A few years ago, I came across an identification tag stamped with “67401/15.” It was found in a prisoner-of-war camp in southern Germany. 67401 is the mobilization number for the 77. Staffel of the Jagdgeschwaders 53; 15 is the soldier’s individual service record number.
Given the context in which it was found, one would actually expect that the wearer of the insignia was one of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who were taken prisoner by the Americans in southern Germany in May 1945. However, research in the archives has now revealed a truly astonishing story.
The dog tag belonged to Lieutenant Herbert Strasser, born in 1919, from Vienna. He served as a pilot in the III. Gruppe of the Jagdgeschwaders 53, which had been stationed in Le Touquet/Étaples on the English Channel coast since August 1940 and from there flew fighter and escort missions over southeastern England in Bf 109 E aircraft.
cleared up around noon. On this day as well, the Luftwaffe launched another major operation. The first large-scale sortie took place between 10:50 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Heinkel He 111s from KG 1, as well as Do 17s from KG 2 and KG 76, accompanied by Bf 110s from ZG 76 and escort fighters from JG 26, JG 52, JG 53, and JG 53, flew attacks against targets in the Kent area. No sooner had the bomber wings flown over the coast than Royal Air Force interceptors took off. Air combat broke out once again over England.
Oberfeldwebel Erich Rudorffer of the 2./Jagdgeschwader 2, scored his thirteenth aerial victory during those minutes. But the Luftwaffe also suffered losses. That day, Second Leutnant Strasser was flying the Bf 109 E-4 with serial number 5087, the “White 10.” He had taken off from Étaples Air Base at 10:45 a.m. and may have been on a mission to shoot down barrage balloons over the English Channel coast. In any case, at around 11:40 a.m., his aircraft was targeted by a “Hurricane” at an altitude of just under 6,000 meters. A burst of machine-gun fire damaged his Daimler-Benz 601 engine, causing him to lose altitude.
It remains unclear which British pilot shot him down. It may have been Sgt. Geoffrey Goodman of No. 85 Squadron, but it was more likely F/O Harry B. L. Hillcoat of No. 1 Squadron. Leutnant Strasser tried to maintain altitude in order to escape across the English Channel to northern France. But his plane continued to lose altitude. Finally, Strasser jettisoned his canopy. Hillcoat then, in an act of chivalry, flew alongside the damaged Bf 109 and refrained from delivering the final blow. Strasser waved, presumably as a sign of surrender. Northern France was no longer within reach, and when the “White 10” was down to just 460 meters, he parachuted out under Hillcoat’s watchful eye.
A few minutes later, he was captured unharmed on New Winchelsea Road. His Bf 109 E-4 crashed near Strand Bridge in Winchelsea and was completely destroyed. Strasser survived the war, while Hillcoat was killed just two days later during another combat mission. Decades later, the damaged DB-601 engine block from Strasser’s 109 was excavated at the crash site and is now on display at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum.
Strasser was indeed taken prisoner, but not, as previously assumed, in May 1945; rather, he was shot down over England relatively early in the war. The only logical explanation for the discovery of his dog tag in this context is that, after the war ended, he was transferred from a British prisoner-of-war camp to a demobilization camp in southern Germany, where he either turned in his dog tag or disposed of it himself upon his release. Either way, his dog tag is a piece of contemporary history, as he certainly had it with him during the dogfight and his parachute jump over the Channel coast.
Did you find this article interesting? I’ve made this kind of research my hobby. I’ve documented the stories of more than 40 ww2 crashes in my home district in the book *Fliegerschicksale im Landkreis Nürnberger Land*. You can find my book via this link:
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