page_title: Werner Mölders
section_title: Education and early career
hierarchical_section_title: Werner Mölders / Education and early career
caption_attribution_description: Kurfürstenhaus to the left and the New Town Hall ( Neustädtische Rathaus) to the right, at Hauptstrasse street in Brandenburg an der Havel. In the background is the tower of St. Katharinen church. A statue of knight Roland at the corner of the Town Hall. Kurfürstenhaus till vänster och nya rådhuset (Neustädtische Rathaus)til höger, vid Hauptsrasse i Brandenburg an der Havel. I bakgrunden tornet till kyrkan Sankt Katharinen. En staty av riddare Roland vid hörnet av Rådhuset. Location: Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg, Germany, Deutschland Photograph by: Berit Wallenberg Date: 17.06.1927 Format: Film Persistent URL: kmb.raa.se/cocoon/bild/show-image.html?id=16001000137584 Read more about the photo database (in english): kmb.raa.se/cocoon/bild/about.html
context_page_description: Werner Mölders was a World War II German Luftwaffe pilot, wing commander, and the leading German fighter ace in the Spanish Civil War. He became the first pilot in aviation history to claim 100 aerial victories—that is, 100 aerial combat encounters resulting in the destruction of the enemy aircraft—and was highly decorated for his achievements. Mölders was instrumental in the development of new fighter tactics that led to the finger-four formation. He died in an air crash in which he was a passenger.
  Mölders joined the Luftwaffe, the air force of Nazi Germany, in 1934. In 1938, he volunteered for service in the Condor Legion, which supported General Francisco Franco's Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War, and shot down 14 aircraft. With the start of World War II, he took part in the "Phoney War", Battle of France, and the Battle of Britain. With his tally standing at 68 victories, Mölders and his unit, the Jagdgeschwader 51, were transferred to the Eastern Front in June 1941 for the opening of Operation Barbarossa, achieving 101 victories by mid-July 1941.
context_section_description: Mölders was born on 18 March 1913 in Gelsenkirchen, the son of teacher (Oberlehrer) Victor Mölders and his wife Annemarie Mölders, née Riedel. He was the third of four children, with an older sister, Annemarie, an older brother, Hans, and a younger brother, Victor. After his father, a Reserve Leutnant in the King's 145th Infantry Regiment, was killed in action on 2 March 1915 in the Argonne Forest in France, his mother moved the family into her parents' house in Brandenburg an der Havel.
  In Brandenburg, Mölders found a father figure in Chaplain Erich Klawitter, who instilled firm religious beliefs in him. From 1919 to 1931, Mölders attended, first, the elementary school and then from 1922 the Saldria-Realgymnasium, a secondary school that enjoyed a supraregional reputation. In school he discovered his love for water sports, especially rowing. He joined two rowing clubs, first the Saldria-Brandenburg and later the Brandenburger Ruderclub, and enjoyed success at rowing-regattas. From 1 October 1925, he was also a  member of the Bund Neudeutschland in der katholischen Jugendbewegung, a Catholic youth organisation. Mölders graduated from school in early 1931 with the Abitur (diploma) and expressed a desire to become an officer in the armed forces.
  Mölders joined the Preußisches Infanterieregiment Nr. 2, an infantry regiment under the command of Oberst Siegfried Haenicke and subordinated to the 1st Division of the Reichswehr in Allenstein, East Prussia on 1 April 1931, serving as an officer cadet in the infantry. He attained the rank of Fahnenjunker-Gefreiter on 1 October 1931, rising to Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier on 1 April 1932. After completing his basic military training in October 1932, he transferred to the Military School Dresden. On 1 June 1933, he successfully completed his training in Dresden and was promoted to ensign. He again was transferred, this time to the 1st Prussian Pioneer Battalion (Infantry Regiment 2) at the Pioneer School in Munich. During his training years, Mölders made his first attempt to fulfil his dream of flying and volunteered for pilot training, but was declared unfit for flying. He tried again and was given conditional permission (bedingt tauglich—with constraints) to begin flight training.
  After his promotion to Oberfähnrich on 1 February 1934, Mölders began his pilot training at the Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule (German transport flying school) in Cottbus, lasting from 6 February 1934 to 31 December 1934. On 1 March 1934, he was promoted to Leutnant and assigned to the recently established Luftwaffe. In the early stages of his pilot training, he suffered continually from nausea and vomiting, but he eventually overcame these problems and finished the course at the top of his class. The next phase of his military pilot's training was from 1 January 1935 to 30 June 1935 at the combat flying school in Tutow and the Jagdfliegerschule (fighter pilot school) at Schleißheim near Munich. He received the newly created Pilot's Badge of the Luftwaffe on 21 May 1935.
  On 1 July 1935, Leutnant Mölders was posted to Fliegergruppe Schwerin (I./JG 162 "Immelmann"). On 7 March 1936, during the remilitarisation of the Rhineland, Mölders and his squadron (Staffel) were moved to Düsseldorf. During this period, Mölders met Luise Baldauf, whom he was to marry a few years later, shortly before his death. On 20 April 1936, Adolf Hitler's birthday, numerous promotions were handed out, and Mölders advanced to Oberleutnant, effective as of 1 April 1936. At the same time, he became leader of the fighter training squadron of the 2nd Group of Jagdgeschwader 134 "Horst Wessel". This group was under the command of Major Theo Osterkamp, who became another of Mölders' early mentors. Mölders was appointed squadron leader (Staffelkapitän) of the 1st squadron of Jagdgeschwader 334 on 15 March 1937 and served as an instructor in Wiesbaden.
caption: Kurfürstenhaus (left) in Brandenburg, purchased by the Riedel family in 1902.[3]
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "3616", "Image ImageLength": "2499", "Image BitsPerSample": "16", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "1", "Image ImageDescription": "Milj\u00f6er-Stadsmilj\u00f6, Byggnadsverk-Offentlig f\u00f6rvaltning-R\u00e5dhus", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "1", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2017:05:08 16:08:05", "Image Artist": "Wallenberg, Berit", "Image Copyright": "RA\u00c4", "Image ExifOffset": "368", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "506", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5139", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2086", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3000"}