Seven Fallschirmjäger killed by Swedish Flak on June 2, 1940

[Doktor Krollspell]

Of all German Aircraft that ended up on Swedish territory during the war, some of them were actually shot down by Swedish military forces. One example is the shooting down of a Ju 52 by Swedish AA units on June 2, 1940. The Ju 52 was headed towards Bjørnfell near Narvik with a crew of three and some 12 Fallschirmjäger from FJR 1 when it strayed over the Swedish border. The AA fire hit the Ju 52 while flying on 2000 meters of altitude but as it went down to crash, 5 Fallshirmjäger and 2 of the crew managed to jump out and land safely in Sweden, where they were interned.

The dead Fallshirmjäger were:

Ofw. Haase
Fj. Hans Vorsteffel
Fj. Werner Fischer
Fj. Franz Langfeld
Fj. Konrad Hof
Fj. Walter Schnitzer
Fj. Bodo West

Gfr. Kramer (Crew member of the Ju 52)

The Fallschirmjäger survivors were:

Fw. Walter Himmrich
Ufw. Hermann Bansen
Uffz. Gustav Mank
Ogfr. Adolf Koch
Fj. Arno Wolf

Uffz. Hans Tücher (Pilot of the Ju 52)
Fw. Franz Reichard (Crew member of the Ju 52)


Source: "Tyska nödlandare 1939-1945" (German emergency landings) by Bo Widfelt (2007)

[Marcus Wendel]

Thanks for that list of names, I was aware of the incident but I don't recall seeing the names before.

/Marcus

[fredleander]

Hi, Doktor - I suppose those German FJ's interned were released rather quickly..?

Fred

[Doktor Krollspell]

The surviving Fallschirmjäger and crew members were released on July 12, 1940.


Regards,

Krollspell


P.S. I highly recommend Bo Widfeldt's very detailed book "Tyska nödlandare 1939-1945", which also have a large number of very rare photographs of the german aircrafts in Sweden, german and swedish military personel posing together etc. And for all of you that read swedish and happens to be in the Stockholm area, Drottninggatans Bok & Bild have this little gem for the staggering price of SEK 27:- D.S.

[fredleander]

The surviving Fallschirmjäger and crew members were released on July 12, 1940.


Regards,

Krollspell


P.S. I highly recommend Bo Widfeldt's very detailed book "Tyska nödlandare 1939-1945", which also have a large number of very rare photographs of the german aircrafts in Sweden, german and swedish military personel posing together etc. And for all of you that read swedish and happens to be in the Stockholm area, Drottninggatans Bok & Bild have this little gem for the staggering price of SEK 27:- D.S.

Tackar! Interessant, jag skall ta en tur dit.

Fred

[Valtoro]

From the discussion about the same incident on http://www.kystfort.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=5475

[Heimatschuss]

Hello Herr Doktor!

It appears several of the names on Widfeldt's list aren't spelt correctly. Here are the best fitting entries for the Narvik war cemetery I could find at http://www.volksbund.de

Nachname: Hasse
Vorname: Bruno
Dienstgrad: Oberfeldwebel
Geburtsdatum: 18.12.1909
Geburtsort: Rheinsberg
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 02.06.1940
Todes-/Vermisstenort: östlich Ricksgraensenfjellet

Bruno Hasse ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Narvik.
Endgrablage: Block 13 Reihe A Grab 16

Nachname: Vorstoffel
Vorname: Hans
Dienstgrad: Jäger
Geburtsdatum: 08.06.1920
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 02.06.1940

Hans Vorstoffel ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Narvik.
Endgrablage: Block 13 Reihe A Grab 11

Nachname: Fischer
Vorname: Arno
Dienstgrad: Jäger
Geburtsdatum: 26.11.1917
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 02.06.1940

Arno Fischer ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Narvik.
Endgrablage: Block 13 Reihe M1 Grab 6

Nachname: Langfeld
Vorname: Franz
Dienstgrad: Jäger
Geburtsdatum: 20.11.1918
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 02.06.1940

Franz Langfeld ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Narvik.
Endgrablage: Block 13 Reihe B Grab 11

