3rd Feb. 1940. KG30

[bill norman]

Junker, thanks for replying - and for your help so far. I know exactly what happened to the He.111s but the fate of Ju88 (2./KG30; 4D+AK) is puzzling. The conventional wisdom in UK books is that it was shot down by naval flak off the Moray Firth, ditched in the sea and that Hptmn Heinz-Wilhelm Rosenthal and his crew were made PoW. I have a report written by a 2./KG30 Beobachter who was on the raid who said that Rosenthal disappeared in mist over Dogger Bank after having been shot at by an unidentified ship and was not seen again. At the time, Rosenthal seems to have been nearer to Germany than he was to UK - so if he was shot down by naval flak it seems more likely that it was from a German ship. If the plane ditched and its crew was rescued by a German vessel, one might have expected that he and his crew were eventually returned to 2./KG30 - but it seems that they did not return to their unit. If there were some UK official evidence that they were lost off the Scottish coast, things would be easier to understand - but at the moment there isn't. This is why I keep asking these questions. Incidentally, do you know where I might find the first page of the Seenotnord KTB for 03.02.1940?

Bill
(www.billnorman.co.uk)