Question regarding loss of 2 Bomber Gruppenkomandeure on 22 April 1943

[Larry deZeng]

Paul T. wrote in part:

Having tried to remember other instances when two bomber Kommandeure were lost on the same day, I could only think of Paepcke and Kollewe over Malta on 17 October 1942. Do you know of any other cases? If there were only these two, it would make the Kuban incident all the more remarkable.

No, Paul, I sure don't. It's just not something that I would have been on the lookout for as I trawled my way through the Luftwaffe records.

There might be some more information on the 22 April raid in:

Waiss, Walter. Boelcke Archiv, Band V: Chonik Kampfgeschwader Nr. 27 Boelcke, Teil 4: 01.01.1943 – 31.12.1943.

This title would have been published just 3 or 4 years ago and had a very tiny press run, perhaps no more than 600 copies or so. It's therefore quite rare, but perhaps someone here might have it and could look up 22 April 1943 for you. Did you lose a family member in this raid, or is it just curiosity?

L.

[Paul Thompson]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

No, Paul, I sure don't. It's just not something that I would have been on the lookout for as I trawled my way through the Luftwaffe records.

There might be some more information on the 22 April raid in:

Waiss, Walter. Boelcke Archiv, Band V: Chonik Kampfgeschwader Nr. 27 Boelcke, Teil 4: 01.01.1943 – 31.12.1943.

This title would have been published just 3 or 4 years ago and had a very tiny press run, perhaps no more than 600 copies or so. It's therefore quite rare, but perhaps someone here might have it and could look up 22 April 1943 for you. Did you lose a family member in this raid, or is it just curiosity?

L.

Larry,

That's fine, the only reason I asked is that your books often mention the losses of formation leaders. I would of course be glad if someone quoted that very rare Weiss volume, but since I don't have a personal connection to or research interest in the matter, I don't think I can lay claim to that much of somebody's time. The reason I became interested in the Kuban bridgehead specifically is because the operational-level air actions in that area are given much attention in Soviet sources, as described in this book:

Hardesty, V., & Grinberg, I. Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II. University Press of Kansas.

In the absence of any campaign history, I am trying to use any proxy sources that I come across to try to gauge whether these battles had a significant influence on the course of the air war or not. Of course, whatever happened on 22 April doesn't answer this question one way or another, but I thought that is worthwhile to try to establish the facts of this particular day, because the prominent casualties make it interesting for its own sake.

Regards,

Paul Thompson