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Alpine Thunder
By late April 1945 most of the Third Reich had been cut to shreds by the
advancing Allied forces and those units remaining intact were regrouping in
southern Germany and Austria. With American advance units nearing the outskirts
of Munich, on 28th April Adolf Galland took the decision to evacuate his
precious jets to Salzburg, deep in the mountains. Bad weather prevented their
departure until the following morning and they only just managed to escape under
the noses of the encircling Americans. Galland had hoped to battle on with JV44
but the unsuitable mountain airfields prevented the famous fighter wing from
doing much to delay the inevitable. So the beautiful Alpine meadows became the
final resting place for what was potentially the most formidable fighter unit of
the war. In just a few days the jets were left abandoned. Their short,
exhilarating war, consigned to history. |
