Maj Franz Beyer opponents on 11 February 1944

[Jaap Woortman]

John,

Thanks for the pointer.
I will check and contact Marcel Hogenhuis also.
I will also make a change proposal for the SGLO losslist.

Jaap

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Thanks John. Well that is fairly good reason why Beyer was buried in Netherlands, and I wonder why I did not think to it at all...

From what I found so far, I don't think that B-26s went so far southeast as Valenciennes/southern Belgium and 56th FG claims are in the same area and time frame that Beyer's loss, so were possibly involved, but I don't have all claim details for the USAAF for this day.

With a seriously escorted heavy bomber force in the same area, I doubt German fighters will have attacked B-26s, so my best guess is that the B-26s claims are someone's mistake, either in the original German documents or later.

With the claims of IV./JG 3 made 40 minutes before any other, I wonder if the IV./JG 3 was not used to attack the Allied escorts to make them drop their belly tanks early. III./JG 1 based in Volkel was given later in February such orders, a break of the usual German tactic to concentrate on bombers.

[ClinA-78]

The grim report of Sich.-Rgt. 16 states :

"(...) Unter den brennenden Flugzeugresten wurde 1 dt. Kreuz in Gold und 1 Sonderausweis (D), (Beschädigt) ausgestellt auf den Namen Major Franz Beyer, Fp. Nr. L 52 206 Luftpostamt Amsterdan - Bentheim, ferner das durchschossene Soldbuch, ausgestellt auf den Namen Ritterkreuzträger Major Franz Beyer, 4. Jagdgeschwader Udet und an einem Finger der Trauring gefunden."

which brings definitely the answer.

ClinA-78

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello ClinA-78,

Can you give a short description of the source 'Sich.Rgt.16' ? Which period is covered by it? Was it operational in a certain area (which one)?

It might be a very useful source to check several crashes for which the Gen.Qm.Abt.6 loss lists are no longer available.

Looking forward to hear from you, all the best,

Marcel Hogenhuis

[ClinA-78]

Hello Marcel,

I don't know the activity of Sich.Rgt. 16 but I can add this is an Abendmeldung by (or to?) Kommandostab Ia.
I get also Abend/Morgenmeldungen written by different OFK's (as such as Mons, Lüttich, Brüssels) thanks to Jean-Louis ROBA. Unfortunately few of them were preserved (a dozen) from mid-'43 to early '44. Nothing more.

For instance, the later states also :
- a German fighter lost near Mormont (FSA).
- German fighter of Lt. Hans-Joachim SLENDERHAUF (sic) crashed 400 m West of Trou de Bras.

Is there a precise date you are looking for?

Best regards

ClinA-78