Who sunk Dutch trawler Protinus 19.03.1940

[Andrei Demjanko]

Kari,

This incident may be in connection with Protinus. But there is some points, which led me to think it was not.

1) these were indeed brushes with British trawlers, and one He111J of 3./KuFlGr 806 was lost to AA fire as a result. The German crew was rescued by Dutch motor-cutter the same day, which means there were enough ships in the vicinity also to rescue the crew of the trawler the same day, if it was lost on this date

2) 3./KuFlGr 806 claimed only a near miss, as KTB SKL says, so trawler 'obviously sunk' is more a wishful thinking. And it contradicts survivor's account which stated that attacking aircraft achieved direct hit on the bridge.

3) from survivor's account, the date of loss was 19 March

So evidence on hand is not enough to state Protinus was sunk by 3./KuFlGr 806. Until aditional information surfaced, it looks far more probable to me that Protinus was sunk by British aircraft