Researching history of Finnish Lotta units in Reval, 1944

[Kari Lumppio]

Hei!

Finnish Air Observation unit 44.Ilmavalvontakomppania was based in Estonia. Headquarters IIRC were at Tallinn and observation posts Letipää etc. You should find at least war diary for 44. Iv.K. digitalized from http://digi.narc.fi/digi/search.ka

Yes. Here is the direct link:
http://digi.narc.fi/digi/slistaus.ka?ay=86114

Kansallisarkisto does have more for the 44. Iv.K. Toimintakertomus for example.

My understanding is that no Finnish Lotta was member of Luftwaffe organization. Co-operation, yes.

Cheers,
Kari

[Larry deZeng]

Kari L. -

The information regarding volunteers came from:

Köhler, Karl, “Der Einsatz der Luftwaffe im Bereich der Heeresgruppe Nord von Ende Juni bis Mitte Oktober 1944”, in Meier-Welcker, Hans (ed.), Abwehrkämpfe am Nordflügel der Ostfront 1944- 1945 (Stuttgart, 1963).

I believe the author said "..........volunteers, mostly Estonian." However, since I already knew about the Finnish service women being in Tallinn, I incorrectly assumed that they were the others. I agree that the Lotta women did not belong to the German Luftwaffe and I never thought that was the case, but they most likely were attached to the Luftwaffe operationally and possibly for rations and accommodations.

We will leave it to "researcher" to read through the 44-page KTB handwritten in Finnish to get to the bottom of it all. I hope "researcher" can read the language, because I sure can't! Finnish and Hungarian are impenetrable to outsiders.

L.

P.S. the Abt.-Kommandeur of Flugmelde-Abteilung z.b.V. 12 in 1943-44 was Obstlt. Karl Krügel.

[Kari Lumppio]

Hello!

No worries, Larry. Your post was quite interesting. I do have photocopy of the Kössler's article (IIRC it was only part of the book?).

I do also have photocopies of a book "Õhuseire Eestis 1942-1944" - Air Surveillance in Estonia - published 1999 in Tallinn. No other publisher details. At least in my copies.

The short book (59 pages) tells among other things about the Flugmelde Abteilung z.b.V. 11 and it's four companies. In Estonian only. It also includes list of names for the Estonians who served in the unit and small maps of the observation posts and communication lines for 1942, 1943 and 1944. I believe the maps are not war-time, but the information may be derived from wartime material. I do not know.

There was no females in the name list.

Cheers,
Kari

[Larry deZeng]

Yes, Flugmelde-Abt. z.b.V. 11 and 12 were twin sisters. In 1944, z.b.V. 11 had aircraft observations sections and outposts at Pskov, Luga, Tartu, Rakvere, etc. The 1942 and 1943 locations were Staraya Russa, Nevel, Izhora, Gory, Tuleblya, etc. It seems that z.b.V. 11 was deployed inland while z.b.V. 12 was mostly along the Baltic coast. I don't know about z.b.V. 12, but z.b.V. 11 had quite a few casualties from Russian bombs and artillery fire, so I think it was a little too close to the action for women. Back then, women were generally spared from frontline duty. Today, things are different. We have lost nearly 200 women soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to IEDs and small arms fire.

[SES]

In most western military organizations women were mainly used in rear/HQ organizations.
In this connection this HQ is of interest:
http://www.gyges.dk/Gefechtsstand%20...fu%20Reval.htm
NACHTIGAL was a Flugmeldemess Stellung 3'ord (a single radar) in Northern Norway.
bregds
SES