6. Abteilung des Generalstabes der Luftwaffe (Generalquartiermeister) - part IV b

I just realized that I wrote the part a of this post in 2013 - time really flies! But finally I am back on track an continuing my paper trail journey into the archives of the 6. Abteilung des Generalstabes der Luftwaffe (Generalquartiermeister).

Last post presented the records as they were presented after evaluation and preparation - both as detailed loss records and as statistical information. I stated that I would split the part IV into two blog posts - after further consideration - and more records showing up - there might be more than two!

An intriguing question would be - how did these records get to the Generalquartiermeister 6. Abteilung? 

The answer is rather simple - under ordinary circumstances when the lines where open - these were transferred from the commanding units - the units at Luftflotte level - to the address O.K.L. Gen.Qu.6.Abt. (Kurfürst) using Fernschreibern - teletypewriters.

Kurfürst was the code name for the Reichsluftfahrtministerium - the building complex housing the RLM and presented in detail in part I of this blog series.

So - what did such a message look like and contain? I have been fortunate enough to locate a few from the Luftflotte 6 quite late in the war, and below you see an example of the first part of the message as it was prepared to be transferred

All the information necessary for the preparation of the loss records are contained in the documents - but the messages received at the Generalquartiermeister took another form. The document above was the one delivered to the people operating the Fernschreibern, the teletypewriters or TTYs as they are called in english. One of the examples of a TTY device was the infamous Enigma machine - which in addition to transferring the information also encoded it.

At the receiving end - after decoding - a message would look like this - and even if I have not been able to locate a genuine 6. Abteilung loss record - this is how the message would look - with the teletypewriter paper strips glued to a backing paper.

Entry 2., 3. and 4. of the above mentioned document ended up in the loss record of February 7th 1945, with lfd.Nr. 29, 59 and 28 respectively. And the records as they have been transcribed from the Gen.Qu.6.Abt. loss record into my database is shown below. Note that some abbreviations has been made with regards to the information - and that the aircraft codes have been omitted since none of these aircraft were considered as missing.

Entry #2 Loss record for 5.(F)/122 on January 18th 1945

Entry #3 Loss record for 2./N.S.G.4 on January 18th 1945

Entry #4 Loss record for 3.(F)/22 on January 20th 1945

For some reason record 1. is not present in the Gen.Qu.6.Abt. loss list - something I will have to investigate further.

Stay tuned for more instalments in this series - I promise that the waiting time for the next one will not be 4 years!

Late war Luftwaffe airfields and landing grounds vol 01

I find a peculiar interest in locating the late war airfields and landing grounds, from where the remains of the Luftwaffe tried to stay operative.

During the latter stages of the war when the Luftwaffe retreated on all fronts - new landing grounds and airfields where steadily taken into use. These were photographed and information on them reported. Such reports can be found in the remaining war diaries of higher headquarters particularly.

I have used the nomenclature as it appears in the reports, and translated it to english for the readers convenience for Airfield Massin - if you have problems deciphering the information - just let me know and I will add further comments).

Note that I have used both the longitude and latitude as well as the Planquadrat information to try to lokate the sites. Since you only have minutes in the longitude and latitude reference, the given Planquadrat reference will give a higher degree of accuracy.

Flugplatz Massin 
D 10 441 Aufn.Dat. 8.3.45 (Photographic reference D 10 441, photographed on March 8th 1945)
Planquadrat 15 Ost 43 297
52° 45' Nord 14° 52' Ost (Latitude: 52° 45' North Longitude: 14° 52' East)
51 km NNO Frankfurt/Oder (Located 51 kilometers NortNortheast of Frankfurt/Oder)
3 km NW Massin (Located 3 km Northwest of Massin - todays Mosina)
keine Baulichkeiten (No buildings)
Abstellboxen u.Abstellplätze am N u.S.Rand (Revetments and dispersal (aircraft parking) on northern and southern edges of the airfield)
Größe 1050 x 110m (Size of the airfield 1050 by 110 meters)




Flugplatz Freiwaldau
D 10 445 Aufn.Dat. 15.3.45
Planquadrat 15 Ost 52 515
51° 27' Nord
15° 06' Ost
35 km NNO Görlitz
2,5 km N der Ortschaft
1 Halle, Unterkünfte am N Rand
Abstellboxen u.Abstellplätze am S Rand
Größe 1000 x 950m




