[Boris Ciglic]

Michel,


I will use quotes from my book 'Bf 109 The Yugoslav Story' for general assessment of Bartels' claims:


'23 April opened with a claim of three Spitfires by Fw. Heinrich Bartels of 11./JG 27, southwest of Celje between 08.20 and 08.23. None of these can be traced in Allied documents, which isn’t strange as Slovenia was well out of range of the Spitfire bases in Italy.'


'On 28 April Fw. Heinrich Bartels of 11./JG 27 reported two Mustangs shot down 15 km northeast of Ljubljana at 10.38 and 10.39. As in many previous cases, his claims were dubious as nothing of the kind can be traced in Allied documents. Although overclaiming was a regular occurrence for both Allied and German pilots on all fronts, in most cases it could have been attributed to the hectic and chaotic dynamic of air combat, and the vast majority of non-confirmable air victories were submitted in good faith. However, unlike other Luftwaffe fighter pilots in the Balkans, Heinrich Bartels’ claims from the autumn of 1943 onwards fall completely outside this category and can be considered fictitious in most cases. Not only did he heavily overclaim in instances of aerial clashes with easily identifiable opponents, but on several occasions he reported engagements at places and times when no Allied aircraft were in sight.'



Cheers,

Boris