Elba attack September 1943

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

... the only source that comes to mind would be the daily reports from the RAF "Y" Service wing operating in the Central Mediterranean.
L.

I rarely look at material from 1943 but No. 329 Wing was the relevant RAF "Y" unit through to the end of 1944, when it returned to the UK. I am really only familiar with the records of its successor, No. 276 Wing.

I've just taken a look at the National Archives index and there is this (on microfilm) that may help: AIR 51/293 "No 329 Wing: reports and returns 01/11/1943 - 29/02/1944". The problem with these reels is that the item you find in the index may turn out to be one page or a hundred - no way to tell until you look.

On paper there is: AIR 40/2253 "R.A.F. Wireless Intelligence Service, French North Africa (Wing 329): periodical reports" (July-December 1943). The Wing's Operations Record Book for the same period is AIR 26/436 but it is doubtful if that would give much detail.

[Larry deZeng]

Supplementing Nick's information:

I have a photocopy of 329 Wing's daily "Y" reports for 30 June to 18 August 1943. It's a mixed bag in that for some days it seems to be fairly good but for some days not. IIRC, it was reasonably good for long-range recce and weather aircraft activity and unit identifications, less so for transports, bombers, fighters and ground attack. For example, the 329 Wing Daily Summary of Enemy Air Activity for Period 17/8/43 only gives the following under Para. 2. Long Range Bombers:

4 bomber units combined in a raid on Biserta in the evening. At least 23 aircraft were identified. II/KG 77 based a Piacenza, using Ciampino as an advanced landing ground, contributed 9 aircraft, the remainder coming from I and III/KG 30 and I/LG 1 based at Viterbo. There was one possible casualty of III/KG 30.

Under Para. 3. Fighters and Ground Attack, there are three paragraphs of activity description from the Rome area south to Sicily and including Sardinia. Not a single unit or Lw. airfield is identified. The narrative is very broad and general in content.

L.

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi guys,

I've checked HW 5 ULTRA and the Y-Service reports for 16 September 1943, and could find nothing about an attack on Elba. K.G. 100 and S.K.G. 10 operated against the Salerno landings, and J.G. 77 and J.G. 53 were also active over Italy. II. Fliegerkorps, based in central Italy, flew a total of 52 fighter sorties (with 38 of those by J.G. 77 and IV./J.G. 3) and 31 ground-attack sorties (all by S.K.G. 10).

The Ju 88 units were all operating by night at this stage.

A variety of aircraft types based on Corsica flew missions on 16 September 1943, but these were all reconnaissance, and no aircraft reported operating over Elba.

So it is a complete mystery to me.

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications - www.airwarpublications.com

[costiero]

Hi everybody
thanks so much for you help, it's very important for me!
Andrew do you have a copy of HW 5 ULTRA and the Y-Service reports from 15th to 30th September 1943? I know the resarch need time and money, I don't wont to stole your documents, it's only to know if there's something about Elba, then I'll ask the copies to NA.
It's possible that mission could be authorized the 15th or the days before?
Or as Larry and Nick says it could be "decripted" after 16th and insert in the reports written after 16th.

At least 150 people died after the attack and it determine the capitulation of Italian garrison on Elba. The AA defense was unable to alert the population and start firing only when aircraft comes, because the AA chain on italian mainland was unactive, because already handled by german troops. People talk about Stukas, but for Italian civil of 1943 probaly each german bombers is a "Stuka", official Regia Marina and Regio Esercito reports speaks in general about "german aircraft" and not specify the type.

It's a mistery usolved....aicraft involved could be take off from France or other country close to Italy, but it's a no sense because Luftwaffe have a lot of aircraft near Elba ready to move, and people remeber 5 or 7 aircraft not more.

Thanks guys for your help
Costiero

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi Costiero,

I've been compiling a chronicle covering all air operations over Italy between 3 September 1943 and 21 January 1944, and have checked sources covering the days and weeks before and after 16 September. I still have many hundreds of pages of documents to read through, so perhaps I'll come across more information in the future. However, I have checked most of the relevant HW 5 ULTRA for September 1943.

One source that could be valuable to you is BA-MA RL 2 II/966, 'Einsatzraum Mittelmeer – Atlantik:- Lageberichte Bereich Luftfl. 2 und Luftflottenkdo. Süd/Südost, 29.8.1943-27.9.1943'. This provides daily summaries of all German air operations in the Mediterranean, so if this 16 September 1943 attack was carried out by German aircraft, it will appear there. Unfortunately I only took notes up to 3 September 1943.

The main point is that this mission almost certainly wasn't flown by units of II. Fliegerkorps or the Fliegerführer Sardinien/Korsika, which would be the logical headquarters to carry out an attack on Elba. Perhaps it was flown by Ju 88s under Kampffliegerführer Luftflotte 2, but I've seen no evidence for that (yet).

Sorry I can't be more certain at this point, and as I've said in the past, if I come across something more I'll let you know.

Just in case anyone else might have some sources, this attack occurred around 11:00 on 16 September 1943.

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications - www.facebook.com/airwarpublications

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Andrew Arthy

The main point is that this mission almost certainly wasn't flown by units of II. Fliegerkorps or the Fliegerführer Sardinien/Korsika, which would be the logical headquarters to carry out an attack on Elba. Perhaps it was flown by Ju 88s under Kampffliegerführer Luftflotte 2, but I've seen no evidence for that (yet).www.facebook.com/airwarpublications

A remote possibility would be Flugbereitschaft Luftflotte 2, the duty flight which had a few bomber types (e.g. He 111) and seems occasionally to have operated against partisans.

[costiero]

Ok I'll proceed in that way, I'll ask to BA the RL 2 II/966, 'Einsatzraum Mittelmeer – Atlantik:- Lageberichte Bereich Luftfl. 2 und Luftflottenkdo. Süd/Südost, 29.8.1943-27.9.1943
Only the date of the attack is mentionated or also the fllight group?
I'll let you know if I find something
Thanks s lot
See you soon, I hope with good news

[costiero]

I find a first clue, thanks everybody,
I reicevd today the info from RL 2 II/966: attack was carried out by aircraft of Kampffliegerführer Luftflotte 2. Now there's a way to discover more details, for example asking the diary or a summary of Kampffliegerführer LF2 to BA ?
Costiero