NSGr 9 activity on 3 March 1945

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hello,

In the morning of 3 March 1945, an unit of the 10th US Moutain Division was bombed by an aircraft before the division attacks. Here is what reports an US soldier:
"March 3, 1945, was when my number came up, because the Germans wanted back the exact section of the Apennine Mountains I happened to be stationed in. And the engineers were putting in some kind of a bridge there while I stood by with ammo. I had received my K ration and was trying to heat up a can of food, whatever it was, and that’s the last thing I remember before a captured American plane painted black that looked like our guys flew right over and decimated my area. That German tactic killed 14 in the 10th Mountain, and 24 were wounded, and I was one. I’ve been told I was blown out of a building and suffered a concussion and nervous disorientation. I can’t remember that moment, it’s all blanked out. The only reason I knew about any of this stuff is because I get flashbacks from time to time."

My first ID while reading it was that it was another case of "friendly fire", with an Allied pilot bombing the unit, but I have read in the book "Air War Italy 1944-1945" that Fw 190 of 1./NSGr. 9 were active that day, doing at least three attack sorties in the evening (and losing one aircraft and the Staffelkapitan killed in a fight vs P-47s).

Such a Fw 190 will probably be in dark color and so can be reported as painted black, and I guess we can forgive an US infantryman to not recognize the aircraft that bombed him: in Italy in 1944-45, he sure saw much more American aircraft than German ones, especially Fw 190s as they were fairly new in Italy (the witness above reached Italy after the Fw 190s left Italy in mid-1944).

But it is just a guess, so here is my question: is there a trace of a German sortie in the morning of 3 March 1945 on the Italian front ? The evening sortie was intercepted by P-47s and so was probably a daylight/dusk sortie rather than a night one, so a dawn/morning sortie could have been possible.

Thanks in advance.

[Nick Beale]

Such a Fw 190 will probably be in dark color

They weren't, all the available photos show that the Fw 190s of 1./NSGr. 9 were painted in normal day fighter camouflage. Reports of all-black aircraft (of various types) are a recurring feature of the Italian campaign for some reason.

is there a trace of a German sortie in the morning of 3 March 1945 on the Italian front?

Not that I was able to find in either Allied or German sources. Strafing of Highway 65 was reported the 1st and then there was the combat on the evening of the 3rd.

When I came to write "Ghost Bombers: The Moonlight War of NSG 9" (Classic, 2001) I was able to include the recollections of Ltn. Willi Ferling, the surviving Fw 190 pilot from the 3 March evening mission, as well as those of Delbert Wylder who flew one of the P-47s..

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Thanks Nick,

I found several files describing the battles of 10th Mountain Division here:
http://www.sulleormedeinostripadri.i...-division.html

There reports are quite detailled. For example, the 87th Regiment's history has 6.5 pages on 3 March 1945, and I think all men KIA or fatally wounded that day are listed by name. The 86th history provides less details, but still had 5 pages on 3 March 1945 and gives the names and loss circumstances of 6 men. I could find 8 more on ABMC and FindaGrave databases. The 85th was in reserve and only lost 1 KIA and some WIA.

An air attack leaving 14 dead and 24 wounded would certainly have been noticed in these reports, as it will be a significant part of the day's casualties. But there is no mention of it in any of the documents available on the site above.

By the way, I found 14 dead for 86th Mountain Regiment for the whole day, not just one incident, and I wonder if the veteran did not mix things and is attributing the whole day losses to the incident that crippled him.