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Re: 1º Gruppo Caccia activity - 19 Mar 44
Ferdinando --
Gosh, research is fun, isn't it? There IS an OKL map for 18 Mar 44 -- Kart 44/1658. It does not show any activity at all for Jafü Oberitalien. My theory: the 15th AF stream flew up the Adriatic on course for the Reich, thus drawing up the fighter units in N Italy, but then turned and bombed their airfields. Since the 15th AF did not penetrate the Reich, this mission did not find its way onto the OKL map (which I believe was actually prepared by the I. Jagdkorps Stab, which had little interest in Italy).
Since we can't prove a negative, and you say your primary documents are not all that complete, it's impossible to say that 1º Gruppo Caccia did NOT fly on the 19th. It would be easy to say that they did fly, and both of their missions were o.F.B., but IIRC the map shows that the flight path of their first mission merged with that of the two Jagdgruppen, which definitely found the bombers, attacked, scored victories and took casualties.
Perhaps only the track from Campformido to join the Luftwaffe fighters is in error -- one little mistake by a draftsman.
Do you know if the ANR ever penetrated Reich airspace at this stage of the war? Was there a policy against it? If there was, I would be ready to score both of the missions as o.F.B. and blame the draftsman.
Your additional thoughts are welcome.
Don
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