[hautemarnechris]

Everybody - thanks again.

Sorry not to have responded sooner -just back from France.

Like Larry my feeling is that Tours-sur-marne/Athis/Plivot were one and the same. However, just to confuse matters further Ultra reported on T274 (can't remember exact date) as follows:

"To ABIOC ((JG 3)) for ABUNO (( (ROMAN) 11 JG)) 3 on 10/8:- airfield ATHIS 20km East of Epernay between river and Railway. Square U175. Serviceable for landing.

NOTE: (1) source believes from JG 27 (2) on 9/8 Jagdkorps 2 ordered ROMAN II Jg 3 to be withdrawn to the reich for rest and refit.

Fair indication JG 27 on 10th informed J3 for 2nd Gruppe that airfield ATHIS 20km east of Epernay between river and railway was servicable for landing."

However, ATHIS lies closer than 20km to the east of Eperany; it's also south of both the river and the railway - but only just. But VRAUX lies 20km east of Epernay and according to the people who run the musuem at VRAUX "it seems that some BF 109 GS of JG 3 , based at Tours / Marne , also used Vraux , this time during June / July / August 1944." VRAUX and ATHIS are a short distance and equidistant from Tours-sur-Marne.

The wikipedia entry for ATHIS airfield says that modern Plivot was built a short distance from the original ATHIS airfield - it's claimed that all that's left of the original ATHIS airfield is a triangular concrete section which was the intersection of the two runways at ATHIS. Using Google street view one can indeed see what looks like a concrete section in the fields to the south west of ATHIS.

I think the only way to settle this is to visit the area and speak to local people. My guess is that they were all one and the same place. But I'm a bit concerned about the very detailed allied description of Plivot which Larry gives. I intended to visit PLIVOT and ATHIS last week but got side-tracked. I shall be in the area again in early September and will make a visit to try to settle this matter.

Fortunately for me, the key issue is whether JG 3 was "exterminated" by an RAF attack on an airfield close to TOURS-sur-Marne - whether the airfield was VRAUX, ATHIS or PLIVOT doesn't really matter.

I haven't seen any evidence that II/JG 3 suffered serious losses whilst on the ground when staioned in the Chalons area. And I don't think the RAF operated there. Therefore, I believe the agent's report was at best a gross exaggeration but more likely he was claiming the credit for what was a routine attack by the USAAF where a JG 3 gruppe (probably II/Jg3)suffered some losses but nothing like the catastrophic losses the agent portrayed in his report.

Thanks again for sharing your ideas and scholarship - it's most appreciated.