Peter Werfft

Dr. Peter Werfft-Wessely (Wien, 8 October 1904 – 23 July 1970), an Austrian chemist, was a Luftwaffe fighter ace in World War II, and a chemical industry entrepreneur after the war. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Dr. chem. Peter Werfft
Born	(1904-10-08)8 October 1904 Wien, Austria
Died	23 July 1970(1970-07-23) (aged 65) Wien, Austria
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Luftwaffe
Years of service	1940 or earlier - 1945
Rank	Major
Unit	JG 27
Commands held	III./JG 27
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of Britain Unternehmen Bodenplatte
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Other work	chemist

Luftwaffe ace in World War II

As a Gefreiter flying with I/JG 27 Werfft participated in the Battle of Britain; the two air victories which he scored against RAF Hawker Hurricane fighters on 27 September 1940 was his first.

Werrft served with JG 27 in North Africa during 1941-42, claiming five kills over the Desert Air Force. Werfft was commissioned as a Leutnant (Lieutenant) in late 1942. Service over Greece and the Balkans followed in 1943, where he claimed the destruction of a P-38 Lightning and three USAAF heavy bombers.

Werfft claimed 11 more heavies in 1944, he was a Hauptmann (Captain) by October 1944. He was awarded the Ritterkreuz on 28 January 1945.

At the end of World War II he was a Major and gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 27, flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 fighter ("Yellow One") with a green fuselage band signifying dedication to Reich strategic airspace defence; he also had a total of 26 air kills.

On 3 May 1945 he disbanded his III./JG 27 in the Austrian Alps near Saalbach, together with the acting unit commander Hauptmann Emil Clade, eventually becoming a prisoner of war of the United States.

Pharmaceutical entrepreneur

Returning to Austria after his release from captivity, Werfft established InterChemie GmbH, a Vienna-based pharmaceutical and chemical limited liability enterprise, in 1948. Among the first commercial activities of the fledgling trading company in this difficult post-war period was the Austrian sales representation for certain American Cyanamid products. By 1961 the firm had been restructured into a successor company, Werfft-Chemie GmbH. In the years following the founder's death in 1970, Werfft-Chemie continued, initially as a family-run business, but met with increasing economic difficulties. It was taken over by the Austrian Sanochemia Pharmazeutika Group in 1983 and was subsequently converted to a purely veterinary medicine company. The legacy of Werfft-Chemie survives under the name Alvetra u. Werfft AG, a Sanochemia company with subsidiaries in several central and eastern European countries.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

Werfft was credited with 26 enemy aircraft shot down, all of which on the Western Front, including five in North Africa. This figure includes 14 four-engined bombers.[1]

  This along with the * (asterisk) indicates an Herausschuss (separation shot)—a severely damaged heavy bomber forced to separate from his combat box which was counted as an aerial victory.

Chronicle of aerial victories
Victory	Date	Time	Type	Location	Unit	Victory	Date	Time	Type	Location	Unit
– Claims with I. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 –[2] On the Channel Front — June – October 1940
1	27 September 1940	10:10	Hurricane	Sevenoaks	1./JG 27	2	27 September 1940	—	Hurricane	north Brighton	1./JG 27
– Claims with I. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 –[3] In North Africa — April 1941 – October 1942
3	19 July 1941	18:05	P-40	Bay of Sollum	1./JG 77
– Claims with III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 –[4] Defense of the Reich — March 1944 – May 1945
12	19 March 1944	13:50	B-24	southeast Marburg	9./JG 77	20	12 May 1944	12:30	B-17	30 km (19 mi) north-northeast Hanau	9./JG 77
13	19 March 1944	—	B-24	southeast Marburg	9./JG 77	21*	19 May 1944	13:15	B-24	east Helmstedt	9./JG 77
14	2 April 1944	10:38	B-24	northwest Wolfsberg [Note 1]	9./JG 77	22	19 May 1944	13:30	B-24	east Helmstedt	9./JG 77
15	2 April 1944	10:42	B-24	northwest Wolfsberg	9./JG 77	23	17 December 1944	14:25	P-47	northeast Coesfeld	9./JG 77
16	6 April 1944	16:25	B-17	east Marburg	9./JG 77	24	23 December 1944	12:05	P-47	20 km (12 mi) southwest Bonn	9./JG 77
17	12 April 1944	11:50	B-24	15 km (9.3 mi) northeast Eisenstadt	9./JG 77	25	27 December 1944	11:10	P-38	10 km (6.2 mi) east Dinant	9./JG 77
18*	12 April 1944	12:00	B-24	south Ödenburg	9./JG 77	26	27 December 1944	11:20	P-38	10 km (6.2 mi) northwest Losheim	9./JG 77
19*	23 May 1944	13:45	B-24	40 km (25 mi) east-southeast Raab	9./JG 77

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class
• Honour Goblet of the Luftwaffe (Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe) on 15 July 1944[1]
• German Cross in Gold on 23 July 1944 as Leutnant in the III./Jagdgeschwader 27[5]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 28 January 1945 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of the III./Jagdgeschwader 27[6][Note 2]

Notes

1. It is not easy to identify this Wolfsberg. The combats either side of the ones near Wolfsberg (14 days earlier and 4 days later) were near Marburg, which is in Hesse; all were against U.S. bombers. It seems reasonable to assume that Werfft was stationed at the same aerodrome throughout. Several places called Wolfsberg are listed in English Wikipedia; several more are listed at de:Wolfsberg in German Wikipedia. None is in Hesse, and the only one which is both in modern Germany and in 1944 had the status of a town rather than a district of a town is Wolfsberg, Thuringia, a place of little or no military significance with about 3,500 inhabitants. It is possible that "Wolfsberg" is an error for Wolfsburg, the site of the Volkswagen headquarters and main factory, population 124,000 in 2018, 270 kilometres (170 mi) from Marburg and therefore within flying distance.
2. According to Scherzer as Oberleutnant of the Reserves[7]

References

Citations

1. Obermaier 1989, p. 222.
2. Prien, Rodeike & Stemmer 1998, p. 562.
3. Prien, Rodeike & Stemmer 1998, p. 563.
4. Prien, Rodeike & Stemmer 1995, pp. 348–351.
5. Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 507.
6. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 443.
7. Scherzer 2007, p. 779.

Bibliography

• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Obermaier, Ernst (1989). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe Jagdflieger 1939 – 1945 [The Knight's Cross Bearers of the Luftwaffe Fighter Force 1939 – 1945] (in German). Mainz, Germany: Verlag Dieter Hoffmann. ISBN 978-3-87341-065-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Prien, Jochen; Rodeike, Peter; Stemmer, Gerhard (1995). Messerschmitt Bf 109 im Einsatz bei der III. und IV./Jagdgeschwader 27, 1938 – 1945 [Messerschmidt Bf 109 in Action with the III. and IV./Jagdgeschwader 27, 1938 – 1945] (in German). Eutin, Germany: Struve-Druck. ISBN 978-3-923457-30-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Prien, Jochen; Rodeike, Peter; Stemmer, Gerhard (1998). Messerschmidt Bf 109 im Einsatz bei Stab und I./Jagdgeschwader 27, 1939 – 1945 [Messerschmidt Bf 109 in Action with the Headquarters Unit and I./Jagdgeschwader 27, 1939 – 1945] (in German). Eutin, Germany: Struve-Druck. ISBN 978-3-923457-46-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)