Banja Luka Airdrome #1?

[SCohen]

On 29 May 1944, P-38s of the 82d Fighter Squadron attacked Banja Luka airdrome #1 (I assume the allied designation). According to Henry deZeng, the Banja Luka airfield attacked on 29 May was "Banja Luka - Zalužani" North of Banja Luka. I believe that this is likely correct, but when looking at American pilot descriptions of the airfield, the airfield they attacked seems to have been roughly oval in shape, while descriptions of Zalužani do not mention an oval shaped airfield, and contemporary pictures I have seen also do not show a discernible oval shape. Meanwhile, the landing ground located closer to the city of Banja luka was definitely oval in shape.

Is anyone here familiar with the air war in Yugoslavia/Bosnia and aware of this attack? Was the attack in fact made on the Banja Luka - Zalužani airfield?

Thank you!

[Larry deZeng]

28 or 29 May 1944 -
"Allied Air Attack on Banja Luka: 7 German soldiers killed, 36 wounded, 8 Croatian soldiers killed, 9 wounded and more than 150 civilians killed; heavy damage to buildings; 3 motor vehicles damaged. On the airfields at Zalužani (8 km N of Banja Luka) and Laktaši (16 km NE of Banja Luka), 11 aircraft were burned out and destroyed."
[Source: Gen.Kdo. LXIX. Res.Korps daily report, 3.6.1944; in: NARA RG 242, Microcopy T-314.]

So this shows the existence of yet a third airfield in the vicinity of Banja Luka: Laktaši. In effect, this was so minor that it is not listed in any of the German, Croatian or Allied airfield literature. It was no more than a relatively small level meadow or pasture that served as a dispersal field for Zalužani. There was no infrastructure except for perhaps a small shed or two. Although I have no precise details or aerial photos of Laktaši, I strongly doubt if it had an oval shape, which was usually the result of the landscape engineering used for larger airfields built during the 1920's and 1930's.

All of the Axis and Allied reports and accounts I have seen refer to the target for this attack as being Banja Luka - Zalužani, although the pilots may have been authorized to attack any of the satellites and dispersal fields in the vicinity of Zalužani as well.

Hope this helps,

Henry L. deZeng IV

[Richard Aigner]

you can try to get in touch with Boris Ciglic via this forum's private message facility.
Mr. Ciglic is autor of "Messerschmitt Bf 109, The Yugoslav Story" in 2 volumes and may be able to help.
Richard

[Nick Beale]

Here are two reports on the attack but I'm not sure they answer the original question about which Banja Luka field was involved.

[Larry deZeng]

SCohen -

If you take the information I provided above in this thread's 2nd post, the information I provided for Banja Luka - Zalužani here [http://ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20Yugoslavia.pdf ] and the ULTRA decrypts provided by Mr. Beale, you will see that there were Allied attacks on Banja Luka on both the 28th and 29th. Actually, there were daily attacks on the city and airfields for nearly a week. I have information on the others from various Axis reports. I think you may need to obtain everything you can on the subject from USAAF reports and sort everything out to eliminate the contradictions and confusion that exists. It looks to me like some of the details for the 29th were reported for the 28th and vice versa, and/or the P-38 pilots reported the mission of the 28th as occurring on the 29th.

deZeng

[Boris Ciglic]

I have nothing to add to what Larry and Nick have written already, but could any of the moderators remove my e-mail from Richard's post, or at least exchange @ for # to spare me from spammers.


Boris

[SCohen]

Thank you all, this is all very helpful. When the archives/libraries re-open I will take a long look at what information is available that could provide a more clear explanation of the attack.

[Larry deZeng]

Good plan, SCohen, whenever the re-openings might be.

Here are a few snippets from a little additional research I did in my boxes and boxes of files and notes on the former Yugoslavia, 1941-45:

Banja Luka

Banja Luka I: Zalužani.
Banja Luka II: Banja Luka Stadt.
[Source: Air Ministry A.I.2.(b) Airfields Yugoslavia list of 27 August 1943.] This confirms the Allied use of I and II for the two Banja Luka airfields. These Air Ministry airfield lists were updated and supplemented every couple of months right through to the end of the war and Laktaši is not mentioned in any of them.

Laktaši: the present day location of Banja Luka International Airport is 4 km N of Laktaši. Possibly the wartime site of a L.G. or E.L.G. of this name that was unknown to Allied Intelligence?

L.

[SCohen]

I think that may have answered the question right there. Also I saw a mention of bombing Banja Luka airfield (within the city limits) that called it Banja Luka Landing Ground 2. More support for that. I'll still look it up later but I think this basically answered my question.