12-15th June, 1941
 

Hello everybody,

I'm looking for East-Mediterranean operations between 12th-15th June, 1941 involving Luftwaffe's level bombers around Palestine's coasts and reported in German sources.
Any informations would be very appreciated.

Thanks,
Olivier Bacca.

Re: 12-15th June, 1941
 

Hi,
More precision:
I would appreciate if somebody may check that in Peter Taghon's book:
"Die Geschichte des Lehrgeschwaders 1" band 1
I ordered this book but I'm still waiting for it.

Several allied reports are recording Ju-88's attacks on shipping between 12th and 15th June. C. Shores pointed that those attacks involved II/JG1 comming from Cretian airfields.

On 13th June 1941, No.3 Squadron RAAF logged an interception of 8 Ju-88s, three of them being shot-down. Other German raids are reported on 15th June when the Destroyer "Isis" is damaged.

So, if someone got this book and could check what missions were flown by LG1 between 12th and 15th, it would be usefull.

Thanks,
Olivier Bacca.

Re: 12-15th June, 1941
 

Hello Olivier,

This is what I found in Peter Taghon's book :
12/05 : III./LG 1 -> attack against Tobruk; Hits : gunboat 'LADYBIRD' hit midships by 2 bombs and sunk;
13/05 : III./LG 1 -> 12 crews attack a british flotilla (JUNO;KINGSTON; KANDAHAR; ORION;AJAX and PERTH) Divebombing around 17:00hrs. no hits scored; Losses 1 :
(ff) Oblt. Ernst Häseker (vm)
(bo) Uffz. Gerhard Scheffler (+)
(bf) Uffz. Franz Tomuschat (vm)
(bs) Uffz. Karl Rössling (vm)
(88A-5,L1+AD)(2295)
Hit by AA-fire from HMS AJAX, possibly crashed into the sea at Pl.Qu.5454/23 Ost.
14/05 : I./LG 1 -> attack on british ships in the Suda-bay/Crete; Freighter DALESMAN (6.343BRT) hit and sunk; after rearming I./LG 1 went back for another attack, no hits.
III./LG 1 -> armed recce.
15/5 : III./LG 1 -> 3 crews : between 04:15 ~ 05:15 hr. : attack railway station of Marsa Matruk;
between 16:30 ~ 18:35 : attack at british groundforces around Sollum-Capuzzo. On this day I./LG 1 moved from Plovdiv-Krumovo (Bulgaria) to Eleusis (Greece)
Hope this will help, e-greetz,

Dirk

Re: 12-15th June, 1941
 

Hello DDT,

Many thanks for your informations, that's exactly what I was looking for.

Here is one report on British side. No.3 Sqdn was flying from Lydda airfield (Palestine, East of Jaffa)

No.3 Squadron RAAF report :
"13th. Eight Tomahawks took off at 1450 hrs. to provide a protective patrol over H.M. Ships off SAIDA. Our formation arrived over the ships at the same time as a formation of eight JU-88's had commenced or were about about to commence a bombing attack on the vessels. Three JU-88's were shot down into the sea, one each by S/L. Jeffrey, F/L. Perrin and F/O. Sauders and at least two were damaged. The a/c. carried Italian markings. No damage was sustained by any of our aircraft and all returned to base at 1620 hrs."

Now, is it possible that this flight, 1450-1620 hrs. match the bombing around 1700 hrs. with German/British time difference?

The Ju-88 lost crashed into the sea at Pl.Qu.5454/23 Ost, any idea how to convert that into coordinate to check if it's close enough to "off Saida" (North of Tyre, Lebanon)?

On the other hand, C. Shores reported this same event on June 12th :
"at 14.50, the eight Tomahawks intercepted eight Ju88s", which were attempting to bomb the ships, identifying these (incorrectly) as Italian-flown aircraft. Three of these were claimed shot down by Squadron Leader Peter Jeffrey, Flight Lieutenant Perrin and Flying Officer J. W. H. Saunders, while two more were believed to have been damaged. These were in fact Luftwaffe aircraft of II/LG1 from Crete. Two of the German bombers actually failed to return, one from 4 Staffel (L1+DM) flown by Leutnant H. Diekjobst, and one of 5 Staffel, flown by Leutnant R. Bennewitz.

Is there any precision in Peter Taghon's book about those losses (apparently on 12th June) and recorded by II./LG 1?

Regards,
Olivier Bacca.

