Kurt Bühligen
The following recommendation for promotion, dated December 5, 1942, requests promotion for Luftwaffe fighter pilot Kurt Bühligen to the grade of first lieutenant.
“Lieutenant Bühligen’s intellectual and physical attributes are above average. He is tough and persevering; a decent, open-minded character, very reliable, well-liked by superiors, the men under him and within his circle of comrades. He has good technical capabilities and for weeks substituted for the Technical Officer of the group. Since July 3, 1942, he has been the action commander of the 4th Squadron and (from November 5, 1942 on) as Squadron Commander and has proven himself very well in flying as well as troop duty. He possesses élan, pulls the men in his command along with him and knows how to differentiate between the essential and nonessential. Bühligen is generous. Lieutenant Bühligen has proven himself in more than 100 combat missions. On September 6, 1941, he received the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. To date, he has shot down 27 enemy planes. Bühligen has initiative and knows how to respond in every situation. He is a National Socialist.” (Luftwaffe Efficiency and Promotion Reports for the Knight’s Cross Winners)
During the war, Kurt Bühligen shot down 112 enemy aircraft in over 700 operations, becoming the fourth highest Luftwaffe ace against the Western Allies. Kurt Bühligen died at Nidda, Hesse on August 11, 1985.
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Known to many G.I.s as the “Continental Stockade,” the Loire Disciplinary Training Center – which officially opened on December 5, 1944 – was a rough place, because it had rough inmates, over 1,600 in January 1945. The Army believed that anything less strict would invite many G.I.s to “ride out the war” behind the front in comparative safety, rather than face combat. The stockade administration ensured that each prisoner worked eight hours per weekday, including three hours of hard labor. Incarcerated soldiers participated in thirty minutes of physical training and thirty additional minutes of close-order drill every weekday. Soldiers lived in two-man pup tents; administration personnel were located in red brick buildings. The “Continental Stockade” had ominous trappings: soldiers condemned to death wore distinctive black uniforms. (American Hangman: MSgt. John C. Woods: The United States Army’s Notorious Executioner in World War II and Nürnberg)