SS Fallschirmjäger Btl. 500 Drvar May 1944, "Rösselsprung" - ebay photo find #380

 

 "Rösselsprung" was a failed German airborne and ground operation aimed at capturing or killing the Yugoslav Partisan leader Marshal Josip Broz ('Tito') in the Bosnian town of Drvar. Launched on 25 May 1944, the 'airborne' part of the assault was carried out by the SS-FJ battalion 500 - some 340 paratroopers were transported on board 34 DFS 230 gliders, the remainder of the battalion jumping from TG 4 Ju 52 Transporter. Meanwhile the town of Drvar was also bombed by the Luftwaffe. The gliders were towed by Hs 126 and Ju 87 tugs. A number of these images appeared in subsequent German newpaper reports - almost certainly taken by PK Berichter. In the end the operation was a failure - the area was well-defended by strong partisan forces while German intelligence regarding Tito's exact location was faulty. 

This was the image of victory that was publicized. These F-J paras show off their trophies including the flags of the Allied Mission. The rifle of the man in the middle has a grenade launcher on its muzzle.

296 Verlag set to close

 

Some sad news. According to the email that just dropped, Dr Kurt Braatz is closing his 296 Verlag at the end of the year. 296 Verlag has produced some marvellous titles over the years and some of the best Luftwaffe memoirs and biographies bar none. I'm assuming that this news means there will be no English-language translation of Jules Meimberg's book - my 'favourite' Luftwaffe memoir - or any of the other '296' memoirs and biographies in fact - Josten, Krupinski, Cescotti etc etc. Small consolation, up to year's end (20 December) all remaining stock while available is price-dropped - just 15 euros per volume (63% off listed). Wolfrum, Zorner and Drewes are now OOP.

296 catalogue overview and orders here

 

An extract from Roderich Cescotti's "Langstreckenflug" on this blog - flying the Do 217 M-11

Dewoitine D.520s and Arados in JG 105, Chartres

 

A line-up of D.520s with a single Ar 96 of JG 105 in early 1944. The story of JFS 5/JG 105 from June 1941 to June 1944 is told in Avions issue No. 253 (July/August 2023). 

The numbers of machines and pilots lost during 1944 is notable, no doubt the result of short-cuts in training programmes, the employment of non-German types, Allied bombing raids on French airfields and RAF fighter sweeps. During February 1944 there was an accident or incident every day of the month  - on 6 February a strafing attack destroyed two  D.520s and on the 9th a D.520 was shot down by 166 Sqn Typhoons**. During March 1944 Chartres was bombed on the 2nd (six D.520s damaged or destroyed), raided by RAF Typhoons of 174 Sqn on the 16th and bombed again on 27 March (five D.520s destroyed). During April 1944 there were over 60 accidents and incidents with an important bombing raid on April 10. In total, some 51 aircraft were damaged or written off during the month. The last mention of a D.520 in JG 105 was 20 April 1944 - by now spare parts were likely at a premium and none of the D.520s went back to Germany with the unit, a transfer that got underway on 7 June.

Click on the image for a wide-screen view.

A closer view of the two D.520s nearest the camera 'yellow 77' and 'yellow 76'. The spires of the cathedral in Chartres can be seen in the background.

**

"..During a 'Ranger' to the Chartres area on 9 February, Plt Off D. Erasmus of 266 Sqn claimed a Bf 109 shot down. This was in fact a Dewoitine D.520, an ex-Armée de l´Air fighter taken over by the Luftwaffe and used by JG 105, which was based at Chartres. D.520 No 483 was shot down and Uffz. Woll was killed. Four days later (on 13 February 1944) Sqn Ldr G.B. Warnes of 263 Squadron, also a Typhoon unit, claimed another Bf 109 in the same area. Again this was a D.520 of JG 105 - No 664 in which Uffz. Bartl was killed. It is interesting to note that at this time the Luftwaffe operated four such Jagdgeschwader in France, which would continue to operate until August 1944 (sic), when there was a general withdrawal back to Germany. The other units were JG 101 at Pau, JG 103 at Chateauroux and JG 107 at Nancy."

