VVS operations 6-8 may & 8-10 june 1943, claims and losses.

[Evgeny Velichko]

From Oleg Rastrenin's book:

During attacks on Luftwaffe airfields on 6-8 may & 8-10 june 1943 VVS lost (KiA, MiA, WiA, DfW, KiFA):

103 Il-2 - 86 pilots and 70 gunners;
28 A-20 and Pe-2 - 24 pilots, 22 bombardiers, and 28 gunners;
72 fighters - 68 pilots.

Short description of 10 june 1943 air raid:

10 june, 2 attacks:

1 raid to attack airfields Kharkov and Mikoyanovka (~4:15)

1 raid to attack airfields Sescha(20:20-20:40)

I will briefly describe raid to Sescha.
1st wave of:

12 x Il-2 (leader Kap. V.Rubtzov, 312 shap) with close escort of 6 x Yak-1 (leader Maj. N.Tzagojko, 122 iap)
11 x Il-2 (leader Kap. K.Brekhov, 62 shap) with close escort of 8 x Yak-7B (leader Kap. Sibirtzev, 172 iap)
Both groups with fighter sweep of:
4 x Yak-1 (St.Lt. R.Seroglazov, 162 iap)
4 x La-5 (Kap. N.Spiridenko, 49 iap)
7 x Yak-1 (St.Lt. Kisilev, 172 iap)

2nd wave consist of:
9 x Pe-2 (2 bap) with close escort of 6 x La-5 (Maj. Alifanov, 263 iap)
9 x Pe-2 (38 bap) with close escort of 6 x La-5 (Kap. Rakitin, 263 iap)
9 x Pe-2 (Maj.Ageyev, 6 bap) with close escort of 6 x La-5 (Maj. Kashirkin, 522 iap)
9 x Pe-2 (St.Lt. Kuznetzov, 130 bap) with close escort of 6 x La-5 (Maj. Gribok, 522 iap)

Fighter sweep:
15 x La-5 (2 giap).
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Road to target:

no enemy fighters, weak AAA fire. No claims and losses.

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Over the target:

Result of attack on Sescha airfield:
312 shap claimed: 15 2 x Flak destroyed, 15 large explosions;
62 shap: destroyed ~10 and damaged ~5-7 enemy aircrafts, 1 house destroyed, 5 explosions;
Pe-2's of 204 bad: many explosions on the airfield, all airfield covered with heavy smoke.

Over tha target Il-2 wave was intercepted by large group of Fw190's.

Losses:
Il-2 (Ml.Lt. A.Kuznetzov, 312 shap) shot down by AAA, crashed in airfield area;
Il-2 (St.Lt. Alferov, 312 shap) damaged by AAA, reached his base airfield and emlanded;
Il-2 (Ml.Lt. Mochalov, 312 shap)damaged by AAA, reached his base airfield and emlanded;

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Road from target to home bases:

Groups of fighters had splittered and got hard combat with large groups of enemy fighters. Both Il-2 and Pe-2 waves came under attack of Fw190 groups.

Losses:
Il-2 (Ml.Lt. Ivliyev, 312 shap) heavy damaged by Fw190, reached his base airfield and emlanded;
Il-2 (Ml.Lt. Komarovsky, 312 shap) heavy damaged by Fw190, reached his base airfield and emlanded;
Il-2 (Ml.Lt. Anufriyev, 62 shap) heavy damaged by Fw190, reached his base airfield and emlanded;
Il-2 (Ml.Lt. Popov, 62 shap) heavy damaged by Fw190, reached his base airfield and emlanded;
Pe-2 (Maj. I.Ageyev, 6 bap), shot down by enemy fighers in area of Sescha;
Pe-2 (Ml.Lt. Volkov, 6 bap), shot down by enemy fighers in area of Sescha;
Pe-2 (Ml.Lt. Shpagin, 6 bap), shot down by enemy fighers in area of Sescha;
Pe-2 (Ml.Lt. Stepchak, 6 bap), shot down by enemy fighers in area of Sescha;
Pe-2 (Ml.Lt. Yemeljanov, 6 bap), shot down by enemy fighers in area of Sescha;
Pe-2 (Ml.Lt. Shibanov, 6 bap), shot down by enemy fighers in area of Sescha;
Pe-2 (Ml.Lt. Ignatjev, 6 bap), shot down by enemy fighers in area of Sescha;
Pe-2 (Ml.Lt. Nikitin, 6 bap), shot down by enemy fighers in area of Sescha;
Pe-2 (Ml.Lt. Smol'sky, 6 bap), shot down by enemy fighers in area of Sescha;
La-5 (Lt. Oparin, 522 iap) shot down by enemy fighters during escort of Pe-2 of 6 bap, Sescha area;
La-5 (Ml.Lt. Ishimsky, 522 iap) shot down by enemy fighters during escort of Pe-2 of 6 bap, Sescha area;
Yak-1 (Maj.Tzagojko, 122 iap) damaged by Fw190, bellylanded behind enemy lines;
Yak-1 (Ml.Lt. Nepokrytov, 122 iap) shot down by Fw190,did not returned from combat mission;
Yak-1 (St. Shelukha, 162 iap) shot down by Fw190, did not returned from combat mission;
La-5 (St.Lt. Pankin, 2 giap) did not returned from combat mission by unknown reason;

Claims:

Fw190 shot down by La-5 (Kap.Rakitin, 263 iap), crashed in area of Krasny Oktyabr';
Fw190 shot down by La-5 (Ml.Lt. Orlov, 263 iap), crashed in area of Krasny Oktyabr';
Fw190 (shared) shot down by pair of La-5 (Maj.Alifanov, Ltn. Sapegin, 263 iap), crashed in Sescha area;
Fw190 (shared) shot down by pair of La-5 (Kap.Popov, Ml.Lt. Chernushevich, 263 iap), crashed in area of Zhebovo.
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If interested in full information, let me know - use PM. I have full claims losses of that operations.

Best wishes!