[MarkRS]

Very useful Larry, thanks.

It actually clarifies things if you read between the lines. First of all it clears up where the IV came from; Air Corps IV not IV./KG30. Secondly, it confirms that I./KG30 attacked the Oronsay. Most of the claims by II./KG30 seem to be for the same ship, the Lancastria. Claim 1 is the near miss on the Havelock that damaged her bow. Claims 2 through 9 are the Lancastria. Except for the extremely poor estimations of the ship's size, all the descriptions are similar: hits midships and rear or a near miss, fire and listing. The current thoughts are that the Lancastria was hit by 4 bombs and near missed causing damage by 2 more.

Again the Germans claim no losses. Considering that, at the time, they had no idea of the significance of the engagement, I am inclined to believe them. However, they also claim that they did not strafe the victims or drop flares and we know from numerous survivor accounts that they did just that. I think that George Berry's claim was automatically confirmed for morale purposes without a rigorous investigation. The German in the drink story is probably a myth.

Do you have anything on the He111 that was engaged between Nancy and Toul?

Mark