# Fritz Lüddecke

Fritz Paul Lüddecke (23 February 1920 – 10 August 1944) was a Luftwaffe fighter ace from Brakel, Germany. He was the recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. Fritz Lüddecke was credited with 50 kills all in the Eastern Front (World War II). In 1944 he was killed in action over Wilkowischken, Lithuania.

## Career

Lüddecke began his military career on 19 November 1941. He was transferred to 6. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51—51st Fighter Wing) on the Eastern Front on 24 August 1942.

### With the Stabsstaffel

In early October 1942, II. Gruppe of JG 51 was withdrawn from the Eastern Front and sent to Jesau, near present-day Bagrationovsk, to Heiligenbeil, present-day Mamonovo, to be reequipped with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A. While undergoing training on this aircraft, the Gruppe received orders on 4 November to transfer to the Mediterranean theatre flying the Bf 109 again. 6. Staffel was exempt from this order, was detached from II. Gruppe, and continued its training on the Fw 190. In late November, 6. Staffel was renamed to Stabsstaffel (headquarters squadron) of JG 51 and placed under the command of Diethelm von Eichel-Streiber on 30 November.
The Stabsstaffel transferred to the Eastern Front again on 5 February 1943 where it was based at an airfield at Smolensk. There, the fought in support of the 9th Army during the Battles of Rzhev. On 9 March, the Stabsstaffel was scrambled multiple times in defense of the airfield. At noon, a Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber was shot down southwest of Dugino, located approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Vyazma, which was credited to Lüddecke. The Stabsstaffel was tasked with providing fighter protection of the Smolensk airfield on 15 March. In the morning, the Stabsstaffel was scrambled to intercept a flight of Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft north of Smolensk and claimed four aerial victories including an Il-2 aircraft by Lüddecke.
On the first day of the Battle of Kursk, 5 July 1943, the Stabsstaffel relocated from Smolensk to Oryol where it fought over the northern face of the salient. On 13 July, the Stabsstaffel was deployed over the combat area near Novosil where they engaged in combat with Soviet fighters. During this engagement, the Staffel claimed five aerial victories, including a Lavochkin La-5 fighter by Lüddecke, for the loss of one of their own.
On 10 August 1944, Lüddecke was killed in action in his Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8 (Werknummer 172958—factory number) 16 kilometers (9.9 miles) south-southwest of Wilkowischken, present-day Vilkaviškis. Following hits by anti-aircraft artillery, he attempted an emergency landing when his aircraft exploded in mid-air. He was posthumously awarded the German Cross in Gold (Deutsches Kreuz in Gold) on 1 October 1944, and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 18 November 1944.

