Bf 109E losses of Erg.Gruppe/StG 3 in early 1943

[Boris Ciglic]

In early 1943 Erg.Gr./StG 3 had several Bf 109E-4 and E-7 on its rooster. It seems that six of them were written off in February 1943 and one in April. Anybody having some additional information about it?

Cheers,
Boris

[Andreas Brekken]

Hi!

The summary loss record does not show any losses of Bf 109s of this unit in March 1943 - 2 aircraft were transferred out of the unit for overhaul, and two were transferred to another unit - reducing the number of Bf 109s in the unit form 9 to 5.

In April 1943 they did indeed loose one aicraft in a landing accident:

http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db...?lossid=135416

Regards,
Andreas B

[Boris Ciglic]

Dear Andreas,

Thanks a lot for the data provided. I thought that both Staffeln and Stab of Erg.Gr./StG 3 were at Agram-Borongaj at the time, one Staffel being actively deployed in Unternehmen Weiss in Bosnia and Croatia, yet W.Nr.3805 was lost at Eulesis near Athens. I also looked into monthly summaries and there were no losses in march, but in February they state that one Bf 109E was lost to enemy action and five more "ohne Feindeinwirkung".

Cheers,
Boris

[Larry deZeng]

Boris -

This might help a little:

IV.(Erg.)/St.G. 3
Training in Greece and Italy. (Oct 41 - Jan 43)
15 Oct 41: Würzburg with about 20 crews in training.
29-30 Oct 41: transferred from Würzburg to Salonika-Sedes in Greece.
2 Dec 41: Ju 87R-1 crashed at Fp.Salonika-Sedes, 100%, 2 WIA.
9-10 Feb 42: transferred from Salonika-Sedes to Piacenza/N Italy with a brief stop over at Foggia/C Italy.
1 Oct 42: all or elements now at San Severo near Foggia. Trainees at this point were only with the Staffel for 6 weeks before being sent to one of the operational Gruppen.
17 Nov 42: Ju 87D-3 dove into the ground at Fp.San Severo, 100%, 1 KIA and 1 WIA.
10 Dec 42: Ju 87B-1 dove into the ground at Agazzano/18 km SW of Piacenza, 80%, 2 WIA.
1 Jan 43: Gruppe reported 28 x Ju 87D/R and 1 x Bf 109E-4 on strength.

Training and Anti-Partisan Operations in Yugoslavia and Greece. (Jan 43 - May 43)
15-20 Jan 43: transferred from Piacenza to Zagreb/Croatia to provide Stuka support for Operation “Weiss”, a major anti-partisan offensive against Tito’s communist bands in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Over the course of “Weiss”, which ran from January into March, the Gruppe flew at least 106 combat missions.
12 Feb 43: Ju 87R-4 burned out at Zagreb after the engine caught fire, 100%, 1 WIA.
24 Feb 43: Ju 87R-4 shot up and crash landed at Sarajevo, 15%.
2 Mar 43: Gruppenstab and one Staffel now at Athens-Kalamaki assigned to X.Fliegerkorps with a reinforced second Staffel at Zagreb.
23 Mar 43: 13 Ju 87s at Athens-Kalamaki and 21 at Zagreb.
1 Apr 43: Gruppe reported 2 x Ju 87R-1, 10 x R-2, 4 x R-4, 4 x D-1, 8 x D-3, 4 x Bf 109E-7 and 1 x Bf 109E-4 on strength.

[Sources for the above]:
AFHRA Maxwell/PRO London: P/W interrogation ADI(K) 320D/42.
All loss entries are from BA-MA Freiburg: RL 2 III Gen.Qu.(6.Abt.) Meldungen über Flugzeugunfälle und Verlust… (LRs – Loss Reports). This is the Staffel’s first reported loss.
AFHRA-P/W interrogation CSDIC AFHQ No. 5, 12 May 43.
BA-MA - Flugzeug-Bereitstellungen (Aircraft Availability Status Reports – FzB) in: Holm-website; all subsequent entries of this type are from this source.
PRO London: DEFE 3/ULTRA signals VM1878, VM5386; Nauroth-Stuka 2:262.
ULTRA signal VM5386.
ULTRA signal VM7337.

L.

[byron-]

Hi Larry,

nice work. Here some losses in Greece

FF. Uffz. Schweiger, Ju 87 R1 (W.Nr.5478) 100% , BF. Uffz. Brehm, Absturz, beide (vw.) 02.12.41 Fl.Pl. Sedes,
FF. Uffz. Wener Hockenderfer, Ju 87 R4 (W.Nr. 6334) 100% Absturz Zagreb infolge Motorfeuer 12.02.43,
FF. Uffz. Richard Gross, Ju 87 R1 (W.Nr. 0259) 80% m. BF. Uffz. Otto Seiler, beide (vw.) 10.12.42 Araxos,
FF. Ogfr. Wolfgang Wollmann (+), Bf 109 E7 (W.Nr. 3805) 100% Bruchlandung 13.04.43 Fl.Pl. Eleusis,
FF. Ltn. Dr. Horst Müller, Ju 87 (W.Nr. 6263) 90% BF. Uffz. Friedrich Kozminsky, beide (+) 26.04.43 Fl.Pl. Tatoi,
FF. Ltn. Walter Pöttmann (+), Absturz, 26.04.43 Tatoi, BF. unverletzt,
FF. Uffz. Friedel Wieker, Ju 87 (S7+MU, W.Nr. 2534) 100% mit BF. Herbert Meyer beide (+), durch Absturz infolge Heckabriss am 01.06.43 in Marathon.