Walter Borchers Explained

Walter Borchers
Birth Date:22 January 1916
Birth Place:Ofen, Ammerland, Duchy of Oldenburg
Death Place:north of Altenburg
Child:yes
Death Cause:Killed in action
Rank:Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
Unit:ZG 76, NJG 1, NJG 2
Commands:NJG 5
Battles:Defence of the Reich
Awards:Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations:Adolf Borchers
Hermann Borchers

Walter Borchers (22 January 1916 – 6 March 1945) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and wing commander during World War II. As a flying ace, he was credited with 59 aerial victories, including 43 nocturnal victories, 10 as a destroyer pilot and 6 four-engined bombers at day time, claimed in roughly 300 combat missions. Prior to his death he held the position of wing commander of the 5th Night Fighter Wing.

Biography

Walter Borchers was born on 22 January 1916 in Ofen in Ammerland, Duchy of Oldenburg as the third of three brothers, all of whom would be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during the course of World War II. His brother, Major Adolf Borchers received the Knight's Cross on 22 November 1944 as Staffelkapitän of 11./Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders". A second brother, SS-Hauptsturmführer Hermann Borchers received the Knight's Cross on 16 October 1944 as commander of the I. Battalion of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 19.

Borchers was a member of the 5th Staffel (squadron) of Zerstörergeschwader 76 (ZG 76—76th Destroyer Wing) at the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939. He became the Staffelkapitän of 5./ZG 76 in the fall of 1940. He claimed 10 aerial victories during the Battle of France and Battle of Britain.

Night fighter career

Following the 1939 aerial Battle of the Heligoland Bight, RAF attacks shifted to the cover of darkness, initiating the Defence of the Reich campaign. By mid-1940, Generalmajor (Brigadier General) Josef Kammhuber had established a night air defense system dubbed the Kammhuber Line. It consisted of a series of control sectors equipped with radars and searchlights and an associated night fighter. Each sector named a Himmelbett (canopy bed) would direct the night fighter into visual range with target bombers. In 1941, the Luftwaffe started equipping night fighters with airborne radar such as the Lichtenstein radar. This airborne radar did not come into general use until early 1942.

Borchers' Staffel was transformed to the 8. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 (NJG 3—3rd Night Fighter Wing) in the fall of 1941, flying night fighter missions in Defence of the Reich. Borchers claimed his first nocturnal aerial victory on the night of 3 March 1943. He claimed his 12th and 15th against the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) heavies—four-engined strategic bombers—in 1943. Still an Oberleutnant, he was made Gruppenkommandeur of the III./Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 (NJG 5—5th Night Fighter Wing) on 22 April 1943, leading the Gruppe (group) until 15 March 1944. In this position he claimed a further six nocturnal victories and four heavy USAAF bombers shot down.

Wing commander

He was promoted to Major and took command of NJG 5 as Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) on 15 March, succeeding Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 27 July 1944 by which time he had achieved 45 aerial victories in total.

Having claimed an Avro Lancaster, Borchers was shot down and killed in action on the night of 6 March 1945 by a long-range British night fighter north of Altenburg. Flying Junkers Ju 88 G-6 "C9+GA" (Werknummer 622 319—factory number) his air gunner parachuted to safety while his radio operator Leutnant Friedrich Reul was also killed. Borchers had been nominated for the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross which he never received. His victors were Wing Commander Walter Gibb and Flying Officer Kendall of No 239 Squadron, Royal Air Force (RAF), part of No. 100 Group RAF, flying a de Havilland Mosquito night fighter

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Borchers was credited with 59 aerial victories. Foreman, Parry and Mathews, authors of Luftwaffe Night Fighter Claims 1939 – 1945, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 32 nocturnal victory claims. Mathews and Foreman also published Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, listing Borchers with additional eleven aerial victories claimed as a Zerstörer pilot.

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 4317". The Luftwaffe grid map (German: 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 360sqmi. These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3x in size.

Chronicle of aerial victories
Claim
(total)
Claim
(nocturnal)
DateTimeTypeLocationSerial No./Squadron No.
– 4. Staffel of Zerstörergeschwader 76 –
117 May 1940 12:40M.S.406
229 May 1940 14:00Spitfire
38 June 1940 17:40Hawk 75
422 June 1940 17:50M.S.406
515 August 1940 19:05Spitfiresouth of Salisbury
630 August 1940 12:30Hurricane
74 September 1940 14:05Spitfire
84 September 1940 14:10Spitfire10km (10miles) south of London
94 September 1940 14:35Hurricane10km (10miles) south of London
1011 September 1940 17:05Hurricanesouth of Portsmouth
– 5. Staffel of Zerstörergeschwader 76 –
1120 August 1941 15:35SpitfirePQ 4317
– 8. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 –
1213 March 1943 22:30Wellingtoneast of Emden
Stab III. Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 –
13218 March 1943 15:45B-24Jade Bight
50- northwest of Jade Bight
1435 April 1943 00:46Wellington70km (40miles) west of TerschellingWellington HE432/428 Ghost Squadron
15417 April 1943 13:45B-17PQ 05 Ost 7412B-17 42-5337/91st Bombardment Group
16524 August 1943 01:14StirlingHelenau
1761 September 1943 00:50Stirlingsouth of Berlin
1874 September 1943 00:45Lancaster10km (10miles) south-southeast of Neuruppin
19816 December 1943 20:08Lancaster10km (10miles) northeast of Berlin
2094 January 1944 12:45B-24
21105 January 1944 11:50B-24
– 7. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 –
221125 May 1944 00:54four-engined bomber30km (20miles) west of Aachen
Stab of Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 –
23128 June 1944 02:21four-engined bomber30km (20miles) west of ParisLancaster LL864/No. 115 Squadron
24138 June 1944 02:29four-engined bomber35km (22miles) west of Paris
25148 June 1944 02:31four-engined bomber30km (20miles) west-southwest of Paris
261525 June 1944 00:25four-engined bomberPQ QD
271625 June 1944 00:48four-engined bomberPQ NB-3
28175 July 1944 01:50four-engined bomberAmiens
291816 July 1944 01:35four-engined bomberChâlons-sur-Marne
301929 July 1944 01:58four-engined bombernorthwest of StuttgartLancaster PB172/No. 100 Squadron RAF
312015 October 1944 19:23PS-84
322123 October 194418:09DB-3Eastern Front
332214/15 January 1945LancasterWestern Front
342314/15 January 1945LancasterWestern Front
352414/15 January 1945LancasterWestern Front
362515/16 January 1945LancasterWestern Front
372615/16 January 1945LancasterWestern Front
382715/16 January 1945LancasterWestern Front
39288/9 February 1945LancasterWestern Front
40298/9 February 1945LancasterWestern Front
41308/9 February 1945LancasterWestern Front
42315/6 March 1945four-engined bomberWestern Front
43325/6 March 1945four-engined bomberWestern Front

Awards

References

Bibliography