Re: 12-15th June, 1941
 

Hi

Take care, DTT is giving informations about LG 1 operations between 12th and 15th may 1941 ;)

Re: 12-15th June, 1941
 

Re: 12-15th June, 1941
 

Oeps , sorry Olivier & Stéphane: my mistake!! So what can be found in P.TAGHON's book for this period ?:
12/6 :
III./LG 1 : attack on the base off FUKA.
I./LG 1 : returnflight from Rhodos-Gaddura to Eleusis (Greece)
13/6 :
I. and II./LG 1 : attack on a british flotilla (1 cruiser / 6 destroyers) along the Palestine coast. 9 Ju88 under command of Hptm. Gerhard KOLLEWE, Kdr. - II./LG 1. The force was intercepted during the attack by Tomahawks of 3. (SAAF) Sq. 2 aircraft were shot down:
4./LG 1 : 88A-5,L1+DM (6114)
(ff) Lt. Heinrich Diekjobst (mia)
(bo) Uffz. Bernhard Neth (+)
(bf) Ogefr. Hans Baier (mia)
(bs) Fw. Hans Zecherl (mia)
Shot down west of Saida
5./LG 1 : 88A-5,L1+CN (5271)
(ff) Lt. Rolf Bennewitz (mia)
(bo) Fw. Erich Krause (mia)
(bf) Uffz. Ernst Runde (mia)
(bs) Gefr. Josef Schmid (mia)
Shot down west of Saida
III./LG 1: armed recce missions east of Tobruk.
14/6 :
I. & II./LG 1: no missions
III./LG 1 : armed recce (1 crew)
15/6 : Start of "Operation Battleaxe", the Britsh counterattack at Sollum.
III./LG 1: attacks on British groundforces at Sollum-Capuzzo-Maddalena.
II./LG 1: attack on ships along the syrian coast. destroyers ISIS and ILEX badly and the JACKAL slightly hit by bombs or near misses. On the return flight the bombers run into a gagle of Hurricanes, No.80 Sq. 2 Ju.88 were damaged. The Ju.88A-5,L1+EN (2318) made a emergency landing on the Turkish coast.
(ff) Oblt. Wilger SCHACHT - St.Kap. - 5./LG 1
(bo) Lt. Gottfried EDELHOFF
(bf) Fw. Ernst Diedenhofen
(bs) Uffz. Heinrich Ebner
interned in Turkey.
So again I hope that this information will be of some help to you.
"Tot later"

