Flying with this wing, Kirschner claimed his first aerial victory on 20 August 1941 fighting the Royal Air Force over the Netherlands.

Kirschner was born on 7 June 1920 in Niederlössnitz, at the time in the Free State of Saxony of the Weimar Republic.

From 1 October to 14 November, Kirschner served with 2./Flieger-Ausbildungs-Regiment 51 (2nd Company of 51st Flight Training Regiment) and then attended the Air War School Klotzsche until 30 June 1940.

[2] World War II in Europe had begun on Friday 1 September 1939 when German forces invaded Poland.

[2] The Ergänzungsgruppe of JG 3, a supplementary training group, was formed in April 1941 in Krakau, present-day Kraków, under the command of Major Alfred Müller.

[3] In July, the Ergänzungsgruppe was ordered to the Netherlands, providing fighter escort for German shipping on the English Channel.

On 20 August, ten Royal Air Force (RAF) Bristol Blenheim bombers, escorted by Supermarine Spitfire fighters, attacked 1.

Defending against this attack, Kirschner claimed his first aerial victory when he shot down one of the escorting Spitfire fighters.

Gruppe, the unit was based at Wiesbaden-Erbenheim Airfield for a period of rest and replenishment after it had returned to Germany from the Eastern Front.

The transfer was completed on 24 January and the Gruppe was then placed under the command of the Geschwaderstab of Jagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53—53rd Fighter Wing) which was already stationed there.

[7] On this mission, Kirschner shot down a Spitfire fighter 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) northwest of La Valetta.

Gruppe had been ordered to the Eastern Front in preparation for Case Blue, the strategic summer offensive in southern Russia.

While based at Pilsen, Hauptmann Kurt Brändle took over command of the Gruppe after Krahl had been killed in action over Malta.

[10] The Gruppe was then deployed on the left wing of Army Group South where it was based at Chuhuiv near the Donets on 19 May.

There, Kirschner claimed a Ilyushin DB-3 bomber shot down, his first aerial victory on the Eastern Front.

Gruppe was withdrawn from the front and ordered to Neuhausen near Königsberg, present-day Guryevsk, for reequipment with the Bf 109 G-2.

[16] Kirschner claimed his 150th aerial victory on 5 July 1943, the first day of Operation Citadel, the German offensive phase of the Battle of Kursk.

The Gruppe spent one-month training in northern Germany before they arrived at the Schiphol Airfield near Amsterdam in the Netherlands on 12 September.

Guided by Y-Control, the Gruppe intercepted approximately 80 to 100 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers over sea.

[22] On 27 September, the USAAF VIII Bomber Command attacked the industrial areas and shipyards of Emden.

Drop tank equipped Republic P-47 Thunderbolt for the first time escorted the bombers all the way to the target in Germany.

[27] The following day, 140 Martin B-26 Marauder bombers, escorted by P-47 and Spitfire fighters, attacked the German airfields at Schiphol, Woensdrecht and Haamstede.

Luftwaffe pilots only claimed 14 aerial victories that day, including a B-17 bomber shot down by Kirschner.

Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 (JG 27—27th Fighter Wing) after the former commander Hauptmann Rudolf Sinner had been transferred on 13 September.

[32] On 17 December 1943, Kirschner was shot down in his Bf 109 G-6 (Werknummer 20618—factory number), 25 kilometers (16 miles) east of Metković over the Independent State of Croatia.

[34] The Germans sent out search parties from Mostar airfield immediately after his downing, with one being ambushed by the Partisans on 19 December.

[35] As late as mid-February 1944, a battalion of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen was fruitlessly searching for Kirschner.

[36] According to a report filed by SS-Sturmbannführer Walter Moreth of the SS-Gebirgs-Flak-Abteilung 7 (7th SS Mountain Anti-Aircraft Battalion), Kirscher was found with his throat slit and gouged out eyes.