JG5 at Petsamo ?

Been reading a little recently about Heinrich Ehrler and JG5 at Petsamo. There doesn't seem to be much written !

For a start - maybe Kai is the expert here - where is Petsamo ? I tried looking on Multimap and it shows four different Petsamo's......

 

Martin,

here´s a map that will help you! Petsamo is in the north close to the sea some 100 kilometers west of Murmansk.

And the Finnish war map:

http://www.sodatkuvina.cjb.net/images/Jatkosota/Kartat/cwdata/41Petsamo.html

Also here it is though I think the Russian name is Pechenga

 

Got it - thanks, Kai - nothing like having a man on the spot !

Here's an even tougher one - on 21st June, 1943, Ehrler's 109G-2 was shot down by Soviet flak near Babjesero, but Ehrler survived uncaptured.

Try as I might on the internet, I can find absolutely no mention of 'Babjesero'. Any ideas ?

 

Nope,

could not find it either.

The name sounds pretty much of Russian origin so probably you can only find it with Russian alphabets from their maps. If it´s that big enough to be in the maps.

 

Thanks for trying anyway, Kai !

It really seems that very little is available in book form about the activities of JG5.

 

Martin, I found this action report with Beaufighters, Mustangs, JG-5, and those pesky Mosquitos. Sounded like quite a battle.

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/9431/44/dec_7_44.html

 

Thanks, Ta - I'd forgotten that this action is detailed in the Banff Wing book, 'A Separate Little War' . That title could also apply to JG.5, who seemed to have a unique war themselves.

 

This is amusing - there's a signed print ( naturally ! ) of Me 109's operating from Petsamo at ; -

http://www.brooksart.com/Petsamo.html

I've no idea if Petsamo actually looks anything like this, and neither am I too sure about the accuracy of the spirals on the propellor bosses......

 

A map site for you on this, Martin! In case you´re interested?

http://www.geocities.com/finnmilpge/fmpg_lwairfields.html

 

Kai - that is excellent !

It clearly shows the relationship of Petsamo to Murmansk and the Murmansk Railway. Very interesting indeed.

 

Found a German site on JG5 - nice pics although do not understand it all-now where´s the dictionary...??

http://www.jg5-jabo.de/history.php

 

Hello gentlemen,

There are 3 books on the market on JG 5, which are all in german, but all 3 are excellent !
-Jagdgeschwader 5 "Eismeerjager", Eine Chronik aus Dokumenten und Berichten, 1941-1945, by Werner Girbig.
-Eismeerjager, Zur Geschichte des Jagdgeschwaders 5, Band 1, Zerstorerstaffel und Jabostaffel, by Eric Mombeek.
-eismeerjager, Zur Geschichte des Jagdgeschwaders 5, Band 2, Jager, by Eric Mombeek.

I recommend them highly, all 3, but they are in german !

 

They do look really good ; but not only are they in German, they are seriously expensive - too much, I'm afraid, for me just to 'look at the pictures'....

 

While in central London this morning, bought Kagero's little 'JG 5 - Eismeer' title by Marek Murawski. Nicely-produced, with plenty of interesting photos and good colour profiles - I'm looking forward to reading it. By my reckoning, it's just about the only English-language book readily available about JG5s operations.....