Hans-Ulrich Rudel: Comparing pilot memoirs with Soviet archives

A historical investigation seeks to compare the combat memoirs of German pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel with Soviet archival records. Rudel, a Ju 87 Stuka pilot, is credited with destroying 519 tanks during 2,530 combat sorties, a figure significantly higher than other cannon-armed Stuka pilots.

The research was prompted by a photograph of an OT-34/76 flamethrower tank, reportedly destroyed by Rudel in Moldavia in May 1944. The study aims to verify the scale of these losses by examining Russian archives to determine the actual impact of Ju 87 attacks on Red Army units and how Soviet commanders reported these engagements.