Op Plunder Air Defence and Luftwaffe ground attack missions.

Discussion in 'NW Europe' started by Rod_M, Jul 20, 2021.

  1. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member


    Hi stolpi,

    my own personal interest is in the Luftwaffe air response to the Rhine crossings, specifically nighttime ground attack sorties flown by the Nachtjagdverbände (German night fighter force).

    Luckily, the daily situation reports by the Luftwaffe High Command (OKL) survive for this period of the war. The nighttime air attacks occurred on three nights - 24-25 Mar, 25-26 Mar, and 26-27 Mar 1945. After that, Luftwaffe units retreated to airfields in northern Germany over the period 29 Mar - 10 Apr 1945.

    I will present the original German texts extracted from the OKL air situation reports in separate posts.
     
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  2. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    Luftwaffe nighttime air attacks in response to the Rhine crossings, night 24-25 Mar 1945:


    Supplement to the Luftwaffe High Command Morning Report West of 25.03.1945:


    "Lw. Kdo. West
    Eigener Einsatz: Nachtschlachteinsatz der 2., 3. und 7. Jagddivision gegen Kriegsbrücken und Feindbewegungen bei Wesel und Oppenheim.
    2. JD: 18 Flzg. Verluste: 0 - 8 - 0, 0 - 2 - 0.
    3. JD: 88 Flzg. Verluste 0 - 13 - 0, 1 - 3 - 5.
    7. JD: 26 Flzg. Verluste 0 - 8 - 0, 2 - 0 - 1

    Insgesamt: 132 Flzg. Verluste 0 - 19 - 0, 3 - 5 - 6.
    Besondere Wirkungsbeobachtungen: Pontonbrücken bei Büderitz und N Rheinberg brennen".


    In essence, Ju88, Bf110, and Bf109 night fighters from 2. and 3. Jagddivisions (temporarily subordinated under Luftwaffenkommando Wes) flew 106 sorties against the northern crossings (i.e. between Rees and Rheinberg). They lost one aircraft destroyed, five missing, and five damaged. Aircrew losses were 21 men missing.


    Ju88 night fighters from 7. Jagddivision (temporarily subordinated under Luftwaffenkommando West) flew 26 sorties against the southern crossing (i.e. Oppenheim) and lost two aircraft destroyed and one damaged. Aircrew losses were eight men missing.


    The data presented by the Luftwaffe High Command was provisional with regard to missing aircraft and personnel.
     
  3. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    Luftwaffe nighttime air attacks in response to the Rhine crossings, night 25-26 Mar 1945:


    Supplement to the Luftwaffe High Command Morning Report West of 26.03.1945:


    "Lw. Kdo. West
    Eigener Einsatz: Nachtschlachteinsatz der 2., 3. und 7. Jagddivision
    2. JD: 8 Flzg. 19:47 Uhr - 02:36 Uhr Raum Rees, Verluste: 0 - 8 - 0, 0 - 2 - 1
    3. JD: 48 Flzg. 19:10 Uhr - 04:30 Uhr Raum Rees, Verluste: 0 - 17 - 4, 4 -4 - 3
    7. JD: 24 Flzg. 22:35 Uhr - 04:44 Uhr Raum Oppenheim, Verluste: 0 - 10 - 0, 1 - 5 - 5

    Insgesamt 80 Flzg. Verluste 0 - 35 - 4, 5 - 9 - 9
    Angriff auf Pontonbrücken und Flakstellungen Wirkung nicht beobachtet, auf Straßenziele 26 LKW und 2 Tankwagen in Brand geschossen.
    Erfolge im Luftkampf: 2. JD.: 1 Mosquito wahrscheinlich".


    Ju88, Bf110, and Bf109 night fighters from 2. and 3. Jagddivisions (temporarily subordinated under Luftwaffenkommando West) flew 56 sorties against the northern crossings between 19:10 – 04:30 hrs. They lost four aircraft destroyed, six missing, and four damaged. Aircrew losses were 25 men missing. One of the German crews claimed a probable air victory against an RAF Mosquito.


