Gents : Looking for a map of the area of Horsum near Alfeld which is suppose to be near Hannover Germany. Anyone post a scan of this area please ? My maps are inadequate..... This is in regard to some private research I am doing for a gent whose Grandfather was pilot of Halifax Na237 of 10th squadron. The Hali was shot down by a German night fighter on January 16, 1945 at 22.30 hours, four crew bailing out and the pilot and three others remained with the a/c and they was killed. thanks for any assistance you can provide. Erich
Erich, I can find it clearly using 'multimap' but it won't seem to transfer here in its' entirety. Try ; http://www.multimap.com/map/home.cgi?overviewmap=DG&client=public&advanced= Then click on 'maps' box, scroll top left 'country' box to Germany, enter 'Horsum' postcode 31061 and you're there ! ( I hope.... )
learning to spell the names of the towns/villages would help....geez ! anyway, thanks much my friend, as I have found them within 5 miles of each other and SE slightly of Hannover. the Hali must have crashed into the beautiful countryside. Now to find the attacker from the long list.... E
Right O ! I already have simple narration from the living navigator and the enroute and exit map which is pretty nice plus a copy of the evenings after action report. Trying to narrow down the attackers and have already eliminated 6 already. Have a note written to a former III./NJG 5 vet for his opinion and also have the III./NJG 5 operations from inception till war's end on order from Freiburg but that may take months. E
The a/c was Halifax NA 237 of 10th squadron. It was returning from a raid on Magdeburg and was shot dwon at around 22.30. The aircraft crashed in the village of Hörsum near alfeld outside of Hannover apparently by a night fighter. Four of the crew bailed out and became POW, three others including my grandfather(the pilot) were killed. Fraser Paxton (the navigator) They had dropped their bombs and were returning home. The area was swarming with night fighters, the bomber stream having been detected as soon as it left the English coast. Everything was as normal when suddenly the plane was shaken by a thud, thud, thud. Immediately the plane began to lose altitude, my grandfather gave the order Parchute on, Jump !, Jump ! Fraser, the bomb aimer and wirless operator bailed out of the forward escape hatch. My grandfather remained at the controls of the crippled plane in order that the others could bail out. Fraser was knocked unconscious as he jumped but must have managed to deploy his parachute and the next thing he knew he was on the ground which was covered in snow. He heard voices and dogs so spent the night in a nearby wood. In the morning he began to make his way over the clountry side. He met up with the bomb aimer and they decided to hand themselves in. they did so at Alfeld Police station. Later they were interrogated at Dulag-Luft where Fraser learnt of my grandfathers death. Eventually they were taken to a POW camp near Nürnberg when they met up with the tail gunner. After about four months of imprisonment they were liberated after the war ended. The plane went down very quickly, they think they were attacked from underneath and maybe from the front at the same time. Bomber command report to come ! A total of 14 Hali's were claimed and 11 Lancs claimed by the German night fighter force. Erich
From what I can find it appears that Rudolf Mangelsdorf was the pilot that shot this Hali down. This was his 13th victory in the Hannover area while with 8./NJG 2. His 14th was a Mossie from 100th group the same evening to the north. Rudi survived the war. He became famous for a short time during the 50ies when he landed a small plane on a autobahn south of Hamburg due to lack of fuel. As it appears he may have lost his flying license during this eve and it is mentioned that a night license was not on board his a/c when it landed. While in Grove, Denmark during the war he was with 11./NJG 3, he was quite disrespectful of the German leadership and got into trouble a few times. He also liked his alcohol and teamed up with the IV./NJG 3's doctor, Redlinger and caused quite a few amusing moments. His earlier squadron mates all state he made quite a figure. He was well liked in his unit and was considered a very competent pilot. Rudi died around 15 years ago. more.......
