A highly desirable group consisting of a formal knight's cross award document and a wartime photo album of Kurt Sochatzy who achieved 38 Victories during the war.
The Knight’s Cross award folder measuring 360x450mm, extremely fine condition with only light scuffing to the exterior. The folder contains a 4 page Knight’s Cross award document, measuring 351x436mm, better than very fine condition with light age discolouration, intermittent red staining on the outside folding crease coming from the award book itself, and being lightly warped. Page 3 states that Oberleutnant (Senior Lieutenant) Kurt Sochatzy is awarded the Knight’s Cross. The document is dated to the Führer Headquarters (Führerhauptquartier) on August 12, 1941, and carries a strong signature in blue ink by Adolf Hitler.
The personal and private photo album of Kurt Sochatzy, measuring 225x305mm, extremely fine condition with minor scuffing. The cover reads “Fliegerhorstkommandantur E 14/VII - Fliegerhorstkompanie” (air base headquarters E14/VII - air base company). VII refers to Luftgau Munich. E14 stands for Einsatz-Hafen 14 in Eutingen, just outside of Stuttgart, south-west Germany. The album belonged to squadron comrade of Sochatzy’s. The first page identifies it as an official army memorabilia of Air Base E14 of Luftgau VII: “Wehrdienst - Ehrendienst - Erinnerungen an meine Dienstzeit” (Army service - Honour service - Memories of my service time). The next two pages feature a picture of Hitler and one of Göring, the latter with a facsimile. After a short statement by Hitler about the joys and honour of serving in the German military, more pictures follow, featuring von Brauchitsch, Keitel, Raeder, Hindenburg, and Ludendorff. The next 16 pages tell a history of the German army until 1940, followed by a 12 page history of the German Luftwaffe. Both have black-and-white photos and are written in Fraktur script, also known as “Gothic” letters. The album features 65 photos, several of an unidentified Knight’s Cross recipient in the rank of Captain, apparently the original owner. A number of pictures show fighter planes and soldiers in the field. The final photo shows a crashed, destroyed plane. About a handful of pictures are of Sochatzy. The album also contains two loose items: An original photo of Sochatzy in front of a plane, measuring 178x127mm. A cardboard frame, measuring 126x178mm, with an English Sochatzy biography.
Footnote: Kurt Sochatzy was born in 1915 in Schloß Pragerhof, Austria-Hungary (modern day Pragersko, Slovenia). In 1935 he joined the Austrian Air Force, and switched to the Luftwaffe after the “Anschluss” in 1938. He then briefly fought in the Spanish Civil War in 1939 as part of the infamous Condor Legion, winning a Spanish Cross in Bronze with Swords. During the Polish campaign he was promoted to Oberleutnant (Senior Lieutenant), the highest rank he would hold during the Second World War. In early 1940 the next assignment took him to the Jagdfliegerschule (Fighter Pilot School) 5 as the captain of a squadron. There he trained future pilots, among them aces Hans Strelow, youngest recipient of the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, and Walter Nowotny and Hans-Joachim Marseille, the “Star of Africa”, both recipients of the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds. In 1941 Sochatzy was finally given an opportunity to shine. Having been made a squadron leader, he achieved his first aerial victory, shooting down a British Spitfire over the English Channel. It was his only victory on the Western Front, since only a few days later his unit, the 7th squadron of Fighter Wing 3, was redeployed to take part in the attack on Russia. Since the Russian pilots were poorly trained and used obsolete tactics, a pilot as well-versed in the cockpit as Sochatzy could accomplish quite astonishing feats. He achieved another 37 aerial victories in the space of just over a month. However, this doesn’t mean German pilots were invincible and had nothing to fear. During his missions Sochatzy was shot down behind enemy lines twice. He managed to evade captivity and rejoin German forces both times. On August 3, 1941 while flying a mission over Kiev he was shot down a third time, managed to parachute to safety, but this time was captured by enemy forces. He spent the remainder of the war as a Russian POW before being released in 1949. Sochatzy flew 180 combat missions, and in addition to his 38 aerial victories, destroyed two trains and 27 planes on the ground in strafing attacks. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross nine days after being captured. It is unknown if he was considered killed in action and the award was carried out posthumously. Other awards worth mentioning that Sochatzy managed to win were the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class, the Pilot’s Badge, and the Front Flying Clasp in Gold. After his time in Russian prisons Sochatzy returned to Austria. Between 1956 and 1976 he once again served in the Austrian Air Force. Upon retiring he held the rank of Oberst (Colonel). He died in 1996 in Vienna at age 81.