French Bombers autumn 1939

" The French were well aware that their small bomber force would be one of the primary targets of a German air offensive in the west, and beginning on 14 September two.thirds of the 1st Air Army´s units were withdrawn to rear areas. Early in December all bomber units with the exception of those operating Amiot 143s and Farman 222s were transferred to bases in the south of France for re-equipment. By the end of 1939 only seventy bomber aircraft remained in north-east France;these comprised fifteen Farman 222s of GB I/15 and II/15 and fifty-five Amiot 143´s of GB I/34, II/34,II/35,I/38 and II/38, the latter two units having returned to France from North Africa in October."

From Air war over France 1939-1940 by Robert Jackson

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Eduard Tratt,Major

Awards : Deutsches Kreuz in Gold (25 June 1943)
Ritterkreuz (12 April 1942)
Eichenlaub (26 March 1944)

Aces of the Luftwaffe - Eduard Tratt

He recorded his 38th, and last, victory, another B-17, on 20 February 1944. Tratt was shot down and killed with his Bordschützen Ofw. Gillert in combat near Nordhausen in the Harz mountains on 22 February 1944, flying Me 410 A-1 (W.Nr. 420 410) “3U + Blue 1”. He was posthumously awarded the Eichenlaub (Nr 437) on 26 March and promoted to the rank of Major. He was the highest scoring Zerstörer pilot of the war.

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Welll, somebody for sure was doing a lot for operation Sealion on the German side:

World War 2 : German military intelligence documents

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Project Catherine

Project Catherine was the name of a proposed Baltic Sea offensive by the Royal Navy to be undertaken in the spring of 1940. It aimed at interdicting German seaborne commerce with the Soviet Union, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia. In particular, an objective was to stop the flow of Swedish iron ore to Germany.

The driving force behind the project was the then newly-appointed First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill and the head of planning was Admiral of the Fleet Lord Cork.

Churchill proposed a substantial naval squadron: three Revenge class battleships, an aircraft carrier, five cruisers, two destroyer flotillas, submarines and supporting auxiliaries. The battleships would need to be significantly modified to resist air and submarine attack. Two 15-inch gun turrets would be removed, an additional 2000 tons of armour added and the ships' speed would thereby be reduced to 15 knots.

Eventually, on 20th January 1940, after six months, Churchill himself shelved the operation.

Project Catherine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Spring 1940: RAF replaced 87 octane petrol with 100 octane, which increased the Spitfire's speed by 25 mph (40 km/h) at sea level and by 34 mph (55 km/h) at 10,000 feet.

The Spitfire - An Operational History - 3. Survival

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April 7th 1940 Hauptmann Hannes Gentzen with his first kill on the Bf 110 in the Western front, meant that for the next 16 days at least, a Bf 110 Zerstörer pilot topped the list as the highest scorer in the entire Luftwaffe. This latest victory brought Gentzen´s total of enemy aircraft destroyed to nine. His nearest rival, Hauptmann Werner Mölders of III./JG 53 would not claim his ninth until 23 April.

Me Bf 110 Zerstörer aces of WW2 by John Weal

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"Numbers never tell the whole story, but one Battle of Britain statistic is as stark as it is sobering. The Luftwaffe had embarked upon the Battle with 237 serviceable Bf 110 Zerstörer...and lost no fewer than 223 in the waging of it."

Me Bf 110 Zerstörer aces of WW2 by John Weal

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Now this is interesting. What was the BF 110's weakness?

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Their speed, manoeuvrability and defensive armament were completely inadequate and their presence in the combat area was a liability for the escorting Me109 fighters.


The Battle of Britain - Home Page

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Quite a list. I know I read in Len Deighton's 'Fighter' that the Bf 110 was the fastest plane available during the Battle of Britain. I will have to dig that up and get more details. Also, didn't they start out with the Daimler Benz engines and then went over to the Jumo engines which caused it's loss in speed? Good info as always Kai.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Churchill Sept 1939

But he was convinced that Britain must not be hesitant in its efforts to win the war and, as part of the Land Forces Committee, he recommended an Army of 55 divisions by 1941 with 20 divisions ready to stand beside the French by the spring of 1940. Critics charged that an Army this size would inhibit development of the Air Force and Navy. Churchill defended his position with the comment: "Pardon me if I put my experience and knowledge, which were bought, not taught, at your disposal."

1939: Action This Day (Summer/Autumn) - The Churchill Centre

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Overlord

BBC - WW2 People's War - RAF Bomb Disposal Flight 6225

(I think this is the Goliath tank. Quite many there, it seems.)

Beatle Tanks

Some 300 found near the beaches. These contained 200 pounds of TNT in brick form. Removed the explosive but, owing to close proximity of troops and the danger of becoming targets for German bombers, had to bury explosive in a field to be destroyed later. Air Ministry and local command informed not to use the field as a transit camp, but was ignored, causing several problems. On the soft ground where we had buried the TNT, the troops made their latrines!! Some days later I received a dispatch rider from the transit camp which was partly surrounded by fire. Had to take immediate action to put the fires out before nightfall. Done by controlled explosive demolition.

The Beatle Tanks did not appear to have been used.

