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Wakeup
Call!
with free companion print
Robert Bailey
January 1st., 1945. Fuel bowsers explode amongst
parked Typhoons as Staffelkapitan Siegfried Mueller and his wingman
Feldwebel Oscar Boesch of 1V/JG-3, lead a surprise strafing attack
on Eindhoven aerodrome, Holland.
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Operation Bodenplatte
As 1944 came to a close, Germany
stood defiant. She was surrounded by the advancing Russian
Juggernaut on her eastern border, and the American and British
armies and air forces in the west. Her industrialized cities
lay in ruins, victims to the incessant day and night bombing
campaigns by the allies. The German population had grown weary
after nearly three years of worsening news and ever increasing
hardships in supporting the war effort.
One of Germany's last desperate attempts to reverse the tide
of war was initiated on January 1st, 1945 in "Operation
Bodenplatte". It was designed to deliver a fatal blow
to the Western Allied Forces by destroying their parked and
fueling planes on the ground early in the morning. Instead,
it was a disaster from which the Luftwaffe would never recover.
Every available front line combat aircraft, consisting of
over 800 Luftwaffe planes, were utilized for the attack at
allied airfields west of the battle line. The series of air
raids cost the Luftwaffe a price in pilots and planes they
could not afford to lose. At day's end, over 230 pilots and
300 planes were lost, while the Allies lost about 200 planes
and a small number of pilots. In addition, the loss of nearly
30 Luftwaffe Commanders was a cost that was not realized until
to late. Clearly, it was a campaign born out of desperation.
Germany had spent its last hope of a turn-around in the conflict
and had lost. The road to defeat for Germany would be shorter
now, and would end a few months later in Unconditional Surrender.
In Robert Bailey's combat painting "Wakeup
Call!", raiding Focke
Wulf 190's of IV/JG-3, and Messerschmitt 109's are seen strafing
the airfield at Eindhoven, Holland. Confusion reigns on the
ground, with pilots and ground crews scrambling for slit trenches
and foxholes. German fighters streak across the aerodrome,
pumping cannon shells into every allied airplane they see. |
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Sheet size:
23 1/2" high x 34" wide.
| Wakeup
Call! by Robert Bailey |
| 200 Eagles
Edition w/SIX co-signatures. |
US
$295 |
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| 30 Artist's
Proofs w/SIX co-signatures. |
US
$340 |
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| 30 Remarqued
Edition w/SIX co-signatures. |
US
$475 |
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| 25 Luftwaffe
Edition w/ELEVEN signatures. |
US
$350 |
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Companion Print:
Every 'Wakeup
Call!' print is accompanied
by a matched number of 'Norway
Patrol', from a beautifully
rendered pencil drawing by Robert Bailey. Depicted is Oberleutenant
Kurt Schulze leading a 'schwarm' of Me109's on patrol off
the coast of Norway during October, 1944. 8/JG-5.
Sheet size: 12" high x 17" wide.
Individually signed by Oberleutenant
Kurt Schulze and Robert Bailey.
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Wakeup
Call signers:
Signed in Germany
with Robert Bailey |
 Feldwebel
Oscar Boesch
Joined the Luftwaffe in 1942 and volunteered
for Sturmstaffel 1, a specially formed unit charged with attacking
the heavy daylight bombers. On his first mission he downed a
B-17 but was almost killed when he flipped his Fw 190 on landing.
On his second mission he was shot down while attacking a formation
of B-24's, although he downed one of them. His good luck helped
him survive through eight Fw 190's that he totaled while in
action. Boesch has 18 confirmed victories and was awarded the
Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class. On his last of 120 combat sorties,
he collided with a Yak-9 west of Berlin, was captured by the
Russians and escaped. Today, he still flies at air shows in
the U.S. and Canada.
