Walter Bohatsch 5./JG3
 

Hi, just wondering if anyone can help with the date of Walter Bohatsch's 1st "kill"?
The date is listed as 4 September 1942 (a MiG-1, 1510 hours) and also as 17 April 1943 (LaGG-3, 1503 hours) in the Jochen Prien books.

Thanks in advance, Mike Young

Re: Walter Bohatsch 5./JG3
 

Hi Mike

Bohatsch was born on 14th January 1921. He was with training from June 1942 until 15th February 1943 with Jfs2 and Jfs5 before joining erg./Jgr.Ost.....which answers your question. He made at least thirteen claims that were confirmed. The first was 17th April 1943, the last with Jg3 was a B-17 on 29th April 1944.

Previously before the discovery of the micro films in 1999 there was a list of Staffels with claims with only Date and time details. I assume your information is from an earlier book where he guessnimated the claimers, his resent works are almost perfectly accurate with the exception of Jg2 over Africa.

Kind Regards

Johannes

Re: Walter Bohatsch 5./JG3
 

Thanks Johannes. Yes the original 1st "kill" date was from his JG3 history books, which predate his Jagdfliegerverbände books.

Kind regards, Mike

Re: Walter Bohatsch 5./JG3?
 

Johannes,

Your statement about JG-2 brought up a question I have.

Why is JG-2 the one Geschwader with the only unreliable data set?
Is is the JG-2 detachment in Africa that has incomplete data?

I also remember reading somewhere that JG-77 was the one Geschwader that had its victory claims most drastically revised after the discovery of the microfilm victory list. Can you verify?

Thanks,

Carlos

Re: Walter Bohatsch 5./JG3
 

Hi Guys

Yes, all pre micro film discovery units claims will be dramatically changed from the old Date/Time/Type data, not Jg77 in particular. With some units photo's of old Victory Boards survive for earlier periods, though these often don't verify if they are confirmed or not, though I remember that Jg27's do give this detail and that Werner Schroer's first couple were unconfirmed, though they did fall as he was a very honest claimer! Herr Prien had matched up as much as he could using logbooks, but not all survived. Regarding Jg2 over Afrika. I believe Herr Bock who did the micro films reading had a corruption or mis-sort in his excel file........all the information is there, but the claimers names are attributed to the wrong claim details. Herr Prien is looking into the matter!

Kind Regards

Johannes