II./KG 40 Operations at Anzio

[mjbollinger]

Hi everyone

I'm trying to pull together a definitive view of II./KG 40 operations over Anzio. The available information is in conflict.

1. Griehl and Dressel report II./KG 40 flew "a total of seven operations" in the first 24 hours of the invasion, with the last three of these seven operations damaging a destroyer and cruiser (which I can't validate) with eight He 177 aircraft lost in those last three missions. Griehl and Dressel also suggest they were carrying PC 1400FX "Fritz X" weapons, which seems very odd. The appendix of this book identifies 7 He 177 aircraft lost over Anzio on 23 January with (at least) two others lost in January without a specified date.

2. Chris Goss writes that missions were flown on 23, 24 and 26 January with a total of seven aircraft lost.

3. Nick Beale writes that 2 II./KG 40 aircraft were lost in a raid on 23 January, 1 on 24 January and 6 others on 26 January.

4. Several sources (Wolf, Zalaga) write that 7 II./KG 40 aircraft executed a mission on 23 January without any hits on ships and 11 aircraft flew a mission on 24 January without any hits on ships. Wolf also says the unit was withdrawn shortly afterwards because of technical problems with the aircraft.

5. The order of battle information for II./KG 40 indicates 11 aircraft were lost to enemy action in January and 1 for other reasons.

Can anyone supply better information on II./KG 40 operations over Anzio? I'm trying to find out which missions were flown and how many aircraft were used on each one.

Thanks

M Bollinger