Did KG 26 hit the cruiser Molotov in 1942?

[Nick Beale]

This from Rohwer's Chronik des Seekrieges 1939–45:

Auf dem Rückmarsch Angriffe von dt. Torpedoflugzeugen (6./KG.26, Oblt. Wilhelm Kleemann) und ital. MAS 568 und MAS 573. Kreuzer Molotov erhält Torpedotreffer im Vorschiff, 20 m abgerissen.

= "During the withdrawal, attacks by German torpedo aircraft (6./KG 26. Oblt. Wilhelm Kleeman) and Italian MAS 568 and 573. Cruiser Molotov sustains torpedo hit(s) in bows, 20 m torn away."

Rohwer's book came out in 1968 so it's unlikely to be the last word on the subject.

In a vivid account, Rudi Schmidt's »Achtung, Torpedos Los!« says about 10 aircraft took part with two crews lost and that two or three hits were observed "partly on [escorting] destroyers, partly on the cruiser." No mention of Kleeman there or in the book's index. He does say that this was the first and last concerted daylight torpedo attack on the Red Navy.

While Schmitt served with 6./KG 26, quite of a lot of his book seems to be based on memories rather than archives (it includes an entirely imaginary attack on the invasion fleet en route from Corsica to the French Riviera in August 1944, for example).