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Although of Jewish decent, or a Mischling under the National Socialist's Nürnberg laws, Oskar "Ossi" Romm joined the Luftwaffe in 1939 and trained as a fighter pilot from July 1941 to August 1942. On 11 September 1942 he was posted to JG 51 based on the Eastern Front. Uffz. Romm flew his first combat mission on 29 September and ended up belly-landing his aircraft with some minor injuries. His second flight ended up somewhat better as he scored his first victory by shooting down a Russian Il-2 Sturmovik on 4 December, but this was followed by another belly-landing and further injuries. It took a bit of time but eventually he enjoyed spectacular success. He shot down three enemy aircraft on 13 July 1943 to record his 18th through 20th victories, five on 14 August and six on 20 August. From late August 1943, Romm undertook a period of instructing with Ergänzung-Jagdgruppe Ost. He returned to 1./JG 51 in January of 1944. He shot down six enemy aircraft on 5 February thereby reaching a total of 76 victories. On 1 June 1944, Lt. Romm was transferred to the Stab IV./JG 3 on Reichsverteidigung duties. On 7 July, he was appointed Staffelkapitän of 15./JG 3 and shot down his first four-engine bomber on this day. In all he In November 1944, Romm was appointed Staffelkapitän of 4./JG 3 and then went to the Stabsschwarm of I./EJG 1. On 18 February 1945, Romm was named Gruppenkommandeur of IV./JG 3 by then posted to the Eastern Front. Here the Gruppe undertook fighter-bomber and ground attack missions against the advancing Russian army. Romm was credited with 34 tanks destroyed as well as many other vehicles. He recorded a further six victories to bring his victory total to 92. Romm flew his last combat mission of the war on 24 April 1945. During aerial combat with Russian Il-2 Sturmoviks south of Stettin his machine started to overheat quickly and in the subsequent crash-landing he was severely injured. Over a year earlier on 29 February 1944 he had been awarded the Rittekreuz as an Oberfeldwebel. However what is even more amazing in light of his racial origins, was his award of the German Cross in Gold in October 1943, a Nazi party recognition for "repeated acts of bravery in combat" instituted by none other than Adolf Hitler himself. It is known that many recipients of the Rittekreuz did not previously receive the lower ranked Deutsches Kreuz due to their 'dubious' backgrounds. An example is Hauptmann Alfred Grislawski (an Oak Leaves recipient), son of a communist miner, who because of his own left-leaning beliefs did not receive the award. This Erla Leipzig built
G-14 was produced in early October 1944 and was one of the approximately
500 manufactured from the 460xxx to 465xxx Werknummer series.
Note that this Bf 109 has a typical Erla camouflage of large
mottles of RLM 70, 74, and 75 |
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