Eduard Neumann
Eduard Neumann ( 11 June 1911 – 9 August 2004) was a German Luftwaffe Officer and commanded the famous Jagdgeschwader 27 ‘Afrika’ during the North African Campaign from 1941 to 1943.
Early Life
Eduard Neumann was born on 5 June 1911 in the city of Molodia, the capital of the province of Bukowina, in the former Austria Hungarian Empire, (Which now lies split between the Ukraine’s Oblast Czernowitz and Romania’s Suceava and Botoşani districts.) In 1914, at the age of three, Eduard lost his mother, and his father not long afterwards. He and his sister Else came into the affectionate, but strict guidance of their grandmother, after the Great War the family moved to Germany.
Entry Into the Luftwaffe
In 1928 Eduard went to Berlin to Study Mechanical and Aviation Engineering. It was here that he discovered his enthusiasm for flight and quickly became a member of the ‘Akakflieg’ Glider club in 1929. In 1932 he passed his flying examinations in powered flight in Cottbus. In 1934 he began training with on the Fi 5R aircraft, then later the same year he joined the fledgling Luftwaffe, which was still under secret construction. In Schleissheim he received final aeronautical training, Neumann was then deployed to II./JG 132 ‘Richthofen’ in July 1935. After the re-training on the BF 109D at Barth in August 1937 he was transferred to the Luftwaffe’s ‘Condor Legion’ which was to be sent to aid General Franco’s Fascists in the Spanish Civil War along with other notable personalities like Adolf Galland and Werner Mölders. After a year’s service Neumann returned to Germany at the rank of Oberleutnant with two victories and the Spanish Cross in Gold with Swords. He was appointed Gruppenkommandeure (Squadron leader) with the 4./JG-26 in Düsseldorf, remaining with the squadron until departing for Jagdgeschwader 27 in early 1940, becoming the unit’s Adjitunt.
The day after scoring his first (World War Two) victory during the opening phase of the Battle of Britain, a RAF 236 Squadron Blenheim off the coast of Cherbourg on the 20th July 1940, he was appointed Gruppenkommandeure (Group Commander) of I./JG 27 to Replace Helmut Riegel shot down by Hurricanes off the Island of Alderney. After a brief participation In the Invasion of Yugoslavia, in April 1941 the unit moved to Ain-elGazala, Libya, North Africa on the 18 April 1941. On 8th June 1942 he was promoted to Major and GeschwaderKommodore of the squadron, which he successfully led up to 22 April 1943, when spared the defeat in Africa he joined the Staff of General der Jagdflieger. In March 1943 Neumann was promoted to Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel), and later in 1944 to Colonel. Eduard Neumann finished the war as the Commander of all Fighter Forces in Northern Italy. Neumann’s active combat career was somewhat limited, although an outstanding Commander he believed in commanding from the ground, as a consequence he only achieved 13 victories during his Luftwaffe career (2 in Spain).After the war Eduard ‘Edu’ Neumann developed an engineering company. He continued to fly as hobby, after the banning of civilian flight clubs was lifted. Neumann’s most successful achievement was the molding of the career of Hans-Joachim Marseille, giving the unorthodox fighter pilot a freer reign to practice his tactics. Marseille went on to score 158 victories against Western Allied Pilots, a number no other Pilot would match. In 1989 Neumann and other members of JG 27 errected a Pyramid with the co-operation of the Egyptian Government on the place that Marseille fell to his death. Neumann remained a member of the Fighter Pilot’s Society, until his death from a long illness He is survived by his wife Ursula.