 In '2nd TAF' by Shores and Thomas

more SG Fw 190s - ebay photo find #379

on offer here

Fw 190 F-8 "White 12" / USA marking "G*K4" W.Nr 583234, 4./SG 2, Kitzingen, May. 1945...

Hans Ring, Luftwaffe victory claims

 

Hans Ring was one of the leading Luftwaffe victory claims researchers during the 60s and 70s. This image was taken from a 1961 issue of Jägerblatt, the article was entitled 'Were our victory claims too high?'  It shows Ring (standing), and from left, Hans Otto Boehm, Col. Ray Toliver and Ernst Obermaier in Munich in September 1961. Boehm was an early 'President' of the German fighter pilots association (Gemeinschaft der Jagdflieger). He died in 1964. If Ring is still with us then he must almost certainly be in his 90s.

Also on this blog;

Han's Ring review of Walther Dahl's memoir 'Rammjäger', April 1962

Axis Wings Volume 2 - Chandos Publications

 

Volume 2 of 'Axis Wings' is here! Volume I received high praise and Volume 2 should be no different. The 'Luftwaffe and co-belligerent air forces compendium' once again draws on the talents of some well known names in the Luftwaffe research and writing community (eg, Beale, Arthy, Hermann, Steenbeck etc) and has been put together by the same editorial 'experts' largely responsible for the reputation that  Classic Publications enjoys. A Chandos masterstroke!

Volume 2 is another densely-packed issue consisting of 184 A-4 pages between stiff card covers and a nice thick spine. At a guess, word count must be north of 100,000 - there's an incredible amount of reading here. Production values, maps, photos, Swiatlon profile artworks, the quality goes without saying. If there is one noticeable innovation in Vol 2 then it seems that the editor has included a range of features covering more technical themes as well as the 'usual' operational and biographical articles; Dietmar Hermann on the DB 603-engined versions of the Fw 190, Martin Streetly details the history and development of the various Luftwaffe AI search radar 'families' while Gordon Slater covers the history of the Ruhrstahl X-4 air-to-air missile and Martin Frauenheim writes about the achievements of German rocket pioneer Reinhold Tiling - the images of  the Klemm monoplane with two metre long rockets slung under the wings are noteworthy! And not forgetting Huib Ottens on Siegfried Knemeyer, of the RLM's Technical Department.. 

Volume 2 also has something of an Eastern Front 'flavour'. Biographical articles cover leading Eastern Front nightfighter Gustav Francsi (rare images of NJG 100 Ju 88s, profile artwork and a full claims list) while Alexander Steenbeck has Part II of the life of Fritz Krey of SG 2. There is a lengthy piece on JG 54 pilot Hans-Helmut Habermehl - a first-to-last fighter pilot - covering pre-war training to his death in April 1945 via a forensic examination of his log-book, including the court martial!

