Hptm. Emil Lang's crash site

[Eagle0025]

I am not sure if I ever posted this request before, but here goes. Has anyone ever tried to locate the crash site of Hptm. Emil Lang, II/JG26 CO, from when he was shot down and killed by P-51s of the 55th FG on Sept. 3, 1944? If so, does anyone know where the exact crash site is? I have yet to find any source that documents the aftermath of Lang's crash (crash site investigation, funeral for Lang?)

Regards, Gary Koch (474th FG Association Historian)

[George Hopp]

In "Die Ritterkreuztraeger der Luftwaffe 1939-1945, Band I - Jagdflieger" by Ernst Obermaier, p.64, the author says that on 3 Sept 44 as Emil Lang took off from St. Trond he was surprised by several Spitfires, crashed from 200m altitude and died immediately. His a/c was Fw 190 A-8,171 240, Green 1.

Sorry, nothing further,
George

PS. In his book, "The JG 26 War Diary --Part 2 1943-45, Donald Caldwell theorizes that it was Lt. Cramer of the 55th Figher Group who shot down Lang. But, no mention of Lang's subsequent fate, ie. burial location.

[Alain57]

Hello ,

It "seems" that Hptm Lang was on a transfer flight from Melsbroek ( Brussels ) to Germany. His aircraft came down at the village of Overhespen 13 km west of St-Trond ( Sint-Truiden in flemish ) Hptm Lange was born on january 14 th 1909 , he is buried as unknown on the German cemetery of Lommel Belgium.

Greetings

[montana]

Hi,

Unlike the statement made by Caldwell in his book, Hptm Emil Lang was not shot down by Mustang of the 55 FG, but he was shot down by F/Lt Spencer from the 41 Squadron flying Spit XII. The pilots of the 41 Sqn encountered Lang and his wingmen in the Overhespen area, while the 55 FG pilots met Fw 190s taking off from Grimbergen...

[Eagle0025]

Thanks all! This is the first that I have heard of a more precise crash site (Overhespen) and a burial location (Lommel). This is also the first time I have heard more clarification on who shot Lang down.

Cheers, Gary

[Leo Etgen]

Hi guys

I have to say that I agree with the assessment that Lang was shot down and killed by S/Ldr Terence Spencer of 41 Sqn, RAF and not 1/Lt Darrell Cramer of the 338th FS, 55th FG, USAAF. Shores and Thomas write that Cramer's claim does not match with the location where Lang went down and it should be known that during the air battle Leutnant Alfred Gross (52 victories, RK) who was flying with Lang and Unteroffizier Hans-Joachim Borreck claimed a Spitfire fighter. In fact, one of the eight attacking Spitfire XII fighters was indeed shot down, this being flown by W/O PW Chattin, who was killed. Spencer later stated that he did not see any Mustangs in the inmediate area during the engagement. However, the 55th FG did not come away from the day empty handed as they were responsible for bringing an end to the career of Leutnant Karl-Heinz Kempf (65 victories, RK).

Horrido!

Leo

[Alain57]

Hi ,

Perhaps this on Lt Kempf

03/09/1944
Baal ( Belgium )
Fw-190 A-8
WNr-171739
2./JG 26
Schwarze 9+
Lt Kempf Karl-Heinz (KIA)
Born at Niederwihl 02/02/1920
Buried Waldshut-Tiengen-Bergfriedhof Q-1

Greets

[John Manrho]

Interesting, I never realized that Hptm. Lang did not have a known grave. Indeed he took off from Melsbroek for a transfer flight to Düsseldorf. Unfortunately the copy of the VLM I have is barely readable. However, it seems there was a Nachmeldung of the unit on Oct. 7, 1944 on the fate of Hptm. Lang. Don't know what that is.

However, I can tell you something about the term "Unter den Unbekannten". This is a phrase used by the VDK and indicates that Hptm. Lang is buried at Lommel but was not identified and rest in an unknown grave. At least, that is what you would believe.....this is not always the case.

Let me try to explain by using the Cemeteries of Ysselsteyn and Lommel (B) as an example. Ysselsteyn (NL) was created by the Dutch government to establish a grave location for all German dead in the Netherlands. The Dutch Grave Registration Unit performed the task of relocating them and admistrated the cemetery until the mid seventies when it was taken over by the VDK. The first burials at Ysselsteyn however were done by the Americans. They transferred the 3,000+ German dead from the Margraten Burial Site and buried them at the same blocks in Ysselsteyn. This means that the first 10 Blocks at Ysselsteyn (Block A to I with 300 Graves each) are an exact copy of Margraten. Of each burial there is the original Report of Burial of the US Grave registration units. Then the Dutch Army started reburials and from each re-burial there is an individual report. They are very accurate.

There are "Unter den Unbekannten" at Ysselsteyn too. Sometimes there were German documents that a soldier was buried at a Dutch cemetery but after the war the Dutch could not find him. This resulted in an UdU. However, there are also cases, for instance a pilot lost during Market Garden in the Arnhem area, where the UdU phrase is used but there is no proof at all that he was shot down over the Netherlands let alone recovered as an unknown. So, don't believe the phrase UdU means anything if you do not have access to the VDK file and have read what's in it.

Lommel is even worse. Again the Belgium MoD started reburials to Lommel. In this case there are no individual reports, at least I never saw them. There were lists at VDK Kassel from which cemeteries they original came from but these lists were lost in the late nineties when they were thrown away by mistake..... maybe copies of the lists exist somewhere else, but I do not know that. Only the reburials from US Cemeteries like Fosse and Henri-Chapelle (yes there was a German cemetery too) are properly recorded by Report of Burials.

Finally the reburials at Lommel were a mess at a certain stage. When the German VDK took over as caretaker they opened up several graves of unknown to discover that the names on the crosses did not match with the graves....sometimes in certain rows the actual graves were 2 or more graves shifted compared with the names on the crosses.....

Furthermore the example I gave for Ysselsteyn in reference to the UdU cases is valid for Lommel. too.

So, allthough Hptm. Emil Lang is listed as Unter den Unbekannten for Lommel it doesnt mean anything if you don't know the content of the VDK file.

Cheers,

John.

[George Hopp]

Shores and Thomas write that Cramer's claim does not match with the location where Lang went down

Which book(s) are you referring to, Leo?

[Leo Etgen]

Hi George

The information is from 2nd Tactical Air Force Volume 2. The authors consider that it was S/Ldr Terry Spencer who downed Lang, stating that 1/Lt Darrell Cramer's claim was made at 13:20 north-east of Brussels while Spencer's claim was made at that time east of Tirlement. By the way, would anyone know which of the two locations is closer to Overhespen? Perhaps that could help resolve this mystery somewhat.

Horrido!

Leo