II./KG 40 Operations at Anzio

[mjbollinger]

Hi everyone

I'm trying to pull together a definitive view of II./KG 40 operations over Anzio. The available information is in conflict.

1. Griehl and Dressel report II./KG 40 flew "a total of seven operations" in the first 24 hours of the invasion, with the last three of these seven operations damaging a destroyer and cruiser (which I can't validate) with eight He 177 aircraft lost in those last three missions. Griehl and Dressel also suggest they were carrying PC 1400FX "Fritz X" weapons, which seems very odd. The appendix of this book identifies 7 He 177 aircraft lost over Anzio on 23 January with (at least) two others lost in January without a specified date.

2. Chris Goss writes that missions were flown on 23, 24 and 26 January with a total of seven aircraft lost.

3. Nick Beale writes that 2 II./KG 40 aircraft were lost in a raid on 23 January, 1 on 24 January and 6 others on 26 January.

4. Several sources (Wolf, Zalaga) write that 7 II./KG 40 aircraft executed a mission on 23 January without any hits on ships and 11 aircraft flew a mission on 24 January without any hits on ships. Wolf also says the unit was withdrawn shortly afterwards because of technical problems with the aircraft.

5. The order of battle information for II./KG 40 indicates 11 aircraft were lost to enemy action in January and 1 for other reasons.

Can anyone supply better information on II./KG 40 operations over Anzio? I'm trying to find out which missions were flown and how many aircraft were used on each one.

Thanks

M Bollinger

[Chris Goss]

My source was the Namentliche Verlustemeldung (NVM), Allied claims and AD (I) K reports for the captured crews. I will admit the NVMs jumped around a bit and of course would not include those aircraft lost where the crews were uninjured and not captured

[Nick Beale]

From memory, I would have picked up a fair bit of my information from ADI(K) interrogations and those of Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC) plus the ORB of No. 276 Wing (National Archives AIR26/380, 381 & 382).

I couldn't tell you the reference at the moment but there's a file in the ADM series that is something lke "Diary of Naval Events, Mediterranean" which was a useful reference for ships lost.

AIR23/6509 and 6510 contain the MAAF Daily intelligence operations summaries for February–May 1944 (I don't think there are any for January).

[mjbollinger]

Hello Nick and Chris,

Thanks very much. Just the people I wanted to hear from.

I'm pretty good with data from the naval side, and have a good handle on the various II./KG 100 missions. I just can't get any of the data to match what Griehl and Dressel report. Hauptmann Dochtermann wrote a 20 page memoir of his time in II./KG 40 -- which was never published. I should receive a copy next week. That might help.

My objective is to build a thorough p(k) model of the Hs 293 and PC 1400FX factoring in weather, training, self-defense, ship manueverability, warning, and, lastly, ECM. Hence I need to track all of the missions whether targets were hit or not.

Thanks again

Marty

[SES]

Hi Marty,
Told you so
bregds
SES

[Brian Bines]

Hi Marty dont know if this helps from NVM's and 'K' reports:-

23rd Jan.- 6 or 7 He177's took off from Bordeaux/Merignac around 1330hrs. each carrying two Hs 293's to attack shipping off the Nettuno beach-head. Crew of Hpt Kobrink missing, crew of Oblt Dietrich 5 POW and one missing.

24th. Jan. - 11 aircraft took off on similar mission to the 23rd. Crew of Hpt. Ebersberger missing, one POW from another crew (F8+NN) with K report showing the five others as missing however NVM shows four men missing so it appears the pilot and observer returned .

26th. Jan - no details - crew of Hpt.Hofmann missing ,crew of Ltn. Bonacker killed (Motorausfall Absturz.) plus three men of a 5th. Staffel crew missing.

As Chris says other aircraft may have been lost but with the crews surviving. The above is the best I can make out from what documents I have,

Regards

Brian Bines

[mjbollinger]

Thanks very much Brian.

I am now tracking the following potential losses:

23 January: 7 aircraft launched
1: Hpt Kobrink / unit unknown / aircraft unknown: all missing
2: Oblt Paul Dietrich / 4./KG 40 / aircraft unknown: 5 POW 1 missing

24 January: 11 aircraft launched
1. Hpt Ebersberger / unit unknown / aircraft unknown: all missing
2. Fritz Hoppe's / 5./KG 40 / F8+NN: 2 POW 4 missing (possibly 5/1)

26 January
1: Lt Siegfried Bonacker / 6./KG 40 / aircraft unknown: all killed; engine failure
2: Comamnder unknown / 5./KG 40 / aircraft unknown: 3 POWs 3 missing
3: Hptm Paul Hofmann / 6./KG 40 / aircraft unknown: 6 POWs
4: claimed as shot down; specifics unknown
5: claimed as shot down; specifics unknown
6: claimed as shot down; specifics unknown

From the German side I have the following aircraft of II./KG 40 probably lost at Anzio, though it is possible not all were:

F8+EN (#535447) MIA GJ+RJ (#535448) Enemy actionGJ+RS (#535460) CrashedNN+QV (#535555) Enemy action??+?? (#535569) MIA??+?? (#535575) Belly-landedCJ+FI (#535735) MIA??+?? (#535753) UnknownGR+MZ (#535869) Unknown

If anyone can augment or correct, I'd be very thankful. In particular, if anyone knows the aircraft associated with the commander above, that would help quite a bit.

Thanks

Marty

[Brian Bines]

Hi Marty Just to clarify,

23rd Jan.
1. Hpt. Kobrink 4/KG40
2. according to 'K' report Oblt Dietrich aircraft was F8+AM ,crashed Cape Corso Corsica shot down by two Beaufighters (414 NFS ?)

24th Jan
I. Hpt Ebersberger of 5/KG40
2. 'K' report shows Bm Ofw Schersching POW, Ff Oblt Hoppe, B. Uffz Czerwinski ,Bf Fw.Schwarz, Bs. Uffz Schrahbock and Bs Uffz. Kuhne as fate unknown . However the Luftwaffe loss return only shows the Bm, Bf, and the two Bs as missing so it would appear that the Ff and B regained German lines unharmed . According to the only POW the Heinkel was attacked by a Beaufighter (417 NFS ?) the port engine set on fire and the crew baled out at 1815hrs. just north of Nettuno.

26th Jan
2. The Luftwaffe Loss return just shows the B. and two Bs as missing so it is likely the other three crewmen regained German lines cause is shown as Abschuss.
3. Crew of Hpt. Hofmann shown as missing I do not believe they were POW's

It is unfortunate but unlike the I/KG40 which gives aircraft details on its loss returns II/KG40 did not,

Regards

Brian Bines

[mjbollinger]

Thanks, again Brian.

Should I assume then that these seven aircraft were the only ones last during those three missions. That would make sense, as there are seven He 177 from II./KG 40 listed as lost at that time in Griehl's and Dressel's book.

Marty

[Chris Goss]

Marty

Never assume anything with Luftwaffe losses in 1944. As Brian said, these are the only losses recorded as they suffered personnel losses or casualties; if the aircraft crashed and nobody was hurt or lost, the NVMs would not list these. For example, I contacted a He 177 crew shot down in July 1944 (and who were wounded) who said they had been shot down in June 1944 in a He 177 but all got out uninjured-this matched to a Mosquito claim but as to German aircraft details on this loss, no idea

Chris