JG 300 book

[Richard Goyat]

Thank you, SES, for your kind words regarding the quality and interest for our work. Have no fear, we appreciate any comments regarding our work- as you have produced books yourself we know that you understand how much of a balancing act works like this entail. Although we haven’t unfortunately had the chance to read them, it is apparent from the solid documentation you provide on your site Gyges, that they would undoubtedly be worthy of further investigation.

As far as your comments are concerned it is reassuring to note that none of them concern the principal theme of the work – a day-by-day account of the activities of JG 300. In fact, what you refer to as criticisms and inaccuracies seem to us to comprise nothing more than a simple request for further information and explanation, which we are happy to provide here.

"A map of the area of operation with the locations mentioned in the text would have been no harm. "

Agreed – we had planned to provide one. Unfortunately in the end we ran up against the dreaded deadlines that the production of any book entails – especially a huge work like this one. However the reader isn’t totally on his own, since on pages 386-387 we have reproduced a large section of one of our pilot’s navigation maps. The reproduction – given the quality of the original document – is perhaps not as fine and as clear as one could have wished for – but the map nonetheless covers a wide area of JG 300’s operational zones. As this is the actual document utilized by the pilots it is more than interesting from the point of view of the history of JG 300.

"Photo credits. Scores of individuals must have contributed as mentioned in your acknowledgements, but who contributed what?"

The absence of an individual credit underneath each photo is a deliberate choice made by the authors in concertation with our pilot friends and families who have furnished the material over the years. As you can appreciate from the acknowledgements, these were mainly former members of JG 300 or their families. Given that they are now mostly elderly citizens we have been careful to preserve their privacy and not expose them to potential harassment from collectors and autograph hunters. It goes without saying that when confronted with direct evidence of the mis-use by unscrupulous authors & web-masters of the small number of photos that we have loaned out to others or when photos or pages torn from albums appear for sale on e-Bay, then we are happy that we took such a decision here.

"Notes with reference to the source. Now it is transparent if you have the information from a published source or a BAMA file."

Once again this was a deliberate choice on our part. Our main concern was to create a work that was “readable” – even so this required hundreds of footnotes. Listing the documents used here was not an option. In addition, identifying each source individually would have increased the size of the book beyond what was economic – as it is the work comprises two 400-page volumes.

"Your short description of the German night fighting system [...] do not describe the Himmelbett-Verfahren at all, but the widespread popular, incorrect one."

Although not entirely certain what you mean here, please do not mistake our work for something it is not. Our principal theme is JG 300 and the unit’s aerial operations – it is not a treatise on the command system and organisational structure of the German night fighting arm taken as a whole. The book assumes a certain amount of prior knowledge. We had to take some shortcuts when evaluating the functioning of those parts of the organisation that touched on our subject matter. They may appear incomplete to yourself, but to dwell on them at any length went far beyond the scope of our work and can in any event be researched from more specialised works (such as your own).

"It was also the paralyzing effect Windows had on the ability to perform Himmelbett-Verfahren which contributed to making Wilde Say a viable option"

Of course – we haven’t said different at all...

"And without the correct description of Himmelbett and Y-Jagdverfahren (Tag) it becomes impossible to explain Zahme Sau."

That’s as maybe, but our work deals only with JG 300 – a wilde Sau Geschwader. We have therefore only mentioned zahme Sau in passing. A more detailed description of this method of night fighting is best left to others – it was certainly not a principal concern of ours in writing the history of JG 300.

"You state that Müller’s Fw 190 was equipped with the Naxos radar. To the best of my knowledge the Naxos was never installed in the Fw 190 but in twin engined nightfighters and 2 Staffeln of Bf 109 only."

Friedrich-Karl Müller’s description of the Naxos fitting in his 190 came from the pilot himself.

"And the Naxos was not a radar, but a passive receiver designed to home on the emissions from the H2S."

This is exactly how we have described the working of Naxos – see page 120. You appear to consider that any homing device, even where passive, should not be referred to by the umbrella term of radar – which stands for Radio Direction and Ranging. While Naxos certainly did not have a « ranging » function, it was certainly possible to determine « Direction ». Perhaps the term radar was not as inappropriate here as you care to believe...

"A Jagdkorps commanded a finite number of Jagddivisionen not an unspecified number of units."

This surely amounts to saying the same thing – the reader will have understood that via the Jagddivisionen, it was the units (of varying number) that a Jagdkorps commanded...

"A Luftnachrichten Kompanie was not an “Air Intelligence Company” but a Control and Reporting unit manning a radar site or a number of FLUWAs."

Nachrichten has the sense – among others – of information. Intelligence is the process of collecting information. Is the role of « control and reporting » as defined by yourself really that different from the process of assessing and collating information implicit in our translation?

"A Y-Flug is a flight conducted under control of a Jägerleit Stellung utilizing the Y-Linien for Y-Verfahren."

Our description doesn’t differ from yours. However as it appears in our glossary there was little point in employing the same German language terms in a description of German language terms! We have furnished some details of how the system functioned in practise, but admit that when referring to technical details we have preferred to approach the subject from the viewpoint of the end-user and not quote the system manual verbatim.

