Hooton's Luftwaffe Loss Totals - request for clarification

[Paul Thompson]

Originally Posted by AndreasB

Paul

Thanks for checking. It would have been too good to be true, since nobody seems to have exact German losses for the period.

The duplication maybe true for some files (AHB), but almost certainly not for the captured German records, which are only held at Kew in the UK. Just wondering if somewhere in AIR20 captured records maybe swirling around?

Didn't receive a PM from you I'm afraid.

All the best

Andreas

Hello Andreas,

Seems that you got the PM in the end! Artie Bob, could you check your inbox as well?

Is the absence of precise loss information in the Crusader period linked with the absence of Bewegungsmeldungen or some other problem with the sources?

There is no clarity so far regarding the duplication issue after my friend's visit to Duxford, but the people at Kew have told him that there definitely is something "swirling around" in AIR20 in terms of captured documents! It'll probably take a couple of visits there to get a good sense of what's available.

The best thing found in RAF Post-Hostilities Book 21 today was this:
A.D.I.(K) report No. 351/1945
GAF Operations, Claims and Losses 1944 - February 1945

This is where Ted Hooton's 1944 figures come from.

Losses for January 1945 are given below. It is unclear if ground attacks are included in the other totals, hence two different totals at the bottom. As Artie Bob wrote, the low losses on the Eastern front are quite a surprise:

Day Fighters Reich br 152
Night Fighters Reich br 47
Attacks on Airfields br 87
Western Front Day br 427
Western Front Night br 50
Luftflotte 4 br 103
Luftflotte 6 br 229
Luftflotte 1 br 4
Norway br 12
Denmark br 1
Italy br 3
Total br 1115
Without ground attacks br 1028

Paul Thompson