Werner Hohenberg was posted to 8./JG 52 on the Eastern Front in July 1942, after completing his fighter pilot training at Jagdergänzungsgruppe Ost. His most successful day"in terms of aerial victories"was July 5, 1943, when he achieved four victories. He nevertheless was shot down and severely injured four days later. While he was treated for his wounds, he was awarded with the German Cross in Gold for his previous feats. After recovering from his wounds, Hohenberg was posted to Stab I./JG 2 at Usingen/Germany in November 1944. During the infamous Operation Bodenplatte on January 1, 1945, JG 2 was assigned to attack St Trond Airdrome in Belgium, where U.S. Thunderbolt-equipped 48th FG and 404th FG were stationed. Five JG 2 fighters were shot down by Allied ground fire as they passed the frontline. Another five were destroyed by the antiaircraft artillery at St Trond. Among the latter was the Fw 190 D-9 piloted by Hauptmann Georg Schröder, the Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 2. Then the return flight developed into a virtual gauntlet. With twenty-three pilots and forty-two aircraft lost, JG 2 was the hardest hit Geschwader on January 1, 1945. Counted among the casualties was Feldwebel Werner Hohenberg, who was lucky to survive being shot down, and spent the remainder of the war in an Allied POW camp. Hohenberg carried out a total of two hundred combat sorties during World War II, and achieved thirty-three victories during seventy aerial combats. He was released from British captivity on October 1, 1946.

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