[Ota Jirovec]

Hello,

below find the translation of the report (not ideal, but possibly still somewhat better than that made by Google):

"INTERROGATION REPORT¨

of the captured captain of the German air force LIGNITZ Arnold Richard, born in 1913, his father is an infantry lieutenant colonel of the “old” army.

LIGNITZ appears to be the commander of III. Group of JG 54 of the 1st Air Fleet. He was shot down by our fighter on 30 September at 13.30 in vicinity of NOVAJA DEREVNJA of the city of LENINGRAD. In pair with another Me-109 he had a task to carry out a reconnaissance sortie in the area of SLISSELBURG and LAKE LADOGA. Having completed the task, not having permission for that, I have decided to return to my base over LENINGRAD, during the over-flight of which I was shot down by a Soviet fighter. What was the purpose of reconnaissance of SLISSELBURG area is unknown to me, we have just received ab order to find out the quantity of vessels on the LAKE LADOGA. We accomplished this task. We were given no information as far as who (which army) keeps SLISSELBURG. The general task of the JG 54 is the escort of bombers and patrolling over the battlefield. The III. Gruppe of JG 54 in the strength of 45 ME-109 is based at SIVERSKAJA aerodrome at present. There are also the I. Gruppe machines based on this aerodrome - up to 80 ME-109 aircraft based at SIVERSKAJA. On the aerodrome, aircraft are spread in the circle, with some 80 – 100 m distance between them, in the groups and in 2 – 3 rows. The majority of aircraft is not hidden. Some aircraft are covered up by the branches. The aircraft are located close to the edge of the forest. The airfield is protected by an anti-aircraft artillery – its individual positions are located in a circle. Organisation of JG 54 – the Geschwader consists of 3 groups, each group consists of 3 Staffeln. There are 10 – 15 aircraft in each Staffel. The Aviation corps consists of 5 bomber Geschwader, 3 fighter Geschwader and 2 – 3 reconnaissance Staffeln.

To the question, where the II. Gruppe of his Geschwader is located, the prisoner of war replied that he does not know the answer. The supply of fuel is sufficient and it completely suffices the combat sorties. The fuel is delivered by fuel trucks and by transport aircraft. It is transported in fuel tanks of Ju-52s – every such an aircraft can transport 2.500 litres of fuel. For all the duration of war I have lost 8 aircraft, five of them in aerial combats, three in landing accidents. The two aircraft shot down over LENINGRAD today are not included in this total. Of the flying personnel of the Geschwader, there are up to 50 % of young airmen, whose combat experience is not very high. Some of the pilots have got some experience on the Eastern Front only.

The day´s schedule on the SIVERSKAJA aerodrome is as follows: the wake-up signal at 6 (?) o´clock, the breakfast between 6.00 and 7.00, the combat flights start at 7.00, and if there is a bad weather, the control and maintenance of the aircraft is carried out. Pilots can relax in the vicinity of their aircraft during their leisure time. With the advent of the darkness the combat flights come to stop. During the course of the day the crews conduct no more than 3 sorties. There are no night fighters in III. Gruppe of JG 54. No movement of combat troops to the north and south of SIVERSKAJA has been observed. Have seen only some individual vehicles that were moving to the north and south of SIVERSKAJA. There is no high army staff HQ in SIVERSKAJA.

While taking off and landing the aircraft make no special tactical maneuvering. 3 Air Fleet is deployed in Germany at present – it is being commanded by General Löhr. The 1st Air Fleet (Luftflotte 1) is located in Estonia and is being commanded by Generaloberst Keller.

Hauptmann Lignitz considers himself to be an experienced airman, by his own words he shot down 25 aircraft in aerial combat, 5 of which are not confirmed. Of these 20 aircraft 18 were British and French ones and 2 ours (i.e. Russian). Lignitz was awarded Iron Cross of the 2nd Class for his first aircraft shot down. He was awarded Iron Cross of the 1st Class for 5 aircraft shot down and Knight Cross (Ritterkreuz) for 16 enemy aircraft shot down. The latter was handed over to him personally by Reichsmarschall Goering.

Lignitz highly evaluates the quality of our fighter pilots and considers them to be brave soldiers. Lignitz appears to be an important person in the enemy´s air force and for this reason, it will not be bad if we announce that he was taken prisoner.

So far, Lignitz tries not to speak truth and is trying to “play dumb” while answering all our questions. It is necessary to continue to “work” on Lignitz.

The interrogation was carried out by
Kombrig (brigade commander) Evstigneev

30. 9. 41

8 copies printed"


Hope this helps a little,


Ota