FF Ogr. Gantner, + Oct. 10, 1944 in Holland
 

Hello!
I am having troubles with finding this pilot too and hope for some help here again!

Ogr. Johann Gantner was a pilot in a KG unit and fell on the above date in Hooger-Heide in Holland
Does anyone know about the circumstances, unit etc. etc.?
I have found him in "Gräbersuche", but thats all. In my sources, there was nothing!
Thanks in advance

Christian

Re: FF Ogr. Gantner, + Oct. 10, 1944 in Holland
 

Christian,

Ogf. Johan Gantner (born 01.03.1924) is buried at Lommel Belgium (grave 51-249), just a few miles south of Eindhoven. It is possible that he crashed in Belgium.
In the database of the Dutch Airwar Studygroup there's no KG loss at Hooger-Heide for 10 october 1944.
Hope this will help.

Re: FF Ogr. Gantner, + Oct. 10, 1944 in Holland
 

Hi Bas!
Thank you for your reply!
I think you might be right, but what about this card, i recently purchased. Could it be, that he fell there without his death being related to flying?

Thanks again

Christian

Re: FF Ogr. Gantner, + Oct. 10, 1944 in Holland
 

Christian,

Between 6 and 11 october 1944 there was a serious battle going on around Hooger Heide. The Canedians were on the move.
If Gantner's base was Woensdrecht Airfield, which is just north of Hooger Heide, he could have been killed in a non-flying accident in that area.
But I'm just assuming....

Re: FF Ogr. Gantner, + Oct. 10, 1944 in Holland
 

Please be aware that lots of Luftwaffe groundcrew but also flying personnel were transferred to Fallschirmjäger-Regimente to fill up their numbers in the second halve of 1944 and of course also in 1945. These Regimente were quickly put into ground action and several times had considerable losses. As Bas already mentioned, in October 1944 quite some battle was going on near Woensdrecht/Hoogerheide. I would assume Gantner was killed in that battle. And yes, they wasted pilots easily this way....

John

Re: FF Ogr. Gantner, + Oct. 10, 1944 in Holland
 

The other consideration is that the bomber units in the West were pretty much withdrawn from action by October. The only two likely to have been flying operationally were I. and III./KG 51 (Me 262 and Fw 190 respectively).

Re: FF Ogr. Gantner, + Oct. 10, 1944 in Holland
 

Thank you very much for your help. Always nice to learn something new!!
Best wishes

Christian

Re: FF Ogr. Gantner, + Oct. 10, 1944 in Holland
 

A strong possibility at this stage of the war was that this man was transferred from his KG unit to another, either ground or flying, and the family (who wrote the death card) was not informed of this.

Re: FF Ogr. Gantner, + Oct. 10, 1944 in Holland
 

Death card Says Holland, Hooger Heide 10-10-1944 https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/thread...5#post-1919455