He 111 crew murdered

[Chris Goss]

Steve: On 17 May, I/KG 54 lost 4:

2 Staffel, target Maubeuge, Uffz Oskar Schuenemann + 1 POW, 2 killed
3 Staffel, target Valencienne, Fw Paul Lenz + 2 POW, 1 killed
3 Staffel, Valencienne, Fw Adolf Lau POW, 3 killed
3 Staffel, Amiens,,Fw Willi Kuemmel + 3 POW

[Peter Cornwell]

Gentlemen,

This thread simply won't expire. My current understanding of all He111 losses on the 12 May 1940 is as per the attached - feel free to pick it over as you see fit.

[RT]

Hello Chris,

I hv just 2 3.KG54 for the 17.mai, where come from the third the one above Amiens, do you hv a bit more details about it ???

REMI

[Chris Goss]

Remi

Fw Willi Kuemmel, Ogefr Paul Friebe, Gefr Karl Guhl, Gefr Johann Ebner. Source: Radtkes' KG 54 History

[RT]

Is it there, where you hv find the 18.may event ???

REMI

[steve sheridan]

Hi Chris and Remi,
The a/c of Fw Willi Kummel of 3/KG54 i have as, crash landed 18miles south east of Arras on the 18.5.40?
Kummel and his crew being captured by French forces.

Is it the 17th or 18th of may anybody?

Rgs,
Steve.

[pointedeflèche]

12th may :
…….The C.O. S/Ldr. Halahan, led a patrol over Maastricht on the border of Belgium and Holland and the Flight had much excitment in combat with various types of e/aircraft. The C.O . ( S/Ldr Halahan ) destroyed an Me.109 and an Arado, but being hit in the engine he force landed succesfully wheels up…………..
The C.O ( S/Ldr Halahan ) had a grandstand seat after landing and witnessed a battle royal between French and german tanks and remarked that the the belgian troops were running faster than the refugees. …..

The first contact between French and German tanks took place near Hannut (Belgium) in the afternoon of May 12th 1940. Perhaps the incident occurred halfway the towns of Tongeren (Tongres) and Hannut. Hannut is situated about 30 miles SE of Maastricht.

Dirk

[pointedeflèche]

Made a typo, Hannut is located 30 miles SW of Maastricht.

Dirk

[Joe Potter]

Hi All,
I have some slight variations in the spelling of some of this crew's names, all are now buried at Bourdon, but not together, they have been reburied twice, first burial, Arras, second, Tilloy les Mofflaines.
Gefreiter Ernst Rzezniczek.
Obergefreiter Helmut Jentznik, EM, 61415/28.
Gefreiter Josef Bradac, EM, 67475/37.
Unteroffizier Otto Ellinghaus, EM, 67475/8.
Joe.

[Pieter H]

Let's again get back to the original question: which could have been the Heinkel of which Sqn Ldr Halahan supposedly witnessed the decapitasion by Senegalese troops.

What seems to be facts:

• Halahan was shot down on May 12 around 09.30 local time by Bf109's of I/JG21
• He came down west of Maastricht, where he said to witness a fight between french and german tanks
• he was reported back to his base at Berry-au-Bac, which is close Reims
• the Heinkel of which the crew was killed landed near the road along which Halahan was returning to Reims

Now it becomes trickier, but let's give it a try:

• As already suggested, Halahan landed somewhere in the area between Hannut and Waremme, where at that moment the Pz Rgt 5 and 6 had broken through the belgian defenses along the Albert channel. No big tank battles took place on the early morning of the 12th, that would take place on the 13th just west of Hannut against de french Corps de Cavalerie.
• The voyage of Halahan from the Waremme area to Reims was not a short one, and to be able to get back (probably late) on the 13th he must have taken the main roads. However these were full of troops marching up to the front as well as fleeing refugees. To make the trip in 2 days he must have taken the main roads behind the front line. The most logical path is then Waremme-Namur, behind the 9th Army towards Philippeville and then Montherme, then Charleville-Mezieres, and there Vouziers-Reims.
• I checked the French order of battle, and there was only 1 Army that contained a large and distinct contigent of Senegalese troops: The 1st and 3rd Division d'Infanterie Colonial (DIC) of the 2eme Armee. This Army had positions starting on the left side just above Sedan, along the frontier to the east. The 3eme DIC was operational and probably positioned along the frontier, but the 1eme DIC was part of the reserve. Given the situation at the front this unit was probably moved towards the front at Sedan around the 12th or 13th of May
• Now the Heinkel. The list of Heinkel losses on May 12 provided by Peter Cornwell shows that no Heinkel landed in the area just behind the 9eme Armee front west of the Meuse in Belgium. So my conclusion is that it then must have been a Heinkel either in France of on the 13th. For a Heinkel in France that landed along the probable road of Halahan there is one candidate: the machine of 4./KG55.
• This Heinkel, G1+DH, made a fairly intact belly landing at 14.30 on May 12 in Machault, a place right along the route from Vouziers to Reims. The book "Batailles Aeriens and Rupture sur la Meuse" of Jacques Sacre shows a picture of the plane which shows it made a good belly landing.
• However, of the crew (Lt Johannes Juenk, Uffz Ernst Rasper, Uffz Heinz Thoene, Uffz Wilhelm Ege, Gefr Harald Wendt) all but the 2nd were reported killed. Rasper was wounded and made PoW. Now this is strange, that of a plane which made a nice belly landing the whole crew died. To me this is therefore a likely candidate for the incident IF it happened at all.
  There are also KG55 Heinkels that landed roughly in the same area on the morning of the 13th, but none of these have "unexplained" crew faiths.
• One contradiction to be solved then: it seems unlikely that Halahan was at Machault only 4 hours after being shot down, a distance of a few hundred kilometers. My interpretation is that Halahan did not witness it himself, but saw of course the plane, the corpses and probably heard the story from people around. In other words a hearsay story. Interestingly, IF it happened Uffz Rasper should have been able to say something about it.

So far my reconstruction, which is admittedly highly speculative.
But at least a first attempt.
Hope somebody can confirm or reject the assumptions with hard facts.

Pieter