Nachtjagd War Diaries

wonderful price that is very hard to beat Skip. Well Theo is updating these two volumes right now so go ahead and send him a note as he will appreciated it greatly, well I have made the financial commitment regardless so will keep it but thank you for the advice. seems the books got out of redkites hands quite a bit faster than what they wanted through other alternative outlets - it happens.

glad you have the works as it will enlighten you and hopeful for July's Stuttgart missions to be more exact. I look forward to my copies with most probability a few dozen questions to ask of Theo and Rod

 

cheers my friend, I will contact Theo in the future. I have another Stuttgart ops crash commemoration coming up in 2009. ps: I won't tell our British friends that you used the Amercian word "mission" instead of the British word "operation"

 

that is interesting Skip as I use both mostly mission for the US bomber Ops - ooooooooops I mean mission and the reverse for British/German, but it does leak out ........... thanks

very strange I cannot reach Simon In England my telephone service provider is refusing me the allowance to call overseas for some oddity.......... oh great but that is what happens to those of us living in the P. Sphere

 

I heard that from an WWII RAF vet. He was upset because even many British use the word "mission" now. I remember him saying "as if we don' t have our propers words, why use a foreign word when we have our own"


Did you pay your phone bill?

 

Ich verstehen Skip

had a lovely albeit short conversation with Simon on the phone he laughed when I told him how many times I tried to call, so he called me. Must confess I need to teach my English friends the "proper" way of speaking "A- M- E -R- i- C- an" ...........

now I wait ............

 

well since this is December and Skip/Martin have the two volumes, mine will probably not be seen till months end I suspect.

am wondering in the second volume what does Theo-Rod start covering for the start of the Ardenne Battles in December of 44 ? ........... does he cover the stupid ground attack missions at any length ?

 

I will check that tonight for you Erich, there is so much to read. What I like best at this point ar ethe tame board directions given to the pilots by the ground teams, this allows a minute by minute account as to who was where. Of course this is not available all the time, but when possible it is mentionned and quite helpful for claims.

this is the deal I will learn how to pronounce "AMERICAN" if you learn how to "ALUMINIUM" and if you quit pronouncing SAND like "SEEEEND"

 

..I guess they had a standing order for a handful of copies at the 'old' pre-publication price...still ridiculous..

Skip, you might find some 'American' spelling in one of the Bundrock accounts...one or two words slipped through in part of an account that I first translated for a Kagero volume. I'm not proud ..I'll write bail/bale color/colour aluminum/aluminium etc etc interchangeably. There are some tricky ones though for your average English (Uk) speaker.. eg ..pocket book/wallet flashlight/torch etc etc..

 

These books look like a great read with lots of info. Too bad its Christmas and I have no extra cash

Great pictures too of Spoden examining the little plane...I imagine it is surreal for him to see toys/models made out of the war machines he operated.

Thanks for the info and pics!

 

Hi Falk, yes I noticed some American spelling here and there , but it's not shocking. I'm interested in the info and the quality of the many great pictures. I get a kick from the historical apsect and don't worry too much about the linguistics. Most people won't even notice.

 

SAND = SEEEND ? must be from one of the boys of the south not here on the west coast

so for December 4/5, 44 as an example what does the second volume have to say ?? anything new and exciting gentlemen ?? note at least 5 LW nf's shot down by Mossie nf's, so a very busy night, some 16 LW nf's lost with all types of causes..........so the question is does Theo cover losses or just victories and then correspond with such and such Bomber Command losses.... ~

now please respond in intelligent AmerICAN

 

Hi Erich, Ijust returned from work and will start reding the page syou mentionned soon. This is a first thought about the books, hopefully this will help other members.

The two volumes are a compilation of claims, losses and much more, such as minute by minute accounts, testimonies , of course when available, who did what and when, the nature of the operations, the targets etc.... . Not so much new stuff to be honest, but a great analysis of bits and pieces that had never been put together before and many unpublished excellent quality pictures. I particulary appreciate the testimonies that are higlighted in grey squares and you can really tell what is first hand from pilots, most impressive I must say. The confirmed claims/losses are systematically pointed out with crashplaces when available. The authors however apparently leave out the collisions because they were not due to Luftwaffe action. Another thing I really like is the several possibilities offered for crashsites when no clear evidence is available. Theo Boiten has made an extremely accurate and professional approach of all the potentials claims , losses etc... which must have taken months to sort out and he did not fall in the trap that such claim had to be such crash because someone said so . He uses facts or else uses the conditionnal. Therefore I recommend these both volumes as an irreplacable tool.

 

Skip thanks for the run down on the book......... you and Martin have done well describing content. I too just got in, from setting up Christmas lights in the fog and will go out in about 10 minutes to finish up the light beacon for LW nf's in this heavy muck ......... ~

appreciate in advance the infos on the 4th of December 44

 

Dec 4/5 1944 : 2 pages, one testimony from Herr poden. 11 claims/losses. 55 mossie participated. seven claims for the 100 Group (three bf110 and 4 Ju88s)

 

so Theo covers Peters S. 2 kills at 2200 and 2500 metres ? also his good friend Bunjes claim for his 5th victory ?

interesting to that 85th squadron shot down 5 LW NF's, does Theo mention this or.......... ?

thanks Skip

E ~

 

That is correct: three confimed abschüsse for Herr Spoden including the 2 you mention and a third at 3000m at 19.33. Hemut Bunje is mentionned too with his claim at 19.34 at 2500m. Mossie claims from 85 squadron but also from 157squadron.

 

just to settle matters does Theo state what LW crews were shot down and their units from the Mossie NF's and locations if known ?

 

He says they were all lost between Bruchsal Bretten/Karlsruhe and NE of Ansbach . One of the JU88 wa sin fact lost due to icing. No crew names are given

 

was wondering just how far he was going to go with each nightly mission

6./NJG 4 Ju 88G-1 shot down by Krefeld

Uffz. Wilhelm Schlutter bailed out wounded
Uffz. Friedrich Heerwagen KIA
Gefreiter Friedrich Herbck KIA

shot down by Mossie XXX VY-H of 85th sq.

II./NJG 6 Ju 88G- ? by Heilbronn 20.15hrs.

Uffz. Kreutzer wounded, bailed out, two other crewmembers bailed out wounded
Flg. Westfal bailed out MIA and then returned to field on the 6th of December.

shot down by Mossie XXX VY-B of 85th sq.

Stab IV./NJG 6, Bf 110G-4 2Z+BF at 20.30hrs 24 km NE of Karlsruhe

Oblt. Karl-Heinz Schmidt KIA
2 crew members bailed out unhurt

shot down by Mossie XXX Vy-C of 85th sq.

3 examples I can find so far for the eve. the above Mossie pilot also shot down a 12./NJG 6 Bf 110G-4 near Bruschal 18km NE of Karlsruhe, 2Z+MW, all 3 crewmen were KIA

 

I see you have all the details already Erich. Are you aware if there are any memorials for these crews? You know this is very close to Speyer, don't you? So this was an area you possibly visited last year