Luftwaffe Target Code 10281

[Larry deZeng]

ChrisG. wrote in part:

Just a brief response for now:

I just want to thank you again. You have been a blizzard of fresh and very illuminating information on a dark corner of Luftwaffe primary source material that very few researchers know anything about. Additionally, it's a shock to me to see that there is still a lot of Luftwaffe photo reconnaissance material "out there", as given in your Post of 19th May 2019 08:18, or that we know was destroyed, intentionally or otherwise. Outstanding stuff and an outstanding job summing it up and sharing it.

Very best,

Larry

[Andy Mitchell]

Tony,

Many thanks for the correction. Error caused by combination of bad sight and bad copy on screen.

All the very best

[edwest2]

As an aside to post #21. The majority of people involved with the Luftwaffe are modellers, and those who decided to satisfy their curiosity. Professional researchers have decided, for whatever reason, to deal with the time-consuming, less than romantic, other material. My hat is off to all the researchers and authors here. I've learned a lot.

My suggestion is to create a central database or publication to hand off to new researchers and current researchers. If this work is to continue, I think there needs to be a kind of 'starter kit.'

I would like to add the following book as a reference. Partners at the Creation by James H. Critchfield. It covers the creation of a post-war German intelligence service headed by Reinhard Gehlen and Hitler's former chief of operations, Adolf Heusinger. "In July 1945 when Reinhard Gehlen arrived at the Twelfth Army Group interrogation center at Wiesbaden, Germany, he and his surviving staff (and the carefully cached files on Soviet tactical and strategic military strength) constituted the only comprehensive information on Soviet military power held anywhere by anyone in the entire world." This undertaking is referred to as Operation Rusty.


Did the files held by Gehlen survive?

[Larry deZeng]

Yes. Gehlen's FHO (Fremde Heere Ost) material was eventually brought to the U.S., as was Gehlen and some of his staff, and his files were eventually microfilmed and incorporated into NARA Record 242, Microcopy T-78 (Records of the German Army High Command). As might be expected, a lot of Gehlen's files were withheld from microfilming and today are in the hands of the CIA and the BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst). Most of the withheld material consisted of files and card indexes on agents. There are several good biographies on Gehlen where those interested can find more details.

L.

[edwest2]

Thank you Larry.