Loss in June 1941 Krimean/Sea of Azov
 

Does somebody have more on the June 1941 loss over Sea of Azov/Krimean
of the following person ?

Hans Heinrich Euler (born 06.10.1909 at Merano).

Supposedy on a recce mission (?meteorologist?).

In civil life he was physicist.
More info on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Heinrich_Euler
and
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Euler


Bye, thanks in advance,
FrankieS

Re: Loss in June 1941 Krimean/Sea of Azov
 

Hello, FrankieS!

See http://www.airwar.ru/history/av2ww/a...uftloss41.html
(in Russian)

Не111Н-4 W/n 3205 (5Z+FA) Wekusta 76 (weather recce unit) MIA 24.6.41, incl. H.Euler.

Forced landing 55 km South of Melitopol in Azow Sea due to motor accident. Next day all crew was captured by fishermen. Their further fate is unknown for me.

He was an able physicist? It is interesting...

Regards,
Andrey

Re: Loss in June 1941 Krimean/Sea of Azov
 

Hello Andrey, EXCELLENT, THANK YOU KINDLY !

Yes, according to the Internet he was an able physicist.
But there is much more to the story of this loss:


On the night of 23.02.1942 a unit of the Russian 56th Army under Major Maloletko with the help of the Russian Azov Sea Flottila made landfall for a surprise attack onto the Germans between Mariupol and Taganrog near Obryv/Kholodne. If I understand correctly they killed many german soldiers and then found in a german Opel-Admiral (chauffeur given as Hans Vandervelde) vehicle a briefcase with a large notebook. On further analysis of this notebook they saw that there were calculations and graphics for uranium nuclear chain reactions and also a list of the materials hypothesized needed for constructing an atomic bomb !
The famous soviet officer Ilya Grigoryevich Starinov was involved and the notebook was sent to Moscow where experts were alerted to the german research for nuclear weapons. This incident was the final push for Stalin to immediately also set up a soviet atomic bomb project.
On the first of the websites mentioned below there is speculation, that the notebook belonged to Hans Euler (name given wrongly as "Echler") who is stated to have been lost/killed in action. But this could be wrong given the fact that Hans Euler was already lost in 1941 ? Euler supposedly was also sympathized with the communists so it seems a bit improbable that he should help the Nazis to develop the bomb.

Would be nice to know:
#1 What happened to Euler as russian prisoner of war ?
#2 Speculation: Was the "story" of Taganrog maybe faked and Euler voluntarily went over to the russians with his notebook ?
#3 Did the notebook belong to a completely different german officer ?

You can read more on this very interesting subject here:
http://www.nato.int/acad/fellow/94-9...agin/01-02.htm
http://www.taganrog.su/node/10133/print
http://www.my-sedovo.narod.ru/VOJNA2.html

bye, thanks again, Andrey,
FrankieS

Re: Loss in June 1941 Krimean/Sea of Azov
 

Hello, FrankieS!

According to the book "1941. The bitter lessons" by D.Khazanov, H.Euler was a meteorologist, Major, WW1 participant. This info in the book has a reference to Russian MoD archive (TsAMO). Of course Euler (born in 1909) wasn't a WW1 participant :-)
Maybe this is error in the document (or in the book) or the POW Euler wasn't a person in question.

The successful raid on 23.Feb.1942 is a real event. Some documents were captured, yes. It is a fact.
The story about "nuclear" notes, taken in that raid, was published in 1985 in the Soviet magazine "Chemistry and life". I can't estimate its reliability.

Regards,
Andrey

Re: Loss in June 1941 Krimean/Sea of Azov
 

Thanks again Andrey, great job !