[Andreas Brekken]

Hi, all

The only thing I have stated and others with me is that the GenQu 6 Abt loss lists IF units did their job, and IF no records were lost due to enemy action, technical problems or other reasons SHOULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETE.

Franek dismiss them as statistical data - have you ever seen or worked with these lists at all?

What I have been trying to get to, and probably will continue to do with parties more interested in getting data out than flogging their own horses (or making politics out of it), is that we cannot, in any instance just assume that the typical 'but some guy in an infantry regiment say that he saw this aircraft being shot down and thus since he was from the soviet or western allied forces this must be what happened'.

Please submit the name, rank, unit and date of the incident for your friend Franek, and we will see what we can find. There are several sources to look at if one wants to.

The idea of these lists are entirely clear, as stated in the wartime documents covering their use and the formation of them from an archivist point of view - the lists we have are MENT to be complete. They are not - due to reasons we already have covered.

My best tip is then to do like a lot of people have done for years - don't assume them to be entirely complete - ( but at least they make a data foundation that in any statistical means wouls be considered as significant) and try to clear the cases you discover that have discrepancies by using other sources! And they are there! In most occupied territories, maybe with the exception of the former Soviet union, there are local police reports, town histories, remnants in museums etc etc etc. Harder to find and requires work, but it is possible in many cases to add to the story we already have, or find new information if it is there.

And if the russian government havent been able to hide it entirely in their new archive system for the great patriotic war, the former NKVD reports on downed enemy aircraft should be available to researchers.

OK, got other stuff to do now, but I do believe that the best way to move forward is to stop discussing if the data we already have is more or less complete, and try to do an effort to complete the picture with relevant data.

Regards,
Andreas B