Dogfight 30-1-1944 over Holland

[Bruce Lander]

Hello Gentlemen

is this air battle the one so vividly ( if innaccurately ) described by Heinz Knoke in his book "I Flew For The Fuhrer" ? Knoke says that II/JG11 (his unit ) were transferring to Arnhem when they were bounced by Spitfires ! and gives the losses as
4/JG11- 5 killed
6/JG11- 3 lost ( killed ?)
StabII/JG11 - 1 lost ( killed ?)
5/JG/11 - Fw Nowotny killed
Lt Knoke ( himself ) shot down near Hilversum - unhurt
Ofw.Raddatz - shot down near Hilversum - unhurt
He goes on to say that only Major Specht ( the Gruppe C/O ) manages to shoot down a Spitfire
Obviously no Spitfires where involved in this fight and as Specht was in fact credited with a P.47 it is probable that the combat was with either the 4th FG ( who lost Lt.E.R.Mead near Lingen ) or 361St FG (who lost Lt
E.F.Amason near Rijssen) the only 2 P.47's lost on 30 Jan 1944.
However as 56th FG, 78th FG, 352ndFG , 352nd, 358th FG and 359th FG all also made claims in the general Holland/Germany border area this needs a bit more investigation
Cheers
Bruce Lander