Operational features focus on a range of subjects. One of the best is the coverage of the activities of close-range recce unit NAGr. 4 over the Eastern Front . The reader will probably find himself wondering what purpose battlefield reconnaissance served at all when three German armies were wiped out in the first ten days of Bagration, including Busch's  3rd Panzerarmee around Vitebsk. Any orders to fall back arrived far too late - reluctantly issued given Hitler's 'fester Platz' policy. Bagration - launched on 22 June 1944 - was an immense Soviet offensive, involving 1.2 million men, which resulted in the 1,000 km long front held by Heeresgruppe Mitte literally imploding. Author Arthy details the daily sorties flown by NAGr. 4 pilots deep behind the lines, where they observed ".. the heart-wrenching sight of cut-off German troops attempting to flee westwards.." On occasion they even got into dogfights with Soviet aircraft. Eighty kms south of Vitebsk at Orscha there was a crushing defeat for Kurt von Tippelkirch's 4th Armee just four days into the offensive and a similar fate awaited 9th Army even further south along the front around Mogilev/Bobruisk. On the morning of 30 June, Staka 1./NAGr. 4, Hptm. von Kamptz spotted around 5,000 men from 4. Panzerarmee trapped on the wrong side of the Beresina river (near Beresino) and organised a supply drop. Almost certainly these men - or those that survived - were among the 57,000 German POWs that Stalin had parade miserably through Moscow on 17 July. For this reader the 'Bagration' map on p137 (Nahaufklarungsgruppe 4 area of operations, June-July 1944) is superb, one of the best I've seen anywhere (credited to 'The Map Archive') In fact maps are a strong suite of this publication. There's another good one in Nick Beale's Me 262 recce ops feature, while the colour reproduction of those Me 262 images is also particularly fine. There are two 'interactive' features - the 'Photo Album' section at eight pages invites comment and additional info - photos are reproduced large in most instances across the page - while Volume 2 has a 'Reader Feedback' page and a page devoted to book reviews which is most welcome. I wonder whether the editor would consider covering some 'older' volumes?

 To conclude, a couple of points that struck this reviewer;  

1/ I'm no graphic designer but I am struggling to see the reasoning behind the contents listing on the front jacket/cover. Surely you need to save some 'surprises' for the potential purchaser or just 'hint' at what might be inside to draw in the enthusiast 'sitting on the fence' as my friend Simon put it?  But then again I imagine that 'Axis Wings' sells out quickly enough as it is, quick enough for that to not really be an issue. And as has been pointed out to me, journals such as International Air Power Review or World Air Power always had a cover contents listing - even if it was the rear cover in the case of those two journals. This makes for a very 'reader-friendly' publication - the reader can do a quick check of the contents just by pulling it from the shelf..

2/ I'm not sure that 3-4 pages (in total) of bibliographic references/footnotes are what I want to see in a journal - that 'space' could be used for another feature. Not every article has them of course so why not perhaps group together all references/acknowledgments etc on a single page right at the end of the book? 

Needless to say these are minor gripes and I'm sure the editor and manager have thought long and hard about aspects such as these when compiling their publication. I've read that the success of 'Axis Wings' very much depends on how well the journal is received, so do go and get a copy before you miss out! Judging by the inside back cover the good news is that 'Axis Wings Vol 3' is in preparation. And if you missed Volume I  - covered elsewhere on this blog - a limited reprint means that copies are available from Chandos right now. As I've said before any new publication from Chandos is an 'event' and 'Axis Wings 2' is no exception!

Chandos Publications are here

Hasso von Zieten and crew, II./NJG 101 -archive photo scan #34

 

Fw. Hasso von Zieten of II./NJG 101 (left) with his crew, BF (radio operator) Hubert Ungerbock and BM (flight mechanic) Fritz Hohensee in front of their Me 110 G nightfighter during conversion training in October 1944.

From Graz, Austria, Von Zieten was a Ju 52 transport pilot before being posted to 5./NJG 101 during April 1944 in Parndorf. From here Nachteinsätze were flown in the Bf 110 G and then the Ju 88 G even during their conversion training which lasted until the end of the year. Shortly before Christmas 1944 Von Zieten and crew were sent to Griesheim (Darmstadt) to fly a sortie during the Bodenplatte operation - possibly a night ground attack sortie on New Years Eve or as 'Lotse' (guide) for the fighter pilots on the morning of 1.1. 45 itself. At least two II./NJG 101 crews were shot down over Belgium. The fledgling nightfighters then returned to Parndorf before being posted to Unterschlauersbach (Nuremberg). From here II./NJG 101 - including the aces Herbert Ludwig, Hans Rasper, etc - continued to fly operational sorties until the end. Most of these were flown as Nachtschlachter against American road columns pressing into southern Germany. 

Hasso & Fritz survived the war. Hasso emigrated to Canada in 1952 and met Fritz again at the 40th Battle of Britain anniversary air show in Toronto, 1980. Von Zieten died in December 1986 aged 71.