Sorry Martin, it was a Ju 88G-6 with twin Schrägwaffen. It appears he shot the Hali down with this armament and then went after the Mossie with his forward four 20mm's. more to come on that evenings report....... E
I hope to have some pics to post of Rudi Mangelsdorf next week from Denmark.....I hope ! Rudi scored his 15th claim on the night of February 8/9, 1945 at 22.03 hours, 1 Lancaster. His last claim was on the night of April 7/8, 1945 at 20.10 hours near Flensburg, 1 Lancaster, this being number 16. E
Zeitz Brux and Wanne-Eickel synthetic oil palnts, magdeburg/Mannheim/Hamburg Summary 1. 1238 a/c were dispatched, mostly deep into central and S.E. Germany, with the loss of 28 a/c, with 5 more wrecked on landing or taxying crashes. a total of 2.7 % destroyed. The synthetic oil plants at Brux and Zeitz, both in the Leipzig area, were most severely damaged: a raid on the plant at Wanne-Eickel in the Ruhr failed because of dense cloud, but another large force devasted the greater part of the city of Magdeburg. nearly 300 enemey a/c were airborne(I seriously doubt this !) but they were decieved by our elaborate counter-measures: and the strong flak defences at Zeitz and brux were overwhelmed by the concentration of our bombing. 8 probably 9 German fighters were destroyed (I'll have more on this later). Weather forecast 2. Bases:- fog and low stratus in southern Groups in evening: but conditions will gradually improve. Northern Groups fit all night. Targets:- much stratus and st-cu over W. Germany, breaking to nil towards Leipzig and Magdeburg areas: though the latter target is more doubtful. Zeitz : Brux Wanne-Eickel: Magdeburg areas of attack Zeitz Controlled Newhaven II. H=2215. Brux 5 Gp. Contolled Newhaven. H=2230. Wanne Eickel G-H groundmarking+emergency skymarking. H=0215. Magdeburg Contolled Newhaven II+emergency skymarking. H=2140. Sorties A/C despatched to Zeitz was 328 with 320 attacking targer, abortive sorties were 8 and a/c missing was 8 A/C despatched to Bruz was 237 with 222 attacking target, abortive sorties was 15 and a/c missing was 1 A/C despatched to W.Eickel was 138 with 128 attacking target, abortive sorties was 9 and 1 missing a/c. A/C despactched to Magdeburg was 371 with 348 attacking the target, 23 aborts and 17 missing a/c. Weather experienced Bases mainly fit in N. of Wash. Fog and low stratus further S. but East area gradually improved Zeitz Clear, with slight ground haze, wind at 18,000 ft. 330/25mph, broken st-cu to 0500 E. tops to 5,000 10/10ths thence to 0900 E., tops ? some thin layers 10-16,000, breaking E. of 0900 E. Return similiar. Brux 10/10ths sheet of low stratus or st-cu over target area, wind at 18,000 300/25mph route as above. Wanne Eickel 10/10ths at -cu./tops 5-7,000, over whole route and target. wind at 20,000' 320/20mph. Magdeburg Clear except for patches of low cloud. Route as for Zeitz. Ground haze. wind at 18,000' 300/30mph. Moon: new, setting at 2005 hrs. at London(before a/c reached enemy territory) Narrative of Attacks 14. All the attacks were reported as accurate and highly concentrated, even through the dense cloud at Bruz and Wanne Eickel. Magdeburg was described by late arrivals as burning from end ot end, and the glow of these fires was visible for 100 miles. more to come, this will be from three pages of the bomber report E
continuation....... Day Reconnassance Zeitz : Great damage was caused, particualrly in the northern half of the target. The vital injector houses and Wnkler gas generator were damaged, together with oil refining and storage facilities. Little reconstruction work was visible. Brux : Practically every installation in this plant was destroyed or damged. Wanne Eickel : Recon photographs were not obtained until after the attack delivered on the 2/3 February by over 300 a/c, again through 10/10ths cloud. Few incidents were visilble in the target area. Magdeburg : This attack together with several Mosquito raids in the American daylight attacks of the 3rd and 6th February devastated the greater part of Magdeburg. 