Lent papers - a question

[Franek Grabowski]

Hello
Anyone having the book? I cannot check it personally. Is there anything concerning combat and subsequent crash of Lent on 9 September 1939?
Thanks

[lritger]

I can check tonight when I get home.

Lynn

[Franek Grabowski]

OK, no hurry.
TIA

[George Hopp]

No. For the 9th the author mentions that "on the 9th came the destruction of his 3rd a/c on the ground, a PZL 24, the 8th by the Staffel overall." He does mention being forced down on the 12th, however.

[Franek Grabowski]

Thanks! Are there any details concerning his landing on 12 September? I am curious if it is misdated or another incident.

[Marius]

The 12th September is a mistake done by the author. It only seems to be an author`s try of date conclusion.
The 9th is right (is confirmed by many original documents). According to page 41 Lent wrote in a letter that on Sunday (could only be the 10th September) Führer cogratulated him on his succesful emergency landing. Indeed Hitler was on 10.9.1939 in Kielce-Maslow at appr. 14.30 hours.

The interesting thing for you could be the fact that the starboard engine of Lent`s Bf 110C was shot out by a Polish fighter (surely 152 eskadra). So you can eventually count this aircraft as one further Polish fighter victory.

By the way the book does not contain any appendixes with sources used by the author - books, documents or whatever. So the question is how many errors were made. For example starting with the first 1th September 1939 mission against the airfield in Krakau (Krakow) Hinchcliff wrote about escorting for He 111`s of KG 4. Everybody writing about this bombing attack is making the same error coping each others false informations.
The bombers were in fact Do 17E`s of KG 77.

Marius

[Franek Grabowski]

Thanks for confirmation but I do not know, why do you credit 152 EM with the victory. Circumstances and place of loss indicate Lent was downed by a pilot of ex-131 EM who fought with a lonely Me 110 in Kamienna area. I have not found accounts of 152 EM pilots but account of Łapkowski indicates he fought with bombers, claiming a damaged or probable and only then with Me 110s.
A question is, is the book worth anything in way of first hand accounts of combats in Poland?

[George Hopp]

This is how the author describes that part of the war: "In a letter home he spoke of these achievements - and of an unexpected encounter on the 12th September with another Polish a/c:
"Since I last wrote you I have set fire to another 3 Polish machines (erlier reading shows that that previous letter was written on 3 Sep) on the ground. As I was having a go at a 4th a Pole took me by surprise and attacked me, shooting my starboard engine out. I had to make a forced landing behind our lines (a footnote says it was probably a PZL 37 'Elk', a twin-engine, low-wing monoplane). On Sunday the Fuhrer was with us, and he congratulated me on my successful emergency landing. (There was a picture of me in the newspaper as well). Goring visited us on Wednesday and spoke of our Gruppe's great successes. Greetings from your son, who enjoys merciful protection."

If as Marius said, the Sunday that Hitler visited Lent's unit was on the 10th of September, the incident obviously occurred prior to that. But, Hitler was still in Poland on the next Sunday, the 17th, it might just have happened during the following week. So, what are your original documents that support the shoot-down on the 9th?

[George Hopp]

In his book, Wolfgang Falck mentions that on 9.9.39 he received orders to fly to Breslau to escort GFM Goring's Ju 52 on a tour of some flying units in Poland.

This equates well with Marius's contention that the Sunday mentioned was 10.9.39, since Lent mentions Goring visiting them the following Wednesday (13.9.39?).

[Marius]

Göring was on 13th September in Kielce and decorated some pilots of I./ZG 76 with E.K.II`s.

The loss of Lent`s aircraft on the 9th is easy to find. Even in GQM`s loss lists it is stated as "emergency landing". But also in the war diary of I./ZG 76 and in other German documents.

Franek, the aerial combat of 131 eskadra with a "Me 110" is one of many legends published in Poland. You surely mean the victory of por. Lech Grzybowski. But he fought with a lone Heinkel He 46 of 4.(H)/23. The aircraft fell to the ground near Ozorkow. Both aircrew died.
I wrote about this in "Lotnictwo Wojskowe" in my article about the dyon III/3.

Concerning por. Lapkowski`s combat on the 9th please read my article about Pursuit Brygada in the newest issue of Militaria XX wieku.

The book "Lent Papers" does not contain unknown first hand accounts for the Polish campaign. You will find more of them in my book "Jagdflieger". I used there Lent`s personal accounts for the first two days of September. The rest of it seems to have been gone lost.

Marius