## Summary of career
### Aerial victory claims

According to Jacobs and Obermaier, Lüddecke was credited with 50 aerial victories all of which claimed on the Eastern Front. He flew more than 600 combat missions, including 150 fighter-bomber missions. Matthews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 51 aerial victory claims, all of which claimed on the Eastern Front.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 54284". 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 square miles (930 km$^2$). These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 km × 4 km (1.9 mi × 2.5 mi) in size.
Chronicle of aerial victories :
| This and the – (dash) indicates unconfirmed aerial victory claims for which Lüddecke did not receive credit.  This and the ? (question mark) indicates information discrepancies listed by Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike, Bock, Matthews and Foreman. ||||||||||
| Claim | Date | Time | Type | Location | Claim | Date | Time | Type | Location |
| – 6. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders" – ||||||||||
| 1 | 24 August 1942 | 13:40? | MiG-3 | PQ 54284 25 km (16 mi) south of Kozelsk | | | | | |
| – Stabsstaffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders" – Eastern Front — 1 January – 31 December 1943 ||||||||||
| 2 | 9 March 1943 | 12:00 | Pe-2 | PQ 35 Ost 36643, 50 km (31 mi) west-northwest of Mjabau | 11 | 20 August 1943 | 13:35 | Il-2 m.H. | southwest of Spas-Demensk |
| 3 | 15 March 1943 | 10:19 | Il-2 | PQ 35 Ost 26554 20 km (12 mi) north of Moschna | 12 | 20 August 1943 | 13:36? | Il-2 m.H. | PQ 35 Ost 35837, Spas-Demensk |
| 4 | 13 July 1943 | 15:20 | La-5 | PQ 35 Ost 63263, 11 km (6.8 mi) southwest of Novosil 25 km (16 mi) east-southeast of Zalegoshch | 13 | 29 August 1943 | 13:09 | Il-2 m.H. | PQ 35 Ost 42139, 45 km (28 mi) northeast of Glukhov 25 km (16 mi) south of Sevsk |
| 5 | 16 July 1943 | 09:45 | La-5 | PQ 35 Ost 54319 20 km (12 mi) east of Zhizdra | 14 | 7 September 1943 | 08:36 | Yak-9 | northeast of Dukhovshchina |
| 6 | 12 August 1943 | 08:43? | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 35453, 30 km (19 mi) northwest of Yelnya 30 km (19 mi) northwest of Spas-Demensk | 15 | 12 November 1943 | 09:11 | La-5 | PQ 35 Ost 06817, 21 km (13 mi) east of Vitebsk |
| 7 | 16 August 1943 | 13:50? | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 35696 15 km (9.3 mi) southwest of Utrikowo | 16 | 5 December 1943 | 11:00 | Il-2 m.H. | PQ 25 Ost 93247 15 km (9.3 mi) northeast of Parichi |
| 8 | 18 August 1943 | 18:43 | Il-2 m.H. | PQ 35 Ost 35664, Spas-Demensk 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Spas-Demensk | 17 | 12 December 1943 | 12:08 | Yak-9 | PQ 25 Ost 93286 20 km (12 mi) east of Parichi |
| 9 | 20 August 1943 | 13:28 | Il-2 m.H. | PQ 35 Ost 358, southwest of Spas-Demensk | 18 | 23 December 1943 | 13:08 | Il-2 m.H. | PQ 25 Ost 93411 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of Parichi |
| 10 | 20 August 1943 | 13:32? | Il-2 m.H. | southwest of Spas-Demensk 20 km (12 mi) southwest of Utrikowo | | | | | |
| – Stabsstaffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders" – Eastern Front — 1 January – 10 August 1944 ||||||||||
| 19 | 10 January 1944 | 13:23 | Pe-2 | PQ 25 Ost 93648 40 km (25 mi) north-northeast of Mazyr | 34 | 2 July 1944 | 08:41 | Yak-9 | PQ 25 Ost 85774 vicinity of Lowica |
