Cadet
von Richthofen
Military Service
Wounded
In the sky again
Fitness for flying duty
Killed in action
Conclusion
Epilogue
References
Much has been written about the rivalry
among the allied forces in World War I in the claim to having
killed Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, the "Red Baron"
(1892-1918). This issue is still being debated periodically
in aviation and veterans' magazines 80 years after his death.1,2
Here I review the Red Baron's military medical record, which
has been made available to me by approval of his next of kin.
It raises the question of whether von Richthofen should have
been allowed to fly after having received a head injury during
aerial combat on July 6, 1917.
Cadet von
Richthofen
Von Richthofen entered the cadet corps on
April 18, 1903, aged almost 11 years. His previous medical record
showed a history of measles, chickenpox, and rubella. Eyesight
was examined yearly and remained 6/6 throughout his brief career.
The medical record for that period is unremarkable
with the exception of an injury to the right knee on June 12,
1909, that required a stay in hospital until July 3, 1909. A
swelling of his right knee led to another short stay in hospital
1 year later. Surgery was successful and there is no mention
of further knee problems during the remainder of von Richthofen's
life.
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Military Service
Von Richthofen began active military service
on May 1, 1911, and served as a cavalry officer; therefore he
was later given the title of Rittmeister (literally, riding
master), the cavalry term for Captain. 4 years later in May
1915, he switched to the newly established flying force with
the explicit goal of becoming a pilot rather than an observer.
No mention is made of a medical examination before entering
the German flying service in the autobiographies of either von
Richthofen or of Ernst Udet, another famous fighter pilot of
the period.3,4 There did not seem to be any special requirements
or medical examinations to obtain clearance for flight duty
among the guidelines of that time for troop fitness.5,6
In his book The Red Air Fighter 3 von Richthofen
mentions how he received his first wound on Sept 4, 1915, while
flying on a bombing mission. He was still in training and therefore
sitting in the observer's seat of a bomber. When he tried to
point out where the bombs had hit, he grazed the little finger
of his right hand on the propeller. In his own words, "This
did not increase my fondness for bombing planes". He was
grounded for 8 days.3 The diagnosis in his medical record was
"complicated fracture of the right little finger tip".
After initial examination he was transferred to a nearby naval
hospital, where he received tetanus immunisation and his finger
was splinted. The healing process was unremarkable and he was
released from hospital on Sept 10, and declared fit for flying
duty.
Von Richthofen remained healthy until July
6, 1917. Up to that date he had been credited with bringing
down 57 enemy planes, been decorated with the Pour le Mérite
("Blue Max"), and gained celebrity status in Germany
and among the allied forces. On June 25, 1917, he was made commander
of the flying unit Jagdgeschwader I (literally, hunting wing
I), which had been created the day before (it exists to this
day as Jagdgeschwader Richthofen ). At that time the most successful
German ace to survive the war, Udet, was credited with six victories
in air combat; he ended the war with 62 victories on his record.
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Wounded
It is interesting to compare the two available
accounts of von Richthofen's crash after he had been shot in
the head during aerial combat on July 6, 1917. There is the
version that has been published in his autobiography and the
story as recorded by the physicians in the medical file. In
his book, von Richthofen describes how he was about to attack
a Vickers "bomber" and had not even taken the safety
catch off his gun when the bomber's observer started to fire
at a range of 300 m, a distance that von Richthofen considered
to be too far away for "real" combat. In his own words,
"the best marksman just does not hit the target at this
distance". Suddenly there was a blow to his head and he
was totally paralysed and blinded. After a great effort he was
able to move his limbs again while sensing that his plane was
in a dive; still he could not see. When the darkness slowly
lifted he first checked his altimeter, which showed 800 m, a
drop of 3200 m within a few moments. He reduced his altitude
to 50 m and made a rough landing, when he realised he was going
to faint again. He was able to get out of the plane and collapsed
remembering only that he had fallen on a thistle and had not
been able to move from the spot. After a drive of several hours
in a motorcar he was taken to a field hospital.
The history in his medical file is very
similar, noting that he did not lose consciousness in the plane.
"His arms fell down, legs moved to the front of the plane.
The flying apparatus fell towards the ground. At the same time
he had a feeling of total blindness and the engine sound was
heard as if from a great distance. After regaining his senses
and control over his limbs, he estimated that the time of paralysis
lasted for only a minute. He descended to an altitude of 50
m to find an appropriate landing spot until he felt that he
could no longer fly the aircraft. Afterwards he could not remember
where he had landed. He left the plane and collapsed."
His memory of his transportation to the hospital was blurred.
Upon arrival von Richthofen immediately told his physician that
he had only been able to retain control of the aircraft because
he had had the firm conviction that otherwise he would have
been a dead man.
The initial diagnosis on reaching hospital
was "machinegun (projectile) ricocheting from head".