    Ju88 and Bf110 night fighters from 7. Jagddivision (temporarily subordinated under Luftwaffenkommando West) flew 24 sorties against the southern crossing and lost one aircraft destroyed, five missing, and five damaged. Aircrew losses were 10 men missing.
     
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  4. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    Luftwaffe nighttime air attacks in response to the Rhine crossings, night 26-27 Mar 1945:


    Luftwaffe High Command Morning Report West of 27.03.1945:


    "Lw. Kdo. West
    Eigener Einsatz: Nachtschlachteinsatz der 2. und 3. Jagddivision im Raum Wesel - Dinslaken:
    2. JD: 4 Ju 88, keine Verluste.
    3. JD: 33 Zweimot., ) Verluste:
    1 Einmot. ) p 0 - 25 - 0. m 1 - 7 - 5
    Bombenwurf auf Brücke Mehrum (S Wesel), Treffer wahrscheinlich sowie auf weitere Ziele im Brückenkopf bei Rüderich, Orsoy, Stapp.
    Beck und Stellen n.n.b.
    Tiefangriffe auf Kolonnen auf Straße Wesel - Dinslaken und Wesel - Rees und auf Abstellplatz mit LS, 10 km MW Xanten. Brände beobachtet.
    7. JD: 16 zweimot. Nachtschlachteinsatz im Brückenkopf Oppenheim - Darmstadt. Bombenwurf auf Kfz.-Kolonnen und Tiefangriffe auf LkW-Ansamm-
    lung. Etwa 20 LKW in Brand geschossen. Gute Bombenlage beobachtet.
    Verluste: p 0 - 2 - 0, m 0 - 1 – 0".


    Ju88, Bf110, and Bf109 night fighters from 2. and 3. Jagddivisions (temporarily subordinated to Luftwaffenkommando West) flew around 43 sorties against the northern crossings [the Morning Report is in apparent error - it states one "Einmot", i.e. Bf109, sortie, in fact there were seven Bf109 sorties flown by III./NJG11]. They lost one aircraft destroyed, seven missing, and five damaged. Aircrew losses were 25 men missing.


    Ju88 and Bf110 night fighters from 7. Jagddivision (temporarily subordinated to Luftwaffenkommando West) flew 16 sorties against the southern crossing and lost one aircraft destroyed. Aircrew losses were two men missing.
     
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  5. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    Some additional Luftwaffe (i.e. non-night fighter) ground attack sorties against the northern crossings:

    Night 23-24 March 1945:

    27 Fw190 sorties in the Rees-Wesel area between 02:30 - 05:20 hrs. They bombed and strafed road targets and AAA sites. No losses.​

    Night 24-25 March 1945:

    13 Fw189 armed recce sorties over the Rhine between Dinslaken and Grieth between 23:15 - 00:57 hrs. Small bombs dropped on road traffic between Xanten and Rheinbach. No losses.​

    The Luftwaffe High Command situation reports record considerable daytime activity (i.e. direct Luftwaffe air attacks) against the southern crossings (i.e. particularly at Oppenheim-Nierstein) but not the northern crossings.

    The Americans set up two Inner Artillery Zones (IAZs) for Anti-Aircraft defence at Wesel and Rheinberg. American AAA batteries within these IAZs claimed one enemy aircraft destroyed on 24-25 March, 24 enemy aircraft destroyed or probably destroyed on 25-26 March, and 30 enemy aircraft destroyed or probably destroyed on 26-27 Mar. I only have fragmentary information on the actual confirmed American AAA claims after evaluation of the preliminary claims (i.e. the over optimistic preliminary claims were whittled down to a few official awarded claims).

    The RAF 2nd TAF provided Mosquito night fighters on defensive patrols to protect the northern crossings. These Mosquito night fighters claimed:

    Night 24-25 March: One Ju88, one Bf110, and one Bf109 destroyed.