| 20 | 5 February 1944 | 07:20 | La-5 | PQ 25 Ost 93152 15 km (9.3 mi) northwest of Parichi | 35 | 11 July 1944 | 11:45 | P-39 | PQ 25 Ost 54713 15 km (9.3 mi) northeast of Karachev |
| 21 | 22 February 1944 | 13:00 | Yak-7 | PQ 25 Ost 94895 10 km (6.2 mi) west-southwest of Rahachow | 36 | 18 July 1944 | 16:21 | P-39 | PQ 25 Ost 42581 15 km (9.3 mi) northwest of Liuboml |
| 22 | 22 February 1944 | 13:01 | Il-2 | PQ 25 Ost 94894 10 km (6.2 mi) west-southwest of Rahachow | 37 | 19 July 1944 | 17:29 | Yak-9 | PQ 25 Ost 32762 vicinity of Chełm |
| 23 | 18 June 1944 | 14:28? | La-5 | PQ 35 Ost 04866 | 38 | 20 July 1944 | 07:30 | Il-2 | PQ 25 Ost 32866 25 km (16 mi) east of Chełm |
| 24 | 22 June 1944 | 18:20? | LaGG-3 | PQ 25 Ost 96536 20 km (12 mi) north-northeast of Ulla | 39 | 20 July 1944 | 11:35 | Il-2 | PQ 25 Ost 32399 30 km (19 mi) east-southeast of Chełm |
| — | 23 June 1944 | 09:40 | LaGG-3 | PQ 25 Ost 968, north-northeast of Orsha | 40 | 20 July 1944 | 11:36 | Il-2 | PQ 25 Ost 31233 25 km (16 mi) north of Hostynne |
| 25 | 23 June 1944 | 13:19 | Yak-9 | PQ 25 Ost 96689 vicinity of Ulla | 41 | 2 August 1944 | 11:11 | La-5 | PQ 25 Ost 35374, 12 km (7.5 mi) south of Vilkaviškis 20 km (12 mi) west of Marijampolė |
| 26 | 23 June 1944 | 14:15? | Il-2 | PQ 25 Ost 96726 vicinity of Ulla | 42 | 2 August 1944 | 11:29 | Yak-9 | PQ 25 Ost 25469, 8 km (5.0 mi) south-southwest of Vilkaviškis 25 km (16 mi) west-northwest of Marijampolė |
| 27 | 23 June 1944 | 14:29? | Il-2 | PQ 25 Ost 96562 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Ulla | 43 | 4 August 1944 | 08:04 | Il-2 | PQ 25 Ost 35371, 7 km (4.3 mi) south of Vilkaviškis 20 km (12 mi) west of Marijampolė |
| ? | 24 June 1944 | 12:15 | La-5 | 30 km (19 mi) north-northeast of Orsha | 44 | 4 August 1944 | 08:30 | La-5 | PQ 25 Ost 25498, 18 km (11 mi) south-southwest of Vilkaviškis 25 km (16 mi) east of Trakehnen |
| 28 | 24 June 1944 | 16:26 | Yak-9 | PQ 35 Ost 05329 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Orsha | 45 | 5 August 1944 | 12:16? | La-5 | PQ 25 Ost 35344 20 km (12 mi) west-northwest of Marijampolė |
| 29 | 25 June 1944 | 12:05 | Il-2 | PQ 35 Ost 05351 20 km (12 mi) northwest of Orsha | 46 | 7 August 1944 | 07:42 | Yak-9 | PQ 25 Ost 25431, 15 km (9.3 mi) northeast of Eydtkau 25 km (16 mi) east-southeast of Blumenfeld |
| 30 | 26 June 1944 | 14:53? | Yak-9 | PQ 25 Ost 95647 10 km (6.2 mi) southwest of Talachyn | 47 | 7 August 1944 | 07:46 | Yak-9 | PQ 25 Ost 25433, 18 km (11 mi) northeast of Eydtkau 25 km (16 mi) east-southeast of Blumenfeld |
| 31 | 26 June 1944 | 14:59 | Yak-9 | PQ 25 Ost 95535 20 km (12 mi) west-northwest of Talachyn | 48 | 8 August 1944 | 17:42 | La-5 | PQ 25 Ost 35312 20 km (12 mi) northwest of Marijampolė |
| 32 | 28 June 1944 | 16:47 | La-5 | PQ 25 Ost 95586 30 km (19 mi) southwest of Talachyn | 49 | 9 August 1944 | 16:10 | Yak-9 | PQ 25 Ost 35348 20 km (12 mi) west-northwest of Marijampolė |
| 33 | 29 June 1944 | 17:13 | P-39 | PQ 25 Ost 94157 15 km (9.3 mi) northeast of Byerazino | 50 | 9 August 1944 | 19:19 | La-5 | PQ 25 Ost 35329 20 km (12 mi) north-northwest of Marijampolė |

### Awards

* Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
* Honour Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 13 December 1943 as Feldwebel and pilot
* German Cross in Gold on 1 October 1944 as Feldwebel in the Stabsstaffel/Jagdgeschwader 51
* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 18 November 1944 as Oberfeldwebel and pilot in the Stabsstaffel/Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders"