Luftwaffe losses Tunesia - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum

Stijn David · #1 19th March 2012, 20:23

Hello

Can anyone confirm the Englisch claim that a battlegroup did destroy approx. 20 German planes on the Djedeia Airfield between 24 November 1942 and 26 November 1942.

It is stated that this battlegroup did attack the (provisional) airfield and destroy or damage the German planes.

Howmany planes where damaged, what where the types, etc...

All help is greatly appreciated.

Cordial greetings and thanks in advance

Andreas Brekken · #2 19th March 2012, 23:39

Hi,

They were Ju 87s of II./St.G. 3

I can post details tomorrow. I think I have 19 aircraft destroyed on the airfield

Regards,
Andreas B

Larry deZeng · #3 20th March 2012, 00:23

This will give you a preliminary reply until Andreas can post his more detailed information tomorrow:

Djedeida (TUN) (a.k.a. El Bathan?) (c. 36 51 N – 09 54 E)
General: landing ground in N Tunisia 24 km WNW of Tunis near the present day town of Al Judayyidah. There were two strips: Djedeida/Northwest and Djedeida/Southeast.
Remarks:
25 Nov 42: advancing American tanks from the 1st Armored Division overran the airfield and destroyed 4 of II./St.G. 3’s Ju 87s and shot up or crushed 21 others, putting them out of action. The losses were quickly replaced and there was almost no break from operations. The American tank crews claimed 30-36 aircraft in all.

L.

Andrew Arthy · #4 20th March 2012, 01:11

Hi,

I've written an article about the raid, which I've attached to this posting. Please note that I've obtained a lot more sources in the last couple of years, so this article is now a bit outdated. An older version of it appeared in the Luftwaffe Verband, and also used to appear on my FW 190/Ta 152 website.

Cheers,
Andrew A.

Air War Publications - www.airwarpublications.com

keith A · #5 20th March 2012, 08:34

Weird! I just read about this raid in An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson. The tanks were General Stuart light tanks, useless for tank-to-tank combat but armed with a 37mm gun.

regards

Keith

Stijn David · #6 20th March 2012, 20:42

Hello

Thank you to al who did reply => now it is time to read through al the material!

And offocarse always interested in reading more on this subject.

Cordial greetings

Stig Jarlevik · #7 20th March 2012, 21:41

Interesting how many versions there are in German records...

Andreas
Do you have the actual Ju 87 losses? Would be highly interesting to know which one of the Ju 87 loss figures is the correct one...

Cheers
Stig

Andreas Brekken · #8 21st March 2012, 09:47

Andreas Brekken · #9 21st March 2012, 10:16

Hi, Stig

As you can see I have posted the loss records as I have transcribed them from the original records of GQM.

As you can see, there are several losses that seems to be related to air operations in addition to the raid on the airfield, 'Bruchlandung infolge Feindbeschuß' is one of these loss reasons.

Regards,
Andreas B

Stig Jarlevik · #10 21st March 2012, 21:59

Thanks Andreas

Appreciate your update to Andy's interesting article. Yes I can see the confusion after this raid and why the sources differ regarding the direct losses to the tank attack. Quite a hefty loss....

Cheers
Stig

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