I’m trying to put together a map showing Luftwaffe air bases and navigation aids used during Operation Steinbock, and there are a few things that I’d appreciate advice about.
For information about navigation aids, I’m using as my key sources the early 1944 ADI(K) interrogation reports. ADI(K) 91 contains a very helpful sketch map based on a document recovered from Do 217 M-1 U5+DK, which crashed in Cambridge on 23 February 1944. In addition, ADI(K)s 58, 78, 103, 114, 118, 122, 137, 144, 148, 159 and 184 all contain valuable details, with occasional references appearing in other reports too. In addition, I’m using the ‘Beacon Bible’ (originally in AIR 40/1343 and available at gyges.dk/Beacon-Bible.pdf), plus information from
https://www.nonstopsystems.com/radio...knickebein.htm and the EW section of
http://atlantikwall.info/radar/radar.htm . Some secondary sources are also helpful, e.g. Balke’s KG 2 history (especially the map on p.296, although I’m struggling to identify some of the beacons he includes there).
In addition to including main and forward operating air bases, I’m trying to include key navigation aids, as follows. Please note the questions raised below. Any clarification on these matters would be much appreciated.
Knickebein stations:
I'm including: Kn-3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11
(Others fall outside the area covered by the map)
Navigational searchlights:
I'm including:
Niete 1 & 2 – Terschelling
Sprungschanze – Den Helder
Niete 3 & 4 – Ijmuiden
Lampenschirm – Rotterdam ‘dome’
Hobel 1 & 2 – Ostend
Hobel 3 & 4 – Dunkirk
Hobel 5 & 6 – east of Calais
Gabel 13 – Calais
Hammer 7 & 8 – Boulogne
Messer 9 & 10 – Dieppe
Messer 11 & 12 - Fécamp
Zugspitze – Le Havre
Meissel – Caen-Carpiquet
Waldeslust – Cherbourg
Hufnagel – Cap de la Hague
Tafel – Granville
Besen – Brest
Natter – Nantes
Leiste – Laon
Searchlight ‘lane’ Melsbroek - Évreux
Questions:
Does this seem like a reasonable list? I might mention in the text box the existence of other searchlights at places like the Channel Islands, Brussels, ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Châteaudun, since these are mentioned by Steinbock prisoners on occasion. But I don’t want the map to become horrendously cluttered, so I have to draw the line somewhere. Still, if I have omitted something significant or made a mistake(s) in the list above, I’d be grateful if these failings are pointed out. Also, is it reasonable to suggest that all major airfields had searchlights that could be used to assist returning aircraft? Or is this an exaggeration (or just plain untrue)?
On one specific matter, does anybody know if the searchlights usually referred to as Messer 11 & 12 at Fécamp are the same as the searchlights referred to as Zange 11 & 12 by a KG 76 airman in ADI(K) 78? He said that Zange 11 & 12 were at St. Valery en Caux, and the map in ADI(K) 91 certainly shows searchlights there. But Fécamp is very near to St Valery and since the numbering of searchlights seems consecutive and 11 & 12 are already ‘allocated’ in most sources as ‘Messer’, I was wondering if Messer 11 & 12 and Zange 11 & 12 were actually the same searchlights, perhaps re-named at some point?
On another matter, reference is sometimes made to searchlight ‘domes’ – most frequently at Rotterdam but sometimes elsewhere. Is it correct to describe the searchlights operating at Le Havre in the same way?
Funkfeuer and Leuchtfeuer:
I was intending to include on the map:
1 Catrin – Callantsoog, Den Helder
2 Nora – Noordwijk
3 Cosima – Koksijde
4 Carola – Calais
5 Alma – Abbeville
7 Loni – Longueval
8 Thea – Théville
11 Camilla – Cambrai
12 Wilhelmine – north of Paris
13 Norma – Nogent le Rotrou
Questions:
In the list above, please can somebody confirm which ‘Longueval’ is meant for ‘Loni’? Is it the Longueval between Cabourg and Lisieux in the eastern part of Lower Normandy, or somewhere completely different?
I’d like also to include ‘6 Paula’, ‘Fanny’, ‘Leiste’ and possibly ‘Lisa’. Can anybody tell me where ‘Paula’ was, as I’m struggling to confirm that? I understand 'Fanny' was at Falaise, but was it allocated a number, and if so, what was it? Am I correct in thinking ‘Leiste’ was at Laon (seems likely if the searchlights there had the same codename), and does anybody know what number was allocated to it? Likewise, ‘Lisa’ appears to have been at or near Abbeville; is that correct, and does anybody know its allocated number?
Reference is also made in some sources to Radio Beacon A/2. Does anybody know where that was, and was it allocated a codename?
More generally, was it the case that Radio and Visual beacons were always co-located and ‘twinned’? ADI(K) 137 and plenty of other sources seem to indicate this was true. And when reference is made to Funkfeuer and Leuchtfeuer, is the latter the 12 bulbs on an octagonal, tiltable mounting that I’ve seen in some photographs, or a completely different type of equipment? I’m afraid I’ve got rather confused about this and would appreciate direction towards a source that can help me get these various kinds of visual navigational aids straight in my own head!
And finally (!), is it reasonable to suggest that all major airfields had their own radio and visual beacons for ‘local’ navigation purposes? Or again, is this a misunderstanding on my part?
I appreciate that there are lots of things here. But any advice on / response to any of my questions is much appreciated, as always. If it's easier to point me in the direction of a secondary source or website that clarifies these matters, rather than answer the questions directly, I will of course be most grateful.
Thanks.