[Kapper]

Evgeny,

I’ve been comparing the various sources including Priens JFV, and Foreman/Matthews work and to understand the differences, you need to look at how each was determined.

As Johannes stated in his earlier post, for the Foreman/Matthews work, Johannes has counted only the claims that are supported in the claims files and/or original documentation as being “Confirmed”. Thus, his count of 100 on 3rd November 1943 is the 100th claim that can be identified in original documentation as being “officially confirmed”.

For the Dr Prien’s JFV team, I believe they have tried to fill in the gaps in between known claim/dates, wherever possible. Prior to the release to the general public of the claims files in the late 1990s early 2000s (and posting ot T Woods files), we tended to mostly rely on unit diaries / personal diaries / wartime media reports etc. for individual pilots scores which would generally only detail claim totals in the following circumstances.

- Achieving milestones (i.e. 20, 50, 100 etc)
- Notable feats of achievements (18 in 1 day)
- At time of receiving decorations (119 for RK)
- Transfer in or out of units
- Media/Reports on experts being KIA / MIA

In the case of Lang, I do not have direct proof of the date of his 100th victory, however in Obermeier’s Ritterkreuztrager (which was published in 1966) he states Lang received his RK at 119 Luftsiegen, which matches Priens numbering. Thus, looking at that numbering, it’s highly likely that Lang celebrated his 100th on 2nd November 1943.

However, if you look at all of Lang’s claims in the JFV series you will note that Claims 22-25 are missing, which the JFV team attribute to having occurred around 27 Sept 1943 (no details). If you take these four claims out of Prien’s list then the number 100 matches Johannes 100th confirmed claim (and 115 for the RK not 119).

There are 2 possibilities on how this occurred, either the 4 claims in question are missing from the files and yet to be found or they were not confirmed thus not included. As 6./JG 54 data seems mostly complete the second is the most likely in this circumstance.

How this can occur comes down to the claims process and the fact that it could take many months, even years for a claim to receive official confirmation. In fact, due to the backlog of claims many 1942 and 1943 claims were not processed until late 1944. Therefore, once a pilot made a claim and it was accepted at unit level then forwarded to the relevant authority for confirmation, the pilot/unit would add the claim to his score. So, in November 1943, few, if any, of Lang’s 100 claims to that date would have been officially confirmed and Lang would have been celebrating what he thought was his 100th victory on 2nd November but could have possibly been his 96th confirmed victory with the other four eventually not being confirmed. This is not an unusual event – as similar issues happened with Philipp and Dickfield 100th claim amongst others.

PS Prien’s JFV team also counted the 4th November claim in the Matthews/Foreman list and T Woods list as being on 3rd November to give 18 on that day.


Regards,

Craig…