Radio—the official radio station of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda—on the evening of 20 February 1944. In late February 1944 Waldmann was sent back to the Crimean peninsula on the Eastern Front, where he took command of 4./JG 52 (4th Squadron of the 52nd Fighter Wing) as its Staffelkapitän (squadron leader). He succeeded Oberleutnant Heinrich Sturm who had been wounded by bomb debris in an attack on the airfield at Chersonesus at Sevastopol on 16 April. He continued his success, claiming eight aerial victories in March, and 16 in April of which eight were claimed from 5–12 April. On 11 April 1944, he claimed three aerial victories. He was the 70th Luftwaffe pilot to achieve the century mark. On 4 May 1944, 15 Bf 109s from II. Gruppe intercepted 24 Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft from 8 GShAP (8th Guards Ground-attack Aviation Regiment) and 47 GShAP (47th Ground-attack Aviation Regiment), escorted by 23 fighter aircraft, over the Black Sea. In this encounter, pilots from II. Gruppe claimed six aerial victories, including an Il-2 and a Yakovlev Yak-7 by Waldmann, without sustaining any losses. However, Soviet records only document the loss of three Il-2 and one Yakovlev Yak-9 fighter. Waldmann became an "ace-in-a-day" on 7 May 1944, claiming six aerial victories over the Sevastopol combat area. Two Staffeln (squadrons) of the II./JG 52 were transferred to Huși at the Prut River on 27 May 1944. Here Waldmann claimed his final four victories on the Eastern Front, taking his total to 125 aerial victories claimed. On 1 June, Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) Major Gerhard Barkhorn was ordered to transfer one Staffel to the west in Defence of the Reich. Barkhorn selected Waldmann's 4. Staffel which was officially assigned to the II./Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" (JG 3—3rd Fighter Wing). There, the Staffel was later renamed and became the 8. Staffel of JG 3. At the time, II./JG 3 was under the command of Hauptmann Hans-Ekkehard Bob, and later by Hauptmann Herbert Kutscha. Invasion of Normandy The Invasion of Normandy, which started on the early morning of 6 June 1944, was in full swing by the time Waldmann's Staffel arrived in France in early July. The Western Allies were already breaking out of Normandy in what was codenamed Operation Cobra. II./JG 3 "Udet" (2nd Group of the 3rd Fighter Wing) was stationed at Nogent-le-Roi, roughly southwest of Paris. The Gruppe was tasked with ground support