Fi 156 lost near Saint-Marcel (16 June 1944)
 

Good morning to all.

Just finished a mervellous book about the French SAS in WW2, which inform that a certain Leutnant Wilhelm Gebbhardt, former Ju 87 Stuka pilot on Eastern Front, who lost both legs, was shot down on a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch, by the SAS over Saint-Marcel, on the morning of 16th June 1944.

Apparently he took off from RENNES (it is mentioned that he was a member of the Aufklarungsgruppe 11 ?? - 11ème Groupe de Reconaissance) and was shot by a Bren gun (near the Abbaye of Trébiguen) over the Chateu de Sainte-Geneviève. The Fi 156 crashed near Saint-Gyomard and burned in fire.
The pilot survived and was found by German forces.

Is it possible to find the Fi 156 serial and codes?
When was Lt. Wilhelm Gebbhardt shot down previously in Russia?

Thanks for clarifying that information from the book

Adriano B.

Re: Fi 156 lost near Saint-Marcel (16 June 1944)
 

According to the book "La lune est pleine d'éléphants verts" (the moon is full of green elephants (sic)) (this is a story of the strange code phrases sent to French resistance and their effect), the pilot was a Lt Wilhelm Gebhardt (only one b), belonged to "11e groupe de reconnaissance" and had been shot down in USSR in early 1943, losing both legs.

During the emergency landing this day, he hit a stone heap and the engine of the Storch entered the cabin and crushed his artificial legs. The wreck took fire, but Gebhardt could cut the strings holding his legs and dove out of the wreck. He was found shortly later by German soldiers and one hour later was reporting to General Fahrbacher the results of his reconnaissance flight over the Resistance concentration.

This book was written in 1979, so details have to be checked.

But still the pilot was apparently unhurt, so no NVM.

The "11e groupe de reconnaissance" is probably wrong. In summer 1944, the Luftwaffe recon unit bearing this number, NAGr 11, was in Italy and has never come to Britanny. On the other hand NAGR 13 was based in Britanny on D-day before moving westwards, so one of its pilot could still be there. This unit was flying Bf 109 and Fw 190 for operations, so the above Fi 156 was probably a hack aircraft flown by a non-operational pilot.