FD5562/45 - Beitrag zur Beschaffungsmeldung Dec 44

[Steve Coates]

One of the aims of the various research trips I made to IWM Duxford pre-COVID was to get a feel for exactly which of the ‘Speer Catalogue’ documents remained in their files and which had been definitively restituted to Gerrmany. The ‘Speer Catalogue’ was a listing of items which fell under the Foreign Documents (FD) banner. The underlying rational had been that all ‘German State’ material should be returned whilst material relating to individual concerns could be retained as legitimate ‘war booty’. Everything which was returned was microfilmed as part of the Speer microfilms collection and of course huge chunks are now available in RL 3.

Working through these files, I came across a few files which clearly fell into the former category. I guess with as many linear feet of documents as were involved in this process, it was inevitable that some would get missed. Amongst these was FD5562/45 ‘Graphische Darstellung der Flugzeuglieferungen (Soll und Ist). Charts of aircraft deliveries (target and actual), 1940-42’. This turned out to be quite a small file but oddly enough, included was the Beitrag zur Beschaffungsmeldung for December 1944. I photographed the document but with hindsight I probably ought to have scanned it. It is very easy to be blessed with wisdom after the event. Thankfully all relevant details are legible in my photos. I hadn’t appreciated quite how much of a missing link this was. This was recently brought up on TOCH by Nigel Moore -
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showpo...7&postcount=14

As those with a keen interest in these things will appreciate the June – November 1944 iterations of this reporting are available in RL 3/3733 (as well as on microfilm T177/42 – downloadable via NARA). The January 1945 iteration can be found in RL 3/1278. Neither of the Freiburg documents have yet been digitised – a job for someone perhaps?

I bundled my images into a PDF and recently offered this to Freiburg. Their stance was to politely refuse this request as I couldn’t offer the original documents. My stance was somewhat different as I believe they could have at the least accepted my offer as a ‘place holder’ given the importance of the information contained therein but there is nothing to be gained by a to and fro.

I have therefore come to a decision to offer this file to researchers. It can be accessed here for seven days only - https://easytransfer.net/P73xQ2jG/ed...7fed54c6b5f8d0

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Steve Coates

I have therefore come to a decision to offer this file to researchers. It can be accessed here for seven days only - https://easytransfer.net/P73xQ2jG/ed...7fed54c6b5f8d0

Thank you Steve.

[leonventer]

Very much appreciated, Steve.

Regards,
Leon Venter

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello Steve,

Your first name should be altered in Sherlock, what a nice find ! For me the He219D-1 was always an intriguing subtype and it now seems more clear that one Vienna-produced He219A-2 was used as a prototype for the Jumo213 engine before it was decided that Heinkel Vienna was allowed to produce a small batch of 5 He219D-1's.
The first D-1's were already delivered in December 1944, the other one(s) in January 1945 but by then the decision to stop all He219 production was already taken.

Again many thanks for this essential piece of information !

Warm greetings, Marcel

[ArtieBob]

Another thank you, I had a fairly complete copy of the C-amt Monatsmeldung from January 1944 to January 1945, but was missing December, so this fills in much of the missing information. Incidentally, the January 1945 document also came from the Speer files. Thanks to the RL downloads I also now have access to the complimentary Flugzeugverteilung from Jan 44 to March 45. so we have a pretty complete picture of late war production.
Artie Bob

[David E. Brown]

Steve,

Thank you for sharing this important information. You exemplify, through such actions and support of fellow researchers and enthusiasts, the best qualities of those who put a high value on supporting and contributing to the greater good.

Best,

David

[Steve Coates]

Originally Posted by Marcel Hogenhuis

Hello Steve,

Your first name should be altered in Sherlock, what a nice find ! For me the He219D-1 was always an intriguing subtype and it now seems more clear that one Vienna-produced He219A-2 was used as a prototype for the Jumo213 engine before it was decided that Heinkel Vienna was allowed to produce a small batch of 5 He219D-1's.
The first D-1's were already delivered in December 1944, the other one(s) in January 1945 but by then the decision to stop all He219 production was already taken.

Again many thanks for this essential piece of information !

Warm greetings, Marcel

Marcel

Thanks for your comments. An associated report impacting your research is the Ausbringungslage 1. Dekade Feb 1945 which can be found in RL 3/1047 (ex FD 65/46)

My initial assumption is that Nigel Moore has shared this with you in the various exchanges you've had. This is a fascinating piece of 10 day reporting for which this appears to be the only surviving example. It confirms the cancellation of He 219 production due to the fuel situation. If you haven't seen this, let me know.

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Steve, thank you a lot!

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello Steve

Your assumption is (again) right but now I have been through the RL 2/III-611 up/including RL 2/III-620 (daily aircraft allocations to the Luftflotten), it is a hell of a job to compare these numbers with Nigels magnificent analysis about production and deliveries.

So far I have not been able to track reliable evidence nor indications where the He219's for the OKL Reserve were stored (Welzow might be one of those airfields) and what happened with these surplus nightfighters.

The number so far: 24 He219's went to the OKL Reserve and never reached front line units (3 He219A-0, 21 He219A-7). It's my assumption that these were scrapped soon after, simply because there is ample evidence that the USSR and/or CSSR had more than 2 airworthy He219's after the war.


We keep going ! Best regards, Marcel

[Steve Coates]

Marcel

Thanks. I will keep my eyes open.

Steve