th. When he tried to pull away from the DH.9 at altitude, his controls came loose in his hand. His attempt to use a
parachute failed because it required the use of both hands. His Fokker crashed into a house in
Ablaincourt with such force that its engine fell into the cellar. German infantrymen plucked him from the rubble and rushed him to hospital. His right arm was rebroken at its previous fracture. Rudolf Berthold would never fly again. On 12 August, Berthold once again checked himself out of a hospital. He arrived at the
Jagdstaffel 15 officers' mess coincidentally with the newly appointed wing commander. Berthold stared down
Rittmeister Heinz Freiherr von Brederlow, who was senior to him, and announced, "Here I am the boss." Once Brederlow departed, Berthold took to bed, stating he would run the fighter wing from there. On the 14th, Kaiser Wilhelm II personally ordered the ace to take sick leave, and appointed Berthold's deputy commander, Leutnant
Josef Veltjens, to take command of the wing. On 16 August, Berthold returned to Doctor Bier's clinic, being treated there through early October. Once his pains were alleviated, he went home to recuperate. The war ended while he was convalescing. ==Post-war==