Platzschutzstaffel Pitomnik

[Witold K.]

Good mornig
I'm looking for an info about Platzschutzstaffel Pitomnik.
All the best

[Teresa Maria]

Dear Witold,
Some information can be found on this forum: https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic...mnik-campaign/
and on this forum: https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=79735
If you know German, there is an entry in Metapedia: https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Platzs...omnik%E2%80%9C (well, Metapedia is quite political, so it's not always objective, but you can focus on more concrete information)
There are also some videos on YouTube, like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJNQkVuCK98 (in English)
There are more in German, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCgrrp9rJ9Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWIj-EbmTsM


Good luck!

[Nick Hector]

Hi Witold,

In addition to the online sources that Teresa Maria has listed, some very good in-print information on the unit is available in Christer Bergstroem's Black Cross + Red Star series.

For myself, I was deeply impressed that a unit operating under those circumstances had such outstanding victory claim accuracy in comparison to the losses reported by the VVS units serving against them

[Juri_JS]

If you can read German, good information can be found here:

Jochen Prien/Gerhard Stemmer: Messerschmitt Bf 109 im Einsatz bei Stab und I. Jagdgeschwader 1938 - 1945

Jochen Prien/Gerhard Stemmer: Messerschmitt Bf 109 im Einsatz bei der II. Jagdgeschwader 3 : 1940 - 1945

'50 Jahre nach Stalingrad - Nur zwei Mann der I. und II./JG 3 "Udet" kamen aus Sowjetrußland zurück - Erinnerungen an die Platzschutzstaffel Pitomnik von Kurt Ebener', Jägerblatt 1993-1

Gero von Langsdorff: 'Jagdflieger in Stalingrad: Aus den Aufzeichnungen des Oberleutnant Kurt Ebener', Deutsches Soldatenjahrbuch, 1973


I think there are also English versions of the books by Prien and Stemmer, but I don't know if the content is identical.

[Witold K.]

Teresa Maria, Nick, Juri
Thank You for answers and info. Indeed a whole lot of sources.
So far I was able to identyfied following JG 3 personell flying from Pitomnk between 12 December 1942 and 17 January 1943:

I./JG3

Uffz. Hubert Buschmann 1./JG 3
Ltn. Alfred Humer 1./JG 3
Uffz. Theodor Kaiser 1./JG 3
Fw. Willmann 1./JG 3
Hptm. Rudolf Germeroth 2./JG 3
Ltn. Friedrich Lorentzen 2./JG 3
Ltn. Georg Schentke 2./JG 3
Ltn. Franz Daspelgruber 3./JG 3
Uffz. Richard Eisele 3./JG 3
Uffz. Kurt Hofrath 3./JG 3
Uffz. Heinz Obst 3./JG 3
Uffz. Otto Wirth 3./JG 3
Uffz. Wünsche

II./JG3

Oblt. Werner Lucas 4./JG 3
Gefr. Heinrich May 4./JG 3
Uffz. Kurt Ebener 4./JG 3
Uffz. Hans Frese 4./JG 3
Uffz. Georg Pissarski 4./JG 3
Uffz. Hans Grünberg 5./JG 3
Fw. Rudolf Traphan 5./JG 3
Uffz. Arnold Bringmann 5./JG 3
Uffz. Waldemar Eyrich 6./JG 3
Ltn. Gustav Frielinghaus 6./JG 3

III/.JG3

Ofw. Gustav Dilling 8./JG 3
Gefr. Hans Reiff 8./JG 3

[VtwinVince]

Wasn't Helmut Rueffler a high claimer during this period? I think I have a copy of the Abschuss-Tafel of 4. JG3 from this period.

[stephen f. polyak]

A piece of trench art attributed to III./JG 3 is marked "Gumrak" and dated "7.IX.42." Does this date relate to an event recorded for the unit?

[Karl]

According to

https://www.luftwaffe.cz/langer.html

Karl-Heinz Langer was also with Platzschutzstaffel Pitomnik. Langer was wounded on 17 December 1942, when his Bf 109 G-2 (W.Nr. 13 739) rolled over an unexploded bomb on the airfield at Pitomnik near Stalingrad and detonated.

[edwest2]

I regard any so-called 'trench art' with a high degree of suspicion unless a clear chain of custody exists.


Ed

[VtwinVince]

Agreed. Stephen, can you show us the piece in question?