Rudolf Berthold

Oskar Gustav Rudolf Berthold (March 24, 1891 – March 15, 1920) (commonly known as Rudolf Berthold) was a German World War I flying ace. Between 1916 and 1918, he shot down 44 enemy planes&mdash;most of them over the Belgian front. Berthold had the reputation as a ruthless, fearless and&mdash;above all&mdash;very patriotic fighter. His perseverance, bravery, and willingness to return to combat while still wounded made him one of the most famous German pilots of the First World War.

He was killed in political street fighting in Hamburg on 15 March 1920.

Early life and entry into military
Oskar Gustav Rudolf Berthold entered the world at about 18:00 hours on 24 March 1891. He was born in Ditterswind, Kingdom of Bavaria in the German Empire, the sixth child of Oberförster (Head Forester) Oskar Berthold. The young child, who became familiarly known as simply Rudolf, was the first born to Helene Stief Berthold, Oskar's second wife. Oskar's first wife, Ida Anne Hoffmann Berthold, died in childbirth, leaving as survivors a daughter and three sons. Rudolf was followed by three younger brothers, two of whom survived to adulthood.

Rudolf's father was employed by a local nobleman, Oskar Freiherr von Deuster; Rudolf grew up roving the baron's great estate. Early in September 1897, Rudolf began his education in the local elementary school. Upon his completion of studies there at age ten, he was enrolled in the Humanistische Neue Gymnasium (New Secondary School for the Humanities) in nearby Bamberg. By the time he had completed his gymnasium studies at age 14, he had adopted a personal motto from Horace: "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's Fatherland."

Rudolf moved on to Schweinfurt's Konigliches Humanistische Gymnasium (Royal Secondary School for Humanities) in September 1906 to begin sixth level classes. Winter of 1909 saw him transfer to the Altes Gymnasium (Old Secondary School) in Bamberg to better fit himself for a military career. He graduated on 14 July 1910, with a reputation for being fearless, cheerful, and studious.

Although Ditterswind was a garrison town, young Berthold's career began when he joined the 3rd Brandenberg Infantry Regiment in Wittenberg. He would be required to serve a year and a half's training as a Fähnrich before being voted upon by officers of the regiment. On 27 January 1912, they accepted Berthold and he was commissioned as a leutnant. Toward the end of Berthold's training, the Jungdeutschland-Bund (Young Germany Federation) was founded. He became the leader of the Wittenberg branch of this patriotic society that was mobilizing German youth for national service.

Der Fliegertruppe (The Flying Troop) became an official part of the German Imperial Army on 1 October 1912. Berthold learned to fly at his own expense in 1913, qualifying as a pilot in September 1913 with license No. 538. He trained at the Halberstädter Flugzeugwerke on dual control Bristol types; one of his fellow students was Oswald Boelcke. After informing his family he had a "special assignment" to a flying school, Berthold underwent military flight training during Summer 1914.

1914
The outbreak of World War I disrupted the young aviator's progress. On 1 July 1914, he was recalled from his schooling to rejoin his infantry regiment; once there, he ruefully discovered his marching skills had deteriorated during his aviation sojourn. After a fortnight's refresher course in soldierly skills, he was returned to flying training. On 17 July 1914, he was officially transferred out of the 3rd Brandenbergers to aerial service. Having fallen behind his fellow piloting students during his infantry refresher course, he had to settle for aerial observer duty. On 1 August 1914, he shipped out as a standee on a train for the Royal Saxon Air Base at Grossenhain.

By 7 August 1914, Berthold had been assigned to Feldflieger-Abteilung 223 (Field Flier Detachment 223), which was assigned to the German 2nd Army. By 9 August, FFA 223 was encamped at Monschau near the Belgian border. On 15 August, Berthold was chosen for the unit's first reconnaissance mission. Two days later, his pilot strayed off-course; Bertholdt and his pilot landed lost. They evaded French cavalry, to direct retrieval of their DFW biplane. In his diary, Berthold angrily noted his decision to complete pilot's training.

Berthold was also the observer on flights on 1 and 3 September. He saw French troops retreating across the Marne River, and giving way to panic. However, later in the month, he discovered the French counter-thrust between the German 1st and 2nd Armies. German staff officers' disbelief led to Berthold personally briefing Generalobserst Karl von Bülow on the situation. Bülow moved his troops to higher ground; the First Battle of the Aisne began. On 13 September 1914, the young aviator was presented with the Iron Cross Second Class for his efforts.