44% of the buildings in the built-up area were destroyed or damaged. Industries suffered very heavily, over 40 being affected including 9 priority factories. Transportation facilities were heavily hit, especially the railway goods yards and warehouses. The great Ravensburg barracks were gutted, and many public buildings were demolished. The worst devastation occurred within the old forticications. enemy Defences At least 15 ? gruppen of enemy fighters were airborne, around 300 a/c (no way at this late stage !), but succeeded in making no more than 30 atacks on our bombers. The Magedebug force swept over the Weser estuary on a route similiar to that followed by the sweepstake diversion two nights earlier, and the enmey undoubtedly supposed that this was another such feint. He made a few contacts beyond Hannover with the tail of the force, and caused casualties. Only 3 attacks over Magdeburg itself, and opposition was slight on the homeward run. This was partly because the 3 JD controller, west of Hannover, after planning return-route interception of the Magdeburg raiders, sent his fighters towards Leipzig to ward off the Zeitz force. None of our other bomber forces, however, was seriously engaged. There were well protected by cloud until they were near to their targets and for the most of the return routes. The Window thrust towards Kiel and, later, the Mosquito feint on the Mannheim distracted the controllers still further. flak was not as heavy as had been expected at Magdeburg or Zeitz, despite the clear weather, and cloud reduced opposition at Brux, which is the most heavily defended(Flak). enemy A/C Destroyed The Magdeburg force claimed to have destroyed 3 probably 4 enemy a/c and to have damged 2 more. A Lancaster shot down another en-route to Brux, and our intruders claimed 4 more....... 1 Bf 110G-4 from 9./NJG 1 dwoned in the Hessburg bei Hildburhausen area. 1 Ju 88G-6 from 9./NJG 3 downed in combat by Mossie XIX of the 157th squadron near Lüneburg at 21.30 hrs. 1 Ju 88G-1 of 8./NJG 4 lost due enemy fire from a Mossie intruder 6km north of Paderborn 1 Bf 110G-4 of 9./NJG 5 lost in air combat 4km west of Lüneburg 1 Bf 110G-4 of 10./NJG 5 crashed due to ? at flugplatz Schkeuditz 1 Bf 110G-4 of 11./NJG 5 crashed after air-combat 500m south of Könngde SE of Bismark 1 Ju 88G-6 of 5./NJG 6 crashed due to loss of control 3km north of Burk, Kries Ansbach. more in a bit once the grandkids are gone......geez !
Casualties Zeitz 8/238, 6 lost ot fighters, Schweinfurt, coburg and Weimar outwards and Paderborn, Hengelo and Zwolle homewards. 2 to flak ? probably to fighters. 2 other a/c crashed in France, one due to engine failure and flak and the other a/c being hit by flak and then finsihed off by a fighter. Brux 1/237 1 a/c lost without trace, 2 others were wrecked in landing or taxying accidents. Magdeburg 17/371 a/c, 4 lost in collisions off the Yorkshire coast, outbound; 8 plus to fighters, 3 between Hannover and Magdeburg, outbound; 2 at targer; 2 just after and 1 near hannover, homebound (this particular crew of this thread) 3 to flak but probably to fighters. No returning a/c was wrecked beyond repair. Mannheim 17/17 Mosquitos carried out a feint attack on mannheim from 2106-2121 bombing very accurately in clear weather. No losses. Hamburg 8/9 Mosquitos attacked Hamburg from 2102-2106, through 10/10ths cloud. The ninth bombed an alternative target. Minelaying 27/31 lancasters and Halifaxes laid 123 mines in the Kattegat and Oslo Fjord. No fighters were met, and no casualties were sustained. Bomber Support etc. 100 Group provided elaborate counter-measures to cover the deep penetrations into SE Germany. mandrel screens were set up in Central France and off the Dutch islands; Window droppers threatened an attack on Kiel, while the Magdeburg force was approaching the Weser estuary; Jostle a/c operated, and 72 Mosquitos intruded, destroying 2 Me 110, 1 Ju 188 and 1 He 219 ( nope !). 6/7 Mosquitos and Halifaxes completed signals patrols, with 1 Mosquito lost without trace ( Victory over 1 Mossie VI YP-C shot down North of Hannover at Beckedorf by Rudi Mangelsdorf); and a B-17 crashed on landing, for unknown reasons, and was destroyed. well I hope this was of interest and a few of you take time to read it.... E
