Mission of KGr. 806 on the 21.9.1940

[Thomas H]

Hi all,

For their mission against England on the 21.9.1940 at least two man of KGr. 806 were honored with the Honor Goblet (Ehrenpokal) on the 4th of November 1940, Fw. Helmuth Krüger and Fw. Gerhard Strube (1. Staffel). It is known that the later also received the EKII and EKI on the 21.9.1940.

I found a loss on the same date for a 1./KGr. 806 crew, Lt. Günther Grunwald (FF) and crew because PoW’s after their Ju88 (Wrkn. 3079, M7+CH) was shot down by AA on a mission against Birmingham.

My question, in what mission were Krüger and Strube (same crew?) involved on that date? Their bombing must have been a great success for receiving so many medals/awards. Did they attack important industry in Birmingham?

Kind regards, Thomas

[tonda75]

Hi Thomas,
The book: Der Ehrenpokal für besondere Leistung im Luftkrieg (K.D.Patzwall) contains a list of Lw members who received the Ehrenpokal. The name Helmuth Krüger is not here. The name Gerhard Strube can be found here-rank Gefr., Pilot, received EP 29.6.1942.
Regards Tony

[Thomas H]

Hi Tony,

Thank your for your reply.

If you look at page 31 of Patzwall you will find a photo of Krüger his Urkunde. The list is this book is build together from the “Ehrenliste der Deutschen Luftwaffe”, this list wasn’t available before the 1st. of September 1941. So all awarding before this date are not listed and mostly not known. Only when someone has the Urkunde, Goblet, SB or WP entry we can add a recipient.

Regards, Thomas

[tonda75]

Hi Thomas,
Thank you for your notification.
For this reason, Fw.Ernst Jäckel (this pilot is of interest to me), who was supposed to have received the EP in July 1941, is probably not on this list either.
Thank you again
Tony

[RudiS]

Grunwald, Krüger & Strube, together with Fw Baasch, were part of that same crew of M7+CH Sep 21st 1940.

[Thomas H]

Hi Tony,

That’s correct, Jäckel will not be in the list. Also note that there is a difference between the actual awarding date and the date in the list, from up to two weeks. Every two weeks a new list was published with the recipients from the past two weeks. Last note, sometime the years can be wrong, already found some were the list gives 1942, but the goblet or Urkunde 1941.

Regards, Thomas

[Thomas H]

Originally Posted by RudiS

Grunwald, Krüger & Strube, together with Fw Baasch, were part of that same crew of M7+CH Sep 21st 1940.

Hi Rudi,

Thank you very much for this interesting information!

LOCS of deZeng & Stankey gives Information about being should down by AA, but also tells us that they returned. My previous info about Lt. Grunwald and crew being PoW came from www.luftwaffe-zur-see.de.

Regards, Thomas

[Chris Goss]

It would appear that 806 was busy nights of 20-21 and 21-22 Sep 40. 5 aircraft attacked London night of 20 Sep and the following night 4 attacked London and one attacked Liverpool. However, it is more likely that the lone Ju 88 which took off at 2020 hrs on 20 Sep to attack the Rootes & Co Factory at Speke was the one that could have resulted in awards for the crew

[Thomas H]

Hi Chris,

Thank you for this information, much appreciated!

Krüger received the EKI on the 28th of October 1940 and not like Strube (Bordfunker) on the 21th of September 1940.

Regards, Thomas

[RudiS]

Radtke gives London as a target for this crew while Ramsey in the "Blitz T&N" gives the Midlands for this a/c.
The Lagebericht of Luftflotte 3 gives for KGr 806 that day:

- 3 Ju 88 took off 1605 hr for a nuisance attack on London but due to bad weather they attacked an alternative target:
1 Ju 88 attacked baracks in Aldershot & 1 Ju 88 a railroad junction in Redhill. No mention of the third Ju 88

- 5 Ju 88 took off 1947-1956 hr to attack London between 2115-2130 hr

- 1 Ju 88 took off 2020 hr and was supposed to attack Rootes & Co at Liverpool-Speke but due to bad weather it attacked the alternative target of St Eval airfield 2100 hr

I think that M7+CH could have been the third Ju 88 that took off at 1605 hr and was supposed to attack London.