Drei „Falken" der II./JG52 auf der Krim im Luftkampf um die Kertsch-Halbinsel 1943-1944
 

Quite an interesting book covering II./JG 52's activity over Crimea from November 1943 up to May 1944, with a focus on the three presented aces it seems.

https://helios-verlag.com/militaeris...8374ac84fca18f

Re: Drei „Falken" der II./JG52 auf der Krim im Luftkampf um die Kertsch-Halbinsel 1943-1944
 

Translation:


The three fighter pilots Gerhard Barkhorn (301 kills), Helmut Lipfert (203 kills) and Otto Fönnekold (136 kills) were among the best experts in the second group of the most successful squadron of the Second World War - the JG 52.

How good were their actual successes, according to information from Soviet archives?

This chronicle largely answers this question through intensive research in Soviet documents and tells of the real and remarkable aerial victories of these three simple "soldiers of the Air War", who, together with other group members, almost alone against an overwhelming superiority of the Soviet Air Force in the Crimea in November 1943 had to fight until May 1944. The II./JG 52 almost fought two Soviet air armies and the Air Force of the Black Sea fleet in Crimea for five months, with Soviet pilots having to pay a high blood price.

With almost 200 photos and documents on the history of the air war in the southern section of the Eastern Front, some of which have not yet been published (late 1943 to early 19441), this documentary records an unpathetic and factual chronicle of the combat activity of German fighter pilots in the Crimea, where these three fighter pilots in aerial combat left a particularly unforgettable trail against their Soviet opponents...

Re: Drei „Falken" der II./JG52 auf der Krim im Luftkampf um die Kertsch-Halbinsel 1943-1944
 

Re: Drei „Falken" der II./JG52 auf der Krim im Luftkampf um die Kertsch-Halbinsel 1943-1944
 

looks interesting .. would love to know what 'unpathetic' means ....

Re: Drei „Falken" der II./JG52 auf der Krim im Luftkampf um die Kertsch-Halbinsel 1943-1944
 

Who reads russian, can see some of Ivan Lavrinenko's previous works here: https://warspot.ru/users/17612-ivan-...enko/published

Re: Drei „Falken" der II./JG52 auf der Krim im Luftkampf um die Kertsch-Halbinsel 1943-1944
 

I wrote my opinion earlier, but I will repeat it. While working for several years on the book on Bulgarian fighters, including the air war of 1943/1944 between Bulgarian (and German) fighters and USAAF warplanes, it stuck me in how few cases the loss, or damage, of a particular aircraft was acknowledged by US documents as due to enemy interference. Many (most?) losses were labelled as due to mechanical failure, the pilot lost orientation, fuel starvation, or aircraft lost due to unknown circumstances, etc. However, in many cases the aircraft was lost in an area where a claim was filed by the defenders. I assume - without having proofs, which I believe don't exist - that it was a deliberate instruction to report a loss, when possible, to causes independent to enemy activity, in order to increase morale and not to confirm the efficiency of enemy activity (counter-intelligence manoeuvre).

Therefore, in my opinion, if one indeed wants to get closer to reality (complete truth cannot be reconstructed anyhow), he/she must consider lost AND damaged aircraft to ALL causes and compare them with ALL claims (incl. anti-aircraft artillery claims). Moreover, if possible, it should be established if a claim was filed against an already damaged aircraft, that left formation, or lagged behind, for some reason, because in this case double claiming can be valid. Otherwise, I am afraid, one will simply say: there were X number of claims, but only Y number of aircraft were lost to enemy activity, thus the ones who filled the claims overclaimed by X/Y*100 percent. This is even more prominent, if politics get involved in an author's history work, namely if he/she wants to show, by all means, that the claimers (in many cases German, i.e., "Nazi", or "fascist", pilots) were actually lying and the whole "hype" around them is no more than Nazi propaganda. Or, the other way around, related to claims of Soviet pilots and Communist propaganda. I observed both versions, but the first one is more prominent.

Please note that my observations are not aimed at any particular writer, or source, it's only a general remark that I drew during my personal experiences accumulated in the past twenty years or so.

Re: Drei „Falken" der II./JG52 auf der Krim im Luftkampf um die Kertsch-Halbinsel 1943-1944
 

You are quite correct Dénes, in my opinion.

All Air Forces have either intentionally or unintentionally tried to diminish the impact of their enemies.

In particular the USAAF has struck me as "constantly" trying to ensure a loss was rather to AA-fire than enemy aircraft. Probably mechanical failure was another way of avoiding the real issue.

They did so in WW 2 and repeated the same thing in both Korea and Vietnam.
I guess for moral purposes, it is always good to try and create a kind of invincibility stamp over your own forces. But it could also be dangerous if you go too far....

Cheers
Stig

Re: Drei „Falken" der II./JG52 auf der Krim im Luftkampf um die Kertsch-Halbinsel 1943-1944
 

Regarding "Drei Falken" I added some pages, that you get an insight of the book. Iwan asked me for help, but I couldn´t prevent him from releasing the book in german language. However it gives you full details as far as possible of the air combats of the three aces mentioned and the combats they were involved over Kerch and the Crimea 1943-44 also regarding damaged soviet planes through all causes (due to fuel starvation, technical problems...) and the times of these actions. The lists in the appendices are easily understandable also for non-german speakers (green-coloured = claim verified in russian archives, blue = there is a loss/ are losses, but shared with other pilots or flak, white = not verified or slight damage).
The painting attached shows Otto Fönnekold - the leading claimant in this period of the threesome in terms of verified claims - after the destruction of a navy Yak-1 of 9 IAP ChF over Eltigen on 27.11.43 - Lt. Baraney was KIA.
Just ask if you want to have more information.
Cheers
Michael

Re: Drei „Falken" der II./JG52 auf der Krim im Luftkampf um die Kertsch-Halbinsel 1943-1944
 

Dang, you beat me to it! Isn't there a style of writing when it comes to Post WW2 German soldiers that I think I've heard referred to as 'heroic/pathetic'?

Re: Drei „Falken" der II./JG52 auf der Krim im Luftkampf um die Kertsch-Halbinsel 1943-1944
 

Exactly Nick,
grown up in the seventies my father working at night for a local newspaper as a driver brought home some "Landser" magazines for me. These were just word by word acounts written by WWII PK-Berichter during the war. Their style is "pathetic", but nevertheless full of action and referring to things that actually happened (good propaganda).

Nevertheless I sensed this was not the whole truth and I got curious and began to research...as the publisher from Helios told me printing of the "Landser" magazines stopped only three years ago.
It would be an interesting study how much this propaganda influenced generations of german people long after the Nazi regime had gone.