Flugplatz Powunden
D 10 457 Aufn.Dat. 9.3.45
Planquadrat 25 Ost 05 245
54° 53' Nord
20° 34' Ost
19,5 km NNO Königsberg Pr.
SO der Ortschaft
Hallen am N u.O Rand, Unterkünfte zerst.
Abstellboxen am N,O u.S Rand
Größe 1850 x 1250m





Flugplatz Wallmannshof
D 10 458 Aufn.Dat. 16.3.45
Planquadrat 15 Ost 72 286
51° 47' Nord
17° 48' Ost
94 km NO Breslau
SO der Ortschaft
keine Baulichkeiten
keine Abstellboxen
Größe 1500 x 600m





Scheinflugplatz Karstenbrügge II
D 10 466 Aufn.Dat. 23.3.45
Planquadrat 15 Ost 43 297
52° 45' Nord
14° 50' Ost
49 km NNO Frankfurt/Oder
4,5 km ONO der Ortschaft
keine Baulichkeiten
keine Abstellboxen
Größe 650 x 90m




Flugplatz Marienwerder
D 10 469 Aufn.Dat. 22.3.45
Planquadrat 15 Ost 44 889
52° 45' Nord
14° 50' Ost
49 km NNO Frankfurt/Oder
4,5 km ONO der Ortschaft
keine Baulichkeiten
keine Abstellboxen
Größe 650 x 90m

Flugplatz Neugrape

D 10 472 Aufn.Dat. 23.3.45
Planquadrat 15 Ost 44 853
53° 08' Nord
14° 46' Ost
35 km SO Stettin
SW der Ortschaft
keine Baulichkeiten
Abstellboxen am N u.S Rand
Größe 1100 x 280m

Flugplatz Kriescht II

D 10 473 Aufn.Dat. 24.3.45
Planquadrat 15 Ost 53 371
52° 33' Nord
15° 01' Ost
40 km NO Frankfurt/Oder
2,5 km S der Ortschaft
keine Baulichkeiten
keine Abstellboxen
Größe 500 x 200m

Flugplatz Meseritz I

D 10 474 Aufn.Dat. 23.3.45
Planquadrat 15 Ost 53 617
52° 26' Nord
15° 33' Ost
69 km ONO Frankfurt/Oder
2 km W der Ortschaft
keine Baulichkeiten
keine Abstellboxen
Größe 500 x 200m

Flugplatz Meseritz II

D 10 475 Aufn.Dat. 23.3.45
Planquadrat 15 Ost 53 615
52° 27' Nord
15° 35' Ost
73 km ONO Frankfurt/Oder
2,5 km NO der Ortschaft
keine Baulichkeiten
keine Abstellboxen
Größe 430 x 200m

Flugplatz Meseritz III

D 10 476 Aufn.Dat. 23.3.45
Planquadrat 15 Ost 53 616
52° 27' Nord
15° 36' Ost
74 km ONO Frankfurt/Oder
2,5 km ONO der Ortschaft
keine Baulichkeiten
keine Abstellboxen
Größe 400 x 200m

End of hostilities - Vol 03 - Sardinia - Villacidro - Part 2

In addition to the 12 Ju 88s covered in part 1 there were a coule of handfuls of other aircraft models found at Villacidro, and you can find them detailed in the table below.

Other aircraft models found at Villacidro

No	Type of aircraft	Works No. & Acceptance date	Markings	Engine type and No.	Remarks	Loss record
13	Ju 52	W.N. on fin 3549 on rudder 22	-	-	Wrecked
14	Me 109	W.N. 18454	G white	-	Wrecked	Info
15	Me 109 G	W.N. 10895	H + on white band	-	-	Info
16	He 111 H-II	W.N. 110157	I H x H (yellow) R	-	Wrecked
17	He 111 H.II	W.N. 7112	I H x F (white) H	-	Crest. "Vestigium Leonis" in black on white shield.
18	He 111 H.II	W.N. 7257	I H x L (outlined white) X	-	Wrecked
19	He 111	W.N. 8125	I H x D (yellow) P	-	Wrecked
20	Fi 156	W.N. probably 0098	-	-	Burnt out
21	Fi 156	-	-	-	Burnt out

I have not been able to find loss records for the KG 26 aircraft listed here.

Maybe a KG 26 expert can give a hint towards why these were seemingly not reported in the loss records?

