Luftwaffe groundforces in Norway

[Stalheim]

Hi,i am new to this forum,but it looks like i am come to the right place
I am on a quest of finding information on my grandfathers military carrer in
Luftwaffe and also the airfield close to my birthplace in the Northern Norway. The airfield was Flugplatzkommando B67/XI Elvenes and was subordinated under Flughafenbereich Narvik. He was drafted to Luftwaffe-Bau-kompanie-51/XI in 1939/40 and in November 1940 moved to Werftkompanie 15 in Perleberg. And that is the info i got from The Deutsche Dienstelle. Can anyone help me were i can find Mannschatlisten/Besatzunglisten for these airfields in Norway? And also were can i go to find Maps/Schematics over these airfields and the surounding fortifications? Any info would be of great help.

[Larry D.]

Stalheim -

Try: http://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20Norway.pdf


L.

[Stalheim]

Thanks Larry for the link you gave me. I found this that i copied. Is there anyone who knows about these units? Also of all the archives in Germany,which one is the most likely to have info about this units? Can anyone translate these abbreviations or were can i go to read up on this?
Station Units
(on various dates – not complete): gem. Flak-Abt. 341 (? - May 45);
Trsp.Kol. d. Lw. 114/III (? – May 45); Trsp.Kol. d. Lw. 122/III (? – May 45); Trsp.Kol. d. Lw.
129/III (? – May 45); Ldssch.Zug d. Lw. 60/III (Nov 42, Jun 43, May 45).

[Larry D.]

Stalheim -

Those abbreviations are explained at pages 4 to 14 here:

http://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20Gener ... uction.pdf

L.

[Stalheim]

Larry
Thanks for the link,just the one i needed Any idea where i can go to find schematics,maps and ouline of these airfields in Norway?


-Stalheim

[Larry D.]

Stalheim -

AFHRA disc A5263 has the airfields for Norway. There are some sketch maps, but everything else is included in the Norway list at:

http://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20Norway.pdf

I know this because I am the author.

L.

[Stalheim]

Thanks Larry.
Where can i go to request the hole content of this AFHRA disc?

Stalheim

[Larry D.]

Stalheim -

http://www.afhra.af.mil/main/contactus.asp

A5263 can be ordered as either a 35 mm reel of microfilm or as a computer disc. There are 2,003 frames (pages) on the disc. Norway is in 2 folders beginning with page 260 and ending with page 787, for a total of 527 pages.

CAUTION: if you are looking for Mannschaftslisten or Einheitsgeschichten for mention of your grandfather, you will not find them in A5263. If your grandfather was with the Luftwaffen-Mannschaften, information about him or mention of him can only be found in documents held by WASt Berlin. There are no surviving records of the small Luftwaffe units that ran the Luftwaffe's airfields. It sounds very much that he had technical training since he was assigned to a Werftkompanie. Werft-Kpn. were always subordinated to the resident Fliegerhorstkommandantur or Flugplatzkommando. The fragmented records of some of these, i.e., Bergen, Bömoen, Trondheim-Vaernes, Trondheim/See, Fornebu, Kirkenes, Petsamo, Sola/Land, Sola/See and Tromsö, survived and can be found at the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv in Freiburg in Signatur RL 21. But a chance of finding your grandfather's name is next to zero. You could also research the Koflug records at BA-MA in RL 20 and the the tiny handful of surviving records of Feldluftgaukommando Norwegen in RL 19. The Germans burned everything just before they surrendered on 8 May 1945.

L

[Stalheim]

Larry
Thanks for all the information you have provided here,i have already been in contact with AFHRA about purchasing the disc. I will also try to follow all the leads in Germany. I got the info that WAST held on him,so my last trace of him beeing transfered to Werftkompanie 15 in Perleberg november 1940. Also there there were 2 POW camps close to Flugplatzkommando B67/XI Elvenes,who would be responsible for running them,Luftwaffe or Werhmacht?

[Larry D.]

Stalheim -

The Luftwaffe only had POW camps for enemy air force personnel and these were in Germany. The POW camps in Norway were run by the Heer (Army). Enemy air force personnel captured in Norway were held in local Luftwaffe custody only long enough to arrange transportation for them to Dulag Luft at Oberusel near Frankfurt/M. From there, they went to one of the Luftwaffe POW camps in the Reich.

POW Camps & Labor Units in Norway:
Stalag 303 in Lillehammer
Stalag 322 (under Gebirgskorps Norwegen)
Stalag 330 in Narvik
Stalag 380 in Dombas
Zweiglager Drevja/Stalag 380
Zweiglager Mirvan/Stalag 380
Kriegsgefangenen-Arbeits-Btl. 184 in Trondheim
Kriegsgefangenen-Arbeits-Btl. 185 in Trondheim
Kriegsgefangenen-Arbeits-Btl. 186 in Mosjoen
Kriegsgefangenen-Arbeits-Btl. 187 in Faurke
Kriegsgefangenen-Arbeits-Btl. 188 in Bergen and Stavanger
Kriegsgefangenen-Arbeits-Btl. 189 (planned for Norway but never set up)
Kriegsgefangenen-Arbeits-Btl. 190 in Mosjoen

All of these had sub- and sub-sub- camps and compounds set up wherever forced labor was needed, such as building and maintaining airfields under the supervision of the Luftwaffe or the Organisation Todt.

L.

[Stalheim]

Larry
I followed the lead on Stalag330 and i found this document showing names of places where there were camps and units.
http://www.sovjetiske-krigsfanger.no/fi ... ./dok9.jpg.

I am also looking for info about the fortifications surrounding these airfields. The main bunker at Flugplatzkommando B67/XI Elvenes has a steel dome on top that's cut out of one piece with a lathe machine,and the stamp on it tells that is has been manufactured in Bochum,same city as my grandfathers birthplace. Will there be any chance of finding layouts and maps over these fortifications?

Stalheim

[Larry D.]

Stalheim -

Interesting document on Stalag 330. It lists the sub-camp at Elvenes.

If you will PM me and include your e-mail address, I will send you the sketch map of Elvenes. It shows the airfield, all buildings, fuel and ammunition dumps, dispersals, the two POW camps, etc. There are sketch maps for perhaps half of the airfields in Norway on Disc A5263. None of them show defensive positions or Flak positions. However, these are often mentioned in the narrative in terms of quantity (see: http://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20Norway.pdf ).

L.

[Stalheim]

Larry
I found the fabricator of the Panzerkuppel on the main bunker,its stamped with a circle containing the letters BVG=
Bochumer Verein für Gußstahlfabrikation. Prod.nr26.1939

Stalheim

[Stalheim]

Larry
Do you have any possible paths or leads to follow regarding finding out of the Return of German Luftwaffe personel and sub Groups after the end of the war from Norway? How was this orginazed etc. Would it be correct to assume that the Allies keept lists of everyone that were shipped back to Germany? The reason i ask is that maybe that could be a way to finding something about my grandfather.

[Larry D.]

Hi Stalheim -

The RAF disarmament wing or commission that went to Norway in May 1945 generated masses of papers including heaps of typescript they had the Luftwaffe in Noway prepare for them. All of this would be with their records at the British National Archives. But I do fear a great amount of it may have been purged during 1946-48 when the Brits disposed of 85% of their wartime records that were not intended for permanent archiving.

Have you checked with Norwegian researchers of the Luftwaffe? At least some of them have been through these and other records of a similar nature. You should also check with the German Red Cross in Munich and the International Tracing Service of the International Red Cross in Arolsen, Germany.

Larry D.