Erk.M. 53280/23

[Dennis Peschier]

Erk.M. 53280/23

In the past I’ve asked the Deutsche Dienststelle who the owner of this number was. They were however unable to help me.
There is a possibility that it belonged to a member of Stab I/KG zvV 1.
Can anyone tell more about this number?

Dennis

[John Manrho]

Dennis,

that is a needle in a hay stack. It would help if you could more details. Location, crash, date?

cheers,

John.

[Dennis Peschier]

Hello John,
The number belongs to a luftwaffe uffz. Washed up on the beach of Katwijk on 26-5-1940.
I believe it was Uffz Karl Ramus. He was buried at Katwijk, but he also could have been killed at Valkenburg.
The washed up body could also have been flown to Germany.
I hope this made the haystack a bit smaller.

Dennis

[Peter Cornwell]

Dennis,

Uffz Karl RAMUS of I./KGzbV.1 was ID number 53630/23.

[Dennis Peschier]

Hello Peter,
There seems to be a mistake somewhere. The form with 53280/23 is quite clear. Someone must have copied it wrongly from the disc. It must be Ramus.

I found the names of 2 others from the same unit that died on the same day;
KUPKE Gerhard, Fw, *3.5.13 Guten, † 10.5.40, CV-186, KG zbV 1
RAMUS Karl , Uffz, *21.5.12, † 10.5.40, TBB-10, Stab I/KG zbV 1
MICHELS Nikolaus, Uffz, *29.11.14, † 10.5.40, CV-194, 12/KG zbV 1

The fact that these are buried in plot CV at Ysselstein means that they were initially buried Oegstgeest, having been found in the Valkenburg aerodrome area. I doubt if these were crewman of Ramus.

Thank you for your help,
Dennis

[Peter Cornwell]

Dennis,

That is quite likely. I spent a lot of time trying to make sense of all the Ju52 losses on May 10, 1940, for The Battle of France Then & Now. It remains a real 'bugger's muddle' as we say in England but I have taken it as far as I can with a great deal of help.