On 4 October, he was called away from rebuilding his machine's engine to report to Army High Command Headquarters. There he was awarded the Iron Cross First Class. For both classes of the Iron Cross, Berthold received his award second only to Bülow.

As winter weather shut down combat flying in November, Berthold arranged to continue his pilot's training at a nearby flight park. He became friends with a fellow student, Hans Joachim Buddecke.

1915
Rudolf Berthold finally qualified as a pilot on 18 January 1915. At about the same time, he arranged Buddecke's transfer into FFA 223. Berthold now being a pilot, he was assigned an observer, Leutnant Josef Gruener for flying reconnaissance sorties; they quickly became friends. In June, they were finally supplied with machine guns for their aircraft; Berthold could give up his futile assaults on enemy aircraft with his pistol. At about the same time, Berthold was laid up for a fortnight with dysentery, possibly provoked by nervous worry.

FFA 223 re-equipped with AEG G.II bombers in August 1915. The twin-engined giant was manned by a pilot, two or three observers, and two swiveling machine guns. Even as the new bombers came on board, the unit also received its first single-seat fighter with a synchronized gun, a Fokker Eindekker.

Berthold took command of the big bomber. He left the Eindekker to Buddecke; this decision sped Buddecke on his way to being a member of the first wave of German aces that included Oswald Boelcke, Max Immelmann, and Kurt Wintgens. Berthold's reasoning was that he could cross the lines searching for opponents in the AEG G.II, while the Eindekker was ordered to patrol only behind German lines. However, Berthold damaged his original G.II in a landing accident on 15 September, and had to return to piloting an old two-seater. On 21 September 1915, Rudolf Berthold was promoted to Oberleutnant. Shortly thereafter, he returned to Germany to pick up a replacement G.II. By 1 October, he had it in action; in addition to bombing, it was used on occasion as a gunship for air defense missions. On 6 November, one of those missions turned deadly; a British Vickers F.B.5 gunner mortally wounded Gruener. Berthold was depressed by his friend's death, and sent on home leave, vowing vengeance for Greuner's death.

In early December, Buddecke was seconded to the Turkish Air Force. Thus Berthold fell heir to an Eindekker. He accompanied Ernst Freiherr von Althaus when the latter shot down enemy planes on both 5 and 28 December 1915.

1916
As the Germans learned the uses of aircraft with synchronized guns, they began to group the new weapons into ad hoc units to protect reconnaissance and bombing aircraft. These new units were dubbed Kampfseinsitzer Kommando (Single seater fighter detachment), abbreviated KEK. On 11 January 1916, KEK Vaux was formed near FFA 223; because of his experience, Berthold was appointed as its Officer in Charge. Even as the pioneering fighter units formed, on 14 January Royal Flying Corps Headquarters directed that any reconnaissance craft crossing into German-held territory be escorted by at least three protective aircraft.

On 2 February 1916, Berthold and Althaus were sent off on an interception at about 15:00 hours. Dodging through spotty cloud coverage and sporadic rain, the duo set upon a pair of Voisin LAs and shot them down. It was Berthold's first aerial victory. He would score another three days later. Then, on 10 February, Berthold was himself shot down, with a holed fuel tank and a slight wound to his left hand. His feats were rewarded with an award of the Military Merit Order, 4th class on 29 February; there would be only 12 awards of the Military Merit Order to aviators during the entire war.

Berthold continued flying bombing missions as well as patrolling in his fighter. After he scored another victory, he was again honored by his native Kingdom of Bavaria, this time with the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Saint Henry on 15 April.

On 25 April, Berthold lost a dogfight. He made an emergency landing after enemy bullets crippled his Fokker's engine. He took off again in Pfalz E.IV serial number 803/15. Its engine quit as he climbed to about 100 meters altitude, and he crashed. When his limp body was pulled from the wreckage, he was believed dead until he revived momentarily with a fit of cursing. After a passing faint, Berthold awoke to find himself blind. He begged bystanders to shoot him, then again swooned. He reawakened two days later in Kriegslazarett 7 (Military Hospital 7) in Saint Quentin, in a room next to that of a British observer he had downed. Besides a badly broken left leg, Berthold had suffered a broken nose and upper jaw, with attendant damage to his optic nerves. He was prescribed narcotic painkillers for chronic pain. At that time, German military doctors used three narcotics as remedies&mdash;opium, morphine, and codeine. Cocaine was used to counteract the somnolence of these three depressant drugs. Berthold's exact prescription is unknown.