End of hostilities - Vol 03 - Sardinia - Villacidro - Part 1

This post will contain details on the aircraft remains located on or around the airfield at Villacidro - the location where the second largest collection of Ju 88s were found on Sardinia.

I am writing this partly on request from a reader who work on Ju 88 units and wanted to see what was in the reports on that particular aircraft model.

There were 12 Ju 88s found at Villacidro - and the wrecks must have been in a reasonable condition - as identifying features were found on a lot of them.

Ju 88s found at Villacidro

No	Type of aircraft	Works No. & Acceptance date	Markings	Engine type and No.	Remarks	Loss record
1	Ju 88 A-4 Trop	-	3 Z - C (green) D	-	Wrecked
2	Ju 88	W.N. 2398 W.N. 3984	F I - D (white) H	-	Wrecked
3	Ju 88 A-4 Trop	W.N. 1143	F I - D (yellow) T	-	Crest. Yellow lion with red tongue and claws on black shield. With Heidelberg written above	Info
4	Ju 88 A-4	W.N. on fin 5658	I H x D (blue) R	-	Wrecked
5	Ju 88 A-14	W.N. from main plate 088 014 4665	I H x B (blue) R	-	Wrecked
6	Ju 88 A-14	W.N. from main plate 088 014 4407	I H x B (outlined yellow) T	Jumo 211 J	Crest. "Vestigium Leonis". Lion in black on yellow shield.	Info
7	Ju 88	W.N. 0140568	4 D x G (white) S	-	Crest. Yellow shield with black diving eagle.
8	Ju 88	W.N. 0144408	-	-	Crest. "Vestigium Leonis", black lion on yellow shield.	Info
9	Ju 88 A-4	W.N. 0144320	I T x C (outline yellow) T	-	Wrecked	Info
10	Ju 88 A-4	W.N. 0144285	I T x D (outlined white) S	-	Wrecked	Info
11	Ju 88 A-4	W.N. from main plate 4587	I T - D (blue) R	-	Wrecked	Info
12	Ju 88 A-4	-	I T - F (outlined yellow) T	-	Wrecked

There are a few interesting features here - note that the aircraft unit codes are written with a capital I (Italy), and not the number 1 (one). This is most likely due to the fact that the messages were transferred using radio and/or teleprinter equipment - and later written up based on that communication. I have seen a lot of the same in German communication on teleprinter strips and there they often use for example "roemisch 3 KG 54" to state that he communication relates to III. Gruppe of Kampfgeschwader 54.

What we have here is a nice collection of  KG 26 (code 1H and 1T), KG 30 (4D), KG 76 (code F1), KG 77 (code 3Z) aircraft.

The report I am quoting is produced after November 24th 1943 - and one of the III./K.G.26 aircraft listed here was recorded as lost on November 18th 1942 (note the interesting location name in the German loss record!):

http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db/lw_loss_public.asp?lossid=144011

End of hostilities - Vol 02 - Sardinia - Olbia

Second part of this series will detail the information on aircraft found on the airports in the Olbia area.

In the list wreckage is listed as being located in three places:

• On the airfield Vena-Fiorita, which should be the current Aeroporto di Olbia Venafiorita
• In a location called Posiana - Ettore - I wonder if this is on the street Via Ettore Pais between Spiaggia Bianca and Golfo Aranci - maybe some Italian friends can help us out here?
• The third location is just stated as in the vicinity of Olbia. 

The aircraft remains located at Posiana - Ettore was a Bf 109G-6, from III./JG 77 - given away by the fact that it carried the well known crest with a wolfs head and the motto Wanderzirkus Ubben. The aircraft was dismantled for shipping, and the markings as given by the document was apparently 1 + X painted over J + X. My theory is that the tactical marking on the aircraft was '1', and that the J and X are the remains of the Stammkennzeichen.

In my opinion this is the remains of Bf 109G-6, WNr 18254, where the J + X refer to the remains of the Stammkennzeichen SO + JX, but in the report referring to the underwing markings which would read S + O on one wing and J + X on the other wing.

I have not been able to tie this bird with 100% certainty to the III./JG 77 during their stay at Sardinia - but there is one loss which could be referring to this - obviously with an incomplete WNr 1825:

http://www.aviationhistory.no/ref_db/lw_loss_public.asp?lossid=126146

I have not been able to locate a loss record for WNr 18254, I would just love it if someone came up with a comment to this post which was relevant to solving this!

More to follow on the other airframes in the Olbia area later this week...