Losses of FK I on 29.5.44

[yogybär]

On that days morning, the VVS attacked the airfields in
Husi (20 IL2, 15 fighters) and
Roman (18 IL2, 15 fighters).

Several airplanes were damaged in Husi.

Who knows details? Should be SG2, maybe SG10, JG52, KG4...

[yogybär]

Also afaik 6 planes were lost on 30th of May (while flying).

Maybe that can be traced?

[yogybär]

... Or is anyone willing to share loss data from III./JG52, SG2, SG10, KG4, NAGr.14 or rumanian units in the timeframe 28.05-8.06.1944?

For the soviet side, I have some information already.

Also, anything on comat flight reports or such is wellcome... i.e. I got info that there were 1100 flights on 30th of May alone...

I found out that nearly all air battles in tha time were ca. 20-30km N of Iasi, where two small german ops intended a local improvement of teh defensive positions ("Katja" and "Sonja").

Somehow I feel that this forum does neglect my thread here .

PS: I am slightly maniac'ed about this topic because of my year-long work on the map for IL-2 and I got some new infos which I hope to widen now.

[Andreas Brekken]

Hi!

III./JG 52:

29.05.1944 1 aircraft, total loss, combat
30.05.1944 2 aircraft, total loss, combat
31.05.1944 2 aircraft, total loss, combat
06.06.1944 2 aircraft, total loss, non-combat

I./SG 2

30.05.1944 1 aircraft, total loss, combat
30.05.1944 1 aircraft, damaged, combat
31.05.1944 1 aircraft, total loss, combat
06.06.1944 1 aircraft, damaged, combat

II./S.G.2

30.05.1944 2 aircraft, total loss, combat
31.05.1944 1 aircraft, damaged, combat
31.05.1944 1 aircraft, total loss, combat
02.06.1944 2 aircraft, damaged, non-combat
02.06.1944 2 aircraft, total loss, non-combat
03.06.1944 1 aircraft, damaged, non-combat
04.06.1944 1 aircraft, damaged, non-combat
04.06.1944 2 aircraft, total loss, non-combat
05.06.1944 1 aircraft, total loss, combat
06.06.1944 1 aircraft, total loss, combat
06.06.1944 2 aircraft, damaged, combat

More this afternoon

Regards,
Andreas B

[yogybär]

Thank you! I will put here my data on I & II/JG52 and later will try to summarize and combine with ground ops.

Nearly all claims during these battles were made in locations "78 6xx" and "78 8xx". So far, this can be identified on the map below. An open point for me is the "xx" in these locations. Who knows how this can be interpreted?

A cutout of the 1943 Luftwaffe 1:300.000 map of the area:

[yogybär]

Losses of I/JG52:
29.05.1944 1 aircraft, damaged on landing
30.05.1944 1 aircraft, total loss, air combat (Uffz Lechner KIA)
01.06.1944 2 aircraft, total loss, non-combat ("tech. Mängel")
04.06.1944 2 aircraft, total loss, non-combat ("Betriebsstörung")
05.06.1944 2 aircraft, loss ?, non-combat ("tech. Mängel")
06.06.1944 2 aircraft, loss ?, 1x Motor, 1x combat w 8 P-39 "safe landing, Fw. Nordmann WIA"
09.06.1944 1 aircraft, loss ?, non-combat ("Betriebsstörung")

II/JG52 will follow soon.

One more thing:
On 1st of June, the Axis flew ca. 650 missions, again all in this small area...

[yogybär]

Andreas, thanks a lot!

I also collected some bits from the VVS-side and try to write a small summry on these aerial and ground fightings.

During these 10days, the Luftwaffe & ARR flew up to 700 sorties per day over this 25km-wide strip of frontline... the intensity of the air battle must have been similar to some days at Kursk, although smaller and shorter in extension.

[Jan Gazda]

The air fighting was very intense indeed and the analogy with the Kursk battle fits to some extent. It is interesting, however, to compare the German claims to Soviet losses. Throughout the Kursk battle the German claims were almost at par with total Soviet losses which indicates very moderate overclaiming while troughout the Battle of Iasi the German claims were highly inflated. On 30 and 31 May German fighters reported 156 Soviet aircraft while 5 VA lost only seventy. Also, larger share of the claims was achieved by the top layer of the Jagdflieger than in the Battle of Kursk. For example, 21 out of 25 victories credited to III/JG 52 on 31 May was achieved by just three pilots : Batz, Hartmann and Birkner. So while the Iasi battle was without any doubt a victory for Luftwaffe when just comparing losses and victories it also showed that Jagdwaffe at that time was already a spent force on the Eastern front when compared to the Kursk Battle with ever shrinking number of aces bearing the brunt of the fighting.

Jan

[yogybär]

Jan,

thanks for your input. I see it as as you said: The air battles definitely had a very positive result for the Luftwaffe in terms of kill-to-loss-ratio.

But when it comes to good protection of the ground forces, JG52 failed: I.e., several attack by Pe-2 dive bombers were conducted w/o fighter interference. A problem for the german air defence of 8.Armee was the scarcity of 2cm-ammunition, so that a lot of the numerous guns had to stay silent.

On the ground the targeted improvement of the "Brückenkopf Iasi" failed. The situation developed so bad that an operation further east at 6. Armee had to be cancelled because the Luftwaffe's support in the Iasi area had to be prolonged due to soviet counterattacks.