Information concerning loss of Oberfeldwebel Karl Haderer - killed 07.09.1943

[rickback4444]

Hi,

Can anyone provide information on the loss of Oberfeldwebel Karl Haderer who was killed in a flying mission on the 7th September 1943. He was a bondfunker in a bomber crew and lost in the East - possibly lost over Smolensk.

He was an experienced flier and was 30 years of age.

Many thanks

Rick

[Laurent Rizzotti]

In the Luftwaffe loss list of 12 september 1943, entry 77 is for the He 111 H-16 WNr 151243 (5J+LS) of 8./KG 4 that was a 100% after being shot down by enemy aircraft and crashed in flames at Peschnewo. The pilot and the observer bailed out and were unhurt, and so their names are not listed, while the three other men were reported as missing, their status being corrected on 27 September 1943 as all being dead:
Obgfr Fritz Kirsch (radio operator)
Ofw Karl Harderer (air gunner)
Obgfr Christian Kuggenberger (air gunner)

Please note that the name is written differently above. It seems to be wrong in the loss list, as the death card on fold3 has the name as Karl Haderer, as in your query (https://www.fold3.com/image/69275062...tion-1939-1948).
The third casualty is listed on fold3 as Christian Guggenberger (https://www.fold3.com/image/69193416...tion-1939-1948), Fritz Kirsch is listed with same name (https://www.fold3.com/image/69951824...tion-1939-1948).

All three cards say the same: they were lost during an attack on troop concentration 2.5 km NE Pessnewo (probably the same as the Peschnewo above) and were recorded as having burned with the aircraft.

Another webpage (https://www.kriegstote.org/cgi-bin/b...uell&Id=112772) says that Pessnewo was 2,5 km NE Duchowschtschina, German writing for the Russian Dukhovshchina, in Smolensk Oblast, but there is no place with this name or close to it now, so either the village was destroyed during the war (a frequent case in USSR), renamed since then or the location given is wrong.

In this sector, the Soviet Army was at the time undergoind the Suvorov operation (more details at https://codenames.info/operation/1st...ive-operation/). Dukhovshchina was a key position of the German defenses east of Smolensk. 7 September 1943 was the last day of the second phase of the Suvorov operation, that failed to break teh German defenses. The first phase was launched on the 14th, and this site Dukhovshchina fell after 4 days of battle and Smolensk was liberated one week later.

On a related matter, another airman of 8./KG 4, an air gunner named Uffz Kurt Schröder, is reported to have been killed by fire from enemy aircraft on 10 September 1943, according to the entry 78 in the Luftwaffe loss list of 12 september 1943. But his death card on fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/69196099...tion-1939-1948) says he died during an attack on Pessnewo on 7 September 1943, possibly the same attack as the aircraft lost above. This man is not listed in Volksbund database.