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|  Unteroffizier
Herbert Dosch
Is from Darmstadt and entered the
Luftwaffe in 1940. He flew the Fw 44, Kl 35, Bu 131, Bu 181,
Arado 66, Arado 96, Fw 56, Devotine520, He 51, Me 108, Me
109 and Fw 190. His first mission was in the Fw 190. In 1944
he was in the Home Defense with II/JG-1and was credited with
his first victory. During his 7th mission, he was wounded
and parachuted. He flew in France during the Allied invasion,
and was wounded again. At the end of 1944 a Spitfire again
caused him to use his parachute. During Operation Bodenplatte
his target was the airport at St. Denis-Westrem in Belgium.
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 Staffelkapitan
Richard Franz
Joined the Luftwaffe in 1940. By
June of 1942 he was in Africa with 9/JG-27, escorting Stuka
missions. After recovering from malaria he was with 3/JG-77
in September 1943, flying missions on various fronts in Italy.
He then volunteered for Sturmstaffel 1 and was later with
7/JG-11 as Staffelkapitan. While with this unit, he flew in
Operation Bodenplatte, striking two allied airfields near
Maastricht, Netherlands. Near war's end he was shot down by
Russian fighters and spent three years in captivity. He has
23 victories, plus 4 Russian T-34 tanks. Decorations include
the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, Flight Clasp in Bronze,
Silver and Gold.
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 Staffelkapitan
Siegfried Mueller
Was born in Silkau and joined the
Luftwaffe in 1941. During 1943 and 1944 he was with JG-51
in Italy, Sturmstaffel 1 in Berlin, and IV Gruppe JG-3. In
April 1945 he flew with JG-7 and was made a P.O.W. by the
Americans at war's end. He racked up 181 sorties, with 17
victories on the Western Front and 3 in the East, for a total
of 20. He had two bailouts and five crash landings. Mueller
led JG-3 into the attack on Eindhoven during Operation Bodenplatte
in "Red 10". Decorations include the Iron Cross
1st and 2nd Class and German Cross in Gold.
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 Leutnant
Theo Nau
Joined the Luftwaffe in 1943. His
first missions were in home defense with 7/JG-11 and later
during the German offensive in the Ardennes. The "Bodenplatte"
mission took him to Asch in Holland, striking P-47's. On January
14th, 1945, he was shot down by Capt. Joe Cordner of the 365th
Fighter Group. Lt. Nau parachuted from his stricken aircraft
and after some time in hospital, joined JG-77 in Czechoslovakia.
His last flight was in an Me 109 on May 8th, 1945. At war's
end he was a P.O.W. of the Americans and was turned over to
the Russians. He escaped and fled to West Germany, where he
was released by U.S. occupation troops.
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 Oberleutnant
Kurt Schulze
Began his service as a cadet in 1939.
As a wireless operator, he flew in Me 110's over southern Russia
with 3.(F)11. From 1942 - 44 he was Communications and Navigation
Officer of 1/KG-2 and flew night missions to England as a navigator
in Do 217's. While with KG-2, he became a pilot and in 1944,
flew Me 109G's with III.JG-5 from northern Finland and Norway.
There, he participated in photo reconnaissance missions over
Murmansk, (F)124. In early 1945 he commanded 1/JG-51 in Gdansk,
where he flew the last of his 103 missions and ended the war
commanding 13/JG-5 in Norway. He was credited with 3 victories
and holds the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, Flight Clasp, etc.
After the war, he spent two years as a P.O.W. in France. |
 Unteroffizier
Fritz Wiener
Joined the Luftwaffe in 1942 at the
age of 17. In 1944 he briefly served with Jagdgruppe 200 during
the Allied invasion. In October 1944 he was transferred to II.7/JG-11.
In mid December the unit was ordered to support German ground
troops in the Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge) and participated
in Operation Bodenplatte. Mid January saw Wiener re-deployed
to Berlin/Straussberg to fight advancing Soviet forces. On January
29th, 1945, he was shot down by Soviet flak and severely wounded.
He was hospitalized until the war's end, having completed about
25 missions.
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