Eventually, Berthold's eyesight returned. He would be unable to fly for four months, but remained in charge of KEK Vaux. Between the message traffic brought to him, and the accounts of his visiting subordinates, he learned of ongoing casualties. As the injured ace lay in hospital, the news was bad. His brother Wolfram had been killed in action as an infantryman on 29 April. Max Immelmann perished in battle on 18 June. Subsequent to Immelmann's death, Germany's highest scoring ace, Oswald Boelcke, was removed from flying for fear that his loss in action would be disastrous to morale. In the meantime, Berthold was scheduled to be evacuated back to Germany, away from the front. Instead, in late July, he commandeered a car and returned to his unit. Although unable to fly because of a stiff knee, he could still command. In the meantime, he made his orderly help him bend his knee and flex strength back into his withered leg.

On 24 August 1916, Berthold had to be aided in gaining his pilot's seat in his fighter, but he flew. He scored his sixth victory. The next day, KEK Vaux became Jagdstaffel 4 (Fighter Squadron 4) under Berthold's command; the new unit started with a starred roster&mdash;Wilhelm Frankl, Walter Höhndorf, and Ernst Freiherr von Althaus were early members and all future aces. On 27 August, Berthold received the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. As the Pour le Merite was customarily awarded for eight victories at this stage of the war, Berthold was very near attaining it. On 19 September, he was denied credit for a Royal Aircraft Factory BE.12 that fell behind German lines. On 24 September, two French Nieuport 17s collided and crashed while dogfighting him. Again, no credit. On 26 September, Berthold was finally credited with his eighth victory. He finally received his Blue Max, Imperial Germany's supreme award for valor, on 12 October 1916. His was only the tenth award for aviators. Five of the other seven living recipients attended the 16 October celebration of the award, including Buddecke, Althaus, Frankl, Höhndorf, and Kurt Wintgens. The following day, Buddecke and a wingman circled overhead as Berthold's train bore him away to his new assignment as Staffelführer (commander) of Jagdstaffel 14.

Die Fliegertruppen had just reorganized into the Luftstreitkräfte (German Air Force) on 8 October. Jasta 14 was newly formed when Berthold took command. It was equipped with two Fokker E.IIIs, a Halberstadt D.II, and seven Fokker D.IIs, and had had no success when it was still the ad hoc Fokker Kampstaffel Falkenhausen. Berthold took advantage of being in a quiet sector, and brought his martial skills and stern professional attitude to bear, to train his troops hard. He brought in new Albatros D.I and Albatros D.II replacement aircraft, and renovated the officers' mess. In mid-December, just after the unit's first victory, they were visited on an inspection tour by Kaiser Wilhelm II and Crown Prince Wilhelm.

1917
In January Berthold and his squadron were subordinated to Armee-Abteilung A (Army Division A). With the reorganization in aviation came the installation of aviation staff officer Hauptmann Bruno Volkmann at army headquarters. Foreseeing the future, Berthold made a plea for amassing air power into larger units, and supported his proposal with detailed professional analysis. He asked Volkmann in vain.

On the other hand, Alsace was a quiescent sector; Jasta 14 scored only two victories in February. However, it was slated to move to more active duty in Laon, and began to rearm with Albatros D.III fighters. Berthold flew in advance to Laon and found there were no quarters for his men. He was adamant that he would not telegraph his squadron to move until quarters were furnished. In mid March, a convoy of trucks hauled the jasta 200 kilometers to Marchais, France. They began operations on 17 March.

As Jasta 14 settled into its new base, Berthold had Albatros D.III s/n 2182/16 prepared for his assigned aircraft. Its guns were test-fired. It was painted with his personal insignia of a winged sword of vengeance on either side of the fuselage. It is not known if he had yet adopted the aircraft paint scheme of dark blue fuselage and scarlet cowling in homage to his old infantry unit; however, by September, his entire squadron would adopt the basic scheme with their own personal insignia.