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D-day and St Marcouf naval battery and Oberleutnant Ohmsen

BBC - h2g2 - Crisbecq – the Defenders’ Story

By around 6 am, all three K52s had been cleared of debris resulting from the night’s bombardment, and each was test-fired at longer range targets over the course of the next few minutes. Among several warships in close proximity within the bay, one was already firing at the battery itself. Ohmsen identified it as a light cruiser, though in fact the USS Corry was a destroyer. Just after 6.30, all three K52s at his disposal fired on the ship at under four miles range – point blank in Crisbecq artillery terms. The salvo of three shells hit the Corry midships almost simultaneously, breaking its back in a violent explosion. It sank within minutes, with the loss of 24 of its crew. This was the only sinking of a warship on D-Day itself.

By D-Day, the telephone links around the entire St Marcouf battery were extensive and reliable. The Americans never realised that the Azeville and Crisbecq gun crews could maintain a continuous conversation, and that more than twenty field scouts could talk to one or both. This is why the targeting of the guns was so relentless and uncannily accurate. All of the infrastructure was down to Ohmsen’s knowledge and direction.

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Ventnor radar station

BBC - h2g2 - Isle of Wight Radar During The Second World War - A612334

However, on 12 August, for the first time, the Isle of Wight was a prime target. A detachment of 20 Junkers Ju88s broke from the main formation and turned to attack the Chain Home Radar station at Ventnor. The radar station was put out of action, the only one in the country in the entire war to have been destroyed.

On Friday 16 August, the Luftwaffe again attacked Ventnor Chain Home Radar station. The station had not yet been repaired since the last attack, when 7 Junkers Ju87s dived on the station. Five of the Ju87s dropped 7 bombs precisely on the radar station, destroying all the below-ground buildings and all but two of the buildings above ground. The Ventnor Radar Station remained out of service until after the reserve station at Bembridge was completed on 23 August.

After the two successful attacks on Ventnor Chain Home Radar Station, Germany never again attacked any of Britain's radar sites.

German Intelligence assumed that no serious damage had been done to any of the radar stations that were attacked. This was based upon reports from General Martini who had continued to detect transmissions from the Ventnor area after both attacks, which they assumed meant that the station was still operational. Intelligence assumed that the radar operations room and the equipment were deep underground, and that further heavy bombing would be wasted.

From " Hitler´s Stuka Squadrons" by John Ward:

" To cover up the dangerous gap created by the loss of the Ventnor station, the British transmitted a false signal on the wrecked transmitter´s frequency, leading the German listening posts on the other side of the Channel to believe that Ventnor was still fully operational."

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Paul-Werner Hozzel (16 October 1910 – 7 January 1997) was a German World War II Luftwaffe Stuka pilot and first Stuka pilot to be awarded the coveted Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Hozzel, as the first Stuka pilot, was awarded the coveted Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 8 May 1940 in representation of his Gruppe’s success. This includes the sinking of military vessels, 60,000 tons of merchant shipping and the attacks against the fortresses Akershus and Oscarsborg Fortress.

Hozzel was awarded Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves on 14 April 1943.


Paul-Werner Hozzel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stuka-As - Oberstleutnant Paul-Werner Hozzel - Seite 1 - Post Scriptum Info-Board

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Throughout the Second World War, cities, towns, boroughs, companies, organisations and even individuals patriotically raised funds to purchase aircraft for the hard-pressed Royal Air Force. These were known as presentation aircraft.

More Supermarine Spitfires - at least 3,000 in all - were funded in this way than any other aircraft type and at that time the nominal cost of each was £5,000 (today’s auction price would be around £300,000). Each donated aircraft bore a name suggested by its donor, usually marked in yellow characters on the engine cowling.

Some of the names were rather odd-ball. A Spitfire named "Dorothy" was bought as a result of subscriptions from women all over Britain who bore that name; another, "Gingerbread', was funded by red-headed men and women and flown by flame-haired Australian pilot 'Bluey' Truscott; while a third, "The Dogfighter”, was - appropriately enough - a gift from the Kennel Club!

The wartime record of the RAF aircraft known as "The Darlington Spitfire"

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The Swiss protecting their airspace ( 1940 )

" Particular culprits were He 111 bombers of the Luftwaffe. Often damaged during raids on southern France, and anxious to reach their home bases, they did not hesitate to shave a few kilometers off the return flight by crossing the Swiss salient west of Basle. The Swiss were equally quick to defend their airspace, attacking such intruders whenever possible, and bringing several down.

An irate Hermann Göring decided to teach them a lesson, and II./ZG 1 was despatched southwards to do the job. On 4 June 28 Bf 110s escorted a single He 111 across the Jura mountains in a deliberate attempt to entice Swiss fighters over France. When this failed, the German formation itself ventured across the neutral border. It was immediately engaged by the watchful Bf 109s of the Swiss Air Force. The resultant combats ended with honours even- one Bf109 and one Bf 110 being shot down.

Four days later Hauptmann Dickore´s Gruppe was ordered to try again. After somewhat unsportingly bringing down a lone Swiss EKW C-35 reconnaissance machine over Pruntrut, the three Staffeln of II./ZG 1 formed into three separate defensive circles, stacked 2,000, 4,000 and 6,000 metres above the Swiss Jura, and awaited developments. They were not long in coming. A patrol of Swiss Bf 109s arrived overhead, diving down on the defensive circles from an altitude of 7,000 metres. Again a Swiss fighter was lost, the badly wounded pilot managing to crash-land his Emil at Bözingen-Biel, but this time four Bf110s failed to return. Wisely perhaps, Göring did not insist on a third attempt."

from Me Bf 110 Zerstörer aces of WW2 by John Weal

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