German losses 22 March 1943 in Kharkhov area

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hello all,

I found several website bearing the following information (and probably reproducing each another):

"On 22 March 1943, the well-known ace woman Lidya Litvyak was attacked by four Messerschmitt Bf 109s over Khar'kov area. Litvyak managed to shoot down two of the German fighters, while driving off the rest. This aerial engagement coincided exactly with the only two German Bf 109s lost in the same area on this date. The two German fighter pilots shot down were Leutnant Franz Müller (Bf 109G-4, coded "BH + XB") and Unteroffizier Karl-Otto Harloff (Bf 109G-2, coded "yellow 2") of the 9th squadron, fighter wing 3 (9./JG 3). German records have each of these men, who both survived, being reported shot down by Russian fighters."

I would be interested in the usual details of these two losses (Wnr, % damage, location) if they are effectively confirmed by German records.

I post a similar message on the Allied forum to check Soviet claims.

Thanks in advance

[Ota Jirovec]

Dear Laurent,

Not exactly an answer to your question, but according to Mikhail Bykov, a leading authority on VVS fighter claims, Litvak made just one claim on 22 March 1943 - for a Ju 88 destroyed in Chaltyr - Sinyavka area. And she was no ace, her total was 4 personal + 3 shared victories (you can see a list of her claims on: http://www.sukhoi.ru/forum/archive/i...p/t-42784.html)

Hope this helps,

Ota

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Thanks Ota for the quick reply and details, the various websites repeating the above information so are all "slightly out of the mark".

Any sentence like "This aerial engagement coincided exactly with the only two German Bf 109s lost in the same area on this date." on the web will raise warning for me to check it, but in this case I was not excepting so much discrepancy between the Web and facts...