The stay in hospital was uneventful after surgery to ascertain
that the bullet had not entered the brain.
July 1917, von Richthofen with his nurse
Sister Käte at field hospital No 76 in Kortrik, Belgium, after
having received a head wound during aerial combat
Von Richthofen stayed in the field hospital
for 20 days until July 25, 1917 (figure 2). He left because
he wanted to take command of his wing again. The skull wound
was not closed, and the bare bone was probably visible until
his death. He was advised not to fly until the wound in his
head had healed completely. There is a special mention of the
fact that even the surgeon in charge held this opinion in the
medical file. It was also recorded that "without a doubt
there had been a severe concussion of the brain and even more
probable a cerebral haemorrhage. For this reason sudden changes
in air pressure during flight might lead to disturbances of
his consciousness". The record ends with the statement
that von Richthofen promised not to resume flying before he
had been given permission by a physician.
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In
the sky again
Kunigunde von Richthofen, mother of the
Red Baron, recorded no unusual signs of depression or self doubt
when her son was on vacation at home in June, 1917.7 Von Richthofen
returned to flying duty on August 18, 1917, and was credited
with his 58th aerial victory the same day.8 He was almost sick
during this first flight after the injury, and on August 27,
1917, another piece of bone was removed from the open wound
that still had a size of 2·5×2·5 cm.3
A new chapter of The Red Air Fighter was
added in the spring of 1918, in which von Richthofen mentioned
his depression and melancholy when he thought about the future.
He describes a totally different von Richthofen than the one
who wrote the first edition of The Red Air Fighter. He feels
unwell after each air combat and attributes this feeling to
his head injury. After landing he stays in his quarters and
does not want to see or to talk to anybody.
He also mentions the fact that he had been
offered a desk job by "highest order".9 Von Richthofen's
biographer Rolf Italiaander also mentions this incident and
emphasises that the Kaiser himself had expressed this wish.
Oberleutnant Bodenschatz makes no mention of it in his wing
diary8 even though, according to Italiaander,10 he gave the
message from the Kaiser to von Richthofen. An inquiry at the
archives of the former ruling house of Prussia did not turn
up such a written order. Von Richthofen refused to leave his
wing. It is interesting to note that more than 50 years later
during the Cold War Yuri Gagarin and John Glenn were denied
a second spaceflight by their countries' leaders because they
were heroes whose lives should not be risked.
At the end of January, 1918, when on another
visit home, his mother noted the change in her son: she describes
him as taciturn, distant, and almost unapproachable. She thought
that he had changed because he had seen death too many times.7
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Fitness
for flying duty
Since there were no special rules concerning
fitness to fly a combat aircraft, a general view of the ability
to perform combat duty has to be considered to determine von
Richthofen's ability to serve after his head injury.
In the general rules for determining fitness
for military duty that were drawn up in peacetime, a head injury
or malformation made a person ineligible for duty only if he
could not wear appropriate headgear such as a helmet or cap.6
Pictures of von Richthofen during parades show him wearing a
cap with his dressed head wound, so the rule did not apply in
his case. Taking a more serious look at suitability for duty
of wounded soldiers was necessary after the war dragged on and
new replacements became scarce. A series of medical conferences
was held in the autumn of 1916 sponsored by the Prussian Ministry
of War concerning the evaluation of fitness for military and
combat duty of soldiers who had received injuries or wounds.
Kurt Goldstein (professor of neurology from Frankfurt am Main)
gave a lecture on brain injuries and concluded that fitness
for combat duty would only be restored in rare cases and that
a qualified evaluation of the course of disease was necessary
! to make such a determination. He pointed out that only 20%
of patients with a skull wound and only 4% of those with a brain
injury wound were deemed fit for combat duty again.11 According
to those recommendations, von Richthofen should not have been
allowed to return to active flight duty since he was diagnosed
as having a concussion and cerebral haemorrhage. The physicians
and surgeons who treated him knew this, as can be concluded
from their strong recommendation to von Richthofen not to fly
before his head wound had completely healed.
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Killed
in action
On April 21, 1918, von Richthofen was shot
dead while on a patrol flight. He died just 2 weeks short of
his 26th birthday. He was the most successful ace of World War
I, and credited with 80 aerial victories. Many attempts have
been made to answer the question of whether he was killed by
a bullet from the air or ground. Some historians believe that
he was shot down from the air by Captain Roy Brown, a Canadian
serving in the Royal Air Force, although a hit from the ground
cannot be ruled out. On the evening of April 21, 1918, an inspection
of the body by a Captain and a Lieutenant of the British Royal
Army Medical Corps showed an entrance wound on the right side
of the chest in the posterior fold of the armpit; the exit wound
was situated at a slightly higher level nearer the front of
his chest, about half an inch below the left nipple and about
three-quarters of an inch external to it. On April 22, 1918,
the consulting surgeon and the consulting physician of the British
4t h Army made a surface examination of the body. They found
the wounds as described above "and also some minor bruises
of the head [and] face. The body was not opened--these facts
were ascertained by probing from the surface wounds". Thus
ends the available medical record for the Red Baron.