On 24 March 1917 Berthold resumed his victory string when he shot down a French Farman from Escadrille F7. He was credited with three more singleton victories in the first half of April. On 24 April he fiercely engaged a French Caudron R.9 until driven back to base by a bullet through his lower right shin. He joked in his diary that his right arm was the only one of his four extremities to remain unwounded, but this wound was not serious. However, it caused him to be shipped from the hospital to convalesce at home from 23 May to 15 June. As an aftereffect, this wound added more chronic pain to his miseries.

Berthold believed that morale in his squadron was declining because of lack of his in-air leadership. In early August, he returned to his old training facility in Grossenhain and wangled a medical clearance from its doctor. Berthold returned to his unit to await the paperwork, to discover that he was being transferred to command Jagdstaffel 18 in Harelbeke, Belgium on 12 August. On 18 August, Berthold was finally certified to resume flying. Two days later, he was one of the aviation troops being reviewed by the Kaiser at Courtrai.

Before Berthold's arrival, Jasta 18 had had little success; their new commander promptly emphasized training even though they were simultaneously flying combat missions. Shortly after assuming command, Berthold again pitched his idea of using fighters en masse; 4th Armee headquarters responded by grouping Jagdstaffelen 18, 24, 31, and 36 into Jagdgruppe 7 with Berthold in command.

He shot down a Spad on 21 August, raising his tally to 13. It was the beginning of a string of 16 aerial victories. As one of these victims, on 28 September 1917 he shot down the Airco DH-5 of six victory ace Captain Alwayne Loyd, of No 32 Squadron RAF, who was killed. During September he scored 14 victories, bringing his tally to 27. On 2 October he scored his 28th victory–his final one of the year.

During a dogfight on 10 October a bullet crippled Rudolf Berthold's right upper arm. While fighting No. 56 Squadon RFC, a British bullet ricocheted within the cockpit of Berthold's Fokker D.VII and entered his arm at an angle that pulverized his right humerus. He was probably hit by Captain Gerald Maxwell, though the latter did not receive credit for a victory. Berthold overcame the handicap of half-severed ailerons and remained conscious long enough to make a smooth one-handed landing at Jasta 18's home airfield. He passed out after his safe arrival. Berthold's unconscious form was lifted from his Fokker and rushed five kilometers to the field hospital in Courtrai. Regardless of wounding, Berthold was promoted to Hauptmann on 26 October 1917.

The field hospital hadn't the facilities to heal such a complex injury; however, it sufficed to keep him alive. It was three weeks before the wounded ace was stable enough to be transferred. On 31 October, he shipped out, slated for Saint Vincenzstift Hospital in Hannover. However, his squadronmates alerted his 33-year-old elder sister Franziska. She was a nursing supervisor in Viktoria-Lazarett (Victoria Hospital), Berlin. She arranged for her brother to be diverted to the Berlin clinic of one of Germany's pre-eminent surgeons, Doctor August Bier, who pioneered use of cocaine in spinal anesthesia. Berthold entered the clinic on 2 November 1917. The first priority of his treatment was to save the arm from amputation; its second priority was its rehabilitation. Berthold would be there for four months. In the meantime, counter to Berthold's wishes, Oberleutnant Ernst Wilhelm Turck assumed Berthold's dual commands of Jagdstaffel 18 and Jagdgruppe 7. Berthold spent his convalescent leave learning to write with his left hand. As he stated, "If I can write, I can fly." Meantime, his arm remained paralyzed as it slowly healed. He remained dependent on narcotics.

1918
By February, Berthold could get out of bed. Eight days later, in mid month, he volunteered to return to command of Jagdgruppe 7. On 1 March, he reported to the medical office of Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung 5 (Replacement Detachment 5) in Hannover. He was passed to return to command of Jagstaffel 18, but denied permission to fly. On 6 March, with his arm in a sling, he rejoined his old squadron at its new duty station. Within two days, on 8 March, Berthold had arranged for Hans-Joachim Buddecke's transfer into the unit to lead it in the air. Two days later, Buddecke was killed in action by Flight Lieutenant Arthur Whealy of the Royal Naval Air Service flying Sopwith Camel s/n B7220.

