Help with Tunisian grid reference please

[Andy Fletcher]

Wasn't Franz Oswald St.Kap. 8.(Pz)/Sch.G. 2 at this time? This would tie in as 8.(Pz)/Sch.G. 2 was based at El Aouina (having been formed from 5./Sch.G. 1 during Dec42)

[Nokose]

Hs129 Panzerjaeger by Martin Pegg has the loss on the 27Dec42 with that W.nr with that grid but has the 4 staffel. The text has the unit as 5./Sch.G 1 for Oswald. It changed to 8.(Pz)/Sch.G 2 in Jan43. The Hs-129b-2's were from the Henschel factory that the unit picked up in Oct42 before going to Africa.

[Andreas Brekken]

Hi.

All the losses for these dates are reported as being under control of Luftflotte 4 in the east.

Regards,
Andreas B

[Nokose]

Oswald stated that they were returning to the east front when they were given new orders to Africa. He stated that 10 of his pilots were sent to assist another unit in Sep42 per Hitler's order. There is another Hs-129 listed as loss on 28Dec42 with that same grid 2953 (Wnr. 0286 with the unit again as 4.(Pz)/Sch.G 1. The one loss on the 22Dec42 Wnr. 0315 8/(Pz)/SchG 2 was shoot down by fighters 15 km NW of Kairouan, pilot Uffz Heinz Gustav Frohlich was KIA.

[Ben...]

Hi

Thanks guys, yes i have Oswald as the pilot but the stated grid of Qu 2953 is still a mystery, did the ground forces use a seperate code and could the Hs 129's be using this code because of their ground attack role ?

Thanks

Ben

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Ben...

Hi

did the ground forces use a seperate code and could the Hs 129's be using this code because of their ground attack role?

Quite possibly. The grid used by NSG 9 in Italy was different from that used by the fighters and I think somewhere I have seen an Allied reference to a "bomber grid."

It would make sense to use the same grid as the ground forces if you were supporting them - not that things always make sense, of course.

[Andreas Brekken]

Hi.

Time to conclude I feel. Have gone through the 20 odd losses sustained by Schl.G.1 during December 1942, I cannot find any evidence that the unit lost aircraft in the Mediterrenean during this month. All losses (except a couple of Ju 87's that are erronously registered as being Schl.G.1 and later corrected to St.G.3) are filed under the command structure of Luftflotte 4 and Luftwaffenkommando Don, both commanding units on the eastern front. Also, all the aircraft losses that are connected to a named location are eastern front.

So, I do not believe until other information can prove this to be wrong that the original question asked by Ben has anything to do with the North African area of operations, and in that context the Pl.Qu. is valid, and as mentioned earlier in the thread located in the area the unit operated on the eastern front at the time.

If this Oswald was the pilot of the aircraft mentioned for Dec 27th 1942, he went down in the east and not in Africa.

Regards,
Andreas B

[Andy Fletcher]

Originally Posted by Nokose

Hs129 Panzerjaeger by Martin Pegg has the loss on the 27Dec42 with that W.nr with that grid but has the 4 staffel. The text has the unit as 5./Sch.G 1 for Oswald. It changed to 8.(Pz)/Sch.G 2 in Jan43. The Hs-129b-2's were from the Henschel factory that the unit picked up in Oct42 before going to Africa.

According to the Flugzeugbestand und Bewegungsmeldungen for 8.(Pz)/Sch.G. 2 it was formed in Dec42, maybe the official re-designation didn't "catch" up with the unit until Jan43.

http://www.ww2.dk/oob/bestand/schlacht/b8schg2.html

http://www.ww2.dk/oob/bestand/schlacht/biischg1.html

Either way be it 5./Sch.G. 1 or 8.(Pz)/Sch.G. 2 it certainly wasn't 4.(Pz)/Sch.G. 1 as this unit was definitely on the southern sector of the Eastern Front at this time.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher