Combat Claims by Night Fighters 28-29.04.1943
 

On the night 28/29 April 1943 , 3 Lancasters of 12 Squadron were lost:
12 Sqn - Lancaster I - W4954 - Baltic Sea
12 Sqn - Lancaster I - ED325 - Baltic Sea
12 Sqn - Lancaster III - ED408 - Baltic Sea
I'm looking for information who shot down these bombers.

Re: Combat Claims by Night Fighters 28-29.04.1943
 

Hi

Luftwaffe only claimed two Lancasters this night, both are in the general area of Denmark in the early hours of the 29th by:-

Hptm Werner Spiedel of 10./NJG 3 at 0129 hrs north of Hjorring
Oblt Paul Szameitat of 5./NJG 3 at 0351 hrs NW of Kolding at 3500 metres

excluding the two Wellingtons there were five Stirling losses:-

Uffz Günter Holtfreter of 11./NJG 3 at 0017 hrs south of Rye at 1400 metres
Uffz Berg of 7./NJG 3 at 0056 hrs at Kalundborg at 2000 metres
Hptm Hans Baer of 4./NJG 3 at 0117 hrs 25km west of Romo at 1600 metres
Ofw Rudolf Mangelsdorf of 12./NJG 3 at 0145 hrs SW of Ringkobing at 2000 metres
Lt Günter Rogge of 12./NJG 3 at 0148 hrs 60km west of Esbjerg at 2200 hrs

Kind Regards

Johannes

Re: Combat Claims by Night Fighters 28-29.04.1943
 

The three Lancasters were shot down by Flak and not night fighters.

Re: Combat Claims by Night Fighters 28-29.04.1943
 

Hi

If it was flak, I can probably find the units if you need?

Kind Regards

Johannes

Re: Combat Claims by Night Fighters 28-29.04.1943
 

Johannes, I would be grateful if You could.

Re: Combat Claims by Night Fighters 28-29.04.1943
 

Hi Johannes,

It would be quite interesting to see if you can find the Flak units involved in the shooting down of ED408, ED325 and W4954; I can offer the following info on the fourth 12 Squadron Lancaster loss:

12 Sqn Lancaster LM313, coned by Scheinwerfer 78 and hit by 12./Flak-Regt. 25, crashed N.W. Kritzmow, 5 km SW Rostock at 00.37.

Cheers, Theo

Re: Combat Claims by Night Fighters 28-29.04.1943
 

Hi Guys

The other two claims by flak that night were:-

B-24 0007 hrs1./Lei 985
Lancaster 0133 hrs 2./Lei 742

Sorry don't know what Lei stands for, hope I have read it correctly.

As for the area, hard to read the first looks like Lassär(?) the second Limfjord(?) as for Theo's I read this as Kirwald!!!!!! So don't put much faith in my place names.

Kind Regards

Johannes

Re: Combat Claims by Night Fighters 28-29.04.1943
 

Lei stands for Leichte. FLAK claims for this night over Denmark, can be found in the KTB Admiral Dänemark.

Junker

Re: Combat Claims by Night Fighters 28-29.04.1943
 

Lancasters of 1-st Group were lost in Danzig Bay area : Lancaster I - W4954; Lancaster I - ED325; Lancaster III -ED408.
ED 408 was shot down off Leba.There is no doubt as there is evidence in KTB and I found the place of crash.
I have a copy of KTB MOK Ost, where is also written:
28/29 04.1943 Abgesturzten engl. Maschine durch Flg. Horst Stolp-Reitz.
which means: English Maschine (airplane) was shot down by military airfield Stolp-Reitz.
Unfortunatelly still not clear eather by night fighter or flak....

Re: Combat Claims by Night Fighters 28-29.04.1943
 

Hi Johannes,

I've identified both these Flak claims as follows:

-90 Sqn Stirling BF346, hit by 1./lei. Fl.Abt. 985, crashed in Langelands Baelt near Korsör at 00.07 hrs (mis-identified as 'Liberator').

-207 Sqn Lancaster W4945, shot down by Flak of II. and III./2./lei. Flak Abt 742 at 01.33 hrs, crashed at Rimmerstrand near Struer (Limfjord).

Cheers, Theo