Attack on the Spitfire Factory at Eastleigh on 11 September 1940

[Peter Cook]

I am trying to establish the Luftwaffe units that took part in the raid on 11 September 1940 on the Spitfire factory at Eastleigh near Southampton – they actually bombed the Cunliffe Owen aircraft works, adjacent to the Supermarine factory. According to the Luftflotte 3 Einzelmeldung for this date "9 Me 110 and 4 Me 109" of Erpr.Gr. 210 had an escort provided by Jafü 3 with 26 Me 109s and 16 Me 110s (I. and III./J.G.27, J.G.2, II. and III./Z.G.76, 5./L.G.1, Z.G.2, and II./J.G.53)." It goes on to state the following claims:

1 Hurricane shot down by J.G.27
1 Hurricane shot down by J.G.2
2 Hurricanes shot down by II./Z.G.76
2 Hurricanes shot down by III./Z.G.76
2 Hurricanes shot down by V./L.G.1
2 Hurricanes shot down by Z.G.2

Aircraft from Luftflotte 2 mounted a raid on London at the same approximate time, with He 111s of KG 1 and KG 26, and their much larger escort included Bf 109s of JG 2 and JG 27, plus Bf 110s of ZG 76 – three units that are listed above as part of the Luftflotte 3 escort.

Does anyone have an explanation for this?

Peter

[Peter Kassak]

Beside one claim of III. Gruppe of a Spitfire over Portland just after midday, there were 5 claims late afternoon. 17:00,17:05 and 17:20 two hurricanes and one Spitfire, and two Spitfires 18:10 and 18:15. All five II./ZG76.

[Peter Cook]

Originally Posted by Peter Kassak

Beside one claim of III. Gruppe of a Spitfire over Portland just after midday, there were 5 claims late afternoon. 17:00,17:05 and 17:20 two hurricanes and one Spitfire, and two Spitfires 18:10 and 18:15. All five II./ZG76.

Hi Peter,

Your excellent ZG 76 book is one of my sources, but your listings also pose questions. As you see below, two of the claims were in the London area approximately 70-80 mile from Southampton, while Rye is about 100 miles to the east. This suggests that the London and Rye claims were made as part of the London raids, not Southampton.

4./ZG 76 Oblt. Walter Borchers Hurricane (10.) 17:05 S. of Portsmouth
5./ZG 76 Fw. Karl Langenberg Spitfire 18:10 London
5./ZG 76 Fw. Heinrich Sauerwein Spitfire (4.) 18:15 10 km N-NE. of Rye
6./ZG 76 Oblt. Wilhelm Herget Hurricane (12.) 17:00 5-10 km. E. of Insel Wight
6./ZG 76 Oblt. Hans-Joachim Jabs Spitfire (17.) 17:20 S. of London:

Peter

[Peter Kassak]

Indeed, what you suggest is much possible. However, this then rules out the presence of ZG 76 in your raid (?).

[robert]

Hi Peter,

there were also some claims reported by I./ZG2, V.(Z)/LG1 and at least 1 by III./ZG76.

BR

Robert

[Peter Cook]

Originally Posted by robert

Hi Peter,

there were also some claims reported by I./ZG2, V.(Z)/LG1 and at least 1 by III./ZG76.

BR

Robert

Hi Robert,

These are the Luftflotte 3 claims listing with known claimants, are you able to identify any of the unknown claimants from your records?

3 a) Enemy losses.
1 Hurricane shot down by J.G.27 - Oblt. Gerhard Homuth
1 Hurricane shot down by J.G.2 - unknown
2 Hurricanes shot down by II./Z.G.76 - Oblt. Walter Borchers and Oblt. Wilhelm Herget
2 Hurricanes shot down by III./Z.G.76 - both unknown
2 Hurricanes shot down by V./L.G.1 - Oblt. Otto Weckeiser and unknown
2 Hurricanes shot down by Z.G.2 - both unknown

For Peter – I still find the conflicting locations to be odd with, for example, two 6./ZG 26 pilots making claims at the same approximate time but many miles apart – Herget E. of Isle of Wight and Jabs S. of London.

