Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Dear all,

I'm trying to identify a place name called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), situated some 25 km NW of Düsseldorf, which is mentioned in a Nachtjagd claim from late 1943. I can't find it on any map I've studied. Who can help?

Cheers and thanks, Theo

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

could you post the original document's name writing please.

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Thanks for you reply Egbert, but I don't have the original source at hand anymore, this were the OKL/RLM microfilmed and handwritten Nachtjagd Abschussmeldungen that I studied/transcribed some 10 years ago for the research of the Nachtjagd Combat Archive series. In a recently discovered Nachtjagd Flugbuch, the location of this NJ claim was noted as '25 km NW Düsseldorf'.

Cheers, Theo

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

If you have a date/name for the claim we all can look what we have in our files....:-)....

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

I feel that you may need to consult a 1940 period map. The city must have expanded a lot post-WW2, so many neighbouring villages and small towns likely became suburbs/districts of the city of Düsseldorf. There were three amalgamation/expansions of the city from the late 19 century, the last was in the year 1975.

I have an old map, so I will take a look to see whether I can find it.

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

The map is in 1:1 000 000 scale (lage südwest). I was not able to find the location on it.

Regards,
Sinisa

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Hey Theo,
I don’t know if this is means anything, but when I put Mittelfüssen into Google Earth, it goes immediately to Middle Hesse (coordinates 50.590078 8.819160)
Respectfully,
Steve Sheflin

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

The following, in German, shows that the ss in the name should be written as follows: Mittelfüssen“ ist eine andere Schreibung von Mittelfüßen, die in der Schweiz und in Liechtenstein.

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Hello


Maybe these cards will help.

https://www.tim-online.nrw.de/tim-online2/


Click on the blue field at the top left with an angle "Kartenauswahl". Then " topographische Karten", then "historische topographische Karten" and then a hook at "1936-1945 topographische Karten 1:25000". Go to your search area and scroll. It changes from the new card to the chosen.


"Mittelfüssen" is not a typical place or name in the area on the Rhine.


Rene

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Coming from the vicinity of that area I second that statement. Never heard of such a place close to Düsseldorf/Krefeld.

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Translating this name into English and I get Middle Feet, which suggests a geographic feature like the foot of a hill or foothills.

I don't know if that is accurate but sometimes a problem like this needs to be approached from different angles.


Ed

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Good evening !

Could it be a location in the Netherlands, not so far from the German border ?. From 1940 to 1944 it was common, that many of this Netherland, Lumxembourg and Belgium location-names were "germanized"

Just a guess

Horst Weber

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

It's part of or derived from an orthopedic term auf Deutsch:

Für die schnellen Leser – Auf einen Blick
Unter einer Mittelfußarthrose wird ein Verschleiß im mittleren Abschnitt des Fußes verstanden. Aus anatomischer Sichte wird der Fuß in – Vorfuß, Mittelfuß und Rückfuß unterteilt. Im mittleren Abschnitt des Fußes finden sich zahlreiche Gelenke, die allerdings allenfalls eine minimale „Wackelbeweglichkeit“ ausführen können. Unter funktionellen Gesichtspunkten muss der mittlere Abschnitt des Fußes vor allem stabil sein. Die Gelenke werden auch als Amphiarthrosen bezeichnet. Das sich in diesem Bereich des Fußes überhaupt Gelenke (Amphiarthrosen) befinden ist nicht der Funktion, sondern der Entwicklungsbiologie geschuldet.

In a geological/geographical context, it may have something to with an arch?

L.

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Maybe it is the name of a yet to be identified beacon, or Funkfeuer. Just an idea.


Timon

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

In the same night Jabs claimed a Halifax "Bei Niedermüssen"....at least that was what Tony Wood wrote in his list. Do we know where that is?

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

nr Niederaussem: 5.800 m. 19:55 (Boiten)



Niederaussem is near Bergheim in Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Ok, thanks. I thought there might be a link to that Mittelfüssen....

John

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Apparently it concerns the night victory of Lt. Albert Berghoff (7./NJG 1), on the night of 3-4.11.1944. His flightlog was recently sold on eBay (https://www.ebay.de/itm/124602091133).
This victory is on Tony Wood's list with "Mittelfüssen" as the crash location.
I think the location is misspelled.

René

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Good evening !

In the Night of 3-4 November 1943 while Düsseldorf was attacked, one HALIFAX was claimed by Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Jabs, Stab IV/NJG 1 at 19:55 hrs at NIEDERMÜSSEMand Leutnant Berghof of 7./NJG 1 claimed a LANCASTER at 20.02 near MITTELFÜSSEN.

This is according to tony Wood's list.

Maybe, this helps.

Horst Weber

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Dear all,

Thanks for all your interesting replies, these are the claims details:

Lt. Albert Bergerhoff: 1 7./NJG1 Lancaster Mittelfüssen (?), 25 km NW Düsseldorf: 5.500 m. 20.02 Düsseldorf raid, unidentified. Note: victory confirmed on 12.7.1944

The location 'Mittelfüssen' is recorded in the OKL/RLM Abschusssfilm, the location '25 km NW of Düsseldorf' is recorded in Bergerhoff's Flugbuch, which I have studied recently, and which was indeed sold on Ebay.

Problem is that I have not found a Bomber Command crash near the location of 25 km NW of Düsseldorf. Neither have I found a Bomber Command Combat report of a 'heavy' that was engaged and (severely) damaged in this area/around this time, which could explain the Bergerhoff Abschussmeldung. So for the time being, this will remain a mystery.

Cheers, Theo

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Hello everyone,

even with a lot of imagination I cannot read "Mittelfüssen" in the OKL/RLM Nachtjagd Abschussmeldungen, especially since such a place does not exist to my knowledge. For me it is 100% certain that Widdeshofen is written there. However, the place is spelled with a "v" instead of "f" and is therefore correctly called: Widdeshoven and is located south-southwest of Düsseldorf. Phonetically, the two letters do not differ significantly in German, but often sound the same.

I would now be interested in the entry in the flight log, where it supposedly says "northwest".

Regards,
Claudia

https://www.nachtjagd.eu/8.jpg


http://www.nachtjagd.eu/5.jpg

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Claudia -

Did you look at any pre-war Deutsche Karten in 1:100,000 scale or less? So many tiny villages lost their identity after the war and were incorporated into cities they were located close to.

L. deZ.

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Hi Larry,

why should I look for "Mittelfüssen" in any old maps when "Widdeshofen" is clearly written there? This logic completely eludes me.

Regards,
Claudia

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Sorry, Claudia, but I see Mittelfusen written there and not Widdeshofen. But then, I'm an American; not a German native schooled in Germany. Hopefully, some others will come along and give you better information.

L. deZ.

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

The first letter is clear a "W" and not a "M" and the 3.+4.letter is an double "d" ... so is it more Widdeshofen und not "Mittelfusen" ....

Re: Location of place called 'Mittelfüssen' (?), 25 km NW of Düsseldorf (noted in late 1943 Nachtjagd claim)
 

Thanks, Rasmussen, I stand corrected.

L.