Alfred Franke

Alfred Franke
Born	(1918-09-20)September 20, 1918
Died	9 September 1942(1942-09-09) (aged 23)
Place of birth	Jena
Place of death	Stalingrad
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Luftwaffe
Years of service	?-1942
Rank	Leutnant (Posthumously)
Unit	JG 53
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of France Battle of Britain Operation Barbarossa Siege of Leningrad
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Alfred Franke (20 September 1918 – 9 September 1942) was a German Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. On 9 September 1942, Alfred Franke was killed north of Stalingrad after dog-fighting with a Soviet Il-2 Shturmovik flown by Kapitan Pavel S. Vinogradov (694 IAP, 228 ShAD). He was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross on 29 October 1942 and was also promoted to Leutnant. During his career he was credited with 60 aerial victories. 4 on the Western Front and 56 on the Eastern Front.

Awards

• Aviator badge
• Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe
• Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe (13 September 1942)
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• German Cross in Gold (25 September 1942)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 29 October 1942 as Oberfeldwebel and Flugzeugführer in the 2./Jagdgeschwader 53

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
• Obermaier, Ernst (1989). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe Jagdflieger 1939–1945 (in German). Mainz, Germany: Verlag Dieter Hoffmann. ISBN 3-87341-065-6.
• Patzwall, Klaus D. and Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941–1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II. Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 3-931533-45-X.
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
• Spick, Mike (1996). Luftwaffe Fighter Aces. New York: Ivy Books. ISBN 0-8041-1696-2.
• Christer Bergstrom, Andrey Dikov & Vlad Antipov (2006) Black Cross – Red Star. Air War over the Eastern Front. Volume 3. Everything for Stalingrad. Eagle Editions Ltd. ISBN 0-9761034-4-3.

External links

• Aces of the Luftwaffe
• World War 2 Awards.com