Luftwaffe Zerstorer units in S.E. Europe 1944.

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo all,

Could anyone please tell me if any Luftwaffe Zerstorer units with Me 210/Me 410s saw action over S.E. Europe, especially Hungary, from January to August 1944 ?

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

[Delmenhorst]

Try www.ww2.dk

[Peter Kassak]

Hi Martin,

In the mentioned time, ZG 76 was a part of 8. Jagddivision. In April moved to Prague, changed Bf 110 to Me 410s and operated from Prague, Malacky, Wien Seyring against 15.USAAF until end of July 1944.
This is the topic of my research, I may help with particular info and am interested why you are interested
http://www.airwarsk.sk/ZG76

II./ZG 1 also joined combats in the mentioned time and space using Bf 110s.

Hungary had their own Me 210 equipped unit, but after April 13, 1944 and huge defeat, they were not active much.

hope this helps for beginning

[kolya1]

Hi,

I don't have much info, but here is what I can think about.

- A detachment from II/ZG1 fought over Crimea (from Romanian bases, if I am not mistaken) until the reconquest of Sebastopol by Soviet troops (circa 12/05/1944). Apparently there was also an ad-hoc reconnaissance Staffel equipped with Me-410 among the Luftwaffe units engaged in Crimea.

- If you're looking for claims or losses of Bf-110/Me-410 but not specifically for dedicated Zerstorer units, it may be useful to check reconnaissance and night fighting units too.

Hope that can help you.

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo all and thanks for your help,

Peter,
My interest is in trying to learn the Zerstorer opponents of the USAAF 82nd Fighter Group in the period from January to August 1944. At first I believed most of their many claims for Me 210/Me 410s must have been from Hungarian units, but I now know this is not the case. I recently purchased the excellent book by Csaba Becze on the Hungarian Me 210 Fast Bomber units. I was surprised to learn that only on 13 April 1944 could the 82nd FG have claimed Hungarian Me 210s in the air.
Therefore Luftwaffe units seemed the only other possibility, unless of course the American pilots mis-identified the heavy fighters (not uncommon).

Kolya,
I wondered why II./ZG 1 were sent to Rumania (for about a month). If they were engaged over the Crimea they probably were not involved with P-38s. Thanks again.

Regards,

Martin Gleeson.

[Peter Kassak]

Martin,

I am interested to hear more. I know that 82FG met me 410s of ZG 76 at least twice. On July 8, 1944 they were the reason for the end of I. Gruppe. And on June 26, 1944 they met over Slovakia. Shooting down for sure Wisner, friend of mine, who has been in Slovakia to see his crash site. Very well documented story If you wish to cooperate, I always may need some US documents and photo of ZG 76 opponents , write me to my email.

regards

Peter

[milanbencek]

Hi

Some infos (only in slovak and czech language )about ZGs losses over Slovakia:

http://hloubkari.cz/forum/index.php?topic=72.0

and ZG 76:

http://hloubkari.cz/forum/index.php?topic=22.0

Milan

[Nick Beale]

In 1944 there were a few Bf 110s in Yugoslavia, with 3./NAG 2 if I remember it right.

[Larry deZeng]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

In 1944 there were a few Bf 110s in Yugoslavia, with 3./NAG 2 if I remember it right.

Good memory - 3./NAGr. 2 was at Larissa in east-central Greece with 13 Bf 110 G-3s during that entire January to August 1944 period, but they had good fortune and only suffered two losses to enemy action. Those were on-the-ground losses to strafing and fragmentation bombs during July and August. The Staffel was not used to intercept Allied aircraft and spent most of the time on recce patrols in support of anti-partisan measures. One of its more boring jobs was to fly up and down the main railway lines. I'm not quite sure what X. Fliegerkorps and later Komm.Gen.d.Dt.Lw. in Griechenland thought that would achieve, but the Bf 110 crews had to do it anyway. The Staffel transferred to Zagreb-Pleso on 7 September 1944, turned in their 110s and began converting to Bf 109Gs.

[Martin Gleeson]

Hallo Milan, Nick and Larry,

Thanks for your assistance. Unfortunately I cannot speak Slovakian, but I am delighted to see so much information available for ZG 76. I hope one day that it will be published.

Very interesting information on 3./NAGr. 2. At least they can be ruled out.

Many thanks again,

Martin.