Allied bombing of german airfield in greece

[Larry deZeng]

Very dramatic photo due to the absence of clouds, Byron!

[byron-]

here another very clear picture of "bombing harbor of Piraeus" with B 17

[RudiS]

Thanks everyone for your input. Very much appreciated.

There was one word on the back of the picture that I till now couldn't translate. It turns out it's "Kalamaki". So the complete text reads: "Auf dem Heldenfriedhof in Piraeus bei Athen - Kalamaki, November 1943".
(On the war hero's cemetery of ....).

According to the armyairforces website Kalamaki airfield was bombed twice in Novermber 1943: On the 15 & 17th. So most likely these german soldiers died in one of these attacks.

Regards,
Rudi.

[Larry deZeng]

You got it, Rudi. Athens-Kalamaki airfield in mid-November 1943. That's the answer.

Kalamaki:

15 Nov 43: bombed by 44 B-25 Mitchells from NATAF, mainly dropping fragmentation bombs – 6 x Do 217 E-1s, E-5s and K-3s from 5./KG 100, 1 x Ju 88 A-4 from 1./LG 1 and 1 x Ju 52 from I./TG 4 destroyed (3) or damaged (5) on the ground.
17 Nov 43: bombed by 81 B-25 Mitchells from NATAF dropping fragmentation bombs – 1 x Ju 88 A-14 from II./KG 51, 1 x Ju 52 from II./TG 2, 1 x Fi 156 from I./TG 4 and 2 x Ju 52s from II./TG 4 destroyed (4) or damaged (1) on the ground.

Athens-Kalamaki wasn't bombed again until 6 December 1943.

[byron-]

Hi Larry,

i think, the following picture schows this December raid against Kalamaki

Byron

[Larry deZeng]

Yes, that's the 6 December 1943 raid. Nice and clear, but too high to see much on the ground.

Larry

[Nick Beale]

Eleusis was bombed on 15 November 1943 and according to a prisoner taken later, LG 1 lost 24 aircraft on the ground.