Heinrich Kroll

Oberleutnant Henrich Claudius Kroll (3 November

189421 February 1930) Pour le Merite, Knights Cross
of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Saxonys
Albert Order Knight Second Class with Swords,[1] Iron
Cross First and Second Class, was a World War I ghter
ace credited with 33 victories.[2]

After being shot down and forced to land by a Caudron in

November 1916, Krolls rst victory was on 1 May 1917,
over a Spad. He downed four more Spads in May, his
fth victory being one of the most signicant victories;
on 25 May 1917, he shot down and killed the man who
was then the second highest scoring ace in the French Air
Force, Ren Dorme.[3] As Krolls diary related, the two
pilots had locked in a circling dogght beginning at 5300
meters (about 17,400 feet) and devolving down to 800
1 Early life
meters (about 2600 feet). Dormes Spad suddenly nosed
over and barreled straight into the ground, bursting into
Kroll was born in the village of Flatzby near Flensburg,
ames upon impact. Dormes body was so disgured it
Germany, the son of a school teacher. Kroll the younger
could only be identied by his watch.[7][8][9]
[1][3]
also aspired to become a teacher.
He passed his examinations at Kiel and was being credentialed as a teacher This victory was inuential in Kroll being appointed comwhen World War I started. He was also active in athletics manding ocer of Royal Saxon Jasta 24 on 1 July 1917.
He would command this unit, with brief interregnums,
as a member of the Kiel sports club.
until just before the end of the war.[10]
He volunteered for service in the Queen Augusta Victoria infantry regiment, Fusilier Regiment No. 86, in He would score once in July, on the 20th.[2] On 27 July he
Flensburg, on 6 August 1914.[4] From there he trans- was shot down in ames[3] by Captain Clive W. Warman
ferred into Reserve Regiment No. 92. He was in heavy of No 23 Squadron, but escaped uninjured. Warmans
ghting around Hartmannswillerkopf in Alsace, the bat- machine gun re set Krolls airplanes carburettor on re,
tle for which began on 31 December 1914. He earned but Kroll killed the engine to starve the ames, tore o his
an Iron Cross Second Class, and was commissioned an oily goggles so he could still see, and landed dead stick,
trailing telephone wires.[11]
ocer in May 1915.
He then applied for a transfer to the Air Service in January On 27 September 1917 with his score at 12, he received the rst Pfalz D.III assigned to his Jasta. The
1916.[3]
Pfalz would almost end his life. Kroll apparently still
used his Albatros D.V, marked with a taijitu on a tan
background.[12] Kroll considered the Pfalz to be the Al2 Aerial Service
batross inferior in performance; He thought the Pfalz the
slower of the two planes, climbed no better, but could
Kroll trained with Replacement Division 3 at Gotha.
be faster in a dive.[13] Whichever aircraft he used, he
From there he went to FA 17 based at Rethel, France,
rounded o 1917 by scoring his 15th victory on 4 Deto y the Rumpler C.I. He was the only ocer pilot in
cember.
FA 17; commonly, in these early days of aviation reconnaissance the observer was an ocer and the pilot a On 25 January 1918, after he shot down a Bristol F.2b
non-commissioned chaueur. Following this practice, Fighter for number 17,[2] the rear spar of the Pfalz he
was ying broke, and the left aileron tore badly, almost
Krolls observer was Lieutenant Holzhausen.
separating from the plane. It took all Krolls skill to land
In October, 1916, two new Albatros ghters were assafely. His complaint to higher authorities gained him a
signed to the unit, and Kroll started ying one occapromise of three Fokker Dr.Is for his Jasta, but nothing
sionally. The unit was reorganized into Royal Prussian
else. He and his Jasta would have to suer with Pfalzes
Jagdstael 9, operating Fokker E.IIIs.[5]
until the new Fokker D.VII arrived on 28 May.[13]
In November 1916 he was posted to Jasta 9. On 12 FebruHis 20th victory on 18 February[2] brought an award of
ary 1917, Kroll was awarded the Iron Cross First Class.
the Knights Cross of the Royal House Order of HohenIt was about this time that Kroll wrote about the diculty
zollern and made him eligible for the Pour le Merite. The
of conrming victories: It is dicult to get conrmation
Blue Max duly arrived on 29 March 1918.
of a victoryespecially the rst one! It must be conrmed
by our own ground troops...this is even more dicult if On 25 May, his Jasta nally received Fokker D.VIIs. At
about this time, Kroll also became the commander of
hazy conditions prevail.[6]
1