On 16 March 1918, Rudolf Berthold was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 2 (Fighter Wing 2) to replace Hauptmann Adolf Ritter von Tutschek, killed in action the previous day. Berthold was driven the 140 kilometers from Avelin to Toulis-et-Attencourt to take command. The German spring offensive would be launched on 21 March. Berthold was in a tenuous and stressful situation. He had suffered the loss of his best friend, left his old squadron in the lurch, was taking command of an unfamiliar fighter wing, and was not on flight status. His partial solution to his dilemma was to request the transfer of Jasta 18 into the wing, but the wing's four jagdstaffeln were permanently assigned to it. After Berthold's request was refused, he took advantage of a loophole. Customarily, a Luftstreitkräfte commander being transferred took a small cadre of personnel with him to his new unit, with a corresponding return cadre. Berthold now stretched that custom to effect pretty much a wholesale swap of people and aircraft between Jagdstaffel 18 and Jagdstaffel 15, as the latter was permanently assigned to the wing. In the process, Jasta 15 became the wing's Stab Staffel (command squadron). He then departed for Buddecke's funeral in Berlin on 22 March, where he gave a eulogy. He returned to his new assignment two days into the new German offensive, to find that the infantry divisions his wing was supposed to support were complaining about their lack of air cover. Jagdgeschwader 2's performance improved under its grounded commander's guidance, as the Germans advanced 65 kilometers in eight days.

On 6 April 1918, nine Siemens-Schuckert D.IIIs began to arrive. Despite high expectations for the craft, it suffered engine failures at only seven to ten hours usage. The mark was rapidly withdrawn from the wing. At about 22:30 hours, on the night of 12 April, French artillery directed by a reconnaissance aircraft, began shelling the Jagdgeschwader's airfield. By 05:00 the following morning the airfield and its equipment had been hit over 200 times by shellbursts. Though no Germans were killed, the fighter wing had had 25 aircraft destroyed or damaged, along with much of the aerodrome's buildings and gear, and was essentially out of action for the next three weeks as it changed airfields and re-equipped.

In the meantime, Berthold fretted, "And I will fly again…even if they must carry me to the airplane." He kept his sister apprised of his medical condition. In his letter of 25 April, he wrote, "…a bone splinter protruded from my lower wound. My very capable medical orderly came immediately with a pair of tweezers, and with much skill and force, he removed it…. I passed out during this violent procedure. The pains were horrific. But the lower wound is beginning to close. Only the upper wound still festers very heavily. When the bone fragment was being withdrawn it broke into pieces, as the opening was too small and the splinter was snagged in the flesh, and so he had to probe and extract each piece." Franziska Berthold wrote of her brother, "…his vigor was gone. The constant discharge from his wounds and the nerve pain wore down the body more and more. In order to work…he had to be given drugs."

During this inactive stretch, Berthold outlined his intended use of the wing in a memorandum to headquarters. He wanted to have air defense officers posted forward with the antiaircraft batteries that accompanied the infantry; these men would telephone intelligence about air activity back to the wing. The wing would advise headquarters and receive orders by telephone. The wing could then move to counter enemy air attacks on ground troops. Berthold stated that the wing must be mobile to take advantage of opportunities to strike, and have fresh energetic pilots with which to fight. He pled for a transport column to maintain mobility. Aside from this memo, he planned personnel changes in his new wing. He felt that the squadron commanders were plotting to have him replaced. By 18 May, the last of them had been replaced. The wing's score improved for that month, totaling 19 victories.

Berthold had often flown a Pfalz D.III in preference to the Albatros D.V. In May 1918, the new Fokker D.VII entered service. Berthold borrowed one of the new machines from Jagdgeschwader 1 for a surrepitious test flight. He liked its lightness on the controls, remarking hopefully that he could even fly it with his damaged right arm. On the morning of 28 May, he mounted a brand-new Fokker D.VII and for the first time, led his air wing into combat. Although it was a ground support mission, he took the opportunity to score his 29th victory. The following day, he downed two more enemy aircraft, despite a malfunctioning gun synchronizer that nearly shot away his own propeller and caused a crash-landing. Berthold's drug addiction did not handicap him in the air. Georg von Hantelmann, one of his pilots, noted that despite his undiminished martial skills, his addiction made him temperamentally erratic.

