III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Hi can anybody help with the following.
Im looking for information regarding the loss of 6 Heinkel 111's on the 8/9.7.41
in particular any crew details, werknummern, unit codes .

What information i have is somewhat brief, and the only crew i have is that of
Lt. Horst Ludwigs.

Any help would be most appreciated.
Rgs,
Steve.

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Hi Steve,

All I can come up with is;

08.07.41 9/KG26 He 111H-5 Wnr.3947 1H + GT Lt. Günter Adler +
2 others KIA 1 MIA. (Birmingham)

08.07.41 9/KG26 He 111H-6 Wnr.4098 1H + BT Uffz. Gerhard Fingerhut MIA, 2 others MIA 1 KIA.

Lw Loss Reports (microfilm roll 3)

Sorry, I do not have the full crew lists but hope this info helps a little!
Good luck,

regards, Melvin

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

From "The Blitz Then and now volume 3"

July 8-9 night
At night Great Yarmouth was the main objective and a total of six aircraft were lost, two of them in Britain. 3 He111s of III/KG 26 and a Ju88 of 1/KG 30 also failed to return.

Only losses crashing in Britain are detailled in this book. For this night, they are two

He111H-5 WNr 3983 of 7./KG 4 shot down by Flt Lt R A Chisoholm and Sgt W G Ripley in a Beaufighter of 604 Sqn. Crashed at Big Ringsdon Filed, Helwell Farm, Kenton, Devon 1.30 a.m. Lt A Engelhardt baled out and taken prisoner, Uffz P Manger, Gefr F Frotzler and Uffz J Arndt killed. Aircraft 5J+GR broke up in air. Pieces held by the Severnside Aviation Society and Philippa Hodgkiss.

Ju88A-6 WNr 3451 of 3/KG 30 shot down by Flg Off K I Geddes and Sgt A C Cannon in a Beaufighter of 604 Sqn. Crashed at Vale Acre Farm, Alderholt, Dorset 2.65 a.m. Fw W Schönauer, Uffz O Jahn, Uffz H Dapper and Gefr R Safer baled out and taken prisoner. Aircraft 4D+GL totally wrecked. SIte investigated by Simon Parry in August 1983 and one propeller blade and undercarriage leg recovered.

Hope this helps

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Many thanks Melvin and Laurent.

This helps very much, thank you for your time and effort.
Just need to find info on the 3 a/c that failed to return from the raid on Great
Yarmouth, on the evening of 8/9.7.41.

I also have a loss on the the 8.7.41 [ daytime] HE111H-5 1H + GS w.nr ?
No crew details. Failed to return from ops. to Southampton .
No further details.

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Hi Steve,

Glad that Laurent and I could be of service! Here are a few more which might help.

(1) 3/KG27 He 111H-5 Wnr.4024 1G + GL Uffz. Julius Abromeit MIA with crew on the 08.07.41, cause unknown.

(2) 3/KG28 He 111H-5 Wnr.3992 1T + HL (yellow H) Uffz. Heinz Weindorf POW. Shot down by beaufighter of No.604 Sqdn. 1 other POW + 2 KIA.

(3) 1/KGr.100 He 111P-2 Wnr.6894 Uffz. Karl Lammert KIA. Shot down by Beaufighter of No.604 Sqdn (Speke & Dawson) 3 KIA 1 POW.

(4) Stab IV/KG27 He 111H-2 Wnr.2799 1G + AF Uffz. Albert Assmuth KIA.
Mission Southampton. Shot down off Selsey Bill by a Beaufighter. 4 KIA 1 POW.

Last two losses can be found with some others on page 53, The Blitz T & N Vol.3

Regards,

Melvin

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Hi Melvin,

Many thanks once again.
Thank you for the extra losses.

Rgs,
Steve.

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

A last precision: the four extra losses listed above by Melvin Brownless were during a raid on Southampton on the night of 7-8 July 1941.

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Hi Laurent,

Many thanks to you too!

Rgs,
Steve.

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

I thought I'd add my little bit of info which you might not be already aware of but there's a book "Achtung - Torpedos los!" by Rudi Schmidt" which could very well be helpful. Unfortunately it is all in German. And of course this book is solely on KG26.

Derek Hicks

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Hi Derek,

Thank you for taking the trouble to help with my request.
As it so happens, i wasn't aware of this book, but i will look into finding more info
about it.
Many thanks.
Rgs.
Steve.

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Yet another source of information which might help in your research but think it is more in the field of torpedo operations but nonetheless maybe worth a look-see.

"Luftwaffe Aerial Torpedo Aircraft and Operations in World War II" by Harold Thiele (ex-KG26)

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Hi Steve

Another book on KG26 but orientated towards Torpedo aircraft which might be worth checking-out "Luftwaffe Aerial Torpedo Aircraft and Operations in World War II" by Harold Thiele (ex-KG26 pilot).
As a matter of interest (a shot in the dark) I've been researching a KG26 pilot, Major Otto Werner and although I have all his service records in KG26 I've yet to obtain a photo of him. Don't suppose you can help? I'm in contact with 2 ex-KG26 pilots (Reimer Voss/Werner Morath) and although very helpful they've been unable to furnish a photo of Werner.

