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Re: Reinhard Heydrich air victories?
Hi,
canīt add anything to his victory claims but as for the incident when he was shot down there are some details in Ch. Bergströmīs Barbarossa: the Air Battle. Seems that Heydrich was shot down either by St.Lt. Aleksandr Pokryshkin or Ml.Lt. Leonid Dyiachenko from 55 IAP who both claimed a Bf 109 in the combat. Pokryshkin and Diyachenko were flying as escort to some Su 2s whose mission was to bomb Dniestr Bridges at Yampol when a pair of Bf 109 attacked the bombers. Only one Messerschmitt was lost though and it was the one piloted by Heydrich who came down in a no manīs land and was later rescued as described by one of the posts above.
Diyachenko was to be killed just three days later , probably in combat with Uffz. Franz Schulte from II./JG 77 (his claim no.2) while Heydrich was assassinated by members of Czechoslovak exile army in May 1942. Pokryshkin went on to claim 59 aerial victories troughout WW2 and become one of the most notorious Soviet aces and 3 x HSU.
Thought some might be interested
Jan
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