On this day Günther Rall in his own words "got careless". During the evening dusk he was engaging several Soviet fighters, he manage to down one of them, seeing it plunging eastward in flames, watching the fiery path of his victim to its final impact.

While watching the enemy fighter hitting the ground with a mighty burst of flames, Rall was temporarily blinded so he did not notice that another Soviet fighter had got on his tail, managing to hit the engine of his Messerschmitt.

Doomed Rall try to put down his crate in a belly ending. However du to the darkness he did not realize that his speed was too high. Hitting the ground with a crash his machine bounced up in the air, as he nearing stalling speed Rall trying to once more to putting the nose of his machine down.

Petrified he saw that he was heading towards a far wall of a valley. Crashing into the wall Rall´s head slammed into the Revi sight and instrument panel, losing his continues.

Luckily he was saved by German soldiers that pulled him free from his battered machine sending him off to a field hospital. However du to his sever injuries he later was transported to a hospital in Bukarest.

Here he was X-rayed and got the moral-breaking news that his back was broken in three places and that "his flying time was over". The doctors clapped him into a body cast and after Christmas 1941, because of his critical complexity needing the attention of a neurologist professor he was shipped off to the Vienna University Hospital.

Here at the hospital, in his despair, luck was finally on his side as he was to learn to know one of the doctors, a pretty female blond named Herta. This encounter would end up in a long lasting relationship and and in a marriage.

If it was due to the care of his future wife or the eager to return to his Staffel is not known, but one could conclude that nine month later he was back at Taganrog for more combat. As a know fact Günther Rall would end the war as the third most successful fighter pilot in the world with 275 confirmed victories under his belt.

It is interesting to note the 13 Abshussbalken on the rudder, however by the time of his crash Oblt. Rall had amassed 34 victories, not counting his last that evening. The Bf 109 F-4 that he crashed near Rostow this evening was declared as 95% damaged, a total write-off.

Please note that during the last week I have been able to make six new profiles, all of them should be included in one of my upcoming Luftwaffe Fighters Profile Books Numbered 16 to 19.