Walter Karjus – The
Red Baron, Manfred von Richtofen
This is a short book, with 100 pages only – but in my
opinion the best book about Manfred von Richthofen I have ever read.
The book has eight chapters, each one is a short single
story:
- The triplane: the story about the 80th
Richthofen’s victory. This is all what most people know about the WW1 in the
air. The red triplane, a famous pilot in the cockpit and hopeless British (or
French) pilots who cannot escape their fate. The stereotype in its pure shape. A
very good introduction to the story about this legendary pilot.
The second part of this chapter is more
serious, telling us about the Dreidecker, how it was created and used in
combat. With some words about Richthofen added.
- Jasta: the story of WW1 aviation in brief – from
the very beginning, then the first duels, looking for the perfect fighter plane
idea, the troubles with synchronizer, the change from 1-to-1 duels to
formations of dozens of aircrafts. The reason why German Jastas were created.
This story ends with the Boelcke’s dead.
- Ritter Manfred von Richthofen: The one and only,
unique and legendary. Why? What makes Richtofen an iconic symbol of the Great
War? Author is trying to answer all such questions and in my opinion he is
doing it right. The story ends in the moment Richtofen became the commander of
the very first Jagdgeschwader.
- A lone warrior, Werner Voss: a short break in
the main story, but also very interesting. There were many other aces among
German pilots, but the author decided to tell us about Voss. It was a very good
choice and the moment was perfectly chosen – remember that the previous capitol
ends with the creation of Jagdgeschwaders. Voss was a lone warrior, a perfect
fighter but without the traits of a leader. „Only the whitebeard or philosopher
can afford to be a loner. Voss wasn’t a philosopher, so that’s why he didn’t become
a whitebeard“. The era of lone fighters in the sky has gone away and Voss has
gone away in the same time.
- Anatomy of the fight: each and every fighter has
his own tactics and dogfight technics. Here are some of them: Mc’Cudden, Ball,
Guynemer…
- The Flying Circus: the period from June 1917 to
April 1918. All those frantic battles in the sky, but told with the background
details.
- I’ll tell you how the Red Baron died: 21st April
1918 hour by hour. The Requiem.
- Pour le Merite: a kind of psychological study on
the pilots, their behavior, traits and limitations. Many interesting details
from their life and service.
At the end there are two appendices: a list of Richthofen’s air
victories and the detailed study on his planes. Camouflage, marking, what was
red and when. Really a perfect work.
The book is really interesting, written in the way one reads
it with pleasure. The language used in it is very specific, full of irony and
sometimes sarcasm. The author mentions many myths from the era and is proving
them wrong in the ironical way. There is no pathos, we can see that the pilots
were ordinary men, with their strengths and disadvantages, and many times with
their kinks.
A short example of the style it is written:
„11th Squadron was in the permanent status of rearmament. The
pilots didn’t manage to get familiar with their nice Sopwith Pups, when new
child of wonder from Thomas Sopwith factory has arrived, the already known
Triplane. However Brown has preferred Pup. I know this sounds as a shocking,
maybe even infantile statement, but this was the custom in those days. The
squadrons seemed to be a piece of Byzantine craftsmanship mosaic. Someone wants
to fly Nieuport, Brown preferred Pup, someone else preferred Triplane. Let’s imagine
today the pilot who wants to fly F-16 instead of MiGs received by his squadron.“
And last but not least – there is a riddle. Who is the
author of this book? Walther Karjus* as written on the cover? Or someone else?
Karjus couldn’t write the second part of the book, for sure. Especially the last chapter which was written by the contemporary author for sure. The owner of the copyright is Witold Chrzanowski, probably the Polish historian by that name. The only problem is that Chrzanowski had written many books but all of them are about the early times: ancient Rome and Slavic history.
Is Chrzanowski just an editor of the material somehow left by Karjus? But there is no „translated from …“ description in the book. Probably this is a book written by Chrzanowski who didn’t want to give himself a bad name by publishing a story from the Great War, especially written with a sense of humor.
Karjus was a pilot in Jasta 11 and Jasta 75. He was a
valiant observer who had been badly wounded and had lost his right arm. Fitted
with a prosthetic device he became a pilot and then flying instructor. One confirmed
air victory on 21 October 1918.
(JD)
