Maikop commandos raid 24.Oct.42

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello friends!

It is about well-known Soviet paratroopers raid against Maikop airfield on 24.Oct.42.

Just find in Korück 550 report that special report about that raid should be later.
But that special report is absent among Korück 550 papers.

Who knows something about that special report?

Best regards,
Andrey

[Larry deZeng]

Andrey - here are the aircraft lost on the ground at Maikop, although the list may not be complete:

At Fl.H. Maikop
Remarks:
6 Sep 42: bombed – 1 x Fi 156 from Verbindungsstaffel 66 destroyed.
8 Sep 42: bombed – 1 x Ju 88 D-5 from 4.(F)/Aufkl.Gr. 122 destroyed.
23 Oct 42: bombed – 1 x Ju 52 from KGr.z.b.V. 172 and 1 x Ju 52 from San.Flugbereitschaft 17 destroyed (1) and damaged (1).
3 Nov 42: bombed – 1 x Bf 109G from 15.(kroat.)/JG 52 damaged.

Did the Soviet paratroops do any damage to the airfield?

Larry

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello Larry,

thank you for the Maikop loss list.

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

Did the Soviet paratroops do any damage to the airfield?

To the airfield directly? According to Soviet data, no. The sole goal was to destroy as many aircrafts as possible.

German data - a bit later, maybe some additions were made after 23/24.Oct.

Best regards,
Andrey

[Monaco]

Maybe the paratroopers had some success:
23.10.42:
AE. Maykop; 4./JG.52; Bf109G-2; 13846; 100; destroyed by Soviet soldiers after parachute landing; -; 4; ;
AE. Maykop; Sanflugber. 17; Ju52; 3009; 30; Bombing; -; 4; ;
Knajukatl; Sanflugber. 17; Fi156; 5561; 70; Damage of the engine; -; S; ;
AE. Maykop; KGrzbV.172; Ju52; 5641; 100; Bombing; ; T; ;

Maybe the TB-3 carrier s/d by AAA was from 325 AP (62 BAD, ADD), which lost the TB-3 of Lt. F.I. Celikovskyi on a mission over the Caucasus the aircraft was hit, caught fire and ditched in the Black Sea; the crew was saved.

Regards

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

According to Korück 550 preliminary report, some buildings are damaged, "details unknown yet", 2 a/c destroyed. Can't find the final report. Maybe in the AOK17 papers.

According to Soviet estimation based on the morning photorecce, 13 a/c were destroyed and 10 damaged, and a fuel storage was destroyed too. Overclaim.
According to 27.Recce Esc. (27.ORAE VVS ChF), snapshot was too unsharp for the analysis.

This is a scheme of the airfield but the picture is strange a bit. The left half seems authentic but the right half is the modern reconstruction certainly.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...jpg?uselang=ru

Best regards,
Andrey

[Larry deZeng]

Yes, Andrey, that schematic of the airfield is suspect regarding its date - all of the aircraft have swept-back wings!

L.

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

Yes, Andrey, that schematic of the airfield is suspect regarding its date - all of the aircraft have swept-back wings!

L.

Yes, it is the first thing that strike the eye
On the place of this strange scheme should be an aerial photo undoubtedly.
But the left side (text) looks like a real document from 1942.

I think it was a xerox copy of the real document but photo on the right side of copy was almost unreadable and replased by "reconstruction".

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Originally Posted by Monaco

Maybe the paratroopers had some success:
23.10.42:
AE. Maykop; 4./JG.52; Bf109G-2; 13846; 100; destroyed by Soviet soldiers after parachute landing; -; 4; ;
AE. Maykop; Sanflugber. 17; Ju52; 3009; 30; Bombing; -; 4; ;
Knajukatl; Sanflugber. 17; Fi156; 5561; 70; Damage of the engine; -; S; ;
AE. Maykop; KGrzbV.172; Ju52; 5641; 100; Bombing; ; T; ;

Thank you, Monaco!

Originally Posted by Monaco

Knajukatl; Sanflugber. 17; Fi156; 5561; 70; Damage of the engine; -; S; ;

Where is it?

Originally Posted by Monaco

Maybe the TB-3 carrier s/d by AAA was from 325 AP (62 BAD, ADD), which lost the TB-3 of Lt. F.I. Celikovskyi on a mission over the Caucasus the aircraft was hit, caught fire and ditched in the Black Sea; the crew was saved.

No, it was from 18.transport detachment of VVS ChF.
If you read Russian, this is an excellent article about the raid:
http://www.morpeh.com/index.php?opti...ote&Itemid=142

An epic fight, real heroes. But results seems far less than expected.

Best regards,
Andrey

[Monaco]

Thank you for sharing the link Andrey,
you´re quite right with the TB-3, because Maykop is located to far from the Black Sea.
About Knajukatl I have no idea - maybe a wrong translation. I just put it in because of the other a/c of Sanflugber. 17 lost at Maykop.

Greets