25/26 July 1942, Knacke shot down a Bristol Blenheim bomber R3837 from 114 Squadron on its intruder bombing mission to Venlo airfield. Three nights later, Knacke became the first German night fighter pilot to claim a de Havilland Mosquito destroyed. The aircraft, Mosquito DD677 from 23 Squadron, was shot down near Haps. On 16/17 September 1942, 369 British bombers attacked Germany, losing 39 of their number, a very high 10.6 percent loss rate. Knacke, shot down five bombers that night, which made him an "ace-in-a-day". At the end of 1942, Knacke was one of the leading night fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe, which at the time included Lent (49 nocturnal claims), Ludwig Becker (40 nocturnal claims), Werner Streib (39 nocturnal claims) and Paul Gildner (37 nocturnal claims). He was promoted to Hauptmann on 1 January 1943. On the night of 2/3 February 1943, Knacke shot down a Short Stirling bomber on its mission to bomb Cologne. The Stirling I R9264 MG-L from 7 Squadron was a Pathfinder aircraft equipped with the new H2S airborne ground scanning radar. The radar was recovered by German forces and sent to Berlin where it was examined by Telefunken. Knacke then attacked a Halifax bomber near Achterveld which he shot down but his aircraft was also hit by one of the bomber air gunners. The radio operator, Unteroffizier Kurt Bundrock, managed to bail out from the burning aircraft. Knacke was found dead next to his crashed Bf 110 F-4 (Werksnummer 4683—factory number) "G9+DK" east of Achterveld. Knacke was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves () on 5 February 1943. He was the 190th member of the German armed forces to be so honored. Originally buried near Deelen airfield, he was reinterred at the German War Cemetery Ysselsteyn (Block M—Row 4—Grave 80) at Venray. Summary of career Aerial victory claims Foreman, Parry and Mathews, authors of Luftwaffe Night Fighter Claims 1939 – 1945, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 45 nocturnal victory claims. Mathews and Foreman also published Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, listing Knacke with 43 nocturnal aerial victories claims, plus one further unconfirmed claim as a destroyer pilot during day operations. Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 6255". The Luftwaffe grid map () covered Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring