Luftwaffe to Lincoln August 17th/18th, 1943

[Brian Bines]

From my notes from an old publication it states a raid by 88 German bombers on Lincoln with 3 Ju188's of 1/KG66 marking the Ruston and Hornsby Works. Ulf Balke gives the raid as 55 Do217's attacking Lincoln, with marking by 1/KG66 (Do217's) and 13 Me410's (V/KG2) attacking in the Colchester area ie 68 aircraft. The Home Office report states 44 hostiles plotted overland with 25 of these operating over the N/E. 16 over Coastal districts of Essex and 3 over Sussex (bombing incidents reported Birch Airfield Langham Airfield and Railway at Colchester = V/KG2) The KG6 history makes no mention of the raid and the losses that evening come from all the KG2 Gruppen and one Do217 of KG66. Does this indicate the original story of 88 bombers should have been 68 ?
A 'K' report from the 5 POW's from KG2 gives the marking as follows:-
LC50 yellow dropped at the turning point between 0007 and 0027hrs. Zielfinders to identify the target between 0055 to 0057 hrs. Zielmarkers to drop IB's between 0057 and 0059hrs and two illuminaters to drop flares between 0059 and 0109 hrs. Nav aids provided by Knickbeim 3 Den Helder and Sonne 5 and 6, target given as Rail Junction, Sheds, Sidings and other Military targets in the city. The K report notes that no bombs fell within 15 miles of Lincoln and the target was only identified from a German radio broadcast. KG2 crews were also told there would be a diversionary raid to Colchester by V/KG2 or SKG10.
This K report gives the impression much of the marking would be carried out as in the Portsmouth raid (15/16th) by KG2 itself. Is it posiible that turning point marking, Zielfinder, illuminating were carried out by KG2 with three aircraft of 1/KG66 (Ju188 or Do217) doing the Zielmarking. If anyone has a copy of Altrogges logbook that would perhaps sort the matter.

[Jaap Woortman]

Brian,

I have the same information as you have.
But I think that Balke is only talking about the contribution of KG 2 to the raid, 55 + 13 = 68 a/c. He doesn't give figures about the contribution of possible other units. We know that I./KG 66 was flying in this raid, not only with the 3 Ju 188's but also with Do 217's. It is also possible that Price in his book "Blitz über England" from 1978, were he has mentioned the 88 a/c to Lincoln, also has taken in account the contribution of SKG 10.

About your second question.
I have seen the AirMin Weekly Intel. Summary about the 5 POW's of KG 2 and had the same idea. Maybe Marcel can help.

Jaap

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Brian, Jaap,

You are correct that during this early period target marking was also carried out by the bomber units themselves (such as KG2 or KG6), probably because I./KG66 was not up to strength yet. For what it's worth hereby Altrogge's entry in his Leistungsbuch:

"Ziel: Dieselmotorenwerk in Lincoln. Auftrag: Horcheinsatz im Rahmen 2. Und 3./KG2 (II und III/KG2 meant?). Höhen über Ziel von 800 - 5000 m. Abschuss von 7 Maschinen durch Nachtjäger beobachtet. Seenotfall 70 km ostwärts Wash. Starke Nachtjagd vor allem im Wash (Steigraum), am Ziel leichte, mittlere und schwere Flak. Flugweg: Soesterberg - LF Katrin - Wash - Lincoln - Deelen"

As I understand it, a "Horcheinsatz" is a kind of "ELINT" (Electronic Intelligence" mission where the objective is to find out what radio and radar frequencies etc. the enemy (i.e. the British) is using. I don't know if we can conclude from the above that the Ju 188s involved did of did not do any target marking. Altrogge maybe not, but the other Ju 188s?

Which again reminds me how much this early period of I./KG66 is still a "Dark Age" to me. Altrogge is one of the few sources for this period and he was notoriously sloppy filling in the "Zulassungsnummer (aircraft code)"-column in his Flugbuch. That means that I'm not even sure which Staffel he belonged to at the time (2./, 4./KG66, or still E.Kdo.d.Lw. 188?) or whether he was temporarily detached to 3./KG66, the mysterious "Hör- und Störstaffel". (Which seems to have no connection to I./KG66 apart from their unit code.....)

All the best,

Marcel

[Brian Bines]

Marcel,

Thanks for that, POW's in 1944 show 3/KG66 as the 'Storstaffel' (Jamming Staffel) Radar investigation and jamming flights. All I have seen on them (prior to the reorganisation in 1944) is a loss of a Ju88S on the London raid on 29/30-1-1944,

Regards

Brian

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Hi Brian,

Correct, unfortunately I don't have much more.... I./KG66 veterans don't have any recollections of having close contact with personnel of the 3.KG66 Hör- und Störstaffel. The fact that the Staffeln were located separately (on purpose?!) on different airbases (3./KG66 at Cormeilles-en-Vexin, rest of I./KG66 at Montididier or Avord) would not have been very helpful regarding building or maintaining social contacts...

Regards,

Marcel