Leopold Steinbatz

By 11 June he had 95 victories, but on 15 June, he dived into a larger group of Soviet fighters. After claiming three quick victories (to take his score to 99) and eager to be the first NCO to top the century mark, he pursued them into a heavily defended AA zone. His Bf 109F4 "Yellow 2" was hit by Soviet AA fire and plummeted into the forests near Volzhansk, killing Steinbatz, although his body was never found. Eight days later, on 23 June, Leopold "Bazi" Steinbatz was awarded the Schwerter (Swords to the Knight's Cross) - this time becoming the only NCO in the entire Wehrmacht to be awarded this honour. He was also promoted to Leutnant. His 99 victories on the Eastern Front had been scored in only about 300 combat missions, and at the time, he was the 11th-ranking ace in the Luftwaffe.

But a large Soviet counter-attack in May, south of Kharkov, forced III./JG 52 to be urgently dispatched to that sector. The Gruppe claimed 89 victories in just its first two days over Kharkov, with Graf becoming the first pilot in JG 52 to reach the century (on 14 May). Ofw Steinbatz got his 75th on 20 May, and although the ground offensive was blunted by the next day, the intense aerial combat continued. He claimed four victories apiece on 1 and 2 June and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub) on 2 June for the 83 victories to date - being the first NCO in the Luftwaffe to receive this honour.

Hermann Graf was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernes Kreuzes) on 24 January 1942 for 42 victories and Steinbatz received the German Cross in Gold (Deutsches Kreuz in Gold) the day after. On 14 February, he too was awarded the Knight's Cross for also reaching 42 victories, and sent on extended leave. Graf was promoted to Staffelkapitän of 9./JG 52 in March, and by the beginning of April, his unit had racked up over 200 victories in Russia, for the loss of only 8 pilots of their own. When the unit transferred to the Crimea at the end of April, the pair took off on an unprecedented victory spree. The opening of the next Axis offensive was against the fortress of Sevastopol and the Kerch peninsula with very rugged defence. In two weeks, Graf's squadron shot down 93 aircraft, without any loss. Steinbatz claimed 7 victories on 8 May to take his own score to 58.

During the Invasion of Yugoslavia of April 1941, III./JG 52 was kept back in reserve to guard the Ploiești oil installations. On 15 May, III./JG 52 was moved to Athens and together with other Luftwaffe units, flews its first combat missions in support of the Battle of Crete. During this campaign, Steinbatz flew multiple ground support missions against Greek forces and other Allied forces.

World War II in Europe had begun on Friday, 1 September 1939, when German forces invaded Poland. Steinbatz was transferred to 2. Staffel (6th squadron) of the Ergänzungsgruppe of Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52—52nd Fighter Wing), a supplementary and training fighter group of JG 52. There he first met Hermann Graf, his future wingman on the Eastern Front. In August 1940, Steinbatz was transferred to 9. Staffel (9th squadron) of JG 52, a squadron of III. Gruppe (3rd Group) and was then assigned to the Luftwaffenmission Rumänien (Luftwaffe Mission Romania) under the command of Generalleutnant Wilhelm Speidel. The military mission from Germany supported General Ion Antonescu in the reorganization of his country's armed forces. III./JG 52 was transferred to Bucharest in mid-October and temporarily renamed I./Jagdgeschwader 28 (I./JG 28) until 4 January 1941.

Leopold Steinbatz (25 October 1918 – 23 June 1942) was a German Luftwaffe fighter ace during World War II and the only non-officer recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords during World War II. He was "ace-in-a-day" twice, shooting down five aircraft on a single day.

Steinbatz was born on 25 October 1918 in Stammersdorf, present-day in Floridsdorf, one of the district of Vienna, in Austria-Hungary. In his youth, he learned to fly glider aircraft and received a vocational education as a butcher. Following his vocational education, he joined the Austrian Air Force and received pilot training with Flieger-Ausbildungsregiment (Flight Training Regiment) in Wiener Neustadt on 1 October 1937. Following the Anschluss in March 1938, the forced incorporation of Austria into Nazi Germany, was transferred to the Luftwaffe and was trained as a fighter pilot at the Jagdfliegerschule in Wien-Aspern.