[RodM]

Hi John,

the morning report is dated 6 April, but covers events on the night before, i.e. the evening of 5 April and early morning of 6 April.

The report indicates that 15 Ju88 aircraft from 2. Jagddivision flew between 6:18 pm and 8:15 pm (i.e. first take off and last landing times) on the evening of 5th April. The 12 Bf109s flew air cover but also conducted strafing attacks themselves.

2. Jagddivision was subordinate to Luftflotte Reich for air defense, but its night fighters had recommenced night ground attack missions during the Allied crossing of the Rhine river at the end of March. It had no direct relationship with 14. Fliegerdivision (they were seperate commands), and it covered Northern Germany as well as Denmark.

I have individual details of three of the 27 sorties:

I./Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 - two Ju88s from Rotenburg airfield, one flew between 18:14 - 19:47 hrs (without bombs) and the other between 18:18 - 19:45 hrs (with AB 250-2 containers holding SD-10 frag bomblets) . Both of these sorties were in the Stolzenau area.

III./Nachtjagdgeschwader 11 - one Bf109 from Oldenburg airfield, flew between 18:15 - 19:13 hrs.

I know that some of the take off times from these flying logbooks are earlier than the times given in the High Command report.

The High Command report also indicates that one Ju88 was destroyed with one man wounded ("0-0-1, 1-0-0" = Personnel: killed 0, missing 0, wounded 1. Material: 1 destroyed, 0 missing, 0 damaged). The fact that the Ju88 and crew weren't posted as missing indicates that the aircraft regained German territory before crashing.

Cheers

Rod