Looking for Luftwaffe eye-witness accounts of engagements over Warsaw with the Polish Pursuit Brigade 1.9.39 A.M & P.M.

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,
Our EOE research team is working on a manuscript rough draft for the engagements of Luftwaffe fighters and bombers with the Polish Pursuit Brigade in the general vicinity of Warsaw during both the morning and afternoon of September 1st.

During the morning, the Luftwaffe units included were Bf110s from I.(Z)/LG1, escorting He111s of II.(K)/LG1.

For the morning action we have only an account by Uffz. Dierkes, gunner for Oblt. Müller, a StaKap in I.(Z)/LG1.

For example, does anyone know of any account of this mission by Fw. Herbert Schob of 1.(Z)/LG1, who achieved his first victory on that mission? Also, I'm hoping to locate any account (or photos of his FL Bf110) from the I.(Z)/LG1 GrKdr Maj. Walter Grabmann, whose Bf110 was damaged on that flight and FL back at base.

The afternoon attack involved about 120 He111s of KG27 and LG1, and about 30 Ju87s of I./StG1. The fighter escort included Bf110s of I./ZG1 and I.(Z)/LG1 and Bf109Ds of I./JG21.

From this attack, we have the detailed account of Hptm. Hozzel, GrKdr of the Stuka unit. We also have accounts of varying length and usefulness attributed to several I./JG21 pilots, including Lange, Scholz, Bob, Nuhn and Dress. I'm also looking for any KTB historical source on I./JG21 for the Polish Campaign?

Does anyone know of any other eye-witness aircrew sources for Luftwaffe material on these attacks? We are familiar with those from Emmerling, Eimannsberger, Jagdwaffe, Vol I. Sec 3, "Am Himmel Europas" and several others, including Peter Taghon’s outstanding history of LG 1. We want to make sure that we have everything known from Luftwaffe eye-witnesses for the story. Perhaps there were other wartime German-published accounts that we've missed...or veterans accounts that have been published relating to the PC since the war?

We have numerous eye-witness accounts of the air battle that day from the Polish side.

Thanks, and Happy Holidays to all,

[hihotte]

Hola Larry, pls check your p.m. and merry xmas

hihotte

[Mirek Wawrzynski]

Hi Larry
only are you interested on 1 IX 1939 combats over Warsaw or next combats over Warsaw will be taken under consideration too?

I am asking, becasue I am going to make same story about Polish A/A defence of Warsaw in 1939, so this subject is in my sight, :-)

Regards,
MirekW

[Larry Hickey]

Mirek,

The EOE WG team is collecting information & photos, translating source material, working on various data lists, including detailed unit histories for the period, pilots & aircrew, missions, planes, etc. and beginning serious work on the "Research Draft" for the text for the "Polish Campaign" Volume in the EOE series. We are also assembling research packages for aircraft profiles and several fine-art color paintings of important events. So, yes, we are interested in all periods of the PC, but are concentrating at the moment on sources for the research draft for Sept. 1, 1939, from the Luftwaffe side. We've already done a huge amount of work on the Polish side of the story--translating and reviewing thousands of pages of Polish language materials to support our reseach. We also have very detailed loss lists for both sides, matched to names, time, place, location, units and who fought whom. I believe that this list significantly exceeds anything that has previously been published on this subject.

Any help that you can give from the standpoint of the AA defenses of Warsaw would be most welcome, and I'm sure, we have material which could be helpful to you, as well.

Regards,

[Mirek Wawrzynski]

This year I published in Poland, my long article on the defense Modlin (July 2009) in the Polish magazine history. This is a study to show the fight on both sides (including a summary of Polish victories and the actual German losses during the battle for the fortress). Luftwaffe vs. Bofors Battery (4x40mm) plus the heavy machine guns (12 or 16 Maxims 7.92 mm). Next year, plans to take in the defense of Warsaw in September 1939. Since I collect quite a long time on this different materials. Actually I have quite a lot of published and unpublished sources (reports, memoirs). I am interested also data on German flights over Warsaw and their loss, because I wanted to do the same comparison as in Modlin. I will take up this work within a few months. For the moment I'm working on something else.
Yours,
MirekW

[Larry Hickey]

Mirek,

I will make sure that our research staff is aware of your article on Modin and your prospective work on Warsaw. I'm sure that someone will be in touch with you directly about this.

Regards,