At the start of the
Battle of France, II.
Gruppe of JG 2 was deployed on the northern sector of
Army Group B and had been ordered to an airfield at
Hamminkeln on 11 May. Initially subordinated to the
IV. Fliegerkorps (4th Air Corps), the
Gruppe flew fighter escort missions on the first three days of the campaign for
Lehrgeschwader 1 (LG 1—1st Demonstration Wing),
Kampfgeschwader 27 (KG 27—27th Bomber Wing) and
Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 (StG 3—3rd Dive Bomber Wing) attacking targets in the Netherlands. On 14 May, II.
Gruppe was ordered to
Peer in Belgium where the
Gruppe was placed under the command of the
Stab of
Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter" (JG 26—26th Fighter Wing). That day, Schnell claimed his first aerial victory, a French
Bloch 152 fighter. Following the
Armistice of 22 June 1940, combat operation concluded on 25 June. On 27 June, II.
Gruppe was ordered to
Beaumont-le-Roger, patrolling the
English Channel and participated in the
occupation of
Guernsey on 1 July. Schnell claimed his first aerial victory during the
Battle of Britain on 29 July when he shot down a
Bristol Blenheim bomber northwest of
Le Havre. On 7 November, off the
Isle of Wight, as operations were slowing down and recently commissioned as a
Leutnant (on 1 November), he claimed his 20th aerial victory. For this feat he was awarded the
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () on 9 November.
Squadron leader The focus of the airwar shifted in the next year to the
Eastern Front, however Schnell stayed with JG 2 defending the West. On 1 July 1941, he was appointed as
Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 9.
Staffel of JG 2. He succeeded
Oberleutnant Carl-Hans Röders who was
killed in action on 23 June. On 3 July, III.
Gruppe moved to
St. Pol-Brias where it would be based for more than four months. That day, Schnell claimed a
Supermarine Spitfire fighter shot down east of
Gravelines, his first aerial victory as
Staffelkapitän. The following day, he was credited with four further Spitfires shot down. Soon after, he shot down nine Spitfires in just two days (8 – 9 July) to reach his 45th victory and was awarded the
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (), at the time being one of the top pilots in JG 2. He continued to score consistently as the
Royal Air Force (RAF) mounted heavier strikes into France, and temporarily held command of III.
Gruppe from 9 December 1941 to the following 28 January while
Gruppenkommandeur (group commander)
Hans "Assi" Hahn was on leave. Schnell claimed a
Handley Page Hampden bomber during
Operation Donnerkeil. The objective of this operation was to give the German
battleships and and the
heavy cruiser fighter protection in the breakout from
Brest to Germany. The
Channel Dash operation (11–13 February 1942) by the
Kriegsmarine was codenamed Operation Cerberus by the Germans. In support of this, the Luftwaffe, formulated an
air superiority plan dubbed Operation Donnerkeil for the protection of the three German capital ships. Over the
Dieppe Raid on 19 August 1942, he shot down five Spitfires to reach his 70th victory, making him an "
ace-in-a-day" for the second time. Schnell was promoted to
Hauptmann of the Reserves on 1 February 1943.
Group commander After that his scoring rate slowed down as he focussed more on administration and command, and he led his unit in the changeover onto the new
Focke-Wulf Fw 190—a very rugged dogfighter. In a misguided idea by High Command to rotate the fighter
Gruppen between Western and Eastern Fronts, III.
Gruppe of
Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54—54th Fighter Wing) was transferred from the Eastern Front back to Germany for
Defence of the Reich.
Hauptmann Schnell, was given command of the unit on 1 May 1943 to train and lead the pilots in high-altitude interception rather than the low-level brawling they were used to on the Eastern Front. He had taken command of the
Gruppe from
Major Reinhard Seiler who was transferred. Command of his former 9.
Staffel of JG 2 had already been passed on to
Oberleutnant Josef Wurmheller on 1 April. Late on 22 June, III.
Gruppe moved from Oldenburg to
Deelen Airfield in the Netherlands. On 8 July, the
Gruppe relocated again, moving from Deelen to
Amsterdam-Schiphol Airfield. On 11 January 1944, III.
Gruppe defended against a raid flown by the
United States Army Air Forces resulting in eleven
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers shot down, including three by Schnell. On 1 February 1944, he was given command of IV.
Gruppe of JG 54, based near Leningrad, and he arrived on 11 February. He replaced
Hauptmann Rudolf Sinner. As mentioned above, command transfers between fronts were rare, given the markedly different combat conditions, and unfortunately Schnell was not lucky to be able to adapt quickly enough. After less than a month and three further aerial victories, he was shot down and killed in his
Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 (
Werknummer 411675—factory number) over the Russian offensive for Narva on 25 February 1944. Posthumously, he was promoted to
Major of the Reserves. He was succeeded by
Hauptmann Gerhard Koall as commander of IV.
Gruppe of JG 54. ==Summary of career==