Von Richthofen cause of death

[Skipman]

I have seen a number of sources that tell that Von Richthofen was killed by a single Vickers .303 round which entered under his right armpit exiting at left nipple. I have also read the report by Lieutenant George Travers, 52nd Bn A.I.F. who witnessed the event, who testified that "I went over with other officers and had a look at the plane and also the driver who was dead, a machine gun bullet had passed from the left side of his face and near bottom of jaw and came out just behind his right eye." Was he mistaken and was it later proved to be the torso wound, and was the wound he saw, just the effect of the crash?

 

Report Click

 

Mike

[WhiteStarLine]

Hi Mike, concentrate on the second (and thorough) autopsy report.  The first one was rushed and is seldom quoted.  The second was redone and is generally acknowledged as the authoritative one.

 

All details come from Bean's Diaries and Notebooks Folder 3DLR606/270 Part 1/1 in the AWM and free to download.  My interest is that my grandfather worked for LT Fraser, the first officer to reach him and souvenired a wing fragment that we still have.

 

Each eyewitness account is subtly different but accurately describes what they saw.  LT Mayman was 400 yards away, rushed to the plane and saw one wound, consistent with the second autopsy, "I saw only one wound in the chest of the dead airman".  Brig-Gen Cannan, an eyewitness to the shooting down but not the body retrieval, quotes "shot in the head and chest".  LT Fraser, the Brigade IO, was the first officer to arrive, with six diggers ahead of him.  He undid his seat belt and reported von Richtofen " ... quite dead, and was considerably cut about the face and was apparently shot through the chest and body".  LT Travers reported as you quoted.  All of these are consistent with the autopsy report, remembering von Richtofen's body was thoroughly washed prior to the first post-mortem.  Travers saw a body pulled out of the wreckage with a badly bruised jaw.  His conclusion is understandable and logical - bloodied jaw indicates a bullet.  He did not see the body after it had been washed and was not present at the autopsy.

 

Dr. Barber performed the second autopsy and reported no bullet wound to the head (describing bruising to the jaw) and found one entry and one exit wound.  His letter to Bean details the full post-mortem he conducted and the single bullet "which had evidently passed through the chest & the heart.  There was no wound of the head but there was consequent bruising over the R. Jaw".

 

So my answer is yes to your question:

Quote

was the wound he saw, just the effect of the crash?

 

 

 

[Skipman]

Many thanks for that excellent reply WhitStarLine. Will study that.

 

Mike

[Ken Lees]

"a single Vickers .303 round"

 

No such thing, though. The same round as an SMLE fired, and a Lewis Gun, of course.

[WhiteStarLine]

Good point Ken and I missed that.  Mike probably meant to post it was a single .303 believed at the time to have been fired from a heavier weapon such as a Vickers or Lewis.  This was widely discussed at the time and the ammunition is the same.  Back in school cadets we used to pull .303 rounds from Vickers cloth belts and load them into the SMLE magazine.

 

LT Fraser wrote on the day that Sergeant Popkin was firing an M.G. (Vickers) in the Somme Valley and that subsequently he became aware of other anti-aircraft gunners firing Lewis Guns.  LT Garrett, 3 Sqn Australian Flying Corps, provided Bean with this recollection many years later:

 

[madrid]

Whatever killed him, it was his fatal mistake to pursue May in the Somme valley, the well protected enemy side. Even the best make mistakes. Rest in peace, Manfred.

Edited 23 April , 2020 by madrid

[Andrew Upton]

18 hours ago, Ken Lees said:

"a single Vickers .303 round"

 

No such thing, though. The same round as an SMLE fired, and a Lewis Gun, of course.

 

The rifling on the Vickers and SMLE is a Left-Hand twist however, whereas that on the Lewis Gun is Right-Hand. Consequently any fired .303 round would have been marked accordingly. As I recall the undamaged bullet was recovered from Von Richthofens clothing having passed through his body. I cannot locate an image of this bullet, but if someone had spotted this and noted it correctly perhaps (given it was known he was under fire from Vickers both on the ground and in the air) it was judged that the odds of it being a lucky SMLE strike were slim to say the least and ruled out?

 

Also, certain marks/models of ammunition were effectively limited to aircraft use only. If this could also have been ascertained through examination this may have aided being more certain what weapon it was fired from (eg if it had been an aircraft round with a LH/RH twist then it could only have been fired by a Vickers/Lewis respectively).

 

Edited 23 April , 2020 by Andrew Upton

[sadbrewer]

There is a photo around of Richthofen after the autopsy, and although I haven't seen it for a long time there's no evidence of a gunshot wound to the face, although there was an amount of damage caused to the face by impacting with the gun butts.

   It's possible that the person saw the damage and  a heavily blooded face and assumed it was a bullet wound.

[Skipman]

3 minutes ago, sadbrewer said:

There is a photo around of Richthofen after the autopsy, and although I haven't seen it for a long time there's no evidence of a gunshot wound to the face, although there was an amount of damage caused to the face by impacting with the gun butts.

   It's possible that the person saw the damage and  a heavily blooded face and assumed it was a bullet wound.

 

 

Thanks for that. Had a look and think this will be the photographs you mean Click

 

Also an interesting article here with an x-ray of the torso and path of bullet Click

 

Mike

[sadbrewer]

8 minutes ago, Skipman said:

 

 

Thanks for that. Had a look and think this will be the photographs you mean Click

 

Also an interesting article here with an x-ray of the torso and path of bullet Click

 

Mike

 

Mike....I should have said examination rather than autopsy, I'm not sure, in fact I don't think  xrays were taken of Richthofen's body.

   Andy

[Skipman]

2 minutes ago, sadbrewer said:

 

Mike....I should have said examination rather than autopsy, I'm not sure, in fact I don't think  xrays were taken of Richthofen's body.

   Andy

 

Ah, you may be right. Perhaps the x-ray featured is just a representation.

 

Mike