JG26 disaster, 1940

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by rof120

Perhaps ULTRA decyphering too.

I haven't found anything.

[Jochen Prien]

Maybe this is because it didn't happen ?

KR

Jochen Prien

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Jochen Prien

Maybe this is because it didn't happen ?

KR

Jochen Prien

Exactly.

[MW Giles]

So Galland is not totally infallible. Shocking.

Martin

[rof120]

Quite perchance I discovered that my correct (or so I hope) English translation (see post # 13 in this thread) of what Galland had written on the loss of 12 fighters was missing, either victim of some technical bug or of myself. I apologise. Here is the comprehensive German passage with my English translation in blue, bold characters:

"Here is Galland’s own text (I changed nothing, not even a comma) from his book “Die Ersten und die Letzten” (first published 1953), new printing batch (15. Auflage) 1983 by Schneekluth publishing company, München (Munich) – (Comprehensive text with no cuts – in some special editions the text length is reduced.)"

On page 103, 2nd paragraph:

Die geringe Flugdauer der Me 109 machte sich jetzt immer nachteiliger bemerkbar. Bei einem einzigen Einsatz eines Geschwaders gingen – ohne Feindeinwirkung – allein durch die Tatsache, daß der zu begleitende Bomberverband nach zweistündiger Flugdauer noch immer nicht das Festland auf dem Rückflug erreicht hatte, zwölf Maschinen verloren. Fünf von ihnen konnten mit dem letzten Tropfen Sprit am Strand der französischen Küste bauchlanden, sieben weitere mußten im Kanal notwassern."

Here is my missing English translation:

The short flying time of the Me 109 was now becoming more and more of a noticeable liability. During one single mission of a wing (Geschwader) twelve aircraft were lost - without any involvement of the enemy - only because the bomber unit they had to escort still had not reached the continent (or: the mainland) on their return flight after two hours' flying time. Five of these fighters were able to perform belly-landings at the French coast with the last drop of petrol, seven others had to ditch in the Channel.

ENGLISH version in translation „The First and the Last” by Mervyn Savill, published 1986 by Champlin Museum Press, Mesa, Arizona.
First published in England 1955. Page 85, 4th paragraph:

The short range of the Me 109 became more and more of a disadvantage. During a single sortie of my group we lost twelve fighter planes, not by enemy action, but simply because after two hours’ flying time the bombers we were escorting had not yet reached the mainland on their return journey. Five of these fighters managed to make a pancake landing on the French shore with their last drop of fuel; seven of them landed in the ‘drink’.

MY COMMENT:

As you can see the English “translator” wrote partly a novel (not only in this passage), making the reader believe that Galland was talking about his own unit (a Geschwader with a theoretical complement of 124 fighters including the non-serviceable ones – 30 to 40 %). This is not correct for Galland wrote about one single mission “eines Geschwaders”, one single mission of a fighter wing (Geschwader): about 70-88 fighters. The word “eines” instead of “ein” and “Geschwaders” with a final S both have grammatical reasons (declension, Genitiv) which are uninteresting to us now: the German language is neither French or Spanish nor English.

The whole English edition is unreliable.
============================
You are welcome to suggest some improvements, even corrections, to my version. English is not my main language, and translating into a foreign language is always much harder.

[BrianC]

Thanks one and all

Most interesting!

History comes in many forms!

Stay safe
Brian

[rof120]

Originally Posted by John Manrho

Dramatising is common, especially among those who were frequent participants in Veterans "Treffen". They started to believe the stories of others and suddenly it is the truth because several repeat the same story.......or even particpated in it....J.

- Yes, I think this is true to a large extent (but let's not exaggerate).

With Galland's story it's different for he was in Argentina from November, 1948 through January, 1955. He was very busy working for President Juan Peron as an adviser in charge of modernising and training the Argentine air force. This was really enough to keep a man busy, even a Galland. His book was released 1953 in Argentina so I presume most of it was written 1952, but 12 years after 1940 and the Battle of Britain. He was 40 years old by then and I don't think that his memory was so unreliable already.

He seems to have performed a good job for the result could be seen in a real shooting war (1982 IIRC), the Falklands war. The Argentine air force proved quite dangerous and efficient then, destroying at least two British vessels at extreme range, even though very sophisticated and well-armed British jump-jets "Harriers" won the air battle.

[Nick Beale]

Since we appear to have established that no loss of Bf 109s through fuel shortage took place in 1940 on the scale claimed by Galland, this thread can be closed.

Should anyone find contemporary evidence to substantiate an incident of mass fuel-starvation in the Battle of Britain then they can of course start a new thread.