[robert]

Hi,

according to operational report no.23 of staff of IAB written on 23.06.39 at 08.00 a.m. following air combats occurred:
A) 22 IAP. 12 I-16 and 14 I-15 scrambled at 15.40 and became engaged with I-96. They returned at 17.15. 3 I-16 and 6 I-15 failed to return (1 I-16 and I-15 forced-landed in the area of Hill 704. One pilot was found wounded and admitted to the hospital.
At 16.57 12 I-15 and 10 I-16 took off for battle area. They saw no enemy planes and returned at 18.10. According to pilot Golubiew during the first mission one I-96 was destroyed on the ground in enemy territory.
B) 70 IAP. At 15.00 hrs 22 I-16 and 14 I-15 scrambled for the area of Chalchin-Gol River estuary and Chychy-Undur-Obo. At 15.42 hrs they became entangled with two groups of I-96 fighters. First enemy formation consisted of 12 planes and second of 27. 8 I-15 were lost in air combats, two I-16 were set alight on the ground and one was shot down. In return the Soviet pilots claimed seven Japs as shot down. At 17.34 hrs the Japs pilots broke off the combat and escaped in direction of Gandzur.
According to other report: 20 Japs were shot down and seven wrecks were found by Soviet ground troops. They found out later that three of them were actually Soviet wrecks.
Another report gave the Soviet losses as 13 I-156bis and four I-16.
However later the number of destroyed Jap planes was growing. Yet another report numbered the enemy losses as: "14 wrecks found in our territory with killed and burned Jap airmen and further 11 were found in enemy territory by our recon planes, three of them could be ours".
One Jap airmen was later captured by Mongol Cavalry troop. It was Sgt. Mijadzimo from 24th Sentai. He was shown the bodies of burned Japs airmen and he recognized them as:
Captain Morimoto, Sgt. Esino, Sgt. Isidzyka and unknown.
Officialy the Japs HQ admitted that 5 of their K-27 fighters failed to return. The number of claims amounted to 49.

Source: B.Kondratiew "Bitwa nad stepju"

Robert