[Leo Etgen]

Hi guys

The times that I have seen the description given by Gefreiter Karl Schnörrer it is always given in relation to the incident of 11 August 1942. Regarding the account by Hans Ellendt it is not known, at least by me, when he wrote or recalled this event. It is stated is that he "clearly remembers" which would indicate this recollection happened some time after the event described. Concerning the 25-26 October 1942 raid I do not know what was the number of II./KG 51 aircraft stationed on the field nor the proportion of losses. It is interesting to note that II./KG 51 was a Ju 88 equipped unit as per the strength returns and thus it was impossible for the Gruppe to have suffered losses of He 111 bombers. According to the strength returns the Gruppe began October 1942 with 38 Ju 88 A-4 bombers and 20 of these were lost to strength through enemy action as well as three lost due to other causes other than enemy action and one through overhaul through the month. In turn the unit received 16 bombers as replacements as well as one Ju 88 C-6 through the month to finish October 1942 with 31 aircraft. Without knowing the number of bombers the unit had on strength at the time of the raid and the exact losses it would be difficult to draw conclusions. Unfortunately my DVD disk containing the QM 6 returns has chosen this very moment to inexplicably go bad and I can not access the relevant files to determine the number of aircraft lost by II./KG 51 in this attack. As concerns the incident described by Nowotny it may well be that we will have to wait until Prein releases his loss list for the time period to know the details of the event especially in light of the fact that not even the date is known with certainty. In regards to gun cameras it is my understanding that it was not usual for Luftwaffe fighters to be fitted with these until somewhat later in the war.

Horrido!

Leo