Leutnant Claus von Bohlen und Halbach, I.Gr JG76
 

Gentlemen,
John Weal writes in "Grünherzjäger": An accidental death occured on the central sector on Jan 10th 1940. Leutnant Claus von Bohlen und Halbach of I.JG76 was carrying out a routine high-altitude patrol over the Trier region when his Bf109 was seen to plunge vertically into the ground, probably as a result of oxygen failure.
Would somebody know, in which of the three staffeln Claus served? Furthermore which status he was assigned to? Sidestep: Claus von Bohlen und Halbach was a member of the Krupp dynastie and the influence of the family could easily kept him away from a rather dangerous job as a fighter pilot in the luftwaffe, as it was and still is practise in the US, especially in the Bush family.
Cheers
Horst Schmidt

Re: Leutnant Claus von Bohlen und Halbach, I.Gr JG76
 

Hi,


He was in the 1/JG76. Crashed by Bitburg.

Robert

Re: Leutnant Claus von Bohlen und Halbach, I.Gr JG76
 

Good afternoon hihotte !

This accident is very good researched. I guess, that the author received his information from the "Genaralquartiermachermeister-Meldungen", dated 12. 1. 1940, Luftflotte 3, Position No. 3.

Indeed, this Me 109 went on this cold day in a steep dive and crashed into a wood 600 m North of the village Metterich, which is located about 5 km East of Bitburg, Germany. This event was a sensation for the civilians, since it was a prominent member of the German leading steel-dynasty.

Rumors among the civilians always went around, that he was shot down by French fighters, but this by evaluation the official military files (German as well as French) not possible.

His unit was 3./JG 76 as WASt states.

He had a pre-war carreer as a reserve pilot and served several training units. Then, he was drafted to a fighter unit in September 1939 (or probably August 26th, 1939) for the Poland campaign. This is filed in his famliy's records. After that, he was assigned to the western front with JG 76. In mid-January, he should have been released from the duty for a couple of week lasting vacation to undertake urgent necessary works in the Krupp-plant at Berndorf near Vienna. But the events of 10. January 1940 made those plans impossible.

You may order this files at: Historisches Archiv Krupp, Villa Hügel 1, 45133 Essen, Germany

If he had preferances by his status as a member of the Krupp-dynasty in his military duty, is very hard to figure out. Generally for that time, everybody was equal in German forces. It made a bad taste for the moral of the troop, if people like him had preferances. And on 10 January 1940, there was no actual war France-Germany and I believe, that he voluntarily flew that fatal mission.

Best regards,

Horst Weber