1./K.Fl.Gr 406 over baltic sea 08.1941

[andrus]

Sönke Neitzel in his book "Der Einsatz der deutschen Luftwaffe über dem Atlantik und der Nordsee 1939-1945" on page 151, remark 77 tells:

from 8.8.1941 to 1.9.1941 three He115 of 1./406 were subordinated to the Aufklärungsgruppe 125 in Riga. They flew 22 missions, used 12 torpedos, results were 2 hits, 5 torpedo failures and 5 misses. As source he gives FdLuft B.Nr.5758/41 geh. from FdLuft war diary (BA/MA RM 35 I/121).

Does anybody know more ? Dates of missions, locations of attacks ?

[Andy Mitchell]

Andrus,

This is almost word for word what Thiele states on page 30 of "Luftwaffe Aerial Torpedo Aircraft and Operations" published by Hikoki in 2004.

Unfortunately there is no more in that book and Thiele does not quote references.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

In the end of August 1941, Soviet ships evacuating Tallinn were decimated by Germans planes, S-Boote and mines.

LInks:
http://www.feldgrau.com/baltsea.html
http://users.tkk.fi/~jaromaa/Navygal...llinn-evac.htm

[Andrey Dikov]

Originally Posted by Laurent Rizzotti

In the end of August 1941, Soviet ships evacuating Tallinn were decimated by Germans planes, S-Boote and mines.

Nevertheless, AFAIK, SAGr.125 didn't take part in it. Those missions were flown by Ju 88s from 2./KG 77 and KGr.806. The third flight of this SAGr. was transferred to south-eastern Finland (Santahamina) from Turku in late-September, 1941.

Thus, we talk about antishipping actions near Moonsund isles (Oesel, Dago, Moon) and Riga bay and that is a really interesting topic for me as well.

I can try to find any evidences of those torpedo-attacks from Soviet point of view at home, but I can't recall any in my mind at this moment.

Anyway I'd wait anybody who can add the details to discussion with great interest.

[ju55dk]

The best thing to do is to order a copy of RM 35/I 121 from Bundesarchiv! But beware it will cost you around 0,36 cent a page!


Junker

[Andreas Brekken]

Hi, Andrus

As an advice, a band in this series (RM 35I/xxx) usually has about 100-200 pages.

They are EXTREMELY nice with regards to quality (typewritten), daily reports with all activity usually plotted, some days 1./406's actions are drawn in on Planquadratmaps.

I fear You will not see the entire picture from getting a copy of RM 35 I/121 only. This would probably have a letter (as indicated by Neitzel), containing the summary as he writes in his book of these operations, but no direct information on the separate operations (dates, no of a/c, no of torpedoes used etc etc).

The detailed information You want You would probably find in the following bands:

RM 35 I/118 Kriegstagebuch des Führers der Seeluftstreitkräfte 1.8.1941 - 15.8.1941
RM 35 I/119 Kriegstagebuch des Führers der Seeluftstreitkräfte 16.8.1941 - 31.8.1941

Good luck!

Regards,
Andreas Brekken

[Kari Lumppio]

Hei Andreas, tere Andrus and privet Andrey and hello others!

Andreas, do you know if the "Kriegstagebuch des Führers der Seeluftstreitkräfte" do exist also for years 1942,1943 and 1944? That would open a whole new source for the Estonian-manned Sondersstaffel Buschmann/AGr 127 interested. At least up to mid-1942 the unit got their missions from Kriegsmarine, don't know how things were after they were included in the "real" Luftwaffe.


Cheers,
Kari

[Andreas Brekken]

Hi, Kari.

Just read the new article on the FW 189 in Aeroplane monthly - nice!

Regarding the KTB's I mentioned, they run until 30.04.1942, so it is highly possible that You will find something in them.

In addition, the so-called Gruppe Nord KTBs (RM 35 I/132 through 151) exist until mid 1944, and it would be worth looking at them (the German attack and capture of the Baltic Islands are included here and I would guess that You can find more info on the operations in the Gulf of Finnland area)

There are also several other references that in my opinion would be highly interesting for You. Pls contact me off-board for a more comprehensive list.

Regards,
Andreas

[Kari Lumppio]

Hei!

Thank you for the reference.

I do have two rolls of microfilmed Anlagen of Heeresgruppe Nord KTB (NARA). These do indeed have daily Luftflotte meldung for the period Nov 16th (or so) 1943 to end of April 1944.

Andreas, I don't have your e-mail adress at hand now. I'm at Tartu ("Dorpat") and stay here more than week still. If you send e-mail to my tkk.fi -domain address I can "remote-read" that. Answering should work too.

Thanks in advance,
Kari

[andrus]

attacks from above-cited source (NARA reference: microfilm T-1022 roll 4270, frame 25):

11.08.1941 22:10 Lt. Noack 7051/26 Ost 50m 6-700m russ.Kreuzer Kirow 9000t 90 Grad Fehlschuss da Kreuzer gestoppt
16.08.1941 21:45 Oblt. Rohwer 5036/26 Ost 50m 600m Tanker 6000t 240 Grad Grundgänger
18.08.1941 20:56 Lt. Noack 6012/26 Ost 50m 600m Dampfer 5000t gestoppt Grundgänger nach kurzer Laufzeit
18.08.1941 21:05 Lt. Bücker 6012/26 Ost 50m 500m Dampfer 5000t gestoppt Grundgänger CA-Versager (andrus: maybe GA, difficult to read)
20.08.1941 20:31 Lt. Bücker 8022/26 Ost 50m 700m Dampfer 5000t 90 Grad Wegen starker Abwehr Erfolg nicht beobachtet
24.08.1941 20:41 Lt. Noack 7042/26 Ost 50m 500m Dampfer 4-5000t (andrus: cource not given) Treffer Vorschiff beobachtet, Schiff zeigte Schlagseite und blieb bewegungslos liegen.
24.08.1941 21:15 Oblt. Rohwer 7042/26 Ost 50m 500m Dampfer 4-5000t 340 Grad Grundgänger
25.08.1941 20:46 Lt. Noack 5041/26 Ost 50m 700m Dampfer 6000t 70 Grad Schiff drehte ab, kein Treffer
25.08.1941 21:20 Oblt. Rohwer 5032/26 Ost 50m 700m Dampfer 6000t 100 Grad T ging am Heck vorbei und traf dahinter liegendes Schiff denn Grösse nicht ausgemacht werden konnte
25.08.1941 20:41 Oblt. Sterzing 5041/26 Ost 50m 700m Dampfer 6000t gestoppt Kein Treffer beobachtet
28.08.1941 20:30 Lt. Noack 5028/26 Ost 50m 500m Dampfer 5000t 90 Grad Wegen starker Abwehr kein Treffer beobachtet
29.08.1941 05:15 Oblt. Rohwer 5027/26 Ost 50m 500m Dampfer 5000t 80 Grad Kreisläufer

table columns: date, time, plane commander, place, height, distance to target, target type, size, course, comments

After these torpedoattacks, there is one Wabo-attack mentioned:
30.08.1941 Oberfähnrich v.Schilling 3 Wabos U-Boot getaucht Erfolg nicht feststellbar