Abschuss Stocks?

[Jagdpanzer]

Looking through several images of various German fighter pilots, most seem to have "abschuss stocks" or victory sticks in their possession when photographed in a casual setting. I am wondering, can anyone provide me some details on a typical abschuss stock?

Were they hand made by each pilot? Were the victory markings usually carved, or were some painted on the stick? Finally, has a genuine one ever surfaced?

[Volker_Nemsch]

I heard somewhere that Anthony Fokker presented those sticks to pilots on several occasions. In this connetion it was said that the sticks were made of unusable or broken wooden propeller blades.

I´m sure that the pilots took these pretty unusual sticks back home as a souvenir after the war and probably some have "survived" the decades up to now.

[Gregvan]

Hi,

Many fighter pilots on both sides affected the use of walking sticks as a bit of panache. The only reference I've seen to a true "victory stick" is in the caption to a photo said to portray Gefreiter Erich Mix of Jasta 54s, in an article by Christophe Cony and Pierre Martin in "Avions" magazine, No. 74, Mai 1999. The photo shows a pilot and mechanic of Jasta 54s in front of a Fokker D.VII marked with a 'V' insignia, enclosing a skull and crossbones. The pilot holds a walking stick which the caption says is an 'abschuss stock'. The captions mentions two white stripes on the stick (though I cannot make them out) and says they denote victories. I have used this photo myself in two publications, captioned as Erich Mix (and his abscuss stock) and his aircraft, though I am now reliably informed by an eminent historian that the pilot in the photo is actually Ltn. Vogt of Jasta 54, and not Mix! (This would help explain the 'V' insignia). As Vogt had only one confirmed victory, the striping of the cane or stick to denote victories becomes something of a moot point.

Ed Ferko revealed that when Jasta Boelcke received their Fokker Triplanes, "with his usual flair, Fokker had sent walking sticks turned from scrap propellers for each pilot." These walking sticks show up in various photos of Jasta Boelcke pilots, but I've never noticed that any were striped to denote victories.

Then of course, there is the famous 'Geschwaderstock', the knobbed stick of Richthofen which was passed down to Reinhard and Goering. According to Alex Imrie, this was a "gift from some Unteroffiziere who had carved it while under enemy fire in the front-line trenches." Richthofen prized it because it affirmed his bond with the ordinary front-line ground troops.

I would imagine that walking sticks in other units came from a similar wide variety of sources, and that some were probably made by the flying unit's ground personnel themselves.

Greg VanWyngarden

[Jagdpanzer]

Gentlemen, thank you for the interesting responses. Greg, I have seen the "Mix" photo you spoke of in "DVII Aces Vol.2", and that photo along with the Richthofen one sparked my interest in this subject.

In the purported Mix photo I couldn't discern any marking on the stick either! The knarled or knobbed Richthofen stick had me wondering if perhaps each ring was representative of a victory, (since there were quite a few on this stick) but it could just as easily have been merely the fashion in which it was carved.

Perhaps the abschuss stock was the ancestor of the carved "wolchostock" that was presented by members of the Wehrmacht to respected officers in World War Two. These were hand carved with intricate symbols appropriate to each particular unit.

It's interesting to speculate if the abschuss stocks were all symbolically important to the owners or whether they simply served as walking sticks!

[Jim]

Just wondering - might there have been a relationship to the swagger stick which were holdovers from officer's riding crops from the calvary?

[VtwinVince]

I have photos of my uncle with his stock, obviously an affectation of the time. It is undecorated. I think the practice of denoting abschuesse on the stock didn't really come into its own until Luftwaffe pilots did this later.

[greatwarpilot]

Originally Posted by Gregvan

Then of course, there is the famous 'Geschwaderstock', the knobbed stick of Richthofen which was passed down to Reinhard and Goering.

It is known what eventualy happened to this particular item?