Alfred Grislawski:26/09/44

[focusfocus]

Hello

Many sources(including microfilm) credit it with a P-38 that day.
Howewer,he claimed that he had NEVER CLAIMED SUCH A DEVICE.

So ,what did he claim?

mICHEL

[Johannes]

Hi Michel

It's a fact this claim is on the mikrofilms for Grislawski. But my friend Bernd Barbas who knew him well said it was not so. Grislawski was still alive at the time, so I assume the denial came from himself, but I don't believe Grislawski's last flugbuch survived the war. Jochen Prien's earlier JG1/JG11/JG53 publications have a few claims not on the mikrofilms for Grislawski, you would think that Jochen had received a list from Alfred, and that the missing ones were perhaps never confirmed, but Grislawski was out wounded at the time. In my opinion I think that either Grislawski was mistaken, or it's based on an unreliable list that this is missing from. Chances are that it was Grislawski's claim true.

Kind Regards

Johannes

[focusfocus]

Hello Johannes

I have a reflection to submit to you that seems plausible

Shot down a SERIOUSLY INJURED by P-38 ( ended his career as a pilot),it is very likely that he was not he who made a request for an "abschus" but rather by the III/JG53,hence his testimony after the war claiming that he never claimed a P-38 that day.

Note that "this" claim by him or otherwise is unfounded:a single P-38 of 479°FG (Lt Little) was shot down (Haltern) for 5 claims (2 by JG/300,3 by JG/53)

Best Regards
michel

[Johannes]

Hi Michel

I have been talking to Bernd about this, and we think the information that he didn't make this claim is unreliable at least. Therefore I would credit this as Grislawski's 128th and last confirmed claim.
I don't think that Grislawski's last flubuch survived, or at least has not come to light, rather think that Grislawski himself wasn't in procession of it, probably stolen at the end of the war, or like JG5 pilots ordered to destroy it himself. I do wonder how many flugbücher lie in American attics with Grandads war momentums.

At post-war meetings the surviving pilots liked to meet old comrades, and sign photos, but were very rarely involved in any questioning, and now it's too late.
In the early 2000's Bernd and myself arranged a few questions because our knowledge was challenged my the mikrofilms data, and always our suspicions about false information were confirmed. A good example was Fritz Obleser, our question was that we could find no USAAF claims for him when we should be expecting nine, he simply said that he did "shoot-down" nine USAAF aircraft during 1944, but was under such pressure to then escape the battles with his life that he never witnesses the actual crashes therefore they were never confirmed....question answered, all we had to do was ask...…….it took sixty year. We also presented him with an abschusselist, he previously had information about just a couple of his claims as "An American relieved me of my flugbuch"...……..hopefully someday it'll surface.
Surprisingly there doesn't seem to have been a concerted effort by the American authorities to acquire flugbücher for there information, it just seems to have been momentum hunting.

So in short the P-38 on 26th September 1944 in my opinion was Grislawski's final claim, as confirmed on the mikrofilms he must have completed the paperwork in a hospital.

Kind Regards

Johannes