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Old 20th January 2015, 15:23
GuerraCivil GuerraCivil is offline
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Re: LW losses in Iraq in V 1941?

The memoirs of Martin Drewes Sand und Feuer. Jagdflieger im Irak und über Deutschland (2011) give some modest light on this:

One He 111 was lost due to friendly fire over Baghdad on 12.5.1941, its pilot Axel von Blomberg was the only Luftwaffe KIA loss during the operations in Iraq.

Another He 111 (KG 114) was lost during an air raid on 16.5.1941 when attacking British airbase near Habbaniyya lake on 16.5.1941 due to AA hits and was force-landed at the desert. The plane had to be abandoned but the crew was saved by Iraqi soldiers.

More of "Special Command Junck" in Iraq:

During the transfer flight from Rodos to Iraq the "Special Command Junck" landed to airfield of Palmyra and which was attacked by British bombers on 15.5.1941, when some of Bf 110´s were damaged and could not continue further. Of those who continued to Mosul on 15.5.1941 one Bf 110 was damaged on landing.

The possibilities to supply small Luftwaffe detachment in Iraq were weakened by the great losses of Ju 52´s during the Crete operation.

The supply situation was weakened further by the fact that in Iraq there was no oil refinery and the modest available gasoline supplies in Iraq were lost during the air raid of RAF´s Gladiators. Thus the flying gasoline had to be imported by Ju 52´s flying from Rodos.

There was not any realistic chance to get enough spare parts for the German planes located in Iraq. This meant in practice that the damaged planes had to be written off and cannibalized to keep the remaining planes flying.
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