Hans - Ulrich Rudel Hans - Ulrich Rudel ( 2 July 1916 – 18 December 1982 ) was a Stuka dive - bomber pilot during World War II . The most highly decorated German serviceman of the war , Rudel was one of only 27 military men to be awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves , Swords and Diamonds , and the only person to be awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves , Swords and Diamonds ( ) , Germany ' s highest military decoration at the time . Rudel flew 2 , 530 combat missions claiming a total of 2 , 000 targets destroyed ; including 800 vehicles , 519 tanks , 150 artillery pieces , 70 landing craft , nine aircraft , 4 armored trains , several bridges , a destroyer , two cruisers , and the Soviet battleship " Marat " . Biography . Rudel was born on 2 July 1916 in Konradswaldau , Silesia , a province in the Kingdom of Prussia . Today it is Grzędy in the administrative district of Gmina Czarny Bór , within Wałbrzych County , Lower Silesian Voivodeship , in south - western Poland . The son of Lutheran minister Johannes , was raised in a number of different Silesian parishes . As a boy he was a poor scholar but a very keen sportsman . In August 1936 , after his Abitur ( University - preparatory high school diploma ) , he joined the Luftwaffe as an officer cadet , and began basic training at the " School of Air Warfare " at Wildpark - Werder . In June 1938 he joined I . / Sturzkampfgeschwader 168 in Graz as an officer senior cadet . Rudel had difficulty learning the new techniques and was considered unsuitable for combat flying , so on 1 January 1939 , he was transferred to the Reconnaissance Flying School at Hildesheim for training in operational reconnaissance . He was promoted to Leutnant ( Second Lieutenant ) on that date . After completing training he was posted to the Fernaufklärungsgruppe 121 ( Long - Range Reconnaissance Group ) at Prenzlau . Rudel was a teetotaler and non - smoker . His fellow pilots coined the phrase " Hans - Ulrich Rudel , er trinkt nur Sprudel " ( Hans - Ulrich Rudel , he drinks only sparkling water ) . World War II . During the Polish Campaign at the start of World War II , he flew ( as an observer ) on long - range reconnaissance missions over Poland from Breslau . Rudel earned the Iron Cross 2nd Class on 11 October 1939 . After a number of requests he was reassigned to dive bombing , joining an Aviation Training Regiment at Crailsheim and then he was assigned to his previous unit , I . / Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 ( StG 3 ) , at Caen in May 1940 . He spent the Battle of Britain as an Oberleutnant ( First Lieutenant ) in a non - combat role . Still regarded as a poor pilot , he was sent to a Reserve Flight at Graz for dive bombing training . Assigned to I . / Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 ( StG 2 ) , based at Molaoi , his poor reputation , by then unjustified , preceded him and he also spent the invasion of Crete in a non - combat role . Rudel flew his first four combat missions on 23 June 1941 , during the German invasion of the Soviet Union . His demonstrated piloting skills earned him the Iron Cross 1st Class on 18 July 1941 . On 23 September 1941 , he and another Stuka pilot sank the Soviet battleship " Marat " , during an air attack on Kronstadt harbor in the Leningrad area , with hits to the bow using 1 , 000 kg bombs . By the end of December , he had flown his 400th mission and in January 1942 received the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross . On 10 February 1943 , he became the first pilot in history to fly 1 , 000 sorties . Around this time , he also started flying anti - tank operations with the ' Kanonenvogel ' , or G , version of the Ju - 87 , through the Battle of Kursk , and into the autumn of 1943 , claiming 100 tanks destroyed . By March 1944 , he was already " Gruppenkommandeur " ( group commander ) of III . / StG 2 ( appointed on 19 July 1943 ) and had reached 1 , 800 operations . At that time he claimed 202 tanks destroyed . Around this time , Hitler thought Rudel was too valuable to be engaged in combat . Hitler , through Göring , gave the order to ground Rudel permanently . Rudel refused to accept this command and Hitler had no choice but to reluctantly rescind his order . On 13 March 1944 Rudel may have been involved in aerial combat with the Hero of the Soviet Union Lev Shestakov . Rudel flew into a valley to evade him , at times flying only 10 feet above the ground , constantly performing brutal evasive maneuvres . Prior to this engagement , his rear gunner ' s machine guns had been jammed . Rudel was flying so low that he had to evade trees and it was here that his rear gunner realized that Shestakov had crashed . Shestakov failed to return from this mission and was posted as missing in action . From Rudel ' s memoirs : Was he shot down by Gadermann [ Rudel ' s rear gunner ] , or did he go down because of the backwash from my engine during these tight turns ? It doesn ' t matter . My headphones suddenly exploded in confused screams from the Russian radio ; the Russians have observed what happened and something special seems to have happened . . . From the Russian radio - messages , we discover that this was a very famous Soviet fighter pilot , more than once appointed as Hero of the Soviet Union . I should give him credit : he was a good pilot . In November 1944 , he was wounded in the thigh and flew subsequent missions with his leg in a plaster