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Re: Flugplatz Krissicha
Well, I guess I'll have to answer my own question here. The single Prien page citation in this thread is in Post #6, above, and it's from Prien's new Jagdwaffe series. Below are the references to II./JG 53 for July 1941 as taken from Prien's 3-volume work on JG 53 written 25 years ago:
Prien - JG 53/Teil I
1-2 Jul 41: II./53 operating from Kreuzburg but there was little action. (p.354)
4 Jul 41: 5. St. lost Uffz. Reipert in the area N of Ostrow. (p.354)
5 Jul 41: II./53 transferred to Alt-Schwanenburg. (p.357)
7 Jul 41: II./53 in evening dogfight with several Soviet bombers – location not given. (p.358)
8 Jul 41: II./53 flew evening freelance patrols in the Ostrow area, losing Ofw. Margstein from 4. St. who crashed in a field along the Ostrow-Porchow road after failing to bale out.
10 Jul 41: II./53 transferred to Kerpova. (p.360)
10 Jul 41: II./53 scrambled in late morning and intercepted 4 SB-2 bombers that were inbound to attack their field at Kerpova.
15 Jul 41: II./53 scrambled and claimed 3 attacking Russian bombers over the Gruppe’s airfield.
16 Jul 41: II./53 lost two of its aircraft on the ground when enemy bombers attacked the Feldflugplatz Korowje-Selo. (p.374)
18 Jul 41: II./JG 53 transferred to Krussicha in Estonia. Here the Gruppe found bad weather so operational activity was minimal. (p.377)
19 Jul 41: II./53, still dealing with bad weather, nevertheless flew missions in the Staraya Russa area. (p.377)
20-25 Jul 41: II./53 flew freelance sorties in the Staraya Russa area. (p.382)
26 Jul 41: the II. Gruppe received orders to get the aircraft ready for a transfer to Germany and this was carried out over the following days. While the pilots and planes returned to Germany, the ground personnel moved to Porchow where they participated in sports and did exercises until 6 August. (p.382)
So II. Gruppe's last base before leaving for Germany was Krussicha in Estonia. There were two airfields at Dorpat (Tartu), one on the NE side of town and the other on the SW side of town. One was the main airfield and the other was a Hilfsflugplatz (auxiliary airfield). A careful search around the environs of Tartu for the name "Krussicha" came up empty.
L.
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