Berthold's victory tally gained half a dozen victories during June. Meantime, on 18 June, Berthold again advised his sister of his ongoing medical problems. "My arm has worsened. Beneath the still open wound it is…badly swollen and inflamed. I think the bone fragments are forcing their way out, as the cyst that formed is quite hard. The pains are just awful. Yesterday, during my aerial combat…I screamed loudly in pain." He took a break until 28 June, when he scored his 37th victory. That night, he wrote his sister, "The arm is still not good. Since the lower wound has opened up again, the pain has subsided a bit and the swelling has gone down. I have screamed in pain, sometimes frantically. It seems to have been only a bone splinter…"

Berthold fought on, scoring two more victories in July and three in early August. On 10 August, he led 12 of his pilots into battle against a vastly superior force of British aircraft. He shot down a Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a fighter for his 43rd victory and an Airco DH.9 bomber for his 44th. When he tried to pull away from the DH.9 at 800 meters altitude, his shotaway controls came loose in his hand. His attempt to use a parachute to bail out failed because it required the use of both hands. His Fokker's impact with a house in Ablaincourt sent its engine all the way into the cellar. German infantrymen plucked him from the rubble and rushed him to hospital. His right arm was rebroken at its previous fracture. Rudolf Berthold would never fly again.

Two days later, on 12 August, Berthold once again checked himself out of a hospital. He arrived at the Jasta 15 officers' mess coincidentally with the newly appointed wing commander. Berthold stared down Rittmeister Heinz Freiherr von Brederlow, who was senior to him, and announced, "Here I am the boss." Once Brederlow departed, Berthold took to bed, stating he would run the fighter wing from there. The following day, he was feverish and writhing in pain. The doctor who was called ordered Berthold back into hospitalization. On the 14th, Kaiser Wilhelm II personally ordered the ace to hospital, and appointed Berthold's deputy commander, Leutnant Josef Veltjens, to take command of the wing. On 16 August, Veltjens saw Berthold off to the rear on a train. Berthold returned to Doctor Bier's clinic, being treated there through early October. Once his pains were alleviated, he went home to recuperate. He still craved a return to flying combat, but the war ended while he was convalescing. The patriotic ace who had shot down 16 enemy airplanes while flying one handed could but watch as his beloved fatherland fell into defeat and chaos.

Post-war
In early 1919, Berthold was medically cleared to return to duty. Although aware of the Freikorps militia movement, and of the street fighting between Spartakists and Social Democrats, Berthold chose to stay in the new Reichswehr (German armed forces). On 24 February, he assumed the command of Döberitz Airfield in Berlin. He soon had the airfield in top military order, only to have to shut it down.

At that, Berthold put out a call for volunteers to form a Freikorps. His renown sufficed to attract 1,200 men, mostly from his native Franconia. He founded the "Fränkische Bauern-Detachment Eiserne Schar Berthold" (Franconian Farmer's Detachment: Iron Troop Berthold) in April 1919, and trained by late May. His troopers were bound to him solely by personal loyalty, as they had not sworn an oath of allegiance. One of them was Hans Wittmann.

Berthold's Freikorps entrained for Munich at the end of May, then in August moved on to the Baltic states to fight Bolsheviks. In September, the Freikorps became part of the Iron Division in Lithuania. They engaged leftist forces in Latvia at Klaipėda and Riga, and fought toward year's end in bitter weather. The last three weeks of 1919 were spent resting in camp on the German-Lithuanian border before return to Germany.

On 1 January 1920, Berthold and his troops entrained at Memel for Stade. By the time they arrived, they had dwindled to 800 men with 300 rifles and a handful of machine guns. After their arrival, they were scheduled to disarm on 15 March 1920. However, on 13 March, the military attempted the Kapp Putsch. Wolfgang Kapp and General Walther von Lüttwitz called on all Freikorps and Reichwehr units to maintain public order. To resist being overthrown, Chancellor Friedrich Ebert countered by calling for a general strike. The Freikorps voted to join the putsch, so Berthold and his troops commandeered a train and crew from striking rail workers and moved to join the coup. Slowed by doused signals along the rail line, they got as far as Harburg on the evening of 14 March. Berthold was offered use of the Heimfelder Middle School as quarters for his troops for the night.

