Kampfgruppe 100 Do217 loss France 26.7.44

[Theo Boiten]

Dear all,

Just got a bit more info re. the crash, from a short interview that my German contact did with the pilot Otto Sommer (who's currently in hospital and in bad health):

The Do217 was belly-landed at night, on 26 July 1944, place was in the vicinity of Deauville. The a/c belonged to 3. Staffel Kampfgruppe 100 z.b.V., take off was from Lorient. Otto Sommer stated that the unit had recently been established, the Do217s had previously seen service on the Ostfont and were not equipped with bomb sights. The Second Gruppe of KG100 was stationed at Lorient, the Third Gruppe in Vannes. The name of Sommer's Staffelkapitän was a Leutnant von Spöstrupp (?). During the operation on the night of 26 July 44, Sommer and his crew had attacked pontoons and other Allied sea craft immediately behind the Isle of Wight. His Bordschütze (name not known anymore, but coming from Cochem) was hit by Ack Ack shrapnel and one of his arms was badly burnt.

Sommer has no wartime documents, photos etc anymore, all he has left are his memories.

Perhaps this new info will help in finding out more about the incident, Sommer would especially like to know the names of his crew and what has become of them ..

Cheers, Theo

[Brian Bines]

If Sommer's Unit was 3/KG100 this was flying the He177 at the time and following Steinbock was at Fassberg becoming III/KG1. There is no record of attacks behind the Isle of Wight (Solent ?) on 26/27-July-1944. would his unit have been III/KG100 rather than 3/100 ?

Regards
Brian Bines

[Theo Boiten]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the feedback -I'll pass on your remarks to my German friend, cheers, Theo

[martin75]

Hello

I do not know if this is of any interest but you'll find attached two messages from ULTRA evoking the presence mid june 1944 of elements of KG1 at Lorient.

Regards

Claude

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Brian Bines

There is no record of attacks behind the Isle of Wight (Solent ?) on 26/27-July-1944.
Regards
Brian Bines

The nearest thing I can think of would be the attack on Portsmouth on 15/16 May 1944. There were a couple of torpedo ops sent toward the Solent area after the Normandy landings.

[Brian Bines]

To add to Nick's post there was also 4 nights raids on Portsmouth from 25/26th April and the raid on Plymouth by Do217 K-3s of III/KG100 on 29/30th April. I wonder if Sommer was involved in the Plymouth raid ? If he was 3/100 any of the April raids on Portsmouth might apply but he would be in a He177, if he was III/100 the 29/30th raid on Plymouth would be the only one likely in 1944 for that unit . I have checked the K reports I have for KG100 for 1944 but Sommer is not mentioned where captured crews name other crewmen of their unit.