    Night 25-26 March: Two Ju88s and two Bf110s destroyed, and one Ju88 probably destroyed.

    Night 26-27 March: Two Ju88s and two Bf110s destroyed.

    Some of the known German night fighter aircraft losses were close to Rees. Please note that establishing precise details about the German aircraft/aircrew losses is very difficult. Surviving Luftwaffe records are practically non-existent and Allied records are fragmentary at best.

    On 24-25 March, a Ju88G1 night fighter of II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 crashed at 02.35 hrs, near Till and approx. 10 km W of Rees.

    On 25-26 March, a Bf109 night fighter of III./Nachtjagdgeschwader 11 crashed in the Reichswald, approx. 22 km W of Rees.

    On 26-27 March, a Ju88G6 night fighter of I./Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 possibly crashed near Donsbrüggen (since the four crew are buried there), approx. 21 km ENE of Rees
     
  6. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Last edited: Sep 21, 2021
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  7. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    Hi stolpi,

    you're welcome. I've presented but an overview. There is a lot of other information on the sorties from various fragmentary sources, such as Luftwaffe crew Flugbücher and ULTRA etc.

    This thread and the other on Op Plunder planning has at least enabled me to identify the British AAA units involved in the operation, for which I'm thankful, so I can get copies of their war diaries from TNA at some point.

    What is clear, however, is that the nighttime air attacks achieved comparatively little and came at great cost - the Nachtjagdverbände flew 206 sorties against the northern crossings and lost roughly 24 aircraft destroyed or missing - a 11.7% loss rate on the sorties flown.
     
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  8. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    As I work through the British AA unit war diaries, I can (so far) add:

    XII Corps set up an Inner Artillery Zone around the crossings at Xanten, while XXX Corps set up an IAZ around Rees. These IAZs were only in operation during the hours of darkness. The British HAA and LAA units saw much action between 24-27 March 1945. When the dust settled, the Corps, after consultation with the RAF, awarded credits for aircraft destroyed by AA units as follows:

    100 AA Brigade (XII Corps, Xanten sector)

    night 24-25 March: 2.5 x Category I (destroyed) (the half relates to a claim shared with 106 AA Bde)
    night 25-26 March: 2 x Category I (destroyed)
    night 26-27 March: 4 x Category I (destroyed)

    106 AA Brigade (XXX Corps, Rees sector)

    night 24-25 March: 2.5 x Category I (destroyed) (the half relates to a claim shared with 100 AA Bde)
    night 25-26 March: 1 x Category II (probably destroyed)
    night 26-27 March: 3 x Category I (destroyed)

    The total of awarded credits for American AA units in the Wesel and Rheinberg sectors is harder to establish. I can only provide the details of claims submitted, not awarded:

    US 18 AA Group (Wesel and Rheinberg sectors)

    night 24-25 March: 1 x Category I (destroyed)
    night 25-26 March: 17 x Category I (destroyed), 6 x Category II (probably destroyed)
    night 26-27 March: 21 x Category I (destroyed). 4 x Category II (probably destroyed)

    As mentioned elsewhere, the credited total of aircraft destroyed by the AA units is extremely optimistic, even although the adjudication process should have weeded out duplicated claims and claims without good evidence of an enemy aircraft crash.

    The Germans lost 24 aircraft to all causes, and half of that total were shot down by Mosquito night fighters. Thus, at most, the British and American AA units could have destroyed no more than 12 aircraft.

