Horst Rudat

Updated on Oct 06, 2024

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Battles and wars World War II Name Horst Rudat		Battles/wars World War II Commands held II./KG 200LTG 63

Born 3 May 1920Wirtkallen, district Insterburg, East Prussia ( 1920-05-03 ) Allegiance Nazi Germany (to 1945) West Germany Service/branch Luftwaffe (Wehrmacht) Luftwaffe (Bundeswehr) Rank Hauptmann (Wehrmacht)Generalmajor (Bundeswehr) Died August 31, 1982, Laaber, Germany Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Unit Kampfgeschwader 55, Kampfgeschwader 200
Years of service –1945, 1956–1980

Horst Rudat (3 May 1920 − 31 August 1982) was a general in the German Air Force. During World War II, he served in the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany as a bomber pilot.

In the weeks following Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of France, Rudat was tasked with the leadership of a task force in 2./Kampfgeschwader 101. The task force was experimenting with the Mistel, a Luftwaffe aircraft bombing system, based broadly on the parasite aircraft concept. Rudat led a formation of 4 Mistel aircraft against the invasion fleet of off Normandy in the night of 24/25 June 1944. The HMS Nith, a British River class frigate, was damaged killing nine of her crew.

Awards

Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (9 August 1941) & 1st Class (7 September 1941)

Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe (27 May 1942)

German Cross in Gold on 27 July 1942 as Oberleutnant in the 3./KG 55

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 24 March 1943 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 2./KG 55

References

Horst Rudat Wikipedia

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