The Independent Socialist government of Harburg had anticipated the Freikorps imminent arrival by arresting the commander of the locally based Pionier-Bataillon 9 (Pioneer Battalion 9). The battalion's 900 trained soldiers were left without orders. On the morning of 15 March 1920, trade union leaders tried to talk the pioneers into disarming the Freikorps, to no avail. Union workers were then armed to face the Freikorps. At mid day, parties of union men converged on the middle school.

While all this was occurring, Burgomaster (Mayor) Heinrich Denicke offered safe passage out of town to the Freikorps if they would disarm. Berthold refused it. Past noon, when the workers had gathered, a burst of machine gun fire was loosed over their heads to clear a passage out of the school. Instead of running, the workers shot back. In the ensuing firefight, 13 trade unionists and three Freikorps combatants were killed. An additional eight Freikorps fighters were summarily executed after capture by the laborers. The school grounds were encircled and the Freikorps besieged.

By late afternoon, Freikorps ammunition was running low. Calling truce, Berthold negotiated a safe passage for those of his men who would disarm. At about 18:00 hours, the Freikorps filed out of the schoolhouse to disarm. A crowd of onlookers had not been part of the negotiations. They were outraged by the civilian casualties, and they mobbed the Freikorps.

There is a widespread myth that Rudolf Berthold was throttled to death with the ribbon of his Pour le Merite as ligature. The truth is more prosaic and more brutal. According to the most detailed account of his end, Berthold doubled back through the school when the onlookers attacked. He had exited the back door safely when someone spotted his Pour le Merite. The hue and cry was sounded. A swarm of people attacked Berthold and he drew his pistol. Because he had only one weakened arm, the handgun was taken from him and used to shoot him twice in the head and four times in the body as the mob mauled him. His paralyzed right arm was ripped from its socket. His face was stomped into bloody mush. His corpse was robbed of his decorations, overcoat, and shoes.

Hans Wittmann found Berthold's body in the street. His remains were taken to the Wandsbeke hospital, in a Hamburg suburb. Two of his old fliers, former Leutnants Tiedje and Lohmann, lived in Hamburg. When they heard of Berthold's death, they rushed to the hospital. They stayed with the body until Franziska arrived from Berlin. Someone rescued Berthold's Pour le Merite, Iron Cross First Class, and Pilot's Badge from a garbage dump in Harburg before she arrived.

Funeral and aftermath
Rudolf Berthold was buried at about 15:00 hours on 30 March 1920. Although it was customary for pallbearers to be of Berthold's rank, his family requested that instead they be sergeants from his Freikorps. Berthold was buried next to his best friend Buddecke in Berlin's cemetery of heroes, the Invalidenfriedhof. Their mutual friend, Olivier Freiherr von Beaulieu-Marconnay lays next to them in a triangular arrangement. On his first gravestone, since destroyed, was allegedly the memorial: "Honored by his enemies, killed by his German brethren". However, a literal translation of the inscription is "slain in the brother fight for the freedom of the German lands."See.

After receiving complaints about lynch law justice, the Stade police investigated Berthold's homicide. In February 1921, two men were tried and acquitted of the killing.

Legacy
When the Nazis rose to power, they exploited Berthold's name for propaganda purposes. They ignored his monarchist beliefs, and trumpeted his nationalist fervor. City streets were named for him in Bamberg and Wittenberg, among others. However, when the Nazis lost World War II, the streets lost the Berthold name.

The Invalidenfriedhof lay near the dividing line between East Berlin and West Berlin. Tombstones were removed from many graves in 1960, including Berthold's, so that communist border guards preventing escapes from East Berlin had a better view of the boundary. Berthold's stone disappeared. However, after Germany's reunification, private donors raised the funds for a simple marker to be placed on his grave in 2003.

Honors and awards

 * Prussian military pilot badge on 18 January 1915
 * Pour le Merite (Prussia, 12 October 1917)
 * Knight's Cross with Swords of the House Order of Hohenzollern (Prussia, 27 August 1916)
 * Prussian Iron Cross (1914), 1st (13 September 1914) and 2nd (4 October 1914) class
 * Military Merit Order, 4th class (Bayerisch Kriegsverdeinst-Orden) (Bavaria, 29 February 1916)
 * Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Saint Henry (Kingdom of Saxony, 8 April 1916)