    Cheers

    Rod
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2021
  9. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    Additional details:

    107 AA Brigade (2nd Cdn Corps, Kleve sector)

    night 24-25 March: NIL
    night 25-26 March: 1 x Category I (destroyed) (two half-shares, shared with 2nd Cdn Corps), 1 x Category II (probably destroyed)
    night 26-27 March: NIL

    2 Cdn Corps (Kleve sector)

    night 24-25 March: 1 x Category I (destroyed)
    night 25-26 March: 1.5 x Category I (destroyed) (the half relates to a claim shared with 107 AA Bde), 1.5 x Category II (probably destroyed) (the half relates to a claim shared with 107 AA Bde)
    night 26-27 March: 1 x Category I (destroyed)

    NB: the details of the claims awarded and shared between 107 AA Bde and 2nd Cdn Corps don't agree. According to 107 AA Bde, 0.5 Cat I occurred 260025A, 0.5 Cat I occurred 260125A. According to 2 Cdn Corps, 0.5 Cat II occurred 260115A, 0.5 Cat I occurred 260125A.

    74 AA Brigade (First Cdn Army, Nijmegen sector)

    night 24-25 March: 1 x Category I (destroyed), 2 x Category II (probably destroyed)
    night 25-26 March: 1 x Category I (destroyed)
    night 26-27 March: NIL
     
  10. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    Just to further confuse the errant claim award accounting - 107 AA Bde records the award of a ½ Cat I (Destroyed) to 80 Bty/149 LAA Regt on 260025A and a ½ Cat I (Destroyed) to 80 Bty/149 LAA Regt on 260125A (both these were shared with 30 Bty/6 LAA Regt RCA).

    The 149 LAA Regt WD records it claimed two Cat IIs (Probably Destroyed) at 260025A and 260125A and was awarded ½ Cat I (Destroyed) and ½ Cat II (Probably Destroyed).
     
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  11. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Rod_M
    Hi, many thanks for the Luftwaffe info on this thread.
    Do you from which airfields these night-fighters flew from? I know the location of the airstrip they used at Hamminkeln but it was abandoned the night before (as explained to me by a local)
    Happy to learn more about it!
    Many thanks.

    Alex.
     
  12. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    Hi Alex,

    the night fighters flew from airfields mostly well away from the Rhine crossing areas. The night fighter group IV./NJG1 flew out of Dortmund-Brackel, some 34 kilometres from the front lines around the bridgeheads - this was the closest airfield. To the best of my knowledge, no German night fighter unit was ever based at Hamminkeln.

    Here are the airfields used by the German night fighter aircraft in flying night ground attack missions against the northern Rhine crossings between 24-27 March 1945:

    II./NJG1 - used Werl (Bf110s)
    IV./NJG1 - used Dortmund-Brackel (Bf110s)
    III./NJG2 - used Marx, Leeuwarden, and Steenwijk (the latter two airfields in the Netherlands) (Ju88s)
    III./NJG3 - used Stade (Ju88s)
    IV./NJG3 - used Jever (Ju88s)
    I./NJG4 - used Vechta and Diepholz (Ju88s)
    II./NJG4 - used Gütersloh (Ju88s)
    III./NJG4 - used Paderborn and Lippspringe (Ju88s)
    III./NJG11 - used Lippspringe (Bf109s)

    Cheers

    Rod
     
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  13. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Thanks,
    There was an airfield there, literally a strip on a flat field, as it turned out smack bang in the middle of DZ B. A local expert told me planes were there but left prior to the operation. I thought he told me it was a night fighter unit, but will check again.
    Thanks for the info!
     
  14. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Rod_M

    Abandoned on 9th March and “destroyed”. I think that means flooded as the area appears flooded in the aerial pictures I have.
    Appears to have been just a satellite location for the larger airfield mentioned in the picture I’ve attached.
    Quite a niche subject, how did you get into it?

    Alex
     

    Attached Files:

  15. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    Hi Alex, I've asked the mods to extract the LW and Air Defence posts within this thread (posts 205-219) and place them in a new and separate thread, since the air defence subject is now hijacking the content of the original thread. I will reply once this is done.

    Cheers

    Rod
     
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  16. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Done on phone.
    Please check I moved all the right posts & got title right.
    Cheers.
     
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  17. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    Hi Owen, thanks for that - much tidier now...

