Aerial minelaying Feb-Mar1943 Black Sea

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello, friends!

From the end of Feb.1943 to the end of March 1943 (maybe to the beginning of April) Luftwaffe made a relatively massive minelaying of the Gelendzhik (temporary naval base of Soviet Black sea Fleet).

What units participated? Any details are interesting. I can't find nothing in few available documents and German units "Chroniks" written by Dierich, Gundelach etc.

I think it maybe one or more units from the following list:
III./KG4, III./KG51, II./KG55; less probably I., II./KG51, II./KG53, I., III./KG55

By the way, I haven't the book "Chronik Kampfgeschwader 53: Legion Condor" by Heinz Kiehl.
What opinion about this book? Is it more or less detailed? Has it useful Anlagen?

Best regards,
Andrey

[yogybär]

This mine-laying action was new to me. Do you have more infos? I searched for it in KG4-book and it is indeed mentioned there for early April 1943 (with a lot of other attacks on airfileds and ports in the area).

About the KG53-book:
- It does not mention any of the actions between Stalingrad and going back North mid March 1943.
- Ostfront is ca. 170 of the 400 pages
- Attachements are about Spanish Civil War, used airfields, names, losses, V1-missions and some more

[Nokose]

From "Bomber Units of the Luftwaffe 1933-1945 Vol. 1" by Henry L. De Zeng and Douglas G. Stankey it has from 20Feb43 that the III/KG4 started bombing missions against harbours and airfields along the Black Sea coast. To Saki (mid-March) flew bombing, minelaying & target illumination missions in support of counter attacks at Novorossisk.
No mention of minelaying by I,II,III/KG51, I,II,III/KG55. Does list the III/KG27 making a raid on Gelendzhik and Poti on the 22Apr43.

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello, yogybär

Originally Posted by yogybär

This mine-laying action was new to me. Do you have more infos?

Main German efforts in the field of aerial minelaying were against UK. Good info is in the book "Der Einsatz der deutschen Luftwaffe über dem Atlantik und der Nordsee" by S.Neitzel.

Luftwaffe laid mines in Mediterranean (mainly Suez channel and Malta), Arctic, Baltic and Black Seas.

In the Black Sea mines were laid off Sevastopol, Feodosia, Yalta, Novorossiysk, Ochakov, in Kerch strait and off Gelendzhik. And about actions off Gelendzhik I find almost nothing from German side. It seems 200+ mines were laid, a big effort for such small port. It used as a supply base for Myskhako bridgehead off Novorossiysk, and Germans made an attempt to interrupt supply line before the operation "Neptun" - by air attacks, mines and S-Boats actions. But they couldn't achieve their goal.

Originally Posted by yogybär

I searched for it in KG4-book and it is indeed mentioned there for early April 1943 (with a lot of other attacks on airfileds and ports in the area).

Yes, it mentioned in KG4-book. But it seems the mines weren't laid in April actually. And remains unclear, who laid mines in Feb.-Mar.43.
II./KG4 laid mines off Sevastopol and Ochakov in Jun.-Jul.41, but in KG4-book it isn't mentioned.
By the way, it seems that II./KG4 minelaying raid against Sevastopol was the very first action of Luftwaffe in "Barbarossa" (22.6.41 03:07 Moscow time = 02:07 CET)

Originally Posted by yogybär

About the KG53-book:
- It does not mention any of the actions between Stalingrad and going back North mid March 1943.
- Ostfront is ca. 170 of the 400 pages
- Attachements are about Spanish Civil War, used airfields, names, losses, V1-missions and some more

Thank you.

Best regards,
Andrey

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello, Nokose

Thank you for the answer!

Originally Posted by Nokose

To Saki (mid-March) flew bombing, minelaying & target illumination missions...

"To Saki" means "From Saki"?

So, this is certainly III./KG4! According the Kriegsmarine documents, the minelaying began at night 24/25.2.1943, and it is good correspond to the Soviet documents.
But the date of the end of minelaying off Gelendzhik isn't clear. According Soviet data, the massive minelaying was ended in the end of March, but small actions were reported by signal posts until the July 1943 with great pauses and small number of mines. It is very doubtful, but maybe something mentioned in the book?

Originally Posted by Nokose

From "Bomber Units of the Luftwaffe 1933-1945 Vol. 1" by Henry L. De Zeng and Douglas G. Stankey it has from 20Feb43 that the III/KG4 started bombing missions against harbours and airfields along the Black Sea coast. To Saki (mid-March) flew bombing, minelaying & target illumination missions in support of counter attacks at Novorossisk.
No mention of minelaying by I,II,III/KG51, I,II,III/KG55. Does list the III/KG27 making a raid on Gelendzhik and Poti on the 22Apr43.

Oops! I haven't this book. Is it really good? What is contains about III./KG55 in Nov.-Dec.1943, for example?

Best regards,
Andrey