Me410-carnage over Oder 1945

[yogybär]

Does anyone know more about a disastrous bombrun of a Zerstörer-Gruppe towards Oder-bridges in 1945? I read that a whole Gruppe was shot down by Mustangs. Acc. to my source, only one plane (!) escaped. After that, it was planned to integrate this "Gruppe" into JG54.

Which Gruppe, what details on this mission like Mustangs-unit, their claims etc. are known?

[Merlin]

Hello Yogibär,

the story you read does contain a lot of "Fliegerlatein".

II./ZG 76 converted in December 1944 to Fw 190A-8 at Großenhain. Early February 1945 the unit was renamed III./JG 54.

On 22.03.45 the group had a bitter clash with Mustangs in the Strausberg - Eggersdorf area. Out of a total of 36 planes 6 were shot down with the pilot dead, one further aircraft crashed after returning to the base at Eggersdorf.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

II./ZG 76 was renamed III./JG 54 in end February 1945 (on the 27th), the former III./JG 54 having become IV./JG 26 two days before.

As for a disastrous mission, it is fairly possible that only one pilot returned to the group's base, while the other landed on the first base they found. Histories of JG 26 and JG 4 are full of battles ending like that with only a small portion of AC returning to base, but most of the "missing" AC not being really lost.

[yogybär]

Thanks, so it was II/ZG76.

They got their Fw in December 1944, and were renaemd III/JG54 in Feb45. So at least that mission was flown with Fockes, not with 410's. Nice to know.

Maybe we can still find out more about this specific Jabo-attack?

[Nokose]

II/ZG76 became the "reestablished" IV/JG54 in the spring of 1945. It was never under the control of JG54 but Jagddivision in Bad Saarow. More then 15 planes carrying 250 kg bombs were shot down by Mustangs attacking the Oder bridges and positions in the area of Goeritz-Lebus.

[yogybär]

Aaah... Thanks! Means, my source seems reliable and the data in www.ww2.dk is sometimes not. Nokose, do you know which USAAF fighter group was/were involved and on which date this happened?

[Nokose]

I can't give you any help there. My information came out of JG54 by w.Held, H.Trautloft and E. Bob. It has to be March or April 45. This last "IV" Gruppe was short lived being disband in April 45.

[Andreas Brekken]

Hello, guys.

Although I am not an expert I do believe something is wrong here.

My information states that the III./J.G.54 (the old one) were redesignated IV./J.G.26 in the end of February 1945, while the II./Z.G.76 became a new III./J.G.54 in the beginning of February 1945. So in theory one would have an overlapping period where both units used the same designation.

Looking at the loss records, there is a distinct change in the turn of the month between January and February 1945 when the losses of FW 190D-9's stop, and FW 190A-8's appear in the loss listings for III./J.G.54. Also - at the same time IV./J.G.26 starts reporting FW 190D-9's.

II./Z.G.76 reports a Me 410 lost on 27.01.1945, the last entry I have for this unit.

In my opinion this is a clean cut case.

II./Z.G.76 -> III./J.G.54 (approx 01.02.1945)
III./J.G.54 -> IV./J.G.26 (approx 01.02.1945)

And I think we should keep the IV. Gruppe out of this, they were not involved at all I believe and were in fact redesignated II./J.G.7 during the first week of February 1945. I do not know if the 'new' IV./J.G.54 supposedly led by Schloßstein were in action at all, at least they reported no aircraft losses in the reporting period 01.02.1945 through 01.04.1945.

Best regards,
Andreas B

[Nokose]

The IV was disbanded in Feb 45 because of losses and the remaining members transfered to JG7. The Fw190's that the second IV had were not D's but appear to be A'S in the pictures of Hrabak and Schlossstein.

[Nokose]

Andreas, You were right about the II/ZG76 being converted into the III/JG54 in Feb45 but the old III/JG54 still existed. It was causing problems with the quartmaster who was getting losses from both III, one for Fw190 D-9's and the other for Fw 190 A-8's. They may have had a switch of Gruppe numbers to stop this problem in March 45. The old II/ZG76 in there FW190A's appear to be in the Ost front area of service after there conversion.