Kieselsteine

[Sealander]

Hello members,
reading through a KTB of FLAK Commander in the SW Region of Holland , July/Aug 1944 I have come across a codeword: KIESELSTEIN which is obviously used to indicate a strange flying object which they observe but cannot identify

At the time they were coping with a very crowded airspace but when possible all a/c were named as Mustang, Spitfire, Fortress etc. If i.d. was not possible because of bad visibility, clouds or darkness this also was mentioned.

Does anyone know of a manual in which such codes were written down?
What would the description of Kieselsteine (pebles) stand for , in Luftwaffe terms?

Sealander

[Wim de Meester]

Kieselsteine was a name given to the first series of V-1's which were launched at that period. It happened numerous times that these V-1's were fired upon by the AA batteries of MFA 810 and several were claimed shot down.

I also have a report that a downed V-1, which failed to explode - was examined by an engineer from Gilze-Rijen airbase, who did not exclude that it could be one of the new sophisticated American bombs (as experimented several time a.o. against the Moerdijk bridges).

[Sealander]

Thanks Wim,
the first V-1 to London was launched on June 13th 1944 from Western France. On Aug 18th 1944 local Flak was stll spotting the stray ones as KIESELSTEINE and firing at them whenever they got the chance.

After two months of raining V-1's on London one could hardly speak of a secret wheapon. Somewhere during these two months there must have been a letter to HEER. LUFTWAFFE and KRIEGSMARINE telling: "Hey guys those strange objects that you see flying around are built by us, and meant to fly to England. Stop spilling your ammo".
Has any one on this forum an idea why they were not informed?
Although a retreat from Western France was going on through the region, the command structures and communication lines were "normal" for all three parts of the Army.
Sealander