Luftwaffe to Lincoln August 17th/18th, 1943

[Marcel van Heijkop]

To clarify things a bit, one of the questions Jaap and I have on this raid against Lincoln is:

What's the official source (i.e. British or Luftwaffe document) for the claim that Lt. Hans Altrogge (I./KG66) led 3 Ju 188's to bomb the Ruston & Hornsby factory in what's allegedly the Ju 188's first combat mission?

We found references to this claim in the older literature, such as Putnam's "German aircraft of the Second World War" by Smith and Kay (1972) and Air International Vol. 22 No. 4. (April 1982), but we wondered where they got it from... After all a lot of persistent Luftwaffe myths have their origin in this era... Or does it perhaps originate from Hans Altrogge himself? (Unfortunately he died a couple of years ago...)

Thanks in advance,

Marcel

[Brian Bines]

The Ulf Balke book mentions target marking by Do217's of I/KG66, the unit reported the loss of Do217E-4 3E+CZ crew of Fw Ernst Stemplinger (Luft Qm's returns 23-8-43).

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Marcel van Heijkop

We found references to this claim in the older literature, such as Putnam's "German aircraft of the Second World War" by Smith and Kay (1972) and Air International Vol. 22 No. 4. (April 1982), but we wondered where they got it from...
Marcel

The first author I ever saw using accounts from Altrogge was Alfred Price, so the story could have stemmed from early work he did.

[Marcel van Heijkop]

@Brian,

Thanks, I was aware of that. Unfortunately Balke doesn't say anything about the Ju 188 part of this attack. However, on page 258 there's a wonderfully detailed German map of the attack including routes, waypoints, beacons and type of markers used. Do you have any idea in which BAMA files these kind of maps can be found?

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

The first author I ever saw using accounts from Altrogge was Alfred Price, so the story could have stemmed from early work he did.

Nick, correct and that reminds me I still have to contact Price! I really hope that Altrogge at that time gave him the full and correct captions of those early I./KG66 Ju 188 photos often claimed to show Altrogge's personal mount. (I mean the Ju 188E with the Y-Verfahren antenna mast and without the top gun turret. Black lower surfaces and blue upper surfaces, code "TN" on the vertical fin. Both the correct date and full aircraft code are still a mystery to me.)

Regards,

Marcel

[Jaap Woortman]

Originally Posted by Marcel van Heijkop

@Brian,

Thanks, I was aware of that. Unfortunately Balke doesn't say anything about the Ju 188 part of this attack. However, on page 258 there's a wonderfully detailed German map of the attack including routes, waypoints, beacons and type of markers used. Do you have any idea in which BAMA files these kind of maps can be found?
Regards,

Marcel

Marcel,

This map was part of file RL 10/18. It has several maps of KG 2 operations in 1943.

Jaap

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Thanks Jaap,

Very useful! As I./KG66 often did the "Markierung" for KG2, this might be a good start.

Marcel

[Jaap Woortman]

To make the situation a bit more complicated. Or just not.
RL 2 III/725. Gen.Qu.6.Abt.(I), Uebersicht ueber Soll, Istbestand, Verluste und Reserven der fliegende Verbande. Stand 10-8-1943.
Nicht im Einsatz: III./KG 2, II./KG 6, Stab – I./II./KG 54, I./KG 66.

Jaap

[Brian Bines]

From my notes from an old publication it states a raid by 88 German bombers on Lincoln with 3 Ju188's of 1/KG66 marking the Ruston and Hornsby Works. Ulf Balke gives the raid as 55 Do217's attacking Lincoln, with marking by 1/KG66 (Do217's) and 13 Me410's (V/KG2) attacking in the Colchester area ie 68 aircraft. The Home Office report states 44 hostiles plotted overland with 25 of these operating over the N/E. 16 over Coastal districts of Essex and 3 over Sussex (bombing incidents reported Birch Airfield Langham Airfield and Railway at Colchester = V/KG2) The KG6 history makes no mention of the raid and the losses that evening come from all the KG2 Gruppen and one Do217 of KG66. Does this indicate the original story of 88 bombers should have been 68 ?
A 'K' report from the 5 POW's from KG2 gives the marking as follows:-
LC50 yellow dropped at the turning point between 0007 and 0027hrs. Zielfinders to identify the target between 0055 to 0057 hrs. Zielmarkers to drop IB's between 0057 and 0059hrs and two illuminaters to drop flares between 0059 and 0109 hrs. Nav aids provided by Knickbeim 3 Den Helder and Sonne 5 and 6, target given as Rail Junction, Sheds, Sidings and other Military targets in the city. The K report notes that no bombs fell within 15 miles of Lincoln and the target was only identified from a German radio broadcast. KG2 crews were also told there would be a diversionary raid to Colchester by V/KG2 or SKG10.
This K report gives the impression much of the marking would be carried out as in the Portsmouth raid (15/16th) by KG2 itself. Is it posiible that turning point marking, Zielfinder, illuminating were carried out by KG2 with three aircraft of 1/KG66 (Ju188 or Do217) doing the Zielmarking. If anyone has a copy of Altrogges logbook that would perhaps sort the matter.