Luftwaffe aerial recon prior to D-Day

[edwest]

Can anyone point me to a source that describes Luftwaffe flights over England just prior to D-Day?



Thanks in advance,
Ed

[Nick Beale]

There are sporadic reports in the ULTRA traffic from the spring of 1944, from NAG 13's Bf 109s, usually referring to cover of the Devon and Cornwall coasts.

In a PW interrogation, I've read that 1.(F)/121's Me 410s were over at night doing recon or damage assessment for the later Steinbock raids on the south coast ports.

IIRC JG 26 sent the odd pair of aircraft to check out the Straits of Dover as well.

[Graham Boak]

Accounts of the Ar 240/440 describe flights by Oberst(?) Goertz in March 1940, from Paris Orly. Photos of the aircraft are available in the Flugzeug profile on the type, and elsewhere.

[edwest]

Thank you both. I'm wondering if the Germans had some idea of the troop buildup going on.




Ed

[Martin388]

Originally Posted by edwest

Thank you both. I'm wondering if the Germans had some idea of the troop buildup going on.




Ed

Hi Ed,

The late Erich Sommer (Ar 234 pilot, VersVerb dLw) always claimed that it was not possible to fly over that zone and returen safely with photos with the Luftwaffe reccon a/c available (Ju 88 D/T, Ju 188F/D, Me 410 A/B) prior to the approach of the German reccon jet planes.
I wonder If that can be proved by evidence ...

Martin from Vienna
www.oefh.at

[edwest]

Hi Martin,


Thank you for that information. I am wondering if the Germans were aware of American troop ships coming in.



Ed

[Chris Going]

Just a quick footnote, as it were Ed, to your inquiry. Once the Invasion got under way efforts were made to photograph UK harbours and the kentish port of Ramsgate was covered by 5/123 (7th June 1944 Sortie F29/44, pilot Uffz Kallenberger, Height 750m; photos 753 and 754 used in report on the shipping there. Int Report Nr 3474 from from Stabia Luft 3). Copy in IWM.

There was another off Shoreham, same day, but I dont have the details in front of me now.....

Best.....

ChrisG

[Graham Boak]

It is worth pointing out that the elaborate deceptions (Patton's ghost army) were not only visual but electronic and propaganda based. Their overall success can be seen in the delay before repositioning the German divisions in the north east.

[Juha]

Hello Ed
Re your message #16, 21.PzD was released for use on 6.6. at 6:45am and was moving towards British Paras on eastern bank of Orne at 9:00am and 12.SSPzD got its order to concentrate for the move to coast at around 7:00am on 6.6., so they definitely got orders on the D-Day.

Juha

[edwest]

Thank you, Juha. Still, it appears things were confused (at least) for a number of days. I hesitate to speculate but just as local German newspapers were scanned by Allied agents to get a more accurate idea of German war dead, I wonder if German agents in the U.S. were able to communicate the movements of large numbers of men and equipment prior to D-Day by checking local sources. I now have a better appreciation of the difficulty of German aircraft flying over British territory at the time.




Ed