Air War Above Rzhev - Zubtsov

[Nokose]

I am going to add some episodes about the air war in this area a little at a time. My friend, Kirche will I am sure add corrections were I make mistakes and his corrections are always welcome. I usually go by my alias “Nokose” but many already know my name is Michael Barrentine.

27 August 1942

The Soviet command dispatched a Shturmovik raid against the German airfield to the northeast of Dugino this day. 5 Il-2 from the 685 met up with their fighter escort at 14:54 (Moscow Time). This consisted of 5 Yak-1 from the 1 GIAP led by Starshiy Leytenant Zudilov and 4 Yak-1 from the 163 IAP led by Starshiy Leytenant Zhuykov. The Soviet pilots reported being intercepted by 16 Bf 109 as they traveled to the target. (TsAMO f. 311, o. 0004495, d. 0051, l. 106 Operational Report of the Staff 210 IAD)

The Germans had Bf 109s from III/JG 51, I/JG 52 and I/JG 54 pounce on the Soviet aircraft as they moved to the target. The Soviet fighters were distracted from escorting their charges by I/JG 52 and I/JG 54 struck the Il-2s. Feldwebel Peter Siegler of 3./JG 54 shot down an Il-2 (34) at 14:22 at an altitude of 800 m and followed with another Il-2 (35) at 14:23 at an altitude of 500 m. The Soviet fighters felt their first loss as Feldwebel Rudolf Trenkel of 2./JG 52 shot down a LaGG-3 (7) at 14:23 at an altitude of 800 m. The JG 52 pilots then attacked the Il-2s. Hauptmann Helmut Bennemann of Stab I/JG 52 shot down an Il-2 (48) at 14:24 at teifflug and at the same time Unteroffizier Gerhard Hübner of 2./JG 52 shot down an Il-2 (10) at 14:24 at teifflug. The Shturmoviks were then attacked by JG 51. Gefreiter Erich Hobein of 8./JG 51 shot down an Il-2 (6) at 14:25 at teifflug. Again the Soviet fighters suffered another loss, this time Feldwebel Karl Hammerl of 1./JG 52 shot down a LaGG-3 (52) at 14:28 at an altitude of 20 m. Again the Shturmoviks were attacked, this time by Unteroffizier Otto Würfel of 9./JG 51 shooting down an Il-2 (1) at 14:30.

As the Soviet aircraft reached the airfield, they met German flak. The Soviet fighters still engaged in a dogfight suffered another loss. Oberfeldwebel Berthold Grassmuck of 1./JG 52 shot down a LaGG-3 (61) at an altitude of 500 m. The last Il-2 claim was made by Hauptmann Hans Oehlschläger of Stab I/JG 52 shooting down an Il-2 (2) at 14:3 at teilfflug.

The Soviet fighter pilots stated that they observed an Il-2 go down to German flak but it seems that the Germans would have denied one of the claims if it had occurred. As for the actual Soviet losses on the Soviet fighters making their landing at 16:10 (MT) missing were 3 Yak-1: Starshiy Serzhant Sergey Shuykov from 1 GIAP, Starshiy Leytenant Ivan Sharoyko from 163 IAP (Sharoyko had 8 victories and 2 group victories at this time) and Starshiy Leytenant Sergey Kotyuko ( Kotyuko would return from a German POW camp). The Soviet fighter pilots claimed to have shot down 2 Me-109 and damaged another Me-109, actually there were no Bf 109 losses.

The Soviet Shturmoviks suffered nearly a total loss in this raid with 4 Il-2 and one that was so damaged from flak and attacks from Bf 109, it was sent to be repaired. Missing were Mladshiy Leytenant Aleksandr Belyakov, Mladshiy Leytenant Mikhail Vladimirov, Starshiy Leytenant Stepan Isupov and Leytenant Ivan Radchenko (Radchenko would return from a POW camp in 1945). The Il-2 piloted by Starshina Dol’nikov returned his Il-2 to Soviet territory and landed on the frame, having been hit by German flak and finally by Bf 109s before escaping into the clouds. (TsAMO f. 311, o. 0004495, d. 0054, l. 180 Operational Report of the Staff 212 ShAD)

There was one further claim made by Feldwebel Peter Siegler of 3./JG 54 for an Il-2 (36) at an altitude of 800 m. This was far to the northwest of Dugino over Soviet territory but there is no way to connect this claim.