16 Ar196s damaged, Ratzeburgersee, 24 April 1945

[Steve Brew]

On the afternoon of 24 April 1945, a section of 41 Squadron spotted 20 Ar196s parked on the south-eastern shore of Lake Ratzeburg. Sixteen were in a straight line and four around a corner in the shore. The section flew down the first sixteen and holed them all, but they failed to explode, suggesting to the section that they were unfuelled at the time.

Can anyone suggest which unit this may have been, please? Michael Holm's excellent site (http://www.ww2.dk) suggests that several units flew these aircraft, thereunder Bordfliegergruppe 196, Küstenfliegergruppe 706, Seeaufklärungsgruppe 125, 126, 130 and 131, III./KG100 and 1. and 3./KG200. None appears to be conclusive, though circumstantially KG200 appears to be the most likely of these.

Does anyone have any information on this incident, or can they suggest which unit may have been located here near the end of April 1945?

Thanks
Steve

[Hans Mcilveen]

Most likely they belonged to either Bordfliegergruppe 196 or Seeaufklärungsgruppe 126: the only two substantial Ar196 units left by April 1945. Of the other units you mention, Küstenfliegergruppe 706, Seeaufklärungsgruppe 125, 131 and III/KG 100, were no longer in existence, and the rest never had more than a handful Ar196 aircraft in their inventory. I am not aware of any formal seaplane base on Lake Ratzeburg.

[Nick Beale]

They didn't have to belong to a functioning unit, they may just have been "in storage." I think elements of Bordfl. Gr. 196 were still flying over the Baltic in 1945, on convoy protection, but there may have been other surplus Arados just parked up.

[Seaplanes]

When this area was occupied by british forces in May 1945, they
found the following Ar 196's:
Schleswig-See 3 aircraft, Kiel-Holtenau 4 aircraft, List on Sylt 5 aircraft,
Tarnewitz-See 27 aircraft (most in good condition when inspected there on 21.05.1945).
In addition 4 aircraft were found in Denmark and 12 in Norway. 2 Ar 196 were on board the cruiser "Prinz Eugen".
No mention was made about aircraft at Ratzeburger See. Would this lake first be occupied by Soviet forces ?

[RT]

Did they note the Wn ??

Rémi

[Seaplanes]

Very much to my regret, they did not. At least not in the lists I have seen.

[RT]

The planes found in airfields are well known, but I never seen a doc. of what they found floating, the lists show some other floatplanes ??

Remi

[Steve Brew]

Thanks Gents

I appreciate your helpful feedback. This would definitely have been in the British / US zone rather than the Russian.

There were actually 20 of the aircraft lined up along the shore, but as only 16 were hit, they went back past the following day and shot up the remaining four. On this occasion, however, they were met with Flak and one of the aircraft was hit, making an emergency landing at Fassberg.

This second attack serves as a confirmation of the location, so I wonder what happened to the aircraft between 24 April and 5 May? Almost two weeks, so if the aircraft were only holed they probably took little to repair and could've flown just about anywhere. I wonder if any of those listed by 'Seaplanes' were some of 'my' 20 on Lake Ratzeburg...? Guess that fact is impossible to discover today.

'Seaplanes', any indication of which unit/s the Schleswig-See, Kiel-Holtenau, Sylt and Tarnewitzsee aircraft were with?

Failing that, is there another similar floatplane, that the Ar196 could have been confused wit by 41 Squadron's pilots?

Thanks
Steve

[Tony Jones]

Hi

I found a file at the PRO last Thursday labelled Claims and Losses in April 1845.

The attack listed in TOCH is NOT listed in the file, which has a comprehensive day by day log. On 23/4/45 in the file it states "20a/c noted on Moritz Lake, type unknown". Could this be the Lake in question?

Tony

[Tony Jones]

Hi Correction to my last post, it was 1945!!!

Tony