Date of birth:

October 13th, 1913 (Hasselt-Kleve/Rhineland, Germany)

Date of death:

February 25th, 2002 (Kalkar-Hasselt/North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)

Nationality:

German (1933-1945, Third Reich)

Stephan/Stefan Litjens served with the Bundeswehr from January 22nd, 1956 until March 31st, 1966 and there finally reached the rank of Hauptfeldwebel.
Flew a total of over 444 sorties during WWII. In this time he achieved 38 aerial victories (including 16 in the East and 5 four-engined bombers).

00.00.1936: pre-war fighter pilot's training
00.08.1937: JG 53
00.09.1939: Uffz., 4./ JG 53
16.10.1939-04.11.1939: flight instructor to assist with the formation of II./ JG 53, Wiesbaden
00.06.1940: recorded two victories during the French campaign
00.09.1940: recorded another four victories during the Battle of Britain
25.08.1941: shot down five Russian fighters
11.09.1941: shot down two Russian SB-2 twin-engined bombers to record his 22nd and 23rd victories. Later that day, he was engaged in aerial combat with VVS I-16 and MiG-1 fighters while escorting Ju 87 Stukas. During the dogfight, his Bf 109 F-4 was hit and Litjens was forced to baled out of his stricken aircraft, badly wounded he was fortunate to land in friendly territory. He was soon hospitalised but lost the sight from his right eye
00.10.1942: Obfw., returned to active service with 4./ JG 53 based in Sicily
00.00.1942-00.00.1943: flew missions over Malta before the unit was transferred to Tunisia
00.00.1943: claimed eight Allied aircraft shot down and also flew a number of ground attack missions
12.04.1943: followed a Spitfire down to ground level and shot it down 7 km North of Zembra, recorded as his 31th abschuss
21.06.1943: awarded the Ritterkreuz for 32 victories
00.06.1943: lengthy period of leave
17.11.1943: returned to 4./ JG 53 - flying Reichsverteidigung missions
22.02.1944: shot down three USAAF B-17 four-engined bombers
23.03.1944: downed a further two B-17 bombers and again shot down by return fire making an emergency landing - WIA - suffered an injury to his left eye which resulted in that his days as a fighter pilot was over

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• Photo 1: Willi Schumacher
• - OBERMAIER, E., Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe, Hoffmann, 1989.
  - Die Ordensträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht (CD), VMD-Verlag GmbH, Osnabrück, 2002
  - Fellgiebel W.P., Elite of the Third Reich, The recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939-1945: A Reference, Helion & Company Limited, Solihull, 2003, ISBN 1-874622-46-9
  - Patzwall K., Scherzer V., Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945, Geschichte und Inhaber Band II, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001, ISBN 3-931533-45-X
  - Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945