Byron wrote in part:
Quote:
but as we can see Lary, the dates are very fluid.
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Exactly, Byron, exactly. That's the point I've been trying to make. In 40+ years of researching the Luftwaffe, I have run into it time after time. Even the dates on orders changed as they passed through the various levels of command from 2.Abt.(Organisations-Abt.)/Genst.d.Lw. - to a Luftflotte - to a Fliegerkorps - and finally to the unit or units concerned. So often in the postwar literature we will find different dates for the same order. This is particularly irksome when trying to determine the exact date a particular officer assumed command of a Geschwader, Gruppe of Staffel. Do you use the date of the Luftwaffenpersonalamt order, or the date of the Luftflotte/Fliegerkorps order, or the date of the unit order, or the date he arrived at the unit or the date the unit KTB says he took over, or the date he says he took over in his personal diary, and on and on. And just when you think you have it all figured out, someone else comes along and says it's wrong, usually without offering any evidence, or course. And at the end of the day in the year 2009, I don't think it matters a whole hell of a lot if some researcher/enthusiast uses a date that off by a few days or a few weeks. It's just not terribly significant in the greater scheme of things.
L.
L.