Nachname: Hof
Vorname: Konrad
Dienstgrad: Jäger
Geburtsdatum: 04.12.1919
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 02.06.1940

Konrad Hof ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Narvik.
Endgrablage: Block 13 Reihe M1 Grab 6

Nachname: Schmutzler
Vorname: Walter
Dienstgrad: Jäger
Geburtsdatum: 10.07.1920
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 02.06.1940

Walter Schmutzler ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Narvik.
Endgrablage: Block 13 Reihe M1 Grab 6

Nachname: Weskamp
Vorname: Bodo
Dienstgrad: Jäger
Geburtsdatum: 25.10.1920
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 01.06.1940 [date correct?]

Bodo Weskamp ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Narvik.
Endgrablage: Block 13 Reihe B Grab 17

Nachname: Kramer
Vorname: Wilhelm
Dienstgrad: Gefreiter
Geburtsdatum: 22.02.1921

Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 02.06.1940
Wilhelm Kramer ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Narvik.
Endgrablage: Block 13 Reihe A Grab 15

Best regards
Torsten

[parahist]

Hello all!

One Fallshirmjäger jumped but not survived. Who was he?

"The dead Fallshirmjäger were:

Ofw. Haase, Fj. Hans Vorsteffel, Fj. Werner Fischer, Fj. Franz Langfeld, Fj. Konrad Hof, Fj. Walter Schnitzer and Fj. Bodo West"

Sources: Nödlandning Sverige, Rolph Wegmann/Bo Widfeldt 1991, The Luftwaffe in Sweden 1939-1945, Bo Widfeldt 1983

Ps. I can also highly recommend Bo Widfeldt's books!

[Doktor Krollspell]

It appears several of the names on Widfeldt's list aren't spelt correctly. Here are the best fitting entries for the Narvik war cemetery I could find at http://www.volksbund.de

Thank you for the corrections, Torsten. I went through the names again in Widfeldt's book and I only missed the kamp in Westkamp, the rest of the name spelling are as they are listed in his book.

One Fallshirmjäger jumped but not survived. Who was he?

Widfeldt doesn't mention anything about one of the killed Fallschirmjäger or crew members that managed to jump and then died. He just states that 5 Fallschirmjäger and 2 crew members managed to jump and that the other 8 died in the crash.

[Doktor Krollspell]

As I'm reading the section in Widfeldt's book again, I now see that he states that of the 15 persons onboard that ill-fated Ju 52, 11 of them were Fallschirmjäger under the command of Fw. Himmrich, so the other 4 must subsequently be crew members. The thing is that Wildfeldt states that Ofw. Hasse was the "hoppledare", the "jump leader" but surely that position must belong to a Fallschirmjäger NCO (or Officer)? And that Ofw. Hasse was a Fallschirmjäger, making them 12 men strong.

Or was it a task for one of the Luftwaffe flight crew to organize and initiate the jump for the Fallschirmjäger squad?


Just wondering,

Krollspell

[fredleander]

As I'm reading the section in Widfeldt's book again, I now see that he states that of the 15 persons onboard that ill-fated Ju 52, 11 of them were Fallschirmjäger under the command of Fw. Himmrich, so the other 4 must subsequently be crew members. The thing is that Wildfeldt states that Ofw. Hasse was the "hoppledare", the "jump leader" but surely that position must belong to a Fallschirmjäger NCO (or Officer)? And that Ofw. Hasse was a Fallschirmjäger, making them 12 men strong.

Or was it a task for one of the Luftwaffe flight crew to organize and initiate the jump for the Fallschirmjäger squad?


Just wondering,

Krollspell

"Hoppledare" - Jumpmaster (JM) - could very well have been one of the crew. I am sure there are some Luftwaffe regulations covering this....

Fred

Fred

[parahist]

Hi again!

It takes a while to find sourse. In file, you will find ...

"...One other man jumped but at too-low lever for the parachute to open and he was killed with the others still in the craft."

What is right? Did he never jumped or not? I belive some one jumped too low to survive. And his name is still missing.