Luftwaffe night fighters (to Erich especially)

[Victor]

Can anyone tell me the number of claims the pilots of NJG 4 (or was it 6?) made over Romanian soil against RAF raids in 1944?

[Erich]

Hi Victor !

Actually NJG's 6 and 100.......and I will have to look more closely for details.

E

[Erich]

Victor :

Do you have particular dates you would like me to check on downings........for NJG 6 ? A little weak on NJG 100's listings but have some for 44.

E

[Victor]

I habea partial list of RAF raids over Romania. Would that help you?
I din't know there were two units. I only knew about NJG 6.

[Victor]

Here are the few RAF night raids I have:
15/16 April 1944
2/3 July 1944
23/24 July 1944
25/26 July 1944
26/27 July 1944
9/10 August 1944
17/18 August 1944
There were a total of 15 night raids. I do not know the others.

[Erich]

Victor

let me check my files this afternoon here

E

[Andy H]

A good book dealing with Aerial Night combat in general is Peter Honchcliffe's "The Other Battle, Luftwaffe Aces versus Bomber Command". This book tends to deal with Western Europe and only makes passing reference to the Romanian oilfields etc.

Hi Ho Silver Away

[Erich]

Victor :

April 15, 44 11.00 Hptm Bauer IV./NJG 6 1 B-17 over Craiova

July 2/3/ 44
01.38 Fw. Scherer III./NJG 6 1 B-24
Hptm Krause II./NJG 101 2 Halifax
Lt. Francsi I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
Oblt. Pützkuhl I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
Uffz. Behrens I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
Fw. Simroß I./NJG 100 1 IL 4 no areas mentioned

July 25/26 44
22.27 Oblt. Pützkuhl I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
22.28 Fw. de Fries I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
Lt. Francsi I./NJG 100 2 IL 4
Ofw. Düding I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
Ofw. Dahms I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
Ofw. Strohecker I./NJG 100 2 IL 4 no areas mentioned

July 26/27 44
Lt. Francsi I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
Ofw. Dahms I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
23.15 Fw. de Freis I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
Ofw. Schienbeim I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
Lt. Karos I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
Oblt. Bahfanz I./NJG 100 1 IL 4
00.10 Uffz. Kelber I./NJG 100 1 IL 4 over Tauroggen
two others mentioned by NJG 100 east of Tilsit, 2 IL 4's.

that's it for now Victor.

E

[Victor]

Thank you very much.
However, after looking on the list and seeing claims of NJG 100 over different areas I think it was not stationed in Romania.

PS: Was the Il-4 the DB-3 or DB-7?

[Erich]

Victor :

NJG 100 was continually on the move as the command center of the unit and NJG 200 were based in trains, so yes NJG 100 well could have had a staffel based in Romania for a short duration of time.

9/10 August 44

Lt. Weihe I./NJG 100 1 Boston
23.14 Lt. Karos I./NJG 100 1 Il-4 Brest-Litowsk
23.15 Oblt. Bertram I./NJG 100 1 Il-4
23.26 Fw. de Fries I./NJG 100 1 Il 4
Lt. Trüber I./NJG 100 1 Il 4
Oblt. Schmid I./NJG 100 1 Il 4

I have nothing for the 17/18 August 44. Will tell you that NJG 100 was quite active in August of 44 against RAF and SAAF 4 engine bombers over Poland.

E

[DenesBernad]

A Luftwaffe Order of Battle from July 1944 lists a Schwarm of 2./NJG 100 based on Rosiorii de Vede, in Southern Rumania, while another one was listed on Zilistea, north-east of Bucharest. The same two Schwärme were also listed in an OoB of mid-August 1944.
I have no info on other units of NJG 100 being stationed in Rumania.

I believe most of the I./NJG 100 'kill's listed by Erich were not claimed over Rumania.

Dénes

[Erich]

Denes, thanks for that info.......yes it appears that most all victories were claimed over the Russian territory until the last several weeks of the war when they were taking on the RAF and also flying day time missions to evacuate German troops. Since you mentioned 2 schwarme in Romania they probably flew some pretty bizarre and older a/c since the flights were earlier in the war.

E

[DenesBernad]

In 1944, Russian/Soviet airplanes did fly over Rumania during night time on a regular basis (the so-called 'Tito Shuttle') and German night fighters did shot down a few of them. Therefore some of the 'kills' you listed might have actually been achieved over Rumania, even if the particular NJ unit was not stationed in Rumania.

Let me ask you: do you have claims and losses of various Jagdverbände over Bulgaria?

Dénes

[Erich]

Denes :

I will have to look. The unfortunate thing is that many of the claims list a pilot and gruppe but not the area, but give date and sometimes, but not all, the time. Are you interested in what year and unit ? .......probably NJG 6, it's schulstaffel and NJG 100 and 200 most likely. maybe NJG 5 as well.

E

[DenesBernad]

Erich wrote: "they probably flew some pretty bizarre and older a/c since the flights were earlier in the war."

According to Michael Holm's excellent web site (http://www.ww2.dk), 2./NJG 100 had 16 Ju 88C-6s in July and August 1944.

Dénes