He 59 shot down by Rethymnon Crete

[byron-]

Dear friends

This He 59 of the Rettungsstaffel 7 was shot down 20-22.05.41 at the coast of Pissidia near Rethymnon Crete.
Does any one knows more about its Kennzeichen, W.Nr., crew ?
Thanks
Byron

[Brian Bines]

This is what I have from GQM (dated 26-5-41) and research by others - He59 TD+HZ 6/Seenotgr 1518 100% 22-5-1941 landed off Rethimonn (Rethymnon) Crete and destroyed by gun fire from the land. Crew came ashore by dinghy and fought for 10 days with FS Jagers. Crew Ff Fw Paul Erdmann returned (survived war), B Ofw Rudolf Scherer killed fighting with FS, Bm Ofw Hermann Wilger returned, Bf Uffz Linus Bochardt returned ,

Regards
Brian Bines

[byron-]

Hi Brian,
thank you for your valuable help. One thing is very strange, how could the crew fight for ten days, with their pistols? I think it must be only some few hours.

regards
Byron

[gogh]

Its TV+HZ
TD+HZ is an Gotha Go145

regards
Peter

[Chris Goss]

I am sure that there would have been spare weapons available for them to use

[byron-]

On the 29.05 41, it means 7 days after this incident, Rethymnon was captured by the Germans.

[Brian Bines]

Hi Byron the sources were GQM dated 26-5-41 and 13-6-41 plus the ' Loss of Marine Aircraft Site' from a TOCH thread some time ago . This states 'Besatzung 10 Tage Im Erdkampfeinsatz mit Fallschirmtruppe ' included in the sources list is 'Erdmann' , with the date of the death of Rudolf Scherer shown as 26-5-41.

Peter, thanks for the correction it is shown as TV+HZ in the above list my error in the previous post,

Regards
Brian Bines

[Laurent Rizzotti]

You can see also this thread: http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=20748

As for fighting ten days with the paratroopers, these ten days would probably only include some hours of real fights and minutes of firing. As for having only pistols, German paratroopers jumped with only pistols too, their individual weapons (rifles and MP40) being dropped in weapon canisters they should recover after the jump.