Position "Groß Venedigerberg" on Murmansk front

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hello,

I am researching the death of Ofw Albert Brunner, a 53-victories aces of 6./JG 5.

On 7 May 1943, while returning from a mission in Murmansk area, the 6./JG 5 was engaged over the frontline by Soviet Airacobra. Brunner's Bf 109 G-2 Wnr 14082 was hit and the pilot tried to bail out but was too low and his parachute did not open. German infantrymen could only bring back the body of the dead pilot.

According to Soviet sources, 6 P-39s of 2 GvIAP engaged this day 4 Bf 109s and Leytenant Nikolay Andreyevich Boki shot down one at 0435 hrs west of Ozero Kyadel’yavr (map: http://www.geomondiale.fr/noms_geograph ... 7&c=russia). This Bf 109 was Brunner's one according to this source.

I checked the Volksbund database and Ofw Albert Brunner is there: http://www.volksbund.de/index.php?id=17 ... 0100214465
The death place listed is "2 km südw.Groß Venedigerberg".

Groß Venedigerberg is the name of an Austrian mountain, and Austrian Gebirsgjäger were manning parts of frontline in the area. So my guess is that it was a nickname or a code name for a German position in the front, was used in the wartime report and so ended on the Volksbund database.

But I have been unable to prove this theory. If someone has access to stories/documents of the Gebirgsjäger divisions that fought on the Murmansk front, I will be interested to know if they find references to the name "Groß Venedigerberg".

Thanks in advance

Laurent

[GregSingh]

I am pretty sure they meant Hill 373 (point Venediger). It was defended by 3 battalion of 137 regiment of 2nd mountain division.
Hill is just north of Озеро Большой Карикъявр. These days hill is called Гора Большой Кариквайвишь.
It about 30km to the north-west of Ozero Kyadel’yavr in the direction of Zapolyarny.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Thanks Greg, exactly what I needed.

This allowed me to complete the entry in my database as follows:
On 7 May 1943, while returning from a mission in Murmansk area, the 6./JG 5 was engaged over the frontline by Soviet Airacobra. The Bf 109 G-2 Wnr 14082 of Ofw Albert Brunner, a 53-victories aces, was hit and the pilot tried to bail out but was too low and his parachute did not open. German infantrymen could only bring back the body of the dead pilot.

According to Soviet sources, 6 P-39s of 2 GvIAP engaged this day 4 Bf 109s and Leytenant Nikolay Andreyevich Boki shot down one at 0435 hrs west of Ozero Kyadel’yavr (Ozero meaning lake). This Bf 109 was Brunner’s one according to this source.

The Volksbund shows that Ofw Albert Brunner is buried in Pechenga (how it called Petsamo since it was integrated in the Soviet Union in 1945) in the German war cemetery. His death place is listed as two km south of "Groß Venedigerberg". This probably meant Hill 373, called point Venediger position by the soldiers of the 137. Gebrigsjägerregiment who held it. This hill is now called Gora Bol’shoy Karikvayvish’ (see map link below). South of it is the Karik’yavr Lake, called Ozero Bol’shoy Karik’yavr in Russian.

Source:
“Jagdgeschwader 5 Eismeerjäger: Eine Chronik aus Dokumenten U. Berichten: 1941-1945“, by Werner Girbig. ISBN 3-87943-365-8
http://www.rafandluftwaffe.info/luftwaffe1.html
http://www.luftwaffe.no/SIG/Losses/tap43.html
http://www.volksbund.de/index.php?id=17 ... 0100214465
http://soviet-aces-1936-53.ru/abc/b/bokei.htm
http://macbion.narod.ru/war/asses00003.htm
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 5&t=210587
http://blockhaus.ru/forum/index.php?sho ... 68&st=1580
http://www.geographic.org/geographic_na ... 7&c=russia
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=69.25 ... 6&z=12&m=b

And by the way, I found that on 28 May 1944 another German aircraft, a Fw 189, was lost exactly at the same place:

At 1730 hrs on 28 May 1944 the Fw 189 A-2 WNr 125289 V7+1M of 1.(H)/32 took off for a reconaissance sortie to the "Agerberg" area. At around 1755 hrs it was attacked by three Soviet fighters and force-landed on the Karik’yavr Lake (now called Ozero Bol’shoy Karik’yavr in Russian), 2 km south of Hill 373, called Venediger position by the soldiers of the 137. Gebrigsjägerregiment who held it (now called Gora Bol’shoy Karikvayvish’). The pilot, Lt Friedrich Drexl, was unhurt, the air gunner, Gfr Arthur Danz, was wounded in the head and the observer, Ofw Erich Moldenhauer, was killed. Both survivors were rescued and brought to Venediger position.

The Russian fighters were three Airacobra of 2 GIAP and Kapitan Zakhar Artemovich Sorokin claimed the Fw 189 shot down at 1830 hrs as his 10th (or 11th) victory. Sorokin had been shot down in the Artic wilderness in October 1941, had frost feet but managed to return to base after crawling for six days. Both feet were amputated, but he managed to fly again with artificial limbs and returned to the front.

Source:
http://www.rafandluftwaffe.info/luftwaffe1.html
http://www.luftwaffe.no/SIG/Losses/tap43.html
http://blockhaus.ru/forum/index.php?sho ... 68&st=1580
http://cyclolife.livejournal.com/15233.html
http://airaces.narod.ru/all10/sorokin.htm
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=69.25 ... 6&z=12&m=b

[GregSingh]

When you actually zoom in using http://www.geographic.org/ link you provided, remains of German defense positions on the top of the Hill are clearly visible. Label is a bit off, pointing to the small valley east of the Hill...

Venediger - Google

And a fragment of 1:50000 Soviet map from 1971.

Venediger 1971