Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen

This page contains information and pictures related to the most famous pupil of Oswald Boelcke - Manfred, Freiherr von Richthofen. There are still a lot of not so known pictures to be added, including pictures of Manfred as a two year old child, pictures of his mother and the not so known aircraft that he flew. I will add those pictures one by one after scanning and editing has been finished.

In the region of Arlon - Virton - Étalle in Belgium, Manfred von Richthofen received his second baptism of fire as a member of the "Silesian Uhlan Regiment Nr. 1, Emperor of Russia Alexander III". The battles were fierce but there were also atrocities committed against the civil population in Belgium and France as the Germans invaded the countries. Even Manfred von Richthofen talked about civilians from Arlon being put to the wall and monks hung on lantern poles in his book "Der rote Kampfflieger". Because this book had been published under heavy censorship during the war, it does not contain much details about the events so I decided to start research to find out what really happened in the regions Manfred von Richthofen operated in with his Uhlans in 1914. 

I found out that a lot of things written in Manfred v. Richthofens book was not true because things got falsified by the German propaganda and censorship. For instance: Manfred v. Richthofen talked about having spend one night at a monastry where the monks had been very friendly. But nevertheless, on the other morning "some of these gentlemen had been hanging from lantern poles because they wanted to play war too". Facts: There was no active monastry in von Richthofen's range of action at that time! The actual monastry of Orval had been build in 1926 only! The clergymen hung by the Germans had been five catholic priests who had been executed with the reason that they had allowed French cavalry accessing the steeples of their churches for battle field reconnaissance. However, the clergymen had not been executed by von Richthofen's regiment. It is more likely that Manfred von Richthofen spend a night at a catholic boarding school which had then been changed to a monastry in his story.

Notice: If you have any information about the Uhlan Regiment of Manfred von Richthofen "Silesian Uhlan Regiment Nr. 1, Emperor of Russia Alexander III" or if you know details about the events in the region of Luxembourg- Arlon-Virton I would appreciate it to hear from you. Please contact me. 

Any feedback, positive or negative is always welcome! 

Gaston Graf, January 19, 2001

1. Table of Victories - a complete list of his victories with dates, locations and types of aircraft he shot downNEW !

2. His last will - see a scan of the original handwritten document and the translation of it. 

3. The aircraft that he flew. 

4. The false story about the death of the Red Baron - a report written in the late 1920's and printed in the 1933 edition of Manfred's book "Der rote Kampfflieger".
   This article is currently being revised and will be available again soon.

5. Coming home! - translation of the epilogue Bolko von Richthofen wrote in the 1933 edition of "Der rote Kampfflieger". Read the report about the homecoming of Manfred von Richthofen in 1925!

6. The house of the von Richthofen family as it looks like today
   

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