Jagdgruppe 12, which consisted of his Jasta 24, and Jastas

44 and 79b. Kroll continued as Jasta 24s leading ace,[14]
steadily racking up his score, mostly against enemy ghters. An SE-5a fell on 9 August 1918 to nish his tally at
33.
On 14 August 1918 he was so seriously wounded in the
left shoulder that he never ew in action again.[3][8]
The 28 victories he scored with Jasta 24 made up almost a third of its 90 claims; he and Friedrich Altemeier
combined for over half the squadron wins. Despite being handicapped by the poorly built Pfalz, the Jasta under Krolls leadership had suered only 15 casualties.[10]
Most striking of all, only four of Krolls victims had been
two seater reconnaissance aircraft. Kroll shot down about
as many enemy ghters as his more famous compatriot,
Manfred von Richthofen.[2][15]

Post war

The end of the war saw him an Oberleutnant. He then

joined the Hamburg Police as a captain. While there he
witnessed the attempted Kapp Putsch against the Weimar
government. In its aftermath he recovered the body of
fellow ghter ace Rudolf Berthold, who had been murdered by German communists.
There followed a quiet period during which he was a
clerk.
He joined the Hamburg Flying Club in 1928[1] and reclaimed his pilots license. He ew pioneer commercial
aviation routes to Berlin and to the northern islands. He
also used a Junkers F 13, which was the rst all-metal
civil aviation craft, for sightseeing ights over Hamburg.
He died of pneumonia on 21 February 1930[1] and was
buried in Ohlsdorf Cemetery in Hamburg.
The Luft Hansa later named one of its Junkers 52/3m
transports HEINRICH KROLL (D-AHUS,W.Nr.4049)
to honour him.[16]

See also
Kapp Putsch

Inline citations

[1] Fokker D.VII Aces of World War I Part 2. p. 43.

[2] http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/kroll.php
[3] Albatros Aces of World War I. p. 28.
[4] Albatros Aces of World War I Part 2. p. 14.
[5] http://www.theaerodrome.com/services/germany/jasta/
jasta9.php

REFERENCES/EXTERNAL LINKS

[6] Albatros Aces of World War I Part 2. p. 30.

[7] Albatros Aces of World War I Part 2. p. 39.
[8] Spad VII Aces of World War I. p. 19.
[9] Group le Combat 12, 'Les Cigognes: Frances Ace Fighter
Group in World War I. pp. 4647.
[10] http://www.theaerodrome.com/services/germany/jasta/
jasta24.php
[11] Spad VII Aces of World War I. pp. 4647.
[12] Albatros Aces of World War I Part 2. p. 72.
[13] Pfalz Scout Aces of World War I. p. 55.
[14] Fokker D.VII Aces of World War I Part 2. p. 44.
[15] http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/
richthofen2.php
[16] http://hugojunkers.pytalhost.com/ju_ju52_p1.htm

6 References/External links
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/
kroll.php
de:Heinrich Kroll
http://www.flieger-album.de/geschichte/portraits/
portraitheinrichkroll.php
Albatros Aces of World War 1, Part 2. Greg VanWyngarden. Osprey Publishing, 2007. ISBN 184603-179-6, ISBN 978-1-84603-179-3.
Groupe de Combat 12, 'Les Cigognes: Frances Ace
Fighter Group in World War 1. Jon Guttman. Osprey Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-84176-753-0, ISBN
978-1-84176-753-6.
Pfalz Scout Aces of World War 1. Greg VanWyngarden. Osprey Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-84176998-3, ISBN 978-1-84176-998-1.
SPAD VII Aces of World War I. Jon Guttman and
Harry Dempsey. Osprey Publishing, 2001. ISBN
1-84176-222-9, ISBN 978-1-84176-222-7.
Fokker D VII Aces of World War 1: Part 2. Norman Franks,et al. Osprey Publishing, 2004. ISBN
1-84176-729-8, ISBN 978-1-84176-729-1.

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