[Many Souffan]

Hello Ian.

I agree with you only for the Battle P2195, It is proved also by English Archives: Aircraft casualties AIR35/196 at the date of 14th may 1940. the only one Battle described is the P2195.

The timing given by Arnaud Gillet is wrong. The take off of the 76 Wing ( 12, 142, 226) was 3 PM and as I will explain in my article, S/L Hobler received from a personal call from a high officer to take off early than 3 PM after he learned the failure of the mission of the French Bombers.
And Hobler, himself, said he took off 20 minutes before 3 PM with another Battle. 142 sqn was the first off all Battle squadrons to take off this afternoon of 14 may.

The GC III/7 took off at 0.25 PM for a free chase in Zone, not to protect the French bombers in their mission, the base of the III/7 was in fact bombed the 12 & the 13 may and their mission( in low altitude) this 14th may was to prevent a new attack of the German bombers. It was for the same reason that the GC I/3 with their new Dewoitine d520, was also in free chase but in high altitude.

Another thing about these French pilots of III/7 They knew very well the Battle, they shared the base of Mourmelon during the fall 1939 with 88 Sqn equiped with Battle.

The last thing, I would like to say, to understand the events, you must put in perspective what happen on earth with the Panzer Divisionen, very important, because the luftwaffe units of Hs 126 were attached to these Panzer Dv (1, 2 and 10) and all they did during these times were written in the diaries of the Heer.

And you will see that the French claims and the German losses ahave the same hour, the same minute and the same place for the 2 first losses of Hs 126.

Now, I know, that I will nevermore trust the work of Arnaud Gillet. he have written in his last book that the fourth battle was in fact a French medium bomber of GB I/12 n°48 before to explode a witness saw 2 parachutes. One of the 2 parachutes was Henry Lebeaupin. I have his account.

1/ the take off of the bomber was the morning,
2/ the bomber was shot down by Messerschmitt 109

As he has written to his parents from the stalag. When he go down slowly to the earth he was surrounded by the messerschmitt 109, wounded, he reached the earth among the panzer, he rememberered he was put on a panzer with others French prisoners, and went to Chéhéry, he had to answer some questions, after he went to the hospital of trier, and after a stalag...

after that how to believe this author who write this conclusion:
" Regarding the archives of III/7 & I/12 groupes, it is now public knowledge that the account concerning this account is far from the truth..."

It is easy to say it is a good work if you don't know that the hours were changed to give a good proof for the concordance of the facts, but unfortunatly the approach of the facts are not in this book from an historian. or maybe a mystic historian.

I will publish all the proofs and you will think it was more terrible than you could imagined.

I feel more sad than happy to have written above...