Looking for an old East German on Luftwaffe strength

[Paul Thompson]

I am looking for an East German article by Olaf Gröhler, "Stärke, Verteilung und Verluste der deutschen Luftwaffe im zweiten Weltkrieg", Militärgeschichte 17, pp. 316-336 (1978). My requests to various libraries have so far turned up nothing, so I would be very glad if a forum member could share this!

Regards,

Paul Thompson

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

10 years later...
Has anyone found this legendary article?

Best regards,
Andrey

[leonventer]

Originally Posted by Andrey Kuznetsov

10 years later...
Has anyone found this legendary article?

Hi Paul and Andrey,

Many years ago, I bought some issues of Militärgeschichte magazine from a German bookseller. I'd forgotten about them, but while reorganizing my library today, I discovered that I have the issue containing this "legendary" article by Olaf Groehler. It appeared in issue 3 of 1978, which was Jahrgang 17 of the magazine.

Groehler was a prominent East German historian, and his article contains extensive data (24 tables) detailing Luftwaffe strengths, distribution and losses on all fronts. He used this information to support his contention about the Soviet air force's significance in the defeat of the Luftwaffe. I'll leave it to those more qualified than I am to check the accuracy of his data and the validity of his conclusions. Given the amount of archival data that has become accessible in recent years, it'll be very interesting to find out how well Groehler's work holds up today.

I've scanned the 21 pages into a PDF file (7.3 MB). For anyone who is interested, send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you a copy.

Regards,
Leon Venter

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hi Leon,

That's great news!
I sent you a PM.

Originally Posted by leonventer

Given the amount of archival data that has become accessible in recent years, it'll be very interesting to find out how well Groehler's work holds up today.

Yes, it is really interesting.

Best regards,
Andrey

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Thanks to Leon, I finally managed to see this old article.

Out of curiosity, I checked the table 22: Verteilung der Verluste (Totalverluste und beschädigte Maschinen) der Luftwaffe an Frontflugzeugen (Juni bis Oktober 1944).
I chose this table because the document he refers to (RL2-III/946) has already been digitised by the BA MA. The document was compiled by Gen.Qu.6.Abt.(V) from Summarische Verlustmeldungen.

Olaf Groehler repeated the breakdown by theatres of war and aircraft types as is.
Since there are no necessary totals, the calculation is quite laborious, and I calculated as examples only fighters and ground attack planes.

The results are as follows (total lost + damaged):

Jagd:

Süd [Lfl.2 and Lfl Süd-Ost]
durch Feindeinwirkung: 90+44 = 134
ohne Feindeinwirkung: 45+96 = 141
sum: 275
Groehler: 275

West [Lfl.3 and Lfl.5 (West)]:
durch Feindeinwirkung: 1363+267 = 1630
ohne Feindeinwirkung: 258+677 = 935
sum: 2565
Groehler: 2662

Erweitertes Reichsgebiet [Lfl Reich]
durch Feindeinwirkung: 1044+273 = 1317
ohne Feindeinwirkung: 621+1234 = 1855
sum: 3172
Groehler: 3162

Ost [Lfl.1, 4, 5 (Ost), 6]
durch Feindeinwirkung: 425+169 = 594
ohne Feindeinwirkung: 167+297 = 464
sum: 1058
Groehler: 1058

Schlacht:

Süd [Lfl.2 and Lfl Süd-Ost]
durch Feindeinwirkung: 5+1 = 6
ohne Feindeinwirkung: 6+3 = 9
sum: 15
Groehler: 15

West [Lfl.3 and Lfl.5 (West)]:
durch Feindeinwirkung: 16+6 = 22
ohne Feindeinwirkung: 0+1 = 1
sum: 23
Groehler: 23

Erweitertes Reichsgebiet [Lfl Reich]
durch Feindeinwirkung: 31+10 = 41
ohne Feindeinwirkung: 53+90 = 143
sum: 184
Groehler: 186

Ost [Lfl.1, 4, 5 (Ost), 6]
durch Feindeinwirkung: 469+186 = 655
ohne Feindeinwirkung: 185+289 = 474
sum: 1129
Groehler: 1119

Thus, he was clearly honestly calculating what was in the document. But since the Excel was not yet available, he made several arithmetical errors. Curiously enough, they are almost all in favour of western allies. This is not what many people expected him to do. However, this is a random sample, perhaps other figures are wrong in the opposite direction.

It seems that in the document in Lfl. Reich also units on the rest, replenishment or training are counted. Otherwise it is not clear, for example, what are the 266 ground attack planes (average monthly strength) in the Lfl. Reich in June 1944, which suffered only non-operational losses (Betriebsverluste).

Best regards,
Andrey

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

I have read this article.

As it is now more of historiographical interest, I haven't checked it in detail.

Impressions:
1. Groehler conscientiously reproduced data from documents that he was able to familiarize himself with in BA MA. Where there are ready-made results, he, judging by RL2-III/950, reproduced them without errors (Table 19 in his article). There is a dating error in the table header (1.Aug.-31.Aug.42 instead of 1.Jan.-31.Aug.42), but the correct dating is given in the text of the article. Where there were no finished totals, he sometimes made the arithmetic errors in summarising.

2. Some of the text of the article contradicts the data in his tables. Perhaps this was a way to convey archival data to the reader in spite of censorship.

Best regards,
Andrey

[leonventer]

Andrey,

Thanks very much for your comments.

1. Yes, it does seem he made a good-faith effort to get the numbers right.

2. You might well have a point there. He officially toed the Marxist line in his writing, but it appears he might have been somewhat conflicted internally. I found a thesis online that contains a chapter (https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/1040555/145206_09.pdf) describing him, his work, his views, and his relationships with his Eastern and Western counterparts. It's a bit long-winded, but it does indicate that he valued the truth, actively engaged with Western historians, and was uncomfortable with, and critical of, some aspects of the GDR narrative.

Regards,
Leon Venter

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hi Leon,

Originally Posted by leonventer

I found a thesis online that contains a chapter

Yes, I read that chapter yesterday too
The usual mix of conformism and nonconformism in one head for that time (this is about Groehler).

I have his Geschichte des Luftkriegs (1981), bought it in 1984 or 1985. At that time he seemed to me like an old professor.
I remember well that this book made a mixed impression on me. On the one hand, there are ideological stamps on almost every page. At that time, in most Soviet books the authors, having made appropriate curtsies in the introduction, did not clog up the main text.
On the other hand, Groehler's book contained some data that could not be found in Russian.

Best regards,
Andrey