St Kap 3/123 Aug 43

[Chris Goss]

Does anyone know who was St Kap of 3/123 at the time of its 2000th mission on 28 Aug 43? Possibilities are Hptm Hermann Spreen?

[Doug Stankey]

A quick search of our database reveals the following incomplete list of Staka of 3.(F)/Aufkl.Gr. 123:

Hptm. Liebe-Piederit (? - 01.09.39 – 19.07.40) KIA
Oblt. Adolf Friedrichs (08.40 - 1941/42)
Hptm. Hermann Palm (? – 05.42 - ?)
Hptm. Siegfried Kirch (? – 22.03.43?)
Helmut Schuke (22.03.43? – 11.04.43) MIA
Hptm. Helmut Höfer (? – 1944 ?)
Hptm. Christian Jährig (1944 - 03.45 – 08.05.45)

As for Spreen, all we have about this guy is:

SPREEN, Hermann. 01.10.41 promo to Hptm. 01.09.44 promo to Maj.

Larry might have more about this in his unit files but he is unavailable until near the end of the month.

That’s about all I can say about this

DGS

[Jérémie Tarpon]

Hello Chris,

According to Roman Gastager (Roman Gastager und die "Eiserne Dritte" by Ingo Möbius, published in 2005), Helmut Höfer is your man. Gastager actually identifies him on some of the photographs taken for this event.

Doug, thank you for your list!

Best regards,

Jérémie

[Chris Goss]

Jérémie

I have a series of photos of what is said to be the Groth crew with the St Kap standing in front; is this the same?

Chris

[ju55dk]

Originally Posted by Chris Goss

Jérémie

I have a series of photos of what is said to be the Groth crew with the St Kap standing in front; is this the same?

Chris

Hi Chris.

In the mentioned book the 2000 flight occured 23.08.1943. Ju 88 4U+BL. Take off 16.43 and landing after 1100 km at 19.40. Crew were B Oblt. Klien, FF Oblt. Müller, Bf Kirch and Bs Gastager. They were Greeted by StKptn. Hptm Helmut Höfer.

Junker

[Jérémie Tarpon]

Chris, I don't know these photos, but Helmut Höfer remained as Staffelkapitän till after the retreat from France to Germany in August 1944 and the Groth crew - Uffz Helmut Retsch (F), Oblt Klaus Groth (B), Uffz Horst Ballewski or Ballowski (Bf) and Fw Ernst Beyer (Bs) - was shot down and killed by 2 Allied Fighters during a test/training flight on 21 March 1944. Thus, photos showing the Groth crew with Hptm Höfer would not be completely unexpected.

Best regards,

Jérémie

[Chris Goss]

Jérémie
Thanks for this; I ha a number of photos of Groth & the burial of his crew.

Junker/Jérémie
Is this Gastager book worthwhile or just something based on his Flugbuch?

Chris

[ju55dk]

Hi Chris.

I think it's worthwhile because it's a mix of some flights from his Flugbuch, and also the daily life in this Staffel. Gastager was with the unit from 1940 until the end.

Junker

[Jérémie Tarpon]

I agree with Junker: from a purely factual point of view, the book reflects Gastager's flying log, except that he sometimes has precise recollections of some flights. Moreover, you have numerous photographs and an interesting insight in the Staffel life. Surprisingly, I have recently discovered (thanks to Brian Bines) that there is an English version of the book (The Easter Bunnies) with a different author (???), almost the same content, but some additional photos and a partial loss list.

Best regards,

Jérémie

[Chris Goss]

Just got a 2nd hand copy of 'The Easter Bunnies'. Must say that the photo quality is dreadful, text is interesting in places but incomplete and the appendices appear to have been added as an after thought to bump up the page count. I need to compare some of the dates and incidents with my records but it does identify the St Kap in the Summer of 43 as being Höfer but my photos are slightly different