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Henofred 8th January 2019 08:46

Bergunskommando or Salvage Detachments
 
Hello/Bonjour,

I don't know if that subject has been studied (more widely) in books, but for my part I am looking for details about German salvage detachments in West France (Brittany), detachments known as "Bergungs kommando".

For instance: Subordination, Organization, workforce (military or civilian?), stationing places (fixed or mobile?), scrap yards (airfields, town with foundry?)... Some clarifications on these points - even limited -are the welcome.

Best regards,
Frederic

edwest2 8th January 2019 23:50

Re: Bergunskommando or Salvage Detachments
 
Hello,

I hope this is helpful. http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/t...-aircraft.html


Ed

Henofred 9th January 2019 08:32

Re: Bergunskommando or Salvage Detachments
 
Thank you for the link Ed, very interesting.

I found also an article of Jean-Louis Roba in the French aviation magazine "Avions" (issue of September 2004) which give some interesting details via testimonies about these detachments.

Does one knows if there are files regarding these "Bergungskommandos" held by the German archives?

Best regards,
Frederic

Larry deZeng 9th January 2019 15:21

Re: Bergunskommando or Salvage Detachments
 
This book has a fair amount of information on the Bergungs-Organisation in the West, I believe, as well as lots of photos:

Stapfer, Hans-Henri. Strangers in a Strange Land. Carrollton (TX): Squadron/Signal Publications, 1988. ISBN: 0-89747-198-9. Oversize Pb with laminated cover. 80p. Heavily illus.

L.

Henofred 9th January 2019 18:23

Re: Bergunskommando or Salvage Detachments
 
Thank you Larry, I will look for that book.

best regards,
Frederic

edwest2 9th January 2019 19:16

Re: Bergunskommando or Salvage Detachments
 
Here's a link:

https://www.amazon.com/Strangers-Str.../dp/0897471989

Henofred 10th January 2019 09:07

Re: Bergunskommando or Salvage Detachments
 
Great! Thanks again Ed.

Best regards,
Frederic

Mihai Pica 10th January 2019 09:33

Re: Bergunskommando or Salvage Detachments
 
2 Attachment(s)
As for Bergungs Kommando files in Bundesarchiv, either they are well hidden or are completely missing, I am looking for them for quite a while too, I was able to found 2 folders but which are related only to DLM in Rumanien, the "central" fund is nowehere to be found.

Attached some examples

Henofred 10th January 2019 12:12

Re: Bergunskommando or Salvage Detachments
 
Hello/Bonjour Mihai,

Thank you for these samples. If archives exist, they remain to be found!

An interesting research... there seems to be "Bergungstrupps" reports in some MACR. Follow this link: https://384thbombgroup.com/_content/MACRs/MACR1336.pdf

Best regards,
Frederic

Larry deZeng 10th January 2019 16:19

Re: Bergunskommando or Salvage Detachments
 
With these numbers, there should be at least some folders and files that survived the war:

Prior to the war there was very little central direction in the Luftwaffe for the recovery and salvaging of captured enemy aviation equipment; during the annexation of Czechoslovakia in Mar 1939 it was carried out by the various field commands more or less as each saw fit. It was not until the attack on Poland that a special field command was created for this purpose, but it was only in the spring of 1940 that the Luftwaffe finally set up a central authority (Luftwaffenbeute - LwB, which was formed on 24 April 1940) under the Generalluftzeugmeister/Air Ministry in Berlin to supervise and control the recovery and exploitation of captured aircraft and equipment. By the end of 1940 the organization had quickly grown from a few officers and clerks to 12 field salvage staffs (Luftzeugstab 1 - 6, and Luftzeugstab z.b.V. 11 - 16) with 7,900 German military personnel (including RAD detachments) and around 700 foreign workers. Nearly 99% of the officers and engineers belonging to the organization were old reserve and other inactive personnel called up for the duration of the war, and the majority of the EM were over 40. From May 1940 to December 1941, covering the campaigns in the West, the Balkans and the first six months in Russia, approximately 10,000 aircraft engines, 6,000 antiaircraft guns, and large quantities of ammunition and fuel were recovered and salvaged. From 1942 through 1944, the Bergungs- units of the Luftwaffe recovered and salvaged 66,474 aircraft fuselages, 89,388 aircraft engines, 9,504 antiaircraft guns, 9,806 aircraft and antiaircraft machine guns, 139,811 rifles and handguns, and tens of thousands of tons of ammunition, scrap metal and fuel.

[Source:
H.Boog - Die deutsche Luftwaffenführung 1935-1945: Führungsprobleme, Spitzengliederung, Generalstabsausbildung, p.254; NARA WashDC: RG 242 (T-321 roll 12/119-55).


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