Uffz Sawallisch JG 27

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi,

Here's an extract about this subject from my Honours thesis:

The most notable example of the Luftwaffe ace culture’s impact in North Africa was the falsification of victory claims by a small group of 4./J.G. 27 pilots in mid-1942. Few Axis aerial victories were claimed in August, with the exception of these 4./J.G. 27 pilots, who claimed numerous victories almost daily. Other J.G. 27 pilots had their suspicions, and these were confirmed on 16 August when a 2./J.G. 27 pilot came across five 4./J.G. 27 pilots shooting off their ammunition in the desert in a mock combat. Slipping away unnoticed, the 2./J.G. 27 pilot landed at base. When the 4./J.G. 27 pilots returned, they claimed twelve victories between them. Some 58 false victory claims were submitted between 20 June and 12 October 1942, along with others that were suspicious. Most of these occurred in August. As if to confirm their guilt, on the day after they were discovered, one member of the Staffel committed suicide in his Bf 109.[1] This series of events was never reported to the Luftwaffe high command, and one of these pilots later received the Ritterkreuz (Knight’s Cross). This was the only known case of Axis falsification of victory claims in North Africa in 1942, but it is a stark example of how much the ace culture affected German fighter pilots in North Africa.

[1] Luftwaffe Victory Claims Microfilm Material; Shores & Ring, Fighters Over the Desert, p.160




Here are some figures regarding Luftwaffe claims and British losses in North Africa in 1942:

Table 6: German Victory Claims in North Africa [1]
(British losses to Axis fighters in brackets)


Month Total Claims Bombers Fighters
February 1942 *: 55 (34) 3 (3) 52 (31)
March 1942: 36 (32) 7 (8) 29 (24)
April 1942: 42 (42) 2 (8) 40 (34)
May 1942: 97 (80) 6 (7) 91 (73)
June 1942: 195 (144) 23 (18) 172 (126)
July 1942: 167 (119) 9 (10) 158 (109)
August 1942: 115 (65) 7 (3) 108 (62)
September 1942: 147 (95) 2 (1) 144 (94)
October 1942 **: 77 (43) 4 (0) 73 (43)
TOTAL 930 (654) 63 (58) 867 (596)


* from 10 February 1942 ** until 23 October 1942


[1] This table includes the falsified victory claims of 4./J.G. 27; source for victories is Luftwaffe Victory Claims Microfilm Material; source for British losses is Shores & Ring, Fighters Over the Desert, pp.93-190


Hope that is readable.


Cheers,
Andrew A.

hi,thanks again for info,its new to me, this staffell,jg27 4 members, well intresting stuff,,a great read,
gary

[Nefiakoff]

“Schwarm of the Liars” is the only example of evident and proven falsification of victories by german fighters during WWII found by me – that’s why it’s so interesting. I’ve read about this event over 10 years ago for a first time, unfortunatelly – the most of the sources with informations about this event are polish-languauge books, no originals.
So, I’m very glad to see Shores’ source here.
I’ve got also a detailed list of “Experten-Schwarm’s” victories. If somebody is interested, please send e-mail on my pm box.

In the parenthesis – numbers of victories, of course!

Here’s free translation of these polish books:

In first days of August 1942 four pilots from the same Schwarm of 4./JG 27 begun to claim big number of victories. Very soon it was called “Experten-Schwarm”. Pilots, who had their successes very rarely earlier, suddenly started to win air combats every day and their accounts started to grow very fast. And so it was :

3 August: 2; Bendert 1, Sawallisch 1,
4 August: 4; Bendert 2, Sawallisch 2,
5 August: 1; Bendert 1,
6 August: 3; Bendert 2, Stiegler 1,
7 August: 9; Bendert 3, Sawallisch 2, Stiegler 2, Vögl 2,
10 August: 8; Bendert 2, Sawallisch 2, Stiegler 2, Vögl 2,
11 August: 5; Sawallisch 2, Vögl 2, Stiegler 1,
12 August: 12; Bendert 5 !, Sawallisch 4, Stiegler 3,
14 August: 2; Sawallisch 2.