cast . On 8 February 1945 , a 40 mm shell hit his aircraft . He was badly wounded in the right foot and crash landed inside German lines . His life was saved by his observer Ernst Gadermann who stemmed the bleeding , but Rudel ' s leg was amputated below the knee . He returned to operations on 25 March 1945 , claiming 26 more tanks destroyed before the end of the war . Determined not to fall into Soviet hands , he led three Ju 87 s and four FW 190 s westward from Bohemia in a 2 - hour flight . Landing at Kitzingen airfield , held by the US 405th Fighter Group , Rudel had his men lock the brakes and collapse the landing gear to make the aircraft useless to the Americans and to render the airfield unusable by blocking the airstrip . Then he surrendered to U . S . forces , on 8 May 1945 . Eleven months in prisoner of war camps followed . Released by the Americans , he moved to Argentina in 1948 . Achievements . According to official Luftwaffe figures , Rudel flew some 2 , 530 combat missions ( a record score at that time ) . He was never shot down by another pilot , only by anti - aircraft artillery . He was shot down or forced to land 32 times , several times behind enemy lines . According to his autobiography , on one occasion , after trying a landing to rescue two downed novice Stuka crewmen and then not being able to take off again due to the muddy conditions , he and his three companions , while being chased for 6 km by Soviet soldiers , made their way down a steep cliff by sliding down trees , then swam 600 meters across the icy Dniester river , during which his rear gunner , Knight ' s Cross holder Hentschel , succumbed to the cold water and drowned . Several miles further towards the German lines , the three survivors were then captured by Soviets , but Rudel , knowing there was a bounty on his head , again made a run for it . Despite being barefoot and in soaking clothes , getting shot in his shoulder , and being hunted by several hundred pursuers with dog packs , he eventually managed to make his way back to his own lines . In total , he was wounded five times and rescued six stranded aircrew from enemy territory , although the two mentioned above were recaptured . The vast majority of his missions were spent piloting the various models of the Junkers Ju 87 , though by the end of the war , he often flew the ground - attack variant of the Fw 190 . He went on to become the most decorated serviceman of all the fighting arms of the German armed forces ( the only person more highly decorated was Hermann Göring who was awarded the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross ) , earning by early 1945 the Wound Badge in Gold , the German Cross in Gold , the Pilots and Observer ' s Badge with Diamonds , and the Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe with 2 , 000 sorties in Diamonds . He was the only recipient of the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves , Swords , and Diamonds ( the highest - scoring ace of World War II , Erich Hartmann , also held the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves , Swords , and Diamonds — but his Oak Leaves were not gold ) . He was also promoted to Oberst ( Colonel ) at this time . After the war . After the war , Rudel for a time moved to South America where he became a close friend and confidante of the Argentinian president Juan Perón , and Paraguay ' s dictator and Third Reich admirer Alfredo Stroessner . Although missing one leg , he remained an active sportsman , playing tennis , skiing , and even climbing the highest peak in the Americas , Aconcagua ( 6 , 962 meters or 22 , 841 feet ) . He also ascended the fifth highest volcano on Earth three times , the Llullay - Yacu in the Argentine Andes ( 6 , 739 meters or 22 , 109 feet ) . During his stay he became acquainted with notorious Nazi concentration camp doctor and war criminal Josef Mengele . Rudel returned to West Germany in 1953 and became a leading member of the nationalist political party , the German Reich Party ( Deutsche Reichspartei ) . Prior to his return to Germany , he published a war diary entitled " Trotzdem " ( " Nevertheless " or " In Spite of Everything " ) in Buenos Aires in November 1949 which was published by the Dürer - Verlag in Argentina . Discussion ensued in Germany on Rudel being allowed to publish the book because he was a known Nazi . In the book , he supported National Socialist policy . This book was later re - edited and published in the United States as the Cold War intensified as a book of memoirs called " Stuka Pilot " that supported the German invasion of the Soviet Union . He became a successful businessman in post - war Germany . In 1976 , Rudel was involved in what came to be known as the " Rudel Scandal " . Two high - ranking Bundeswehr generals , Karl Heinz Franke and Walter Krupinski , were forced into early retirement . Rudel ' s input was used during the development of the A - 10 ground attack aircraft . Rudel died in Rosenheim in 1982 , and was buried in Dornhausen on 22 December 1982 . During Rudel ’ s burial ceremony , two Bundeswehr Phantom s appeared to make a low altitude flypast over his grave , although Dornhausen was situated in the middle of a flightpath regularly flown by military aircraft ; Bundeswehr officers denied deliberately flying aircraft over the funeral . Four mourners were photographed giving Nazi salute s at the funeral , and were investigated under a law banning the display of Nazi symbols .