Wekusta 1 strange case 21.Apr.42

[Larry deZeng]

The story.............


"The spring had been delayed and the Gulf of Finland was still ice-covered when, on 21 April (1942), Ju 88 D-1, B7+OA (W.Nr. 1579), with Lt. Werner Storz (F), Reg.Rat Wilhelm Dünnweber (Met B), Uffz. Hahn (Bm) and an unidentified wireless operator, was damaged by Soviet AA fire. As a result, they made a belly landing on the weakened ice WSW of the island Lavansaari. While Dünnweber and the wireless operator escaped unhurt, Storz was injured and could not walk and Hahn was seriously wounded with two broken legs. Because of the ice, it proved impossible to ferry the injured to the distant shore in the rubber dinghy. As a result, while Storz took care of Hahn at the wrecked aircraft, it was decided that Dünnweber and the wireless operator should walk south towards the coast over the melting snow and partly flooded ice to alert their Staffel. This march took them ten hours but a call for help was set in action and a Fi 156 Storch STOL aircraft was sent to pick up the two crew members left behind on the ice. Unfortunately, bad weather delayed the rescue operation for two days and when a landing at the site was finally made, Hahn was found shot dead, while Storz had disappeared without trace.

Six months later, Storz reported to his Staffel and the full story finally emerged. Apparently, while Dünnweber and the wireless operator were away, a Russian platoon had reached the site, Hahn was killed and Storz taken prisoner. As a PoW he was subjected to many torturous interrogations and to save his life declared himself willing to act clandestinely as a Soviet agent in German uniform. He was trained as a wireless operator and, on 27 October, was dropped, equipped with a Russian radio set, from a Soviet aircraft by parachute behind German lines but reported to a friendly unit. After further missions under a false name, to protect him against reprisals if re-captured, he was posted to Wekusta 1 Ob.d.L. in the West, promoted to Oblt.and assigned to Wetterkette Stavanger. On a test flight in August 1943 his aircraft, Ju 88 D-1, D7+GH, collided with a high-tension line over Lys Fjord and crashed in the sea with Storz and his crew being killed."

[Source: Kingston, John A. and Franz Selinger. Wekusta: Luftwaffe Meteorological Reconnaissance Units & Operations 1938-1945. Ottringham (East Yorkshire): Flight Recorder Publications Ltd., 2006. ISBNs: 0 9545605 8 2 and 978 0 9545605 8 4. Hb (oversize). Dj. 256p. Heavily illus. Color profiles. Maps. Charts. Tables. Appendices. Bibliography. Index. Pp.71-72].

L.