Peter

[Chris Goss]

I have 8 claims for JG 2 between 1615hrs and 1727hrs. JG 2 was operating out of airfields Oye Plage. Only location is given for one of them as being Staplehurst. There is a claim for 6./JG 27 at Elham, 1632hrs, I./JG 27 at 1706hrs off Dungeness and Homuth's off Selsey Bill at 1810hrs. I have found evidence that single Staffel were moved westwards in September for unknown purposes like 5./JG 53

[Peter Cook]

Originally Posted by Chris Goss

I have 8 claims for JG 2 between 1615hrs and 1727hrs. JG 2 was operating out of airfields Oye Plage. Only location is given for one of them as being Staplehurst. There is a claim for 6./JG 27 at Elham, 1632hrs, I./JG 27 at 1706hrs off Dungeness and Homuth's off Selsey Bill at 1810hrs. I have found evidence that single Staffel were moved westwards in September for unknown purposes like 5./JG 53

Hi Chris,

This is what Jochen Prien has to say re. JG 2 during early September 1940 in Jagdfliegerverbände 4/I.

"The stay of I./JG 2 in Mardyck was short-lived, as the Gruppe was relocated to the area of Luftflotte 3 on September 10, where it was again located at Beaumont-le-Roger airfield. Due the clear shift in the focus of the Luftwaffe's daytime deployment to the area of Luftflotte 2 in the Pas de Calais area, the operations of I./JG 2 decreased noticeably during the following two weeks; The task of the Gruppe was in most cases free hunt, while escort protection for bomber units were flown only in exceptional cases. Accordingly, I./JG 2 could only report three kills from 11-20th of September, but did not suffer any losses during this period."

This indicates that I Gruppe were under the control of Luftflotte 3 at the time of the Southampton raid. But to your point about individual Staffels, the I Gruppe claims for this date were by Lt. Votel and Ofw. Tilly of 3 Staffel – neither with location information – plus the claim by the undentified pilot listed in the Einzelmeldung, which suggest the he was from 1 or 2 Staffel.

As for JG27, this is what Prien has to say:
"After bad weather on September 10th had ensured that no missions could be flown over England at all three Gruppen of JG 27*, including Gruppe I, were again deployed to escort combat units to London in the late afternoon of September 11, 1940 where two kills were made without loss.
*A total of 53 Messerschmitts from JG 27 were involved in this mission - lbel, JG 27 am Kanal, p. 4."

The London raid claims by Hptm. Neumann of Stab I/JG27 (Hurricane, Dungeness), and Oblt. Rödel of 4./JG 27 (Spitfire, Elham) match the above, but the claim by Oblt. Homuth of 3/JG27 (Hurricane, 5km south west of Selsey Bill), indicates that 3 Staffel at least were part of the Southampton raid.

Peter

[Nick Beale]

A couple of decrypts (I haven't checked the map reference for the Ju 87 collision):

CX/JQ/298
T6 11. At 2100/10/9 following wire was seen:
“At X hour on 11/9 Group ‘OTTO’ flies on raid over England”.
It was signed “Major POP”. (A)
Formation concerned may be Fliegerkorps IV. (D


CX/JQ/300
5. On 11/9 LG Nachr. Rgt. 12 told LG Kdo. W France that 4./Lehr had reported through II./12 the collision of 2 Ju 87 at 0730 in grid square 10671. Both machines crashed, 1 man being killed, 1 slightly wounded and 2 were unhurt. Uffz. Brunner, Truppenführer of Trupp 7, provided for immediate medical attention. Flieger Korps 8 had been informed. (A)
7. On 11/9 Hptm. Simon asked Stab ZG 2 to send immediately reports of a/c shot down, as they were wanted by the General. (A)
43. On 11/9 Obltn. Jähne informed 4.(F)/14 that a/c 5F+HM was ready, and 5F+RM had engine-trouble. He added that on 11/9 there had been two raids. (A)


CX/JQ/301 12/9/40 K/0745/12/9/40
1. At 1830/11 Oberleutnant Zobel reported to advanced HQ of V.(Z)/LG 1 at Ligescourt that the Restkommando of the formation had taken part, on 11/9, in the operations under Jafü 3. Lt. Adametz and Uffz. Koch said they had each shot down one enemy aircraft; none of their own planes had been lost.

[Chris Goss]

Thanks Peter. I was aware of this