    Alex, my own area of expertise is Luftwaffe Nachtjagdverbände ops in the West in 1945. Admittedly, the brief periods when the German night fighter force flew night ground attack ops up to the end of March 1945 form only a small part of my research. Having said that, I delved deeply into U.K. A.A. Command records (TNA WO 166) when looking at home air defence against German night fighter Intruder attacks over the U.K. in March 1945 (the last such attack was made on the night of 20-21 March 1945, and the unit involved, Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 (NJG 2) switched to night ground attack against the northern Rhine crossings a few nights later), so looking at the Op Plunder A.A. defence (TNA WO 171) was a natural progression.

    Regarding the airfield at Hamminkeln, interestingly, one of the few night fighter crewmen captured during the night ground attack missions - Ofw. Helmut Denecke - stated under interrogation that his aircraft was hit by A.A. fire when attempting to "ground-strafe an airfield and road traffic". His aircraft, Ju88 D5+AR, piloted by Oblt. Wolf Träger of III./NJG3, was tasked with attacking the bridgehead at Wesel. The interrogation report states Denecke was captured "near Xanten", but I've yet to find any British army reports mentioning his capture. To the best of my knowledge, while Denecke baled out of his damaged aircraft, Oblt. Träger managed to fly his aircraft back into German territory, since he returned to his unit and was still with it at the end of the war (Träger was the Staffelkapitän (Squadron Commander) of 7./NJG3, one of the three Staffeln (Squadrons) in III./NJG3).

    It's possible the airfield mentioned by Denecke was Hamminkeln or maybe one of the glider LZs.

    Anyway, for anyone reading this thread who may have copies of XII Corps and subordinated unit War Diaries, has anyone seen mention of enemy aircraft crashes or the capture of enemy airmen in the XII Corps (Xanten) zone of operations during Op Plunder?

    Regards

    RodM
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2021
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  18. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Great stuff,
    I’ll keep my eye out for any mention of captured Luftwaffe pilots in all my stuff, can’t recall but may have skipped over it as not a point of interest until now!
    I can remember reading a RAF pilot parachuted into friendly lines ( 9 Para) but suspect he was hit by Anti Aircraft ground fire.

    Alex
     
  19. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Just FYI, the location of the Hamminkeln airstrip.
     

    Attached Files:

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  20. Rod_M

    Rod_M Member

    An update, thanks to TNA WO 171 and LAC microfilm A.A.A. and other records:

    The 24-25 March Ju88G1 crash occurred NW of Wissel at 03:10 hrs, shot down by A.A.A. (the original RAF report was wrong with the time, cause, and slightly wrong with the location)

    The 25-26 March Bf109G14 crash likely occurred in the Reichswald, NNE of Kissel circa 20:25 hrs, cause unknown (1 CSR reported the crash, location and time, stating the pilot was dead).

    The 26-27 March Ju88G6 crash occurred NW of Wissel (less than 800 metres from the Ju88G1 crash site of 24-25 Mar) circa 02:30 hrs, shot down by A.A.A. This case is interesting because it was engaged by batteries from both XXX Corps and 2 Cdn Corps. The RAF had final say on the awarding of army A.A.A. claims and on or about 30 March, they approved the credit for this Ju88's destruction. XXX Corps thus awarded a ½ share to the 109th HAA Regt (award: ½ JU 88 Cat I 270220A) and a ½ share to 211 Battery, 71st LAA Regt (award: ½ JU 88 Cat I 270222A). Meanwhile, the 4th LAA Regt RCA had also claimed the Ju88's sole destruction - but their claim stayed in limo until late April-early May 1945. It was finally approved and 2 Cdn Corps awarded Sections C4, C5, C6 of 69 Bty full credit (award: 1 JU 88 Cat I 270230A) - the last 2 Cdn Corps A.A.A. claim to be approved during the war. This highlights how totals of enemy aircraft destroyed by A.A.A. become inflated, even after a generally rigorous claim, evaluation, and award procedure.
     
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