[sidney]

I understand that the case is now considered to be all but closed. I would still like to add few notes if I may.

According to the map enclosed to Prien, Stemmer and others JFV der Deutschen LW, Part 6/I I believe, Stab/JG 52 and I./JG 52 were based at Rusa (that is in the proximity of the main Minsk – Moscow highway) between 4.11.1941 and 14.12.1941. Following the Red Army counter offensive of 5.12.1941, the aforementioned units left for Dugino (again, not far away from the highway), where they remained between 14.12.1941 and 20.01.1941

What happened during the aforementioned Red Army counter offensive is that the German Army fell back at places 150 – 200 km, which shortened their communication and supply lines, so it eventually managed to contain the counter offensive.

Now, the account of event states that on 8 January 1942 Ofw. Karl Munz of Stab I./JG52, while piloting the apparently Kommodore’s, Maj Wilhelm Lessmann, Bf 109 F-4, W.Nr. 8149 coded “Double Chevron and Bars”, was hit by the small calibre AA fire, which obliged him to make belly-landing at Grodino. Although wounded, he then managed to reach the German lines.

Now, according to the above Grodino is then supposed to be somewhere in the central Russia. The only reference on Grodino that I found was in John Weal’s book He 111 Kampfgeschwader on the Russian Front, where it reads…”… at the end of January (i.e., 1942) I./KG 4 was switched back to the Volkhov area (i.e., northern Russia) to support the German drive aimed at pinching off the Soviet offensive. One particularly successful mission was flown on the last day of the month, when its He 111s bombed the township of Grodino…” Needless to say, it was Stab/JG 27 and III./JG 27 based at Ljuban, Volkhov area, between 06.09 and 29.09.1941.

Furthermore, what bothers me about the eBay photo in post No.1 is the apparent presence of the unarmed German soldier guarding the aircraft, plus a number of wooden planks, possibly inscribed in Russian, as a warning to the local population to stay away from the aircraft. This indicates that the aircraft quite possibly belly landed on the German-held territory.

Is the other way around possible? According to the event account, the above aircraft belly-landed on the Russian-held territory. This would mean that it was effectively lost (i.e., 100%), because the German Army on the central section of the front managed to hold the line, albeit only just, after it fell back some 150-200 km, but it did not make any substantial recovery of the lost territory, and the front, more-or-less remain stable and static for many months (i.e., that is until the Battle of Rzhev, later the same year), while the German High Command shifted its attention to the southern sector of the Eastern Front. Therefore, the presence of the especially unarmed German soldier, if that was a German soldier of course, at the aircraft there is somewhat unlikely in the spring of 1942.

When I look at the Stab/JG 52 “Chevrons and bars” markings of late 1941, they look differently than those sported on this belly-landed Bf109F. The replacement of the JG 52 Geschwader emblem with apparently the Kommodore’s personal emblem is also hard to explain.

To try and conclude, perhaps we do have a Bf 109 F aircraft belly-landed at Grodino after all, it is just that it did not belong to JG 52.

As suggested, the case is now considered closed anyway. Or is it?