Siegfried Freytag

Siegfried Freytag (10 November 1919 – 1 June 2003) was a pilot in the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany during World War II who served in the French Foreign Legion after the war. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Siegfried Freytag was officially credited with 102 victories of which 49 victories were claimed over the Eastern Front. Among his victories over the Western Front are at least 2 four-engine bombers. Freytag had been nominated for the Oak Leaves to Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, but the war ended before the paperwork had been processed.

In 1952, Siegfried Freytag, volunteered in the Legion thinking that the Legion would recruit pilots; at least, that was the official version of a wrong assumption. Assigned to the 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment after his basic training at Sidi Bel Abbès, Legionnaire Siegfried served and fought with distinction for 18 years with the 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion; the former Free French Demi-Brigade, in the Indochina War, the Algerian War and Djibouti. Promoted to Sergent in 1962, he asked to be demoted to the rank of Caporal Chef and served in the 1st Foreign Regiment from 1965 to 1970, the year in which he retired from active duty.

• Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe on 18 May 1942 Oberleutnant and pilot
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 3 July 1942 as Oberleutnant and pilot in the II./Jagdgeschwader 77
• German Cross in Gold on 25 January 1943 as Oberleutnant in the 1./Jagdgeschwader 77

• Patzwall 2008, p. 80.
• Scherzer 2007, p. 319.
• Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 122.