Stab. and I.KG 2 were based in "Silce" , but where is the airfield ?

[oquaig]

Stab. and I.KG 2 were based at "Silce" from 10 July 1941 to 1 August 1941, but where is the airfield ? "Silce", some times referred to as "Selische" and also called "Sloboda West" has been described as located 72 km south west of Minsk which would put it near the town of Stolbsty. On the other hand could "Sloboda West" be the same airfield that II.LG 2 was based at from 5 July 1941 to 6 August 1941 ? Any ideas ?

[Larry deZeng]

Sielec (Selets'): 10 km SSE of Wladimir Wolynsk (Volodymyr-Volynsky), which is 432 km SSW of Minsk. Source has this marked as an Einsatzhafen. Directory No. 10 2341. Map and grid square T51.41.1.

The only other possibility from this source is:

Sloboda-Boleschowska: 15 km SW of Bolechow, which is 22 km S of Stry (Stryj, Stryy) and nearly 1,200 km from Moscow. Construction was underway here in September 1943.

Source:
Genst.d.Lw. document OKL 903, Flugplatzübersicht der UdSSR, Sep 43.

Bottom Line: who knows? There are 35 places with the name "Sloboda" is Belarus (Belorussia). One of them was 47 km NNW of Smolensk and in German hands on 21 Jul 41, and the airfield there protected by elements of Res.Flak-Abt. 384, another in the Minsk area on 5 Jul 41 (II.(Schl.)/LG 2), another 72 km SW of Minsk on 10 Jul (Stab and I./KG 2, I./St.G. 2), another 25 km NE of Minsk on 17 Jul 41 (Koflug 11/XI). Another problem is that the active airfields by this name that were in western Belorussia/Eastern Poland in summer 1941 were quite like deactivated by the Germans by the end of 1941 and therefore may not appear in the September 1943 Directory. There were 2 others listed in this Directory but they can be ignored. One was 100 km NW of Orel and the other was 55 km WSW of Bryansk.

Other Sloboda, etc. locations:
Sielc: 27 km WSW of Ostroleka in NE Poland
Sloboda: 34 km E of Minsk.

L.

[Larry deZeng]

Postscript:

A large folding map from the Jochen Prien multi-volume series on the Jagdwaffe shows a Sloboda airfield 70 km E of Minsk city center and 4 km NNE of the town of Ravanichy. That's only approximate because I don't know how accurately the map in the book was drawn. Anyway, Stab/JG 27, III./JG 27, II./JG 52 and III./JG 53 were at Sloboda between 3 and 7 July 1941. This is the only "Sloboda" shown on the map that was being used by the Luftwaffe in July 1941.

L.

[oquaig]

Dang, I thought this one was gong to be easy...

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

Sielec (Selets'): 10 km SSE of Wladimir Wolynsk (Volodymyr-Volynsky), which is 432 km SSW of Minsk. Source has this marked as an Einsatzhafen. Directory No. 10 2341. Map and grid square T51.41.1.

The only other possibility from this source is:

Sloboda-Boleschowska: 15 km SW of Bolechow, which is 22 km S of Stry (Stryj, Stryy) and nearly 1,200 km from Moscow. Construction was underway here in September 1943.

I think we can dismiss these as they are in western Ukraine. KG. 2 was with Fliegerkorps VIII at the time and on 5 July was attacking Soviet road columns between Smolensk and Orsha. Whether at at Silce or Selische, it was from this place they also attacked Moscow on 20 July.

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

There are 35 places with the name "Sloboda" is Belarus (Belorussia). One of them was 47 km NNW of Smolensk and in German hands on 21 Jul 41...

Yes, and 14 of them west of the Dnepr -Dvina line which is as far as the Germans had advanced by 10 July. I am confining my search west of this line (one can find all 35 easily by going to a web site for muslim prayer times/Belarus, complete with GPS locations and a simple map).

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

in the Minsk area on 5 Jul 41 (II.(Schl.)/LG 2), another 72 km SW of Minsk on 10 Jul (Stab and I./KG 2, I./St.G. 2), another 25 km NE of Minsk on 17 Jul 41 (Koflug 11/XI). Another problem is that the active airfields by this name that were in western Belorussia/Eastern Poland in summer 1941 were quite like deactivated by the Germans by the end of 1941 and therefore may not appear in the September 1943 Directory.
Other Sloboda, etc. locations:
Sielc: 27 km WSW of Ostroleka in NE Poland
Sloboda: 34 km E of Minsk.

The last mentioned, Sloboda: 34 km E of Minsk, was a Soviet airfield and was the one in use by all the JG's you mentioned and sometimes referred to as "Sloboda Ost". I was also reminded that Slepnyanka airfield 5 Km east of Minsk (home of 313 RAP and the airfield where 161 IAP deployed forward to on 22 June to provide air cover for Minsk) was sometimes referred to as "Sloboda west". I am guessing this where II.LG 2 briefly stayed at before moving on to Lepel.

