Karl-Heinz Leesmann

Karl-Heinz Leesmann (3 May 1915 – 25 July 1943) was a 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. Karl-Heinz Leesmann was shot down on 25 July 1943, by a B-17 bomber that he was attacking. During his career he was credited with 37 aerial victories, 27 on the Western Front and 10 on the Eastern Front.

Career
Leesmann was born on 3 May 1915 in Osnabrück in the Province of Hanover within the German Empire.

Leesmann was awarded the Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe (Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe) on 5 October 1940.

On 27 August 1940, Leesmann was appointed Staffelkapitän (Squadron Leader) of 3. Staffel of JG 52. He replaced Hauptmann Wolfgang Ewald who was appointed commander of I. Gruppe of JG 52. On 24 May 1941, Leesmann was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I. Gruppe of JG 52. He succeeded Ewald who was transferred.

On 6 November 1941, Leesmann was severely wounded in combat when his Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2 (Werknummer 9181—factory number) was hit by enemy fire resulting in an emergency landing at Ruza. In consequence, command of I. Gruppe was passed to Oberleutnant Carl Lommel.

In defense of the Reich and death
In consequence of the newly created Jagdgeschwader 11 (JG 11—11th Fighter Wing) on 31 March 1943, a new III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1—1st Fighter Wing) was formed and placed under command of Leesmann.

On 25 July during Blitz Week, a period of United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) aerial bombardment during the 1943 Combined Bomber Offensive, the USAAF VIII Bomber Command targeted Hamburg and Warnemünde. III. Gruppe was scrambled at 16:15 and vectored to a point of intercept over the Elbe estuary where they encountered a formation of approximately 100 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. Leading his formation, Leesmann approached the bombers in a head-on attack. Following the attack, he radioed that his Bf 109 G-6 (Werknummer 20073) had taken hits. Leesmann was killed in action when his Bf 109 crashed into the North Sea in an area southeast of Heligoland. Command of III. Gruppe was then passed to Hauptmann Robert Olejnik.

Aerial victory claims
Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 34 aerial victory claims, plus two further unconfirmed claims. This figure includes 10 aerial victories on the Eastern Front and 24 over the Western Allies, including one four-engined heavy bomber.

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 05 Ost 148". The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about 360 sqmi. These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 x in size.

Awards

 * Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
 * Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe (5 October 1940)
 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 23 July 1941 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 2./Jagdgeschwader 52
 * German Cross in Gold on 27 July 1942 as Hauptmann in the I./Jagdgeschwader 52