Valence airfield

[Andy Mitchell]

In the Air 20/40 decripts there is reference to the following:-

"10 Jun 1944 - (Valence to ARC 3/XIII) that protection of the A/F cannot be guaranteed if 2 pns Flak removed, in view present patriot situation." (Ultra T.212/7)

I have two questions:-

(a) Valence - is anyone able to identify which Fliegerhorst-Kommandantur or Flugplatzkommando was responsible for Valence airfield in June 1944. I have checked Holm and cannot find reference to Valence other than for KG 26 and LLG 1 and leichte Flak-Abteilung 741 (v).
leichte Flak-Abteilung 741 (v) is recorded as being at Valence at this time and is noted as being controlled by Flak-Brigade 5 from Aug 1944.

(b) pns - anyone have a clue what this means..........

[Andy Saunders]

Could that be 2 cms flak? A typo possibly?

[Andy Mitchell]

Andy,

Thanks for the quick response and your suggestion. Quite possibly, as 2 cm flak would be very useful in an anti-personnel role.

Many thanks

[Larry deZeng]

(a) Valence - is anyone able to identify which Fliegerhorst-Kommandantur or Flugplatzkommando was responsible for Valence airfield in June 1944. I have checked Holm and cannot find reference to Valence other than for KG 26 and LLG 1 and leichte Flak-Abteilung 741 (v).

According to Air Ministry A.I.3. (E)/D. of I.(O) document of 30.6.44, "G.A.F. Airfield Organization as at 28.6.44", on page 7 of 18, Valence is shown as "Airfield Detachment Valence" under A.R.C. 3/XIII Lyons. A German document found in NARA WashDC, RG 242, Microcopy T-971 roll 18/frame 072ff that gives all of the airfield commands under Feld-Luftgaukdo. Westfrankreich as of 1.7.44 shows Valence as a Flugplatzkdo. belonging to Fl.H.Kdtr. E(v) 221/XII (Lyon-Bron).

So there you have it. Across German-occupied Europe, there were many hundreds of airfields, airstrips, landing grounds and related that were too little-used to warrant and justify a full-blown Fliegerhorstkommandantur, so these were designated as unnumbered Flugplatzkommandos and subordinated to the nearest Fliegerhorstkommandantur. Some Fliegerhorstkommandanturen had 3 or 4 of them. They had a much smaller personnel and equipment complement and were usually commanded by a Oberleutnant or a Hauptmann. And such was the case for Valence.

Larry

[RT]

Valence is a town in France grossly 200 km South of Lyon, airport used before nd during the landing in Provence in august , used also as park/Feldwerkstatt, many planes hv been found there abandonned, Ju88..

Remi

[Andy Mitchell]

Guys,

Larry, Remi, and Nick - many thanks for your insights and information this helps greatly in trying to understand some of these decript summaries.

Nick - thanks for that. I have now found reference to Valence la Trésorerie in the following page http://natureonline.com/37/55-ap3-timeline.html - look for the entry of 8-15-44.

Remi - thank you for the additional information regarding Valence.

Larry - so much information, many thanks for the detail on the Flugplatzkommando and its controlling Fliegerhorstkommandantur.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Andy Mitchell

In the Air 20/40 decripts there is reference to the following:-

(b) pns - anyone have a clue what this means..........

Platoons (= Flakzüge)?

If in Allied documents see references to La Trésorerie, that's Valence, too.

[dsetzer]

The B-25 bombers of the 340th Bombardment Group stationed on Corsica hit (or tried to hit) the arifield at Valence/La Tresorerie on August 20, 1944.

It was not their finest moment. They missed.

See:

http://57thbombwing.com/340th_Histor...44_Valence.htm

For the target photos, mission report and war diary entries.

[Andy Mitchell]

Many thanks Dan.

Have added this and a link to the 340th page onto the entry for Valence here

[dsetzer]

Thank you for adding a link to the 340th Bomb Group page covering the attack on Valence / La Tresorerie Aerodrome.


Your work on that web site is quite prodigious. You are creating a structure that can be fleshed-out to be an important resource for researchers.


I have an interest in the Lehrgeschwaders 1 because my father was on the ground in Corsica in May 1944 when they came in and totally destroyed the entire bomb group fleet of aircraft and killed many soldiers on airfield at Alesani.


It was the last large-scale success of the Luftwaffe during the war. After the war Goering himself pointed to it as one of their major successes.


I have published accounts of the raid (from both sides) here:


http://home.comcast.net/~dhsetzer/taghon/Korsika_index.htm


The 340th Bomb Group was known as the “Bridge Busters” and concentrated mostly on destroying transportation infrastructure. They did attack airfields and troop concentrations on rare occasions.


I have photos of their attack on the German airfield at Eleusis – Athens on November 16, 1943 along with accounts of the attack from both sides. Contact me if you would like copies for your wiki.


Keep up the good work!