Dirk

Re: 12-15th June, 1941
 

Rome, November 22th 2006

Kind Gentleman,

on the attacks of the Luftwaffe the coasts of the Lebanon and Syria, in days June 13th 14th and 15th 1941, I have found some gaps, with regard to the number of the German aircrafts employs to you in the strafing missions. I have copy of bulletins operated you of the “X Fliegerkorps” (general Hans-Ferdinand Geisler), and of he lists on the naval losses of the British Admiralty, and knows very on the activity of the Mediterranean Fleet and on the operations of the French ships in the Mar of the Levant. And this I make it to integration from asked from Olivier Bacca and reported how much from Dirk, and without null removing to the job of Peter Taghon, developed in its excellent “Die Geschichte des Lehrgeschwaders 1” [LG.1]. Taghon has sure consulted my book “the German participation to the sea and air war in the Mediterranean (1940-1945)”, that it is the only text in Italian to being cited in its Bibliography.
At the beginning of June 1941, after it are moved from the airports of the Sicily on the airports of Greece and Crete (Eleusis and Iraklion), and taking advantage of for the missions of recognitions and strafing over a long time span beam also the Italian airport of Gadurra, on the island of Rodi, the airplane of the X Fliegerkorps, began to execute attacks on the naval base of Alexandria, and on it objects you of Porto Said and Haifa. There were employs the He.111 bombers of the II./KG.26 and the Ju.88 As to you of the Staab/LG.1 (colonel Friedrich-Karl Knust), I. and II./LG1. The III. /LG.1 were to Derna, in Libia, in order to support the operations on the land forehead, in particular against of Tobruk, and it did not participate to the missions in the Levant Sea. In order to characterize it objects to it to you naval in this zone of sea, the X Fliegerkorps had the Ju 88 Ds of the squadrons from recognition 1./(F) 121 and 2./(F) 123, that intensely they were employed.
Morning of the June 13th, 3 scout Ju.88 of the X Fliegerkorps signalled one naval forces British escapes from Alexandria, directed towards the coasts of the Lebanon, and comprising also one presumed battleship of the class “Barham”. In reality the organic of the British naval group was constituted from the cruisers of the15th Division (rear admiral E.L.S. King) “Phoebe” and “Aiax” and from the naval destroyer “Kandahar”, “Kimberley”, “Janus” “Jackal”, “Stuart”, “Jaguar”, “Griffin” and “Defender”. As a result of the sight, immediately took off for the attack two formations of German bombers.
The first formation, of 4 Ju.88 of the I./LG.1, not having found the objective, between the hours 15,00 and hours 15,35 attacked the airport of Nicosia (Cyprus); the second formation, reduced to 9 aircrafts of the II./LG.1, because the others 3 Ju.88 had been forced to re-enter to breakdowns, attacked without outcome 2 cruisers and 6 destroyer sights to you to the south-west of Beirut, uncoupling in stuck bombs from 250, 500 and 1000 kilogramme. Before the attack to the ships of rear admiral King, the German crews noticed in flight, to the quota 5000 metres, 4 fighter. They were the Tomahawks of the Squadron 30° of the RAAF. A Ju.88 thought, erroneously, to have hit with one bomb from 1000 kilogramme a cruiser, approval to skid and in flames. Two Ju.88, of 4./LG.1 and 5./LG.1 (lieutenants Heinrich Diekjobst and Rolf Bennewitz), did not re-enter to the base, and theirs eight men of crew were in vain search from others 2 Ju.88 between Rode and Cyprus
In the course of morning of the June 14th a Ju.88 from recognition was envoy to hold under control the British ships along the coasts of the Lebanon, being signal 8 ships, between which a cruiser class “Aurora” and a cruiser class “Cairo”. The mission had been planned from the Commando of the X Fliegerkorps also in order to become account if in the attack of the day ahead the enemy ships had received damages. An other Ju.88 took off ahead in the afternoon carrying itself to Beirut, where I sight 3 light cruisers and 5 destroyer.
During the night 3 He.111 torpedo bombers of the 6./KG.26 (captain Siedschlag), they were sendes you to the search of the British ships towards Haifa, while others 6 He.111 of the II./KG.26 (captain Horst Beyling), 2 of which they were forced to re-enter to mechanical defects, were send to you to bomb the port of Haifa. At last, 2 He.111 torpedo bombers of the 6./KG.26 they carried out a search in the night between the June 14th and the 15th on the zone of sea between Cyprus and the coast of Syria, where attacked separately, to the 01,53 and the 02,55, a convoy and a steamboat, without to achieve some result.
The ships of the Mediterranean Fleet newly were sighted the morning of the June 15th from 2 Ju.88 from recognition, that they signaled the presence of three naval groups of which one, comprising one battleship and 4 cruisers, discovered to the hour 09,12 in lat 34°50' N, long. 33°20'E. As a result of this sight, beginning from hours 11,50, 13 Ju.88 bombers of the II./LG.1, guides you from the commander of the group captain Gerhard Kollewe, and 6 Ju.88 of the I./LG.1 (captain Cuno Hoffmann) took off for attacked to wide of Beirut that naval formation, that it was escorted from fighter aircrafts Hurricane of the Squadron 80°. However, 6 Ju.88, four of first formation and two of the second one, were forced to re-enter to breakdowns, and others three aircrafts, always of the second formation not having found the objective naval, bombed the airports of Nicosia and Paphos, on the island of Cyprus. The others 10 aircrafts attacked the Force B, as soon as arrived on the coasts of the Lebanon and constituted from the New Zealand cruiser “Leander” and from the naval destroyer British “Jervis”, “Hasty”, “Ilex” and “Isis”.
The captain Kollewe, lieutenant Lohnert and the second lieutenant Sauer, took of sight a light cruiser and reported to have destroyed it with four bombs, of which from 1000 kilogramme uncoupled from Kollewe. It was be a matter of the “Isis” that had to return to Haifa. A large cruiser was thought hit with one bomb from 500 kilogramme uncoupled from the aircraft of the Lieutenant Obernhuber. It was be a matter of the “Jackal”, that it received light damages for near blows. An other cruiser to read was attacked from the only aircraft of the second formation (the I./LG.1), whose crew thought to have hit that ship to miles 10 the south-west of Beirut. It had to be a matter of the naval destroyer “Ilex”, that also it was attacked little after, from French airplane “Potenz” of 4th the Naval Air Group. The” Ilex” was damaged seriously from two bombs fallen close to the hull, and with it knows it boilers to it flooded was towed to Haifa from the” Hasty”.
Two Ju.88 of the 5./LG.1 were damages from the Hurricane of the 80° Squadron, and one of they, with the commander of the Staffel Oblt. Wilger Schacht, was forced to land to Anamur Head, on the southern coast Turkey, where had interned. According to Ju.88 it landed to Tripoli of Syria, with not repairable damages (70% of the aircraft).

Perdoned the English bad one.

Regards,

Francesco Mattesini

Re: 12-15th June, 1941
 

Don't worry, the use of English language is something that improves with practice. I just want to say that is a real pleasure to see that an Historian of the highest level -as You are- is part of this forum.
I hope to read many more of your interventions in the future. Welcome.

Ludovico.

Re: 12-15th June, 1941
 

Ludovico,
I appreciate your considerations, and I will be useful some interesting thing will be demanded, always in my field of sea and air war, of I assure ("Assicuro").
Francesco