Hptm Hartwich, X Fliegerkorps, 15 Aug 40

[Chris Goss]

'Luftwaffe War Diaries' mentions that on 15 Aug 40 the above officer was flying with the Gr Kdr of I/ZG 76, Hptm Werner Restemeyer, and lost when Restemeyer's Bf 110 was shot down. However, the I/ZG 76 NVM for the day makes no mention of him and confirms that Uffz Werner Eichert was in Restemeyer's aircraft. Can anyone confirm one way or the other?

[RT]

On gen.VM just one "offizier" is quoted, then an amendment confirm Uffz Eichert für tot erklärt

Remi

[Brian Bines]

Hpt.Hartwich is also reported in the Flypast supplement 'Wings of the Eagle' as the third crew member in Restemeyers crew. He is described as Group Signals Officer of X Fliegerkorps, would his loss appear on a NVM of ZG 76 or one from his parent unit?

[Chris Goss]

Not on I/ZG 76's NVM and although you could get 3 in a Bf 110, it would have been a squeeze as well as a risk (which was proven)

[Chris Goss]

The plot thickens. NVM says that Uffz Werner Eichert was BF to Restemeyer but German War Graves acknowledges that Hptm Ernst-August Hartwich (born 29 Sep 04 in Guestrow) was reported missing 60 km NW of Aberdeen 15 Aug 40. The I/ZG 76 losses acknowledge that their combats were off Newcastle. Curiously there was another Hartwich lost that day-from 7/KG 30 attacking Driffield.............

[northeagle]

Just stumbled across this posting. Hpt Ernst Hartwich was X Flieger Korps signals officer. He was aboard Restemeyers Me 110 working radio equipment. Uffz Werner Eikhert was Restemeyers usual rear gunner and also flew with him that day ie three in the Me 110.
Formation were attacked some 50 miles NE of Farne Islands ie in the area of Firth of Forth or a little further south. That they were lost off Aberdeen is merely a geography glitch similar to the one that has them lost off Newcastle. As Restemeyers aircraft was the first to fall it can be taken that it was shot down off the Berwickshire/ East Lothian coast.
Reports from pilots of 72 Squadron state that there was a lot of 'whizzing' and other noises on the radio. This stopped when Restemeyers aircraft blew up.
Hope this helps.

Best Wishes.
Robert.

[Doug Stankey]

Checking our notes:

HARTWICH, Ernst-August.
(DOB: 29.09.04 in Güstrow).
01.03.38 promo to Hptm.(Ln.).
15.08.40 Hptm., Nafü of I./ZG 76 - MIA in Bf 110D flown by Hptm. Werner Restemeyer that was shot down into the sea by Spitfires off the coast of County Durham 60 km NW of Aberdeen this date.

So, this guy was aboard the Restermeyer plane and he was the Gruppe’s Nachrichtenoffizier. This explains the confusion, he was staff but not Kdr.


We hope this enlightens the situation.


LdZ
DGS

[Chris Goss]

Thanks all. The only query here is if he was with I/ZG 76, why was he not on their NVM for that day? Also the NO for I/ZG 76 was Lt Heinz Holborn

[Peter Cornwell]

Sorry that I am a late-arrival to this thread. This question raises its head fairly regularly because surviving contemporary documentation seemed to provide contradictory information. However, I suspect that was imperfect interpretation of the original documentation that created (certainly my own) confusion.

The Ob.d.L Genst.Gen.Qu.6.Abt. returns dated August 16, 1940, (item 43) records the loss of Messerschmitt Bf110D of I./ZG76 on a sortie to ‘Mittel-England’ the previous day. The crew of two are both recorded ‘missing’ and named as ‘Hpt. Restemeyer Gr.Kdr.’ and an un-named NCO. A subsequent amendment dated January 18, 1943, reports one of them ‘killed’ rather than ‘missing’. The same document (item 112) adds the name ‘Hpt. Hartwich W. Leitstelle 15’ as also being missing in this aircraft.

As Chris points out, the Namentliche Verlustmeldungen for I./ZG76 for August 15, 1940, only records the personnel losses of Hptmn.u.Gr.Kdr. Werner Restemeyer and Uffz.u.Bordf. Werner Eichert both missing following a sortie to ‘Engl. Ostküste (Nähe Newcastle)’ and combat with enemy fighters. This document further confirms that Eichert was Bordfunker to Restemeyer and reports that it was his death that was confirmed in a signal dated January 9, 1943. There is no mention of Hptmn Hartwich for, as Chris rightly says, such returns tend to be unit-specific and he was not a permanent member of I./ZG76. Restemeyer remains ‘missing’. He is listed as such in DRK Vermisstenbildliste (LJ 511) as late as 1959/60.

In November 1976, WASt informed me that Hptmn Ernst-August Hartwich of Funkhorchkomp. X. Flieger Korps had been lost with Restemeyer. But I confess that my remaining confusion in this case stemmed from the original Qu.6.Abt document reporting that only two went missing, naming them as Restemeyer & Hartwich, while the NVM also only gave two names but those of Restemeyer & Eichert. Both Bekker (1964) & Mason (1969) both followed the Qu.6.Abt version of events while I chose to follow the NVM. None of us seems to have correctly interpreted the original document, nor subscribed to a crew of three being carried, though it now seems crystal-clear that was indeed so.

Surely it would have taken considerable modification to shoe-horn all the necessary ‘gubbins’ into a Dachelbauch and that work must have been initiated long before the actual date of the attack ? But that is one for the more technically-inclined.

[Andreas Brekken]

Hi, guys.

In my opinion the GenQu 6 Abt reocrds are relatively clear on this matter:

The loss of the aircraft is noted here:

http://www.ahs.no/ref_db/lw_loss_det...p?lossid=18675

while the addition of the third crewmember is here:

http://www.ahs.no/ref_db/lw_loss_det...p?lossid=18805

In my opinion (bragging....) this is one of the occasion were a complete relational database approach to these matters really show its strengths.

Harwich is correctly notes as missing in the list, but under his own unit heading (Nachrichtentruppen), and under the unit he was serving in. We see this a lot when it comes to for example frontline reporters and other personnel, especially in the transport units were the original loss list for for example a Ju 52 can have a comment attached to the crew loss list saying for example "Ausserdem 7 Fluggäste vermisst" meaning that in addition to the crew there were 7 passengers listed as missing. These would then be listed under the unit they belonged to, with a comment usually listed as "siehe Lfd.Nr.XX von XX.XX.XXXX", giving a pointer to the aircraft loss.

Regards,
Andreas B