Identifications of German victories over East Prussia in October 1944

[Courtois Laurent]

October 21, 1944,

This day the Luftwaffe claims no victory over East Prussia.

For their part, the 1st VA deplores the disappearance of 2 Il-2s of the 277th ShAD and claims two aerial victories;
- the first opponent between 5:30 p.m. and 6:03 p.m. 5 Yak-3 of 18 Gv IAP and 4 FW-190 belonging to a group of 12. A 1 FW-190 claimed by Ltn Danilenko would have crashed 15 km north of Pillkallen.
- the second between Yak-3 of the 1st OIAP "Normandie" and 5 Me 109 a 1 Me 109 is claimed by the French. There is no circumstantial report of this fight drawn up by the Soviets.
In all likelihood, this victory is fictitious and corresponds to the return of a victory the day before to Roger Penverne (see Pilotes du Normandie-Niemen, by Gaudart).


Since October 19, the Soviets no longer report "outstanding actions" except those carried out by the surviving pilots of the 1st campaign. If we are to believe Yves Courrière, the Soviet investigation for overclaiming began a few days before October 27 and the Cuffaut affair.

The absence of a detailed account, the use of the contradictory phrase "10 victories, no remarkable action" and the account of Yves Courrières seems to indicate that since October 19 the Russians no longer believe in the aerial prowess of the French.

Intermediate balance sheet from October 21 to 31, 1944: for 48 victories claimed by the Luftwaffe, 4 were confirmed by Soviet losses. This leads to an overclaim of 92%, however, it is possible that this figure is reduced by possible interactions between the units of the Luftwaffe and the 4th Soviet VA.