La Luftwaffe face au Debarquement Revised Edition question

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Dear all,

Does anybody know if the Revised Edition of Heimdal's "La Luftwaffe face au Debarquement - Normandie 6 juin - 31 août" (apart from the Jagdgeschwader) also covers the Luftwaffe's Bomber operations against the Allied invasion of Normandy? (PS What's your opinion about the book?)

And if not, are there any books on the Kampfgeschwader operations over Normandy apart from the entrieso in the individual KG unit histories?

Thanks in advance and best regards,

Marcel

[Chris Goss]

Very few books purely about bomber ops apart from as you say unit hitories such as KG 2, KG 6 & KG 100. Having all the losses, I have always wanted to do a book on what was effectively the death of the German bomber arm but it would be a bit like what we call a cricket score

[leonventer]

Hi Marcel,

Frappe's book (especially the larger revised version) is an essential resource on all Luftwaffe single-engined fighter operations in Normandy and Provence from Jun 6 to Aug 31 1944, but it doesn't cover any bomber operations.
It provides detailed day-by-day accounts for each Jagdgeschwader unit involved, plus the Fw 190s of I./SKG 10 and III./SG 4, and the Bf 109s of a few Aufklärungsgruppen. Also includes extensive lists of claims and losses.

I did a quick scan of several other publications about the air war in Normandy, but could only find some details and OOBs for Luftwaffe bomber operations in these:

• Avions Magazine "Hors Serie #2: La Bataille Aerienne de Normandie - Juin/Aout 44" by Yves Buffetaut, published by Editions Lela Presse in 1994, 98 pages
• "Les Avions du 6 Juin: La Bataille du Ciel" by Bernard Crochet, published by Editions Heimdal in 1993, 80 pages, ISBN: 2840480174
• "Operation 'Overlord' June-September 1944, Volume 1: RAF & Commonwealth Air Forces plus 'Luftflotte 3' supplement" by Neil Robinson, published by AIRfile Pubs in 2011, 72 pages, ISBN: 9780956980205
• "Air War Normandy" by Richard Bickers, published by Leo Cooper in 1994,174 pages, ISBN: 0850524121 (10 pages on torpedo attacks by III./KG 26 on Allied ships)

Regards,
Leon Venter

[stukapilot]

Hi, Marcel

leonventer has posted a detailed list on the work of kampfgeschwaders'operations over normandy, and to the best of my knowledge, no other english books have been published about luftwaffe's bomber wings during the allies' invasion of normandy. however, there're still some non-english books u may get smth useful

KG 2
Der Luftkrieg in Europa: Die operativen Einsätz des Kampfgeschwaders 2 im Zweiten Weltkrieg by Ulf Balke

KG 6
Über allen Fronten: Chronik des Kampfgeschwader 6 by Jan Horn

KG 26
Achtung — Torpedos los by Rudi Schmidt
Die Spur des Löwen: Der Weg des Löwengeschwaders durch Europa by Alexander Steenbeck

KG 54
Kampfgeschwader 54: Von der Ju 52 zur Me 262 by Siegfried Radtke

KG 100
Kampfgeschwader 100 "Wiking" by Ulf Balke
La Kampfgeschwader 100 L'escadre au Drakkar by Jean-Loius Roba

and plus this book: Hitler's Spyplane over Normandy 1944 by Philippe Bauduin, if u don't mind there were actually only some basic reconnaissance missions over normandy by a flight of blitz bombers.

for more details about these books, tell me and i'll find them out from my fully stuffed bookcase ))

best regards from shanghai

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Gentlemen,

Thanks very much for all your detailed answers! Based on them, I will definitely by the Revised Edition of "La Luftwaffe face au Debarquement", but at a later stage. For the coming Summer holiday, I'll spend my 65 Euros on another Luftwaffe book

Still hoping that somebody will pick up the gauntlet some day and produce that masterpiece on LW bomber ops over Normandy, though..

Have a nice day,

Marcel

[Nick Beale]

LG 1 was in action over Normandy, so there's the Peter Taghon History as well.

In addition, II./KG 51's Me 410s were treated as a fast bomber force in IX. Fliegerkorps reports and Jan Horn's "Das Flurschadengeschwader" has material on its operations. He also has a section on Kommando Schenck's Me 262s, as does my site.

I./SKG 10 is covered by Frappé's book and was often attacking the same targets as II./KG 51.

Then there were the Mistel operations, described in Rober Forsyth's book for Classic.

Like Chris, I've thought about this as a possible topic (even if I don't have all the losses!) but the daunting bit would be working back from the known land targets to find reports from the Allied units on the ground. I've not done a lot with army material so maybe there are daily air situation reports that would make it easy to discover damage done but I suspect it would mean going to divisional level or below.

