The cousins Peterburs

[Joe Peterburs]

Thank you Cori,

I have quite a bit of info on Hans including his log books, telgrams etc. Heinrch is the one that eludes me, I can not find any info on his units, victories, awards, marital status, children etc. I have not checked with Freidberg any help would be appreciated.

Joe Peterburs

[Red Baroness]

You're welcome, Joe;

I'm always glad to help someone if I can.

I'll talk to Ed and get that information - he's working on a biography of Ernst Kupfer, and helped me with some contacts for my Oesau bio, and in turn, I'll help anyone else who needs it to the best of my ability.

Best regards,

Cori

Here's the link for the Bundesarchiv: http://www.bundesarchiv.de/ - hopefully I'll have some more information by the end of the month.

[Andreas Brekken]

Hi,

a small addition with regards to Hans Peterburs:

http://www.ahs.no/ref_db/lw_loss_pub...?lossid=116739

Regards,
Andreas B

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

I have been exchanging information with Joe Peterburs concerning his cousin Hans, whose career with 9./ZG76 is of particular interest to the EOE Working Group due to the fact that he is reported to have scored several victories with that unit during the Battle of Britain (our research period ends 31.12.40). What Joe has is not a Flugbuch but primarily a Wehrpasa, which does have some useful information, but none of the purported victories claimed by Hans during the latter part of 1940 are documented. This also confirms that contrary to his Obermaier RKT biography, Hans did not serve with 6./ZG1 during the spring of 1940, prior to the time it was renamed III./ZG76 in July, 1940, at the beginning of the Battle of Britain. Hans was assigned to 9./Lehrgeschwader Greifswald - 9.(K)/LG1 from June 15, 1937 to March 3, 1940. He was then re-assigned to the 2./ZerstSchule Schleissheim from April 1, 1940, until August 13, 1940, apparently doing conversion training to the Bf110. Hans is purported to have scored two estimated (sometimes referred to as "turks') victories prior to mid-August, 1940, but it turns out that this would have been impossible, according to his Wehrpasa, as he didn't join a front line unit (9./ZG76) until August 16, 1940. The Wehrpasa also provides a list of his awards and medals, and the dates of his promotions, which include the following:
1.10.36 zum Gefreiter
1.11.37 zum Obergefreiter
8.12.37 zum Uffz. - Anwaerter (candidate for Uffz)
1.7.39 zum Uffz.
1.9.40 zum Feldwebel

He would have later been promoted to Ofw, but this is beyond the period of the EOE research.

Joe also provided one page from a Flugbuch, but it turns out that his was probably pre-war, during a training period, and wasn't the FB of Peterburs, but someone named Wolff, with whom Peterburs flew three flights. It remains unclear to me whether Peterburs' FB has survived.

According to Joe Peterburs, prior to 2002 he had a lot more information, including photos of Hans Peterburs with his aircraft, but these were all lost in a computer crash. What he has left is now are scans of the Wehrpass, the RKT bio info and the single page from the Wolff FB. Inserted inside the Wehrpass is a brief summary of Hans' actions in Russia from July to Sept. 1941, although beyond the scope of the EOE Project.

So, it is still not known what victories Peterburs claimed during 1940, but it is obvious that all must have been with 9./ZG76 on or after August 16th. Thus, unfortunately, what we hoped would be an opportunity to fill in some missing blanks in the victory claims record of II./ZG1 and III./ZG76 has failed. If anyone, including Horst Kube, can help us locate the FB of Hans Peterburs, if it still exists, or can provide any date confirmations on his 1940 victory claims/awards, I would appreciate hearing from you. The FB seems to be the key to this, if it can be located.

My thanks to Joe Peterburs for providing copies of his documents, and Robert Szoltyk for analyzing and translating the material.

I hope that this is of interest to some of you.

Regards,

[Erfurt1945]

Hi:

The AG Vermisstenforschung Sachsen-Thüringen stated that the unit of Heinrich Peterburs was 3.(H)/41
= 3. Staffel(Nahaufklärer)/Aufklärungsgruppe 41.

But it is not confirmed if this is the unit he was with in April 1945.

And there are still different information about his date of death and the type of his a/c:
April 5, 1945 (source: Volksbund)
April 7 or April 8, 1945 (source: Jägerblatt 3/2005)
April 8, 1945 (source: AG Vermisstenforschung Sachsen-Thüringen)
Me 109 K-4 (source: Jägerblatt 3/2005 and Jens Bechtler of AG Vermisstenforschung Sachsen-Thüringen, "a/c shown at Museum Welzow")
Me 109 G-6 (source: Jägerblatt, Suchanzeige 023/05)
Fw 190 (source: Horst Kallenberg, historian of Töttelstädt).

According to Frank J. Olynyk's "USAAF (European Theater of Operations) Credits For The Destruction of Enemy Aircraft In Air-To-Air Combat In World War 2" there are the following credits relating to the Erfurt-Gotha area:
April 5 15:00 2/Lt. John R. Ellis, Jr. 12 rcn sq FW-190 W-1365 (SE of Gotha)
April 5 15:00 2/Lt. John R. Ellis, Jr. 12 rcn sq FW-190 unconf dam W-1365 (SE of Gotha)
April 5 15:00 1/Lt. Mingo V. Logothetis 12 rcn sq FW-190 unconf, claimed destroyed W-1365 (SE of Gotha)
April 8 14:30 2/Lt. George L. Slentz 378 ftr sq FW-190 Gotha
April 8 14:30 1/Lt. Charles W. Stewart 378 ftr sq FW-190 Gotha
April 8 14:30 2/Lt. John J. Haverfield 378 ftr sq FW-190 prob, claimed destroyed Gotha
April 8 14:30 2/Lt. John J. Haverfield 378 ftr sq Me-109 unconf dam Gotha
April 8 14:30 1/Lt. Paul L. Carlisle 378 ftr sq 2 Me-109 dam unstated
April 8 14:30 1/Lt. Paul L. Carlisle 378 ftr sq FW-190 dam unstated
April 8 14:30 Capt. Arthur Staples 378 ftr sq FW-190 dam unstated
April 8 19:00 1/Lt. John K. Rhods 12 rcn sq Me-109 J-2573 (Schaderode, close to Töttelstädt)

Just hope someone can shed some light on this problem.

Anyway, I am looking for a high resolution picture of Heinrich Peterburs.

[Johannes]

Hi Joe

I have ten of Han's abschusse details, forward me your e.mail address and I'll send send it on.

Regards

Johannes

[Tom Semenza]

Johannes,

Could you share the Abschuß details with the rest of us? I have only found 6 of his claims from various sources.

Thanks,
Tom

[Joe Peterburs]

Good Day Johannes,

Thank you for your posting. My e-mail is: japeterburs@surewest.net. I am looking forward to seeing the information you have.

Thanks, Joe

[Larry Hickey]

Johannes,

Are any of Peterburs' victory claims you have from the 1940 period?

Regards,

[Johannes]

Hi all

havre tried to find a lose for Heinrich with Jg1,2,3,4,5,7,11,26,51,52,53,54,77300,301,302 without success.

Regards

Johannes

P.S just a hunch but behaps he was with a ZG unit?