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Good morning Derek,

Thanks for the leads on the books regarding torpedo ops. I shall check these out
and see whether they may offer the info im seeking.

Ive also looked through my files for KG26 and unfortunately, no photo of Werner
im afraid. I have seen your previous requests on TOCH for photos of this officer,
and its looking like a tough nut to crack! so to speak.
When did he join KG26 out of interest, and do you have his Flugbuch?
id be interested to know of any of his ops.

Rgs,
Steve.

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Hi Steve
Unfortunately I don't have Otto Werner's soldbuch but do have his side cap (with his personal metal logo), a engraved hallmarked-silver beaker to him (II/KG26), and a bronze engraved plaque with the Lion Lowengeschwader with Otto Werner's name (KG257 Dec 1939-June1940 at rank of Oberleutenant).
I have all his service career from 1932 (when he served in the Kriegsmarine) and later transferred to the Luftwaffe where I believe he was involved in bombing Poland and also was involved in the Battle of Britain. At Nov 1944 Major Otto Werner (Commander II/KG26) became General Staff Officer, Kommandierender General Luftwaffe Denmark. As I mentioned earlier, to complete my research it would be great to obtain a picture of him which I've been trying to get hold of for about 10 years now!
Regards
Derek

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Hello Steve,

I do have Rudi Schmidt's book "Achtung Torpedos Los !" The full crew lists are the following :

(ff)Lt.Günther Adler+ - ?(bo)Ofw.Werner KlotzKg(bf)Fw.Erich Ehrenstein+ - ?(bs)Fw.Leopold Theinert+ - ?

(ff)

Uffz.Gerhard Fingerhutv(bo)Gefr.Viktor Gussv;+(bf)Gefr.Stefan Krusev(bs)Gefr.Karl Russv


(ff)Lt.Heinz Pahlitzschv(bo)Fw.Georg Schrammv(bf)Uffz.Joachim Zscheilev(bs)Uffz.Karl Maraunv

Do you know (or someone else) if the Pahlitzsch-crew belonged to the 9.Staffel ? Schmidt's book only gives the Gruppe - code.
Some explanation : (ff) Flugzeugführer or pilot ; (bo) Beobachter or observer/navigator ; (bf) Bordfunker or Wireless Operator ; (bs) Bordschütze or air gunner. It's possible that the some of the crew-members occupied a different position on board, but to what I know they are ok.
According to Schmidt's book the crew of Lt. Horst Ludwigs was not lost on 8/9-7-41. It seems they were the first crew to be lost at the start of the German invasion of Russia (Operation Barbarossa) : 22/7/1941.
Together with Lt. H.Ludwigs, Fw Dietrich Zwicker (bo) - Gefr. Adolf Bruckner (bf) - Gefr. Georg Keil (bs) were KIA.
Hope this helps you a little more.
regards,
Dirk

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Hello Steve,

I do have the book "Achtung - Torpedos Los !" by Rudi Schmidt (who by the was a member of KG 26 during the war). The 3 crews of III./KG 26 lost on the 8/9-7-41 are :
(ff)Lt.Günther Adler+ - ?(bo)Ofw.Werner KlotzKg(bf)Fw.Erich Ehrenstein+ - ?(bs)Fw.Leopold Theinert+ - ?
(ff)Uffz.Gerhard Fingerhutv(bo)Gefr.Viktor Gussv;+(bf)Gefr.Stefan Krusev(bs)Gefr.Karl Russv

(ff)Lt.Heinz Pahlitzschv(bo)Fw.Georg Schrammv(bf)Uffz.Joachim Zscheilev(bs)Uffz.Karl Maraunv

Do you know (or someone else) if the Pahlitzsch-crew also belonged to 9.-staffel ? Schmidt's book only gives the Gruppe-code. It's also possible that some of the crew members had a different position on board, but to me they seems ok. (ff) Flugzeugführer/pilot - (bo) Beobachter/observer-navigator - (bf) Bordfunker/wireless operator - (bs) Bordschütze/air gunner.

According to the same sources the Horst Ludwigs crew was the first to be lost by III./KG 26 during the German invasion of Russia : 22/7/1941.
Together with the pilot the rest of the crew was KIA :
(bo) Fw. Dietrich Zwicker
(bf) Gefr. Adolf Bruckner
(bs) Gefr. Georg Keil

Hope this will help you a little bit more. Best regards,

Dirk

Re: III/KG26 Losses 8/9.7.41
 

Hello Derek and Dirk,

Many thanks for the further info regarding these losses and that concerning
Mjr Werner.
It is so gratifying, knowing that so much expertise is available on this site,
and so many other enthuasists, are willing to share their valuble data!
Thanks guys.
Steve.