Operation Market Garden

[Sylvester Stadler]

In his history of the 9th SS Panzer Division, Hohenstaufen, Herbert Fürbringer mentions that during Operation Market Garden, German fighters of the Ist Jagddivision intercepted the transports and gliders bringing reinforcements to the American airborn divisions and to the British 1st Airborn Division at Arnhem and shot down numerous transports (C-47s) and gliders.

Going through the claims lists of the German fighter units during the period of 17-27 September 1944, I note claims for DC-3s but none for any type of glider. Since a glider is not powered by an engine and that claims for aircraft include single-engine, twin-engine and multi-engine types, is it correct to assume that no credit was given for the destruction of a glider when destroyed in the air?

On the History Channel, I once saw gun-camera film from a German fighter which was shooting at a glider which had the black and white invasion stripes. I could not see whether the glider was hit by the gunfire but it proves that such aircraft were indeed targets of German fighters.