Hopefully these lines of explanation will have answered some of your questions. We are sorry to say that our work – in one or two details – may not correspond to what you would have liked to read. Frankly though, these details belong in another book, a work of reference devoted to the subject…

Best Regards

Jean-Yves Lorant – Richard Goyat

[SES]

Dear Mr. Jean-Yves Lorant – Richard Goyat.
Thank you very much for giving such a lengthy reply. I would love to see a picture of a Naxos equipped Fw 190 as I am sure a lot of other people would. It would be a sensation.
I object because your description of the Himmelbett system is incorrect and in my personal opinion a few lines giving the correct one could not have harmed.
A radar is a system which sends out a pulse, dwells and receives a reply. Range and bearing is detremined. A passive receiver is not a radar.
bregds
SES

[John P Cooper]

Monsieur Goyat,

Within the text statistics are provided for the combined losses for the USAAF & RAF (aircraft and aircrew) from 11-18-43 to 3-24-44 (Battle for Berlin) can you provide similar numbers for the Luftwaffe? I have been trying to get some information from Tony Woods site but have had no luck.

Merci beaucoup

BTW really enjoying the book!

[FalkeEins]

FWIW the following is a partial response to comments posted by Burkhard Otto at Flugzeugforum.de


« Ich gratuliere ! Mal ganz ehrlich : ich glaube, daß Ihre jahrelange Recherchierarbeit Früchte getragen hat ! Das wird eine ausehenerregende Arbeit über das bisher so stiefmütterlich behandelte Geschwader werden. Da werden die Herren Autoren aber Augen machen ! »

(Ernst Schröder, Fw. und FF bei der 5./JG 300 – )

« Ihr Buch ist angekommen ! Sie können sich gar nicht vorstellen, mit welcher Freude aber auch Neugier ich es aufgeschlagen habe. Natürlich habe ich gleich « meinen » Teil gesucht. Alles konnte ich noch nicht lesen, aber ich kann jetzt bereits sagen, daß ich das Werk ganz ausgezeichnet finde und es mich drängt Ihnen gleich schon meinen herzlichsten Dank auszusprechen für diese umfangreiche und sachliche Aufarbeitung dieses Teiles der Geschichte, die für uns Schicksal war… »

(Karl Mitterdorfer, Lt. und FF bei der 10 (N) Moskito /JG 300 ).

« Vielen vielen Dank für das eindrucksvolle Buch, das sich durch sein Konzept, seine Gestaltung, historische Genauigkeit und vorzügliche Austatten auszeichnet. Meine Hochachtung für dieses Buch und die immense Arbeit, die dahinter steht…ich habe richtig vor den Augen, wie sich mein Vater und auch meine Mutter dieses Buch angesehen hätten, doch das Schicksal wollte es anders. »

(Wolfgang Engst, son, Fw. Hubert Engst, FF bei der 6./JG 300 )

reprising the above -loosely- for those who don't read German

-Congratulations on your lengthy researches that have finally borne fruit..an exciting work on a unit that has received little coverage - this will really knock them for six!
-Your book has arrived. You can barely imagine the pleasure it gives me to thumb through it. Although I haven't read the entire work, I can state that it has made an excellent impression and I thank you wholeheartedly for the extensive and accurate portrayal of 'my' involvement..
-Many thanks for this most impressive book..a benchmark for historical accuracy- superbly laid out and presented. I salute the enormous research effort that went into it. This is how my father and mother would have wanted it..

[Tom Semenza]

M. Lorant:

First let me add my praise for your excellent book (c'est formidable, mes félicitation!) I have read the book and extracted much valuable information for my own little research project.

I have a question regarding Robert Plewa. In the photo caption on page 66, you state that the 109 with 6 Soviet victory bars and 5 RAF night claim bars could have been flown by either Oblt. Robert Plewa or Fw. Horst John. Now I am aware that John claimed 6 victories with 5./JG 52 in the Spring of 1943. However I have not found any claims for Plewa with any other units. Can you provide any information on Plewa's service record prior to joining JG Herrmann?

I am looking forward to volume 2 with great anticipation.

Merci à l'avance,

Tom Semenza

[Jean-Yves Lorant]

Hi M. Semenza !Well observed, Tom. As we stated in the french book on page 68, the pilot was most likely Fw. Horst John. I dont have infos about Robert Plewa's previous career.Now I have the sad duty to inform all JG 300 friends that on october 5th a great Wilde Sau pilot, Lt. Lothar Sachs (I./JG 300 - NJG 11) passed away. Lothar was born on october 14, 1920. He was a skilled pilot and pianist. Those who knew him will never forget his good humor...

[Von Alles]

From the publisher : the second volume of the french edition of JG 300 will be issued on december 1st !!

Von Alles

[Fly_Flap]

Looking forward for these books in German!

Regards!

[Jean-Yves Lorant]

Hallo Fly Flap,

Eine deutsche Auslage ist ernsthaft vorausgesehen...für heute noch Zukunftmusik.

Hals und Beinbruch !

[bernhard mitterdorfer]

Hallo Jean Yves!

Habe bei meinem Vater in der französischen Ausgabe geschmökert: meine absolute Hochachtung vor diesem beeindruckenden Werk.Dankeschön

Bernhard Mitterdorfer