ju-87, north italy, Mr Beale can help?

[micky.38]

Good evening,

a friend send me some pictures of items recovered from a spot in the northern side of the appennine mountains, in the wooded slopes of the Dolo valley. The pieces apparently came from a Ju-87. An old woman saw the plane crash in the night between 2 and 3 august 1944, in the middle of a big german "rastrellamento" (roundap) of the partisan-held area.
The woman say also that the two crewman was later found dead in the wreckage. At first, i was thinking to the Ju-87 D3 W.N. 331120, crew OFW Hans Wolfsen and gunner Hans Wilk...

Mr. Beale can confirm my hypothesis? Thank in advance

[Nick Beale]

Mr. Beale can confirm my hypothesis?

Sorry, but if you are talking about Dolo (VE) I can't. In my book you'll see that Wolfsen and Wilk were shot down on a mission to Livorno. All the Allied claims that night were in the area Firenze/Arezzo/Livorno.

Because people's memories of dates can be unreliable after so long, it would be a good idea for you to look for independent information on the dates of anti-Partisan operations in the Dolo Valley. Then it would be possible to look for losses at the right time and in the right area.

[micky.38]

Thanks, but i'm referring to the Dolo River valley, not the town of Dolo near Venice.

The nearest village to the crash river is Civago, province of Reggio Emilia but very close to the Tuscany border, running two miles to the south near Passo delle Forbici. The town in the other side of the mountain is Castelnuovo Grafagnana.

The Antipartisan operation in that area is called "Wallenstein 3", started on july 30 1944, and had his end on august 6 1944. All the village in Dollo valley has been burned, all the partisan unit dispersed, and the civil peoples dispersed in the woods, as the old old woman that saw the crash.

Also the SOE mission in the area (ENVELOPE, leaded by Captain Johnston) has been disbanded, and no records about the crash has been found in his messages to Bari HQ.

But DAF records show that 600 Squadron Beaufighters shot down a ju-87 in the point L2126, a mile and half just north of Civago, another southwest Arezzo, and a JU188 damaged over tyrrhenian sea.

[micky.38]

...also 600 sqdn ORB show record of a Ju-87 shot down in the point L2124, just north of civago. The other Stuka shot down that night are reported sighted and downed in Arezzo area...

[Nick Beale]

Thanks for the information about the correction location. NSG 9 was involved in Wallenstein II but not (as far as I know) in Wallenstein III.

I have the 600 Squadron combat reports but there was no online coordinate converter (or Google Earth) when I wrote the book, so I was measuring as best I could from a USAAF pilot's map. Jefferson and Spencer's report said that their victim crashed at "R.1727" but the one from Crooks and Charles does not give a map reference, just "Leghorn [Livorno] area."

On the North Italian Grid, wR1727 = 43° 24' 32'' N / 11° 44' 24'' E, about 2.4 km west of Le Poggiole (AR).

Since I wrote the book, I have been able to establish that Fietz and Rasinski were shot down on 3/4 August and both survived (but with bad injuries). Fietz said that Krüger and Tschirsch were shot down the same night. That leaves Wolfsen and Wilk as the only known losses on 2/3 August, although I have two RAF claims that night.

[micky.38]

Thank you Mr. Beale, hope in the next days to pay a visit to the crash site, hope to get more infos on the site, i'll let you know what i'll find

[micky.38]

Hello, i'm happy to say that we found it...

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by micky.38

Hello, i'm happy to say that we found it...

Good news. I will be interested to learn more of what you discover.

[micky.38]

Thanks to some friends in the area, we found the crash site in a steep slope of the appennine. Old witness rememebre the two planes fighting in the dark, till one of them was shot down in flames and crashed over the mountain

[micky.38]

Mr. Beale, i've sent you a private message, yesterday we went to the crash site, and found more evidence that it was the Wolfsen and Wilk Ju87. In attach, part of the gunner seat...