Josef Harmeling 4.(Schl)/LG2 wounded 14 Sep 1940

[Tim O.]

Does anyone have a record confirming the wounding of Oberfeldwebel Josef Harmeling of 4. (Schlacht)/Lehrgeschwader 2 on 14th September 1940?

The British Intelligence Report following his capture on 29th October 1940 (having been shot down over England) records ‘Prisoner of War was wounded 14/09/1940 and only returned to unit a week ago’.

Any information would be gratefully received.

Thank you

[G.R.Morrison]

Gen.Qu.6.Abt. (microfilm roll #2)-Vol.3 states he was wounded in an air battle east of London, made an emergency landing on return. The damage to the aircraft (Bf 109E-7) was negligible, not enough to report the Werknummer or degree of damage.

GRM

[Tim O.]

Thanks GRM. That is another very helpful piece of the jigsaw.

[Chris Goss]

Mason and Peter Cornwell do not list Harmeling's wounding but Jochen Prien does (with no further details). Assuming that II/LG 2 was involved as a Gruppe and that the loss of Uffz Valentin Blazejewski of 4 Staffel to 72 Sqn at 1835 hrs occurred at the same time, to match who might have got him will be hard as there are 6 claimed as destroyed and 7 damaged at the same time

[Tim O.]

Thanks Chris. It rarely seems easy to match claims and casualties.

There seem to be a mixture of records regarding the aircraft being flown by 4.(Schl)/LG2 at this time. Certainly they were Bf109s but were they E-7s, E-4Bs or a mix of both?

[Chris Goss]

My guess is they were replacing the older variants for newer E-7s as they became available (not forgetting that they didn't arrive at Calais Marck after conversion until the start of Sep 40) but II(S)/LG 2 was flying a mixture(including E-1/Bs) well into 1941

[Tim O.]

Thanks Chris. Hope Christmas was good and you have a great New Year!