15th Air Force in the East

[Monaco]

Thank you well gentlemen,
my info was based on a booklet from Osprey of the aircraft of the aces series, not always reliable and I have to add (from Spitfires and Yellow tail Mustangs):
to 2) the attack of 52 FG took place on 30.08.44 against Kecskemet A/D (Hungary), where 24 e/a were claimed destroyed or damaged including 10 Me.323s. On 31.08.44 52 FG attacked airfields at Reglin (Romania), where 175 a/c had been reported of which 60+ were claimed destroyed on the ground plus 2-1-0 Fw.190s, 6-0-2 Bf.109s, 1-0-1 Do.217s in the air.
Thank you Larry for the literature hint.

[Dénes Bernád]

Originally Posted by Monaco

On 31.08.44 52 FG attacked airfields at Reglin (Romania), where 175 a/c had been reported of which 60+ were claimed destroyed on the ground plus 2-1-0 Fw.190s, 6-0-2 Bf.109s, 1-0-1 Do.217s in the air.

That place was actually Szaszregen, located back then in Hungary. Reghin is the Rumanian version of the name and today the town is indeed in Rumania.

I wrote an extensive study on this particular event, published in several magazines in Hungary, Rumania and France. Incidentally, my late father witnessed the air combat between the "shiny" (US) and "dark" (German) airplanes as a child.

[Larry deZeng]

2) On 29.08.44 and 31.08.44 4FS/ 52 FG claimed dozens of 100 Me.323 transports encountered on a czech airfield during a bomber escort mission in strafing attacks.

Any idea which Czech airfield this might have been?

L.

[Larry deZeng]

Below is for I./TG 5 but it includes aircraft from II./TG 5 also:

23 Aug 44: Stab with 1. – 3. Staffel at Kecskemét.[1]
25-28 Aug 44: took part in the air evacuation of German troops from Romania. The following summary of losses very likely includes figures for II./TG 5.On the first day (25 August?) one Me 323 landed near the city of Alba-Julia and the crew was taken prisoner. On 26 August two Me 323’s were shot down by Romanian fighters from Grupul 7; two Me 323’s were shot down by Romanian AA fire near Ploesti; and one Me 323 was damaged by mortar fire at Targsorul-Nou airfield. The next day, three Me 323’s were attacked by Romanian-flown Bf 109 fighters or AA fire with the following results: the first force landed at 0800 hours and 66 men were captured, the second also force landed and 81 men were captured, and the third crash landed and was burned out on the ground. On 27 August two Me 323’s were strafed by U.S. 15th AAF Mustangs on the ground at Prossnitz airfield near Olmütz and on 29 August five Me 323’s landed in the Bucharest area during the day while four others were captured on the ground in Romania with a total of 131 soldiers on board and one other managed to get away with only 31 soldiers evacuees.
28-30 Aug 44: now nearly wiped out, ordered to return to Germany and disband. Two of the Gruppe’s Staffeln with an allowance of 12 Me 323s were used in the formation of the re-established 16./TG 4 while the rest of the Gruppe went to the reorganized 15./TG 4.[2]
31.8.44 The German bases in Hungary and Czeckoslovakia was heavily strafed by Mustang fighters and a large number of aircraft including Me 323’s were destroyed.

[1] AFHRA Maxwell: decimal 512.619 British AirMin P/W interrogations, ADI(K) series, microfilm rolls A5400-05, interrogation ADI(K) 622/44.

[2] K.Kössler-wer kennt sie schon!: Die Kennzeichen der Transportfliegerverbände der Luftwaffe von 1937-1945.

Olmütz is Olomouc/64 km NW of Brünn (Brno) and Prossnitz is Prostějov/48 km NE of Brno. Was one of these the airfield being referred to?