[RodM]

Hi René,

nice to hear from you again, and a very big thank you for the details from Drünkler's LB!

I've attached a map that shows Pl.Q. NF with the crash locations of Rositz/Chemnitz raid losses overlaid (all of the crash locations as documented in captured Luftwaffe documents and RAF MRES Casualty Investigation documents).

While the time of Drünkler's claim agrees with the time of crash of NP953, the location most certainly doesn't, so there remains a number of equal but uncertain possibilities as to the victim.

Rositz:
RA517 & LL966 - surviving crew members thought that a/c had been hit by Flak. Crew of LL966 believed the time of loss was around "21.30" hours. Post-war the RAF BC ORS could not assign a cause of loss.
NN721 - surviving crew though a/c was hit by Flak near MU turret and port wing over the target. Post-war the RAF BC ORS assigned the cause of loss as "Flak?" (i.e. they knew that night fighter attacks from underneath could sometimes be misinterpreted by crew as Flak).

Chemnitz:
NP953 - surviving crew member (Hall) stated that a/c was attacked three times by a night fighter. RAF MRES Investigation documents record time of loss as derived from Luftwaffe documents as 21.00 hours.

KB741 - according to Luftwaffe records, shot down by a night fighter at 21.15 hours.

René, do you have a copy of Drünkler's LB? His brief description of the combat that should be in the LB may yield clues that can be tied into accounts from the RAF survivors. Also, if I can obtain the RAF Form Z for 6 Group from Canadian archives, this may provide details on what, where, and when other RAF crews witnessed during the raids.

Based upon the Drünkler claim location as given in the Nonnenmacher/Ring listing, here is what I wrote in Nachtjagd War Diaries Volume 2:

"At 20.30 hrs, II./NJG4 is known to have been active, but no further information is available. At 20.46 hrs, approximately ten minutes after the head of the Chemnitz stream reached the Coburg area and just before the attack on Rositz commenced, night fighters, possibly from NJG5, were ordered to fly to Dresden. At some stage, night fighters of NJG6 were ordered to FF 12, N of Nordhausen and astride the route to Rositz.

Based solely on the reports of returning RAF crews, it would appear that both single- and twin-engined night fighters, probably from 1 JD, did manage to effect a limited Zahme Sau interception against the Lancasters attacking Rositz. Among these Nachtjäger were Hptm. Ernst-Georg Drünkler of 1./NJG5 and Maj. Werner Hoffmann of Stab I./NJG5, the latter having taken off from Parchim in Ju88 C9+AB at 19.58 hrs. The first bombs went down upon Rositz at 20.48 hrs, and within minutes the first interceptions occurred over the target. At 20.50 hrs, a Lancaster reported a combat with an ‘Fw190’, while the crews of 10 different Lancasters reporting seeing night fighters in the area between 20.50 and 21.11 hrs. The German controllers reported bombs falling 17 km. S of Rositz at 20.55 hrs. At least one interception proved successful, when Hptm. Ernst-Georg Drünkler claimed his 30th Abschuss at 21.01 hrs, to the NW of Chemnitz. Only three heavies were lost attacking Rositz, and all were brought down in the target area. According to contemporary reports, 189 Squadron Lancaster RA517 and 630 Squadron Lancaster LL966 were both shot down by heavy Flak, and crashed near Lehma/Zschernitzsch, 2 km. E of Rositz. 463 Squadron Lancaster NN721 was hit twice by Flak over the target, according to surviving crew members. One burst of Flak set fire to the rear fuselage, under the mid-upper turret, and the other set fire to the port wing and two engines. Control was soon lost and five of the crew managed to bale out of the spinning bomber before it crashed near Niederarnsdorf, just SE of Rositz, and 29 km. WNW of Chemnitz. It should be noted that returning RAF crews reported seeing two bombers shot down in the Rositz target area by night fighters, so it is highly probable that Hptm. Ernst-Georg Drünkler was responsible for the loss of one of the three heavies mentioned above.

Three more engagements took place in the Rositz area – one involving a Ju88 at 20.04 hrs and the other two involving twin-engined fighters at 21.05 and 21.08. In the latter engagement, the Lancaster crew claimed the night fighter as probably destroyed. For the most part, once the Rositz stream shook off the night fighters while exiting the Rositz-Chemnitz area, their return route, via Bohemia and to the S of Stuttgart, was free from interception.

Further to the SE, the bombing of Chemnitz commenced at 20.51 hrs. The German controllers announced Chemnitz as the target eight minutes later, and ordered night fighters to the city. Nachtjäger made five attacks between 21.08 and 21.16 hrs, on bombers in the Chemnitz area. In one of these engagements, a Ju88 made four determined attacks against one Lancaster, but was in turn claimed shot down and probably destroyed by the bomber crew.

Two Lancasters were definitely shot down by night fighters to the south of Chemnitz, along the first part of the homeward route, although no Abschussmeldungen have surfaced to identify the victorious Nachtjäger. 640 Squadron Halifax NP953 was attacked three times by a night fighter before it crashed at Pockau, 24 km. SE of Chemnitz, circa 21.00 hrs. 434 Squadron Lancaster KB741 was, according to a Luftgau Abschliessende Meldung, shot down by a night fighter at 21.15 hrs, and crashed at Tannenberg, 26 km. S of Chemnitz.

Once the bombers had completed their bombing runs and swung clear of the target area, many sought the safety of a layer of 8 – 10/10ths cloud between 15,000 and 18,000 ft, and the night fighters mostly lost contact."

Cheers

Rod