There is a passage in Pierre Clostermann's The Big Show, saying how each night the Germans: "… came over in groups of about a dozen every five minutes or so … letting their bombs go more or less anywhere. It didn’t really matter where, as the beachhead was so full of troops, ammunition dumps, convoys of lorries, concentration of tanks and planes that they could scarcely fail to score a bull every time. The nightmare went on until 3 a.m."

The anti-shipping side would easier to deal with since it's relatively straightforward to find which ships were sunk or damaged.

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

LG 1 was in action over Normandy, so there's the Peter Taghon History as well.

In addition, II./KG 51's Me 410s were treated as a fast bomber force in IX. Fliegerkorps reports and Jan Horn's "Das Flurschadengeschwader" has material on its operations. He also has a section on Kommando Schenck's Me 262s, as does my site.

I./SKG 10 is covered by Frappé's book and was often attacking the same targets as II./KG 51.

Then there were the Mistel operations, described in Rober Forsyth's book for Classic.

Like Chris, I've thought about this as a possible topic (even if I don't have all the losses!) but the daunting bit would be working back from the known land targets to find reports from the Allied units on the ground. I've not done a lot with army material so maybe there are daily air situation reports that would make it easy to discover damage done but I suspect it would mean going to divisional level or below.

There is a passage in Pierre Clostermann's The Big Show, saying how each night the Germans: "… came over in groups of about a dozen every five minutes or so … letting their bombs go more or less anywhere. It didn’t really matter where, as the beachhead was so full of troops, ammunition dumps, convoys of lorries, concentration of tanks and planes that they could scarcely fail to score a bull every time. The nightmare went on until 3 a.m."

The anti-shipping side would easier to deal with since it's relatively straightforward to find which ships were sunk or damaged.

Thanks Nick!

Best regards,

Marcel

[Laurent Rizzotti]

The best source I have about German bombers in the Normandy battle are the volumes 28 and 29 of the French magazine "Batailles aériennes", published in summer 2004. The title "Le débarquement: combats aériens". For each night, the book describes the actions of both sides. There is no detailled loss list, but examples and British reports. The two books cover only June (the first goind to the night of 12-13 June, the second covering the rest of the month).

Luftwaffe bombers losses were high over Normandy but they also deal damage and casualties.

Some examples I have in my files:
7 June 1944:
cruiser HMS Bulolo hit by bomb (3 KIA). (http://www.fold3.com/image/296569743/)
3 men of 41 RM Commando killed at Lion sur Mer (41 RM Commando War Diary, http://www.americandday.org/Document...20Diaries.html)
3 men of 12 Para Batallion killed at Le Bas de Ranville (12th Batallion War Diary, http://www.americandday.org/Document...20Diaries.html)

8 June 1944:
frigate HMS Lawford sunk (37 KIA) (http://pixaqua.typepad.com/blog/2012...-lawford-.html)

10 June 1944:
U.S. freighter Charles Morgan is damaged by bomb off UTAH Beach that kills 7 of the 64-man Army stevedore unit on board and one merchant crewman; there are no casualties among the 27-man Armed Guard. Fleet tug Kiowa (ATF-72) takes on board the survivors. Charles Morgan, however, despite strenuous efforts to save her, is ultimately declared a total loss.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/...hron-1944.html
Still the battalion [3rd Batallion, 502nd US Para] could not advance. Company I, exposed on the right bank near Bridge No. 3 where men had no grass for concealment and could not dig in, was hard hit, first by enemy rifle fire and later (at 2330) by two planes that bombed and strafed its positions. The strafing in particular took a heavy toll and, when it was over, 21 men and 2 officers of the company's original 80 moved back behind Bridge No. 2.
https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/utah/utah5.htm

11 June 1944
Infantry landing craft LCI-219 is sunk by aircraft.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/...hron-1944.html

Night of 14-15 June 1944
USS LST-280 was damaged by a torpedo while returning from the Normandy in the English Channel. For a long time it was thought that the landing ship had been torpedoed by the German U-boat U-621, but the attack was probably made by a German Ju 88 torpedo bomber (KG 77 or KG 26). The vessel was towed to the UK and was taken over by the Royal Navy after being repaired.
http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/11361.html

06-07 August 1944
The Ordnance men arrived at Avranches in the middle of the severest air bombardment Third Army had ever received. The Germans, counterattacking at Mortain in an attempt to drive a wedge between First and Third Armies, not only bombed and strafed the bridge at Avranches but plastered the neighborhood. Near midnight on 6 August, just after the 573d Ammunition Company arrived at Depot 1 in an apple orchard near Folligny, the Luftwaffe came over and destroyed about a thousand tons of ammunition. Explosions rocked the area for days. Ordnance depot and maintenance companies moving through Avranches down to the Forêt de Fougeres in Brittany passed through St. Hilaire-du-Harcouet while it was still burning and were bombed and strafed on the road. The 344th Depot Company had nine men killed and eighteen wounded.
https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/...ChapterXV.html
http://www.glenville.edu/docs/vet_le...ti_reunion.pdf