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

in the Minsk area on 5 Jul 41 (II.(Schl.)/LG 2), another 72 km SW of Minsk on 10 Jul (Stab and I./KG 2, I./St.G. 2)

Stolbsty is 72 Km SW of Minsk on the direct road to Minsk and 3 Km up that road is another Sloboda, but no Silce or Selische. Not under Fleigerkorps VIII area of operations and I./St.G. 2 did transfer to Fleigerkorps II about this time. I wonder if Stab and I./KG 2 came under Fleigerkorps II direction or if it remained with Fleigerkorps VIII ?

Oquaig

[Larry deZeng]

Finally -

Source map in Teil 1 page 320 shows Silce (Sitcy) to be 25.5 km SSW of Gebokie (Glubokoje) at coordinates 54 55 16 N – 27 32 13 E. The airfield appears to have been immediately E or SE of the village. It was practically adjacent to and on the NNW side of:

Parafjanowo (POL) (Pacrafanowo, Parafjanovo) (c. 54 52 30 N – 27 32 10 E)
General: landing ground (Landeplatz) in NE Poland c. 146 km E of Vilnius and 74 km W of Lepel. It was just 18 km on the Polish side of the 1941 border with the USSR.

The source map shows I./KG 2 at Silce from 9 Jul to 4 Aug, and 9./KG 2 to be at Parafjanowo from 9 Jul to 4 Aug 1941. The next day, 10 July, the Geschwaderstab arrived at Silce and the rest of III./KG 2 arrived at Parafjanovo. All of these elements remained under VIII. Fliegerkorps during the stay at these two airfields.

The Source text at p.324 speaks several times of Sloboda/West being the a.k.a. for Silce and describes the transfer there on 9 July by Ju 52. The men set up two-piece captured English tents with the Gruppenstab and 3. Staffel setting up next to a church, a cemetery and a stand of old trees, while 1. Staffel, 2. Staffel and the 2. Flughafenbetriebskompanie set up some distance away. The area was peaceful, so much so that the men were able to drive to a lake 30 km distance to swim and bathe.

The authority for the bombing of Moscow was Führer Directive No. 33 dated 19 Jul 41, and KG 2 made its first attack during the night of 21/22 July using Vitebsk as an Absprungbasis (advanced landing field to top off their fuel tanks).

On 4 August, everybody at Silce and Parafjanovo departed by air for Wereteni (Vereteni) between Pskov and Porkhov on the northern sector of the front.

Source:
Balke, Ulf. Der Luftkrieg in Europa: Die Operativen Einsätze des Kampfgeschwader 2 im Zweiten Weltkrieg.
Teil 1. Das Luftkriegsgeschehen 1939-1941: Polen, Frankreich, England, Balkan, Russland. Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 1989. ISBN: 3-7637-5883-6. Pb. 526p. Illus. Maps. Numerous appendices.
Teil 2. Der Luftkrieg Gegen England und über dem deutschen Reich 1941-1945. Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 1990. ISBN: 3-7637-5884-4. Pb. 531p. Illus. Maps. Numerous appendices. Bibliography.

L.

[oquaig]

Thank you very much Larry. I am going to get myself a copy of Balke's book.

best wishes
Oquaig

[robert]

Perhaps Sielce?

Regards

Robert

[oquaig]

One last question:
Several Hs 123 B-1's from 10 Staffel LG. 2 were involved in accidents at "Repicki" on 3-4 July 1941. At the same location of Silce and Paraf'janovo is the small village of Repichy (see map) could 10 Staffel LG. 2 have been using this same airfield as a forward landing field before moving on to Sloboda on 5 July 1941?

(The source of this map comes from Mapster.com: http://igrek.amzp.pl/mapindex.php?cat=ME300 and is a Deutsche Heereskarte 1941)

Oquaig

[Larry deZeng]

I would say the odds are 9 to 1. Many of the units and men did not know the "official" name for these obscure landing grounds and field airstrips during the rapid advance of June - October 1941. So they would call it by the name of the nearest village or hamlet. I am almost certain that is what happened here, especially since the Staffel arrived before anyone else and was evidently there for only a short time.

10.(Schl.)/LG 2
......................
22 Jun 41: station at or near Praschnitz (Przasnysz)/85 km N of Warsaw in northeast Poland with 22(17) Hs 123s.
22 Jun 41: commenced support operations under the control of II.(Schl.)/LG 2 and reported its first loss on 24 Jun when a Hs 123B-1 failed to return from the Grodno area.
Jul 41: moved forward between Vilnius and Minsk in support of advancing German armor.
3-4 Jul 41: several Hs 123B-1 accidents at Repicki (not located), a forward field strip along the line of advance, which generally followed that of II.(Schl.)/LG 2.
6 Jul 41: Hs 123B-1 shot down by AA fire at Bosheikovo (not located).
26 Jul 41: there is no further mention of the Staffel in the surviving documents for the next two months following this date, which suggests it may have been withdrawn to rest and refit.
..................

L.

[oquaig]

I just thought it was an odd coincidence that all three names (Silce, Paraf'janovo, Repichy) would be on the same map together. Never hurts to ask. In my searches for airfields in 1941 campaign, yes, rather often units named the airfield after the place they quartered. It makes it harder to find them when they are phonetically spelled in German. As always, thanks again

Oquaig