Luftwaffe losses Tunesia
 

Hello


Can anyone confirm the Englisch claim that a battlegroup did destroy approx. 20 German planes on the Djedeia Airfield between 24 November 1942 and 26 November 1942.

It is stated that this battlegroup did attack the (provisional) airfield and destroy or damage the German planes.

Howmany planes where damaged, what where the types, etc...

All help is greatly appreciated.


Cordial greetings and thanks in advance

Re: Luftwaffe losses Tunesia
 

Hi,

They were Ju 87s of II./St.G. 3

I can post details tomorrow. I think I have 19 aircraft destroyed on the airfield

Regards,
Andreas B

Re: Luftwaffe losses Tunesia
 

This will give you a preliminary reply until Andreas can post his more detailed information tomorrow:

Djedeida (TUN) (a.k.a. El Bathan?) (c. 36 51 N – 09 54 E)
General: landing ground in N Tunisia 24 km WNW of Tunis near the present day town of Al Judayyidah. There were two strips: Djedeida/Northwest and Djedeida/Southeast.
Remarks:
25 Nov 42: advancing American tanks from the 1st Armored Division overran the airfield and destroyed 4 of II./St.G. 3’s Ju 87s and shot up or crushed 21 others, putting them out of action. The losses were quickly replaced and there was almost no break from operations. The American tank crews claimed 30-36 aircraft in all.

L.

Re: Luftwaffe losses Tunesia
 

Hi,

I've written an article about the raid, which I've attached to this posting. Please note that I've obtained a lot more sources in the last couple of years, so this article is now a bit outdated. An older version of it appeared in the Luftwaffe Verband, and also used to appear on my FW 190/Ta 152 website.


Cheers,
Andrew A.

Air War Publications - www.airwarpublications.com

Re: Luftwaffe losses Tunesia
 

Weird! I just read about this raid in An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson. The tanks were General Stuart light tanks, useless for tank-to-tank combat but armed with a 37mm gun.

regards

Keith

Re: Luftwaffe losses Tunesia
 

Hello


Thank you to al who did reply => now it is time to read through al the material!

And offocarse always interested in reading more on this subject.

Cordial greetings

Re: Luftwaffe losses Tunesia
 

Interesting how many versions there are in German records...

Andreas
Do you have the actual Ju 87 losses? Would be highly interesting to know which one of the Ju 87 loss figures is the correct one...

Cheers
Stig

Re: Luftwaffe losses Tunesia
 

Hi, all

Here are the losses as I have recorded them:

Not directly related to the tanks:

http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143476
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143477
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143478
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143479
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143480
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143481
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143481
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143499
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db/lw_loss_public.asp?lossid=143500

Directly raid related:

http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143482
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143483
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143484
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143485
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143486
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143487
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143488
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143489
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143490
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143491
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143492
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143493
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143494
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143495
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143496
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143497
http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=143498


I have no problem seeing that the reports would differ a bit with regards to numbers, as there was probably a quite frantic scene at the airfield.

Regards,
Andreas B

Re: Luftwaffe losses Tunesia
 

Hi, Stig

As you can see I have posted the loss records as I have transcribed them from the original records of GQM.

As you can see, there are several losses that seems to be related to air operations in addition to the raid on the airfield, 'Bruchlandung infolge Feindbeschuß' is one of these loss reasons.

Regards,
Andreas B

Re: Luftwaffe losses Tunesia
 

Thanks Andreas

Appreciate your update to Andy's interesting article. Yes I can see the confusion after this raid and why the sources differ regarding the direct losses to the tank attack. Quite a hefty loss....

Cheers
Stig