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Conclusion
After reviewing the available medical information
on von Richthofen and the state of the art in neurology and
psychiatry at the time, I believe that the Red Baron should
not have been declared fit for duty after the head wound he
received on July 6, 1917. It is most probable that after having
been released from the field hospital under the instruction
to fly only after getting permission from a physician there
were no further medical checks.
The times were such that manpower was sparse.
An experienced ace and hero such as von Richthofen could not
be grounded against his wishes for public relations reasons.
Furthermore von Richthofen's sense of duty and comradeship would
not have allowed him to desert his fellow soldiers while he
still felt capable of aerial combat.4,12
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Epilogue
It was not until 1975 that von Richthofen's
remains found a (hopefully final) resting place. After his death
he was first buried in a village churchyard at Bertangles near
Amiens, France, with full military honours by the Commonwealth
forces. Later the coffin was transferred to a War Graves Commission
cemetery. During the Weimar Republic, the Invalidenfriedhof
in Berlin--the Prussian equivalent of the US Arlington National
Cemetery--was to become his resting place by wish of the German
government and veterans' organisations. On Nov 20, 1925, he
was reburied there. The German President Paul von Hindenburg
as well as the Chancellor with nearly the whole cabinet were
among the dignitaries present. Von Richthofen's reburial was
seen as a symbol of homecoming that was appreciated by the many
people whose loved ones were buried in foreign soil or missing
in action.
In 1961 when the Berlin Wall was constructed,
the Invalidenfriedhof was at the very edge of the demarcation
zone in the Russian sector. It was only possible to visit the
cemetery with special permission. For this reason von Richthofen's
surviving brother, Bolko, who had been in charge of the transfer
of the remains from France in 1925, got permission from the
East German government to rebury the remains in the family burial
plot in Wiesbaden before his death in 1971. The reburial book
place in 1975. The original grave marker is kept by the Jadgeschwader
Richthofen in Wittmund, Ostfriesland.
I thank Herrn Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen
(nephew of the Red Baron) for inviting me to his home and giving
me the opportunity to review the medical record that stayed
intact despite two world wars. I am indebted to the British
government for providing me with copies of the records of von
Richthofen's postmortem examinations. The German military archives
gave me a list of records concerning fitness tables for military
duty before and during World War I. The Jagdgeschwader Richthofen's
former Kommodore D G H Nowalk checked the facts and corrected
the military terminology. I thank all those who helped in creating
this manuscript. I am especially indebted to my friend and colleague
David J Keblish for his criticism and encouragement.
Dedicated to the memory of my great-grandfather,
Schweer Harms Boek, combat engineer, born Nov 20, 1893, Ostfriesland,
died Aug 29, 1918, Western Front.
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References
1 Carisella PG, Ryan JW. Who killed the
Red Baron: the final answer. London: Parnell, 1969.
2 Newton D. Spectre of the Red Baron. J
Austral War Memorial 1986, October.
3 v Richtofen M. Der rote Kampfflieger.
Berlin: Verlad Ullstein AG, 1917.
4 Udet E. Mein Fliegerleben. Berlin: Deutscher
Verlag, 1935.
5 Anon. Übersicht über die ärztlichen Dienstvorschriften
für Tauglichkeitsuntersuchungen in den Jahren 1817-1945. In:
Fehlertabellen der ehem. Wehrmacht. Bonn: Bundesminister für
Argeit, 1954.
6 Anon. Dienstanweisung zur Beurteilung
der Militärdienstfähigkeit und zur Ausstellung von militär-ärztlichen
Zeugnissen (D.A.Mdf.) vom 9, Februar 1909. Berlin: Mittler Verlag,
1909.
7 v Richthofen K. Mein Kriegstagebuch. Berlin:
Verlag Ullstein AG, 1937.
8 Bodenschatz K. Jagd in Flanderns Himmel.
München: Verlag Knorr & Hirth, 1935.
9 v Richthofen M. Der rote Kampfflieger.
Berlin: Verlag Ullstein AG, 1937.
10 Italiaander R. Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen
der beste Jagdflieger des großen Krieges. Berlin: A Weichert
Verlag, 1938.
11 Goldstein K. Die militärische Sachverständigentätigkeit
auf dem Gebiete des Ersatzwesens und der militärischen Versorgung
bei den Hirnverletzungen. Jena: Zentralkomitee f.d. ärztliche
Fortbildungswesen in Preußen Fischer Verlag, 1917.
12 Skawran PR. Psychologie des Jagdfliegers.
Berlin: Junker und Dünnhaupt Verlag, 1940
Department of medical history Volume 354,
Number 9177 7 August 1999
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