Mistel raid, 3 October 1944

[Laurent Rizzotti]

I would like to have more details about a raid launched by 8./KG 66.

Here is what I have (from Aero-Journal n° 47, article by Robert Forsyth), translation is mine

"On 3 October 1944, five Mistel 1 of 8./KG 66 targeted again the Nijmegen bridge. But, on the way of the target, three crashed in Teutoburger Wald (a great forest south of Osnabrück) because of bad weather. All three pilots were killed, including the Staffelkapitän, Oblt Karl-Horst Polster. The two remaining pilots didn't find the target and finally released their bomber. One of the Bf 109 F-4 flown by Fw Franz Heckmann was shot down by an Allied fighter."

The Volskbund website has an Oblt Horst Polster that died on 3 October 1944 and is buried in Bramsche (two exist, both are NW of Osnabruck, around 20-30 km from Teutoburger Wald). It has no Franz Heckmann, but that didn't prove anything.

If anybody has other details, I will be interested. The part that is the most intriguing for me is the fate of Fw Heckmann. Mistel flew operations by night, so 3 Oct means either night of 2-3, or 3-4. In the evening of the 2nd, Nijmegen was raided by Fw 190 of III./KG 51 and Ju 87 of NSGr 2, and Mosquitoes claimed 3 Ju 87 and 1 Fw 190 shot down between 2040 and 2210, but I don't think the Bf 109 of KG 66 was one of these, as the Kapitän crashed on 3 Oct on the way of the target.

There was no other night claim, and in the night of 3-4 the only one was a Me410 claimed over Liege by a P-61 (both type (two engine) and location didn't match).

Another possibility was that it was shot down by an American fighter during the daylight hours of the 3rd, they claimed 9 victories (according to the Fighter Command War Diaries), but I have no details of these.

By the way, the two Mistel bomber released somewhere fell somewhere, and probably produced a big explosion, so maybe Allied or Dutch documents have something about them.

Thanks in advance

Laurent