Hptm Johann Dreher 12/NJG 3

[RodM]

Hi Chris,

I have been struggling with the Nonnenmacher lists for 1945 period for over four years now, and have so far only been able to verify via documentary sources some 70% of the listed claims. I have found no direct evidence for any of the reputed Dreher 1945 claims from these lists.

As far as I am aware, there is no documented proof that Dreher shot down anything during Gisela. While I'm not saying that he didn't, it is just that there is no solid evidence to confirm that he did. I believe that the published Dreher claims on 3-4 Mar 1945 stem from the fact that not all of the 22 certain and six probable Abschusse intially claimed during Gisela can be attributed to specific crews based upon surviving evidence, so attempts have been made to attribute these to missing aircrew, including Dreher (i.e. over time what started as supposition becomes fact). There were a number of intruders swarming over Yorkshire at the time Dreher crashed.

Off-hand I cannot remember if this applies to Dreher or one of the other crews that crashed in England, but one supposition attributing claims to crashed aircrew comes from a British witness report that states that the civilian witness 'saw' the same intruder in the area continuously over a 15 minute period (from when a bomber was shot down to when an intruder crashed). While it is possible that the aircraft heard was the same intruder, it is, of course, equally possible that more than one intruder was active in the area.


With regards to what Les has written, while I cannot, of course, answer for him, I know that the orignal microfilms were very difficult to read in places, and this has probably resulted in some names being mis-transcribed. In this case, the only way to know for sure would be to view the original source microfilms. The details in Foreman/Parry work most likely originate from what is in the Nonnenmacher list.

I can say that collegue Dr Theo Boiten has, during his research, attributed Dreher with the 1944 Abschusse, but I cannot comment on how such a conclusion was reached.

Cheers

Rod

PS - I've just looked up the copy (from the original) of the 1945 Nonnenmacher lising that I have (note - Nonnenmacher didn't date or put version numbers on his lists, so I don't know if my copy of the list is the most up-to-date prior to his death). Here are the 1945 Dreher claims from that list:

16-17 Jan 45 "Halifax", listed as Dreher's 1st Abschuss
18-19 Feb 45 "Lancaster", listed as 2nd Abschusse