Some other, very experienced pilots like Stahlschmidt, Sinner, Börngen – knew, that air combat wasn’t a play and getting so much successes by unexperienced pilots was very suspected.
The pressure in JG 27 was growing till 16 August.
On that day Lt. Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt from 2./JG 27 with his wingman started from Fuka and shot down 2 P-40 on 8.15 and 8.25 hours. After landing in the base he came to kommodore JG 27, Maj. Edu Neumann, claimed 2 victories and reported that during his second fight saw 5 Bf 109 shooting into sand!
There was only Expereten-Schwarm in the air in that time.
When these pilots landed, they claimed 12 victories ! (Bendert 3, Sawallisch 3, Vögl 3, Stiegler 2, Just 1).
Pilots denied to Stahlschmidt’s report, confirming victories to each other.
Maj. Neumann decided not to inform High Command, because he didn’t want Jagdgeschwader to lose good opinion. All their victories were cancelled, but after official confirmation by OKL in Berlin they have stayed on their accounts. Experten-Schwarm was unformed and the pilots were moved to other staffels. The new Rommel’s offensive was to come and every pilot was valuable.
It supposed to be end of the conflict, but final came very soon. On 19 August Ofw. Erwin Sawallisch started in his Bf 109 after technical check-up, but didn’t come back. It is unknown, if he killed himself or if it was a revenge of angry mechanics, whose hard work was wasted.
His body was found the next day on the beach of Mediterranean Sea.
Ten days later, on 29 August, Uffz. Just was taken PoW. His account has stayed on 1.
The rest survived the war, everybody in officer’s ranks.

Little correction – Ofw. Erwin Sawallisch achieved total of 33 victories (not 38, wrote by me in previous post), fom which 9 were claimed on the East Front and 24 in JG 27. No less then 18 of these 24 were false.

It looks that a leader of the Schwarm was Bendert (not Vögl, who was the only officer and staffelkapitän) – he claimed the bigger number of victories and as a first increased it for a single day. However, this is only my personal speculation.

Regards

Nef

hi, thanks you for your info,well intriging.stuff,
gary

on a lighter note this story would make a great tv drama,or film"any taratinos out there..
gary___________well im hoping to win the lotto soon ,so.look out.

[Nokose]

While reading JFV 6/I for the Stab/JG27 I saw that Obfw Erwin Sawallisch shot down on 21Sep41 at 09:52(10) and 09:55 (11) two I-153 at Leningrad. I didn't find any other JG's making a claim for I-153's. It appears that he might have shot down the I-153 flown by St. Lt. Viktor Mikhailovich Gavrilov (KIA) of 71 IAP KBF. It also listed Lt Mazurenko (WIA) and Pavel Ignatyevich Chinyakov (WIA) but it wasn't clear if their I-153 went down in the source. Chinyakov claimed a Bf-109 shot down and there is actually two JG27 Bf-109's shot down at that location.

[Nefiakoff]

Hello Nokose,

Looking for informations about victories of Ofw. Erwin Sawallisch from Stab/JG 27 in Tony Wood’s list, I’ve found following claims (all without numbers):

25 Aug. 41 – 1 I-153
11 Sept. 41 – 1 Pe-2
4 Oct. 41 – 2 I-18 and 2 DB-3

Unfortunatelly I haven’t found any victory claimed by him on 21 Sept. but it is very possible that this list is incomplete. The only claim for a whole JG 27 on this day I've found was 1 I-18 claimed by Ofw. Franz Blazytko from 9./JG 27 (place no indicated).

As I know, in his short period of combat flying on the East Front, Sawallisch claimed 9 victories. Including these mentioned by You from 21 Sept., there is still 1 missing.
Do You know, when did he claim it and what type of a/c was it?

Regards

Nef

[Nokose]

Here is what I found in JFV 6/I Erwin Sawallisch.
25Aug41 10:50 (8) I-153 E of Ljuban
11Sep41 17:38 (9) Pe-2 Wolchowskaja Pristanj
04Oct41 10:45 (12) I-18 Michjejewa
13:55 (13) DB-3 "
13:56 (14) DB-3 "
14:08 (15) SB-2 Spass

The I-18 that is listed for Obfw Franz Blazytko 9/JG27 on 21Sep41 14:38 W. of Oranienbaum is possibly St. Lt. Nikolai Mikhaiovich Nikitin 5IAP KBF who's MiG-3 was shot down approx. 15:40 (Moscow).

[Nefiakoff]

Dear Nokose,

Thank You very much for these informations.
I hope You'll find detailed answers for Your questions about Sawallisch on 21 Sept. 41.

All the best

Nef

[Nokose]

21Sep41 the 9./JG27 had Lt Joachim Hinkelman (WIA) Bf-109E-4 (Wknr 3639) 100% damaged and Uffz Ewald Hacker (MIA) Bf-109E-7 (Wknr 1499) 100% damaged. I know that Pavel Chinyakov got one of them or possibly both unless it was Viktor Gavrilov (KIA) who Sawallisch claimed along with another I-153. Maybe the actual report has more detail.