PEEBLES PROFILES
EPISODE 194
Karl Allmenröder
MEDIC TURNED ACE
The son of a Lutheran minister, Julius Karl “Karlchen” Allmenröder was born in Wald (in the Rhine Province) on May 3, 1896. Quiet, amiable, and dutiful, young Karl wanted to practice medicine. He soon became a medical student in Marburg.
But when the Great War began in August 1914, the eighteen-year-old Allmenröder began training as an artilleryman with Field Artillery Regiment Number 62. He was then transferred to Field Artillery Regiment Number 20 for duty.
In January 1915, Allmenröder returned to Field Artillery Regiment Number 62. As he fought the Russian “steamroller” in Poland, Allmenröder was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class in March 1915. He was also commissioned as a lieutenant by month’s end. In August 1915, Allmenröder was awarded the Friedrich August Cross, First Class.
Both Karl and his older brother Wilhelm were transferred to the Fliegertruppe (Imperial German Air Service) on March 16, 1916. Karl was sent for training at Halberstadt. He flew two-seaters as an artillery spotter in Flieger Abteilung Artillerie (Flier Detachment Artillery) Number 227 before joining Jagdstaffel 11 in November 1916.
After the ascension of “The Red Baron” Manfred von Richthofen in early 1917, Jagdstaffel 11 became one of the German Army’s premier fighter squadrons. Allmenröder’s career as an air ace was a short (but spectacular) string of single and double victories. He achieved his triumphs flying a scarlet Albatros D.III… with a white nose and elevators for personal markings. The Red Baron often chose Allmenröder as a wingman!
Allmenröder’s first victim was a BE.2c from Royai Flying Corps Squadron Number 16 at noon on February 17, 1917. He scored four more victories the following month, becoming an ace on March 30th. Six days prior to this achievement, Allmenröder was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class for valor.
By the end of April 1917, Allmenröder’s victory count stood at nine. In May, he shot down thirteen more enemy aircraft. On the 13th, Allmenröder (with eleven wins) was named deputy squadron commander while Richthofen was on leave. Karl shot down two British machines that same day for victory numbers twelve and thirteen. The young ace continued to inflict casualties on the Royal Flying Corps over the next eleven days, shooting down five enemy planes.
On May 25th, Allmenröder shot down a British Nieuport 23 on his morning flight… and a DH.4 in the evening, raising his total tally to twenty. That same day, he was slightly wounded in combat. But it did not prevent Allmenröder from shooting down New Zealand ace Captain Alan Scott three days later!
On June 6, 1917, Allmenröder was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Royal Hohenzollern House Order. Eight days later, he received Imperial Germany’s most prestigious award, the Pour le Mérite.Then on June 15th, Manfred von Richthofen (the man who had appointed Allmenröder acting commanding officer) returned from leave and resumed command… which lasted eight days!
Victory number twenty-nine was achieved on June 25th against Canadian ace Flight Lieutenant Gerald Ewart Nash (who became a prisoner). Allmenröder had taken permanent command of Jagdstaffel 11 that same day. Richthofen had been promoted to command Germany’s first fighter wing, Jagdgeschwader 1 (better known as The Flying Circus”).
The end of June 1917 saw Jagdstaffel 11 in frequent clashes with the opposing Canadian and British pilots of the Royal Naval Air Service. On the morning of the 24th, Allmenröder killed Robert Saunders of Naval 10… perishing in his Sopwith triplane. Then on the evening of the 25th, Canadian ace Gerald Ewart Nash pounced on Allmenröder. After an epic dogfight, Nash was shot down and crashed behind enemy lines. On June 26th, Allmenröder shot down a Nieuport for his 30th victory… a little over four months after his first!
DEATH
The next day, Allmenröder split his force into thirds… flying at medium height as a decoy while another three Germans lurked high above. A Naval 10 evening patrol fell for the trap, diving swiftly on the bait trio. As the Sopwith triplanes dove to attack, the high German trio swooped down on the British, led by Raymond Collishaw. Realizing that the second German force was on his tail, Collishaw took a hasty long-range shot at a lower level Albatros D.V. Soon he found himself embroiled in a dogfight with the Germans attacking his rear.
But according to British pilots, the head of Jagdstaffel 11 had crashed! It has been suggested that this particular Albatros was indeed Allmenröder. However, Karl was reportedly killed eight hours prior to that incident. Another possibility was that anti-aircraft fire brought down the German ace that morning.
In any case, German infantry retrieved Allmenröder’s body the night of June 27, 1917. The crashed Albatros was so embedded in a hasty cemetery of casualties from the year before… that it took two hours to disinter Allmenröder from the decomposing bodies around him!
On Thursday the 28th, Gerald Ewart Nash heard church bells chiming from his hospital bed. A guard told him that they were funeral bells for Karl Allmenröder, who died in German-held Zillebeke, Belgium at the age of only twenty-one!
Allmenröder was interred at the Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery in Wald. “The Red Baron” Manfred von Richthofen attended the services to honor his fallen friend…
DECORATIONS AND AWARDS
– Pour le Merite (June 14, 1917)
– Knights Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern (June 6, 1917)
– Iron Cross, First and Second Class
– Friedrich August Cross, First and Second Class (Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, July 20, 1917)
– Militar Kronen Orden (Bavaria)