The War Diary of 2./JG27 (The Seige of Tobruk)

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The War Diary of 2./JG27 (The Seige of Tobruk)

Post by Blondi » Mon May 31, 2021 1:33 am

Introduction

In May of 2021, whilst dodging the masses of the now contact starved public now freed from their COVID lockdown purgatory, I found myself in an old bookstore. Such places have always been somewhat of an fascination to me, resigned to the pages of literary fiction or fantasy writing, but certainly not in a bad way. You'll never know what you might find between the dusty shelves and corridors of books. There's almost a mythological draw to them, bidding you come see what they hold within their walls. Perhaps not the first edition of the Bible, or the Holy Grail...
But what I did find was a Grail of sorts.

Amongst the many shelves heaving with what seemed like literal tonnes of parchment and paper, I came across a dusty old tome so large that it surely should have had a table to itself. Within it's pages I found the undiscovered and untold story of Men who flew the storm tossed and tumbling blue from a time where the World went Mad.

A story that the World needed to see.


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Last edited by Blondi on Sat Sep 25, 2021 11:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The War Diary of 2./JG27 (The Seige of Tobruk)

Post by Blondi » Mon May 31, 2021 6:27 pm

~ Anfang ~

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Fotografie - Gefr. Martin 'Blondi' Juhre
Vorwort - Gefr. Martin 'Blondi' Juhre

Vorwort:
"It is by my word that I attest to the legitimacy of this document. It is free from censorship, the touch of the propaganda ministry, and a truthful account of the days we spent in the blistering heat of that God forsaken desert. Should anything happen to me, to my successor in the ownership of this Diary I say this; For the sake of truthfulness and the code we fly by, please continue to document "Our War" so that maybe future generations can learn from us. That is all I ask."

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Gazala Flugplatz
Nordküste, Libyen
1941-06-15

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[1.Schwarm engines running on our "Runway" awaiting the first flight of JU87s from Sturzkampfgeschwader 1.]
L-R: "Schwarze 3" Hauptmann Reichert, , "Schwarze 13" Hauptgefreiter Büttcher, "Schwarze 8" Unterfeldwebel 'Doc' Edmann, "Schwarze 4" Unteroffizier Scheyda.

"We had arrived in the wake of Unternehmen Sonnenblumem, with overall command of I.Gruppe placed on the shoulders of Gruppenkommandeur Neumann. We had been in Gazala for roughly a Month, yet none of us had found time to enjoy our surroundings of even find any sort of down time, no matter how short.
We had been put straight to work propping up the failing Italian front in the wake of the Tommies' Operation Compass, and sorties came thick and fast."


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[The second half of 3.Schwarm taxing to Gazala's runway.]

"Our mission was simple: Wait for our assigned Stuka Gruppe, escort them to the Fort Capuzzo frontline, and once they safely dropped their bombs and turned for home, conduct a Frei-Jagd over the frontline and East towards Buq-Buq.
1.Schwarm under our Staffelkapitän Hauptmann Fritz Reichert took off for the first gruppe, while 2 would cover the second, and 3 the third gruppe."


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["Schwarze 15" piloted by Unteroffizier Christian 'Stahl' Marx as seen from "Schwarze 9". Climbing over the Gazala coast.]

"We were quite the international Staffel. 2.Schwarm's Scharmführer was a Franzose, Unteroffizier Marx was a native Finn, Hauptgefreiter Büttcher was Dänisch, and Unterfeldwebel Matuschka came from a Portuguese background to name but a few. Despite the political and social turmoil this war had caused between our home countries, we held no scorn or contempt for one another. In this theatre, anyone who was brave enough to fly your wing was as good as your Brother."


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[II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1. over Tobruk's Verteidigungssektor - Süd.]

"Passing over the Southern sector of the Tobruk pocket always brought us the Ire of the Tommies on the ground. Flak and the occasional Ack Ack burst were always the usual greeting, though few, if any, ever came close.
The Deutsche Afrika Korp had laid siege to the Town for nearly 2 months now, and they'd even been blockaded from the Sea. A tenacious group of people these Britisch are. They had our admiration from day one."


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["Schwarze 10" of 2.Schwarm over Sidi Rezegh.]

"As the second gruppe passed over Sidi Rezegh, Schwarze 7 had called out 6 aircraft approaching the Stukas from their front. Immediately 2.Schwarm had rolled in to defend the bombers, but in the scramble to dive and engage them, the flight lead blew his engine in the scorching heat, and was forced to disengage. Even at 4,000 feet the heat beating in through the windshield and hot air blasting us from the open flare gun port was astonishing.
The remainder of us continued the defence of the Stuka gruppe, myself and Marx strafing a Hurricane who seemingly had complete disregard for his own safety, and stayed glued to the Stuka's tail even after both of us raked him with Minengeschoß. Soon after, I caught a glimpse of another Hurricane attempting to gain advantage over my No.2. I called Christian to break left and I rolled around their turn fight and dived in a tight right hand Chandelle. I put a short burst into his starboard wing and a large chunk separated from it's tip, rendering the Hurricane combat ineffective.
With the distance between our Schwarm and the bombers become greater and greater, I chose to spare the stricken hurricane and return to top cover duties. He would live to spar with us another day."


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["Die Frontlinie". To the left you can see the entrenched Sollum frontline. British Positions are to the top right.]

"What was left of 1.Schwarm had escorted their Stuka group to their target without incident, and they were now conducting a Frei-Jagd in the area around Sollum.
Earlier in the day two of their aircraft had attempted to take off only to be hindered by technical problems that required immediate maintenance. Credit is due to Hauptgefreiter Büttcher who flew the whole 190km journey alone to regroup with the rest of the Staffel after he was left in his dugout with an engine start failure.
Soon after however, both the Staffelkapitän and remnants of 2.Schwarm found ourselves entangled with a large group of Tomahawk fighter aircraft, and disengaged from them in the direction of Bardia."


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[Kriegsmarine Schiffe bei Bardia.]

"Staffelkapitän Reichert ordered an immediate reform over Bardia. Below us we observed several Kriegsmarine Schiffe offloading something onto the shore. We're are still unaware of what this was, but all I can say is they didn't shoot at us!"


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["Schwarze 3 - Der Tiger" piloted by Staffelkapitän Hauptmann Fritz Reichert.]

"Only three of us had flown with "Der alte Mann" before Libya. A veteran of Die Luftschlacht um England, with some time in Russia under his belt as well, all of us agreed that if he wasn't in the Staffelkapitän position, we wouldn't be anywhere near as efficient and effective as we are now.
A fair few of us pined over the day when we could have our machines look as unique as his Me, but for now I do like my Leopard Spots."


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["Schwarze 2" piloted by Leutnant Alfons 'Rex' Eickhoff of 3.Schwarm. East of Sidi Azis.]

"3.Schwarm eventually caught up with the rest of the Staffel over Bardia. They had waited for over 15 minutes past their form up time for the third Stuka gruppe which never materialised. Leutnant Alfons was quite prickly after they had been left to flounder on the ground, flew 190km across the Lybisch desert, only to be ordered to turn back towards Sidi Regezh as the rest of the Staffel was low on fuel and ammunition."


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["Mitten im Nirgendwo" - Regezh Flugplatz.]

"Before our flight back to Gazala, we diverted to Sidi Regezh to rearm and refuel. I vowed never to get caught out on fuel that far inland again."


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[1.Schwarm coming in to land at Sidi Regezh Flugplatz.]

"We taxied up to fuel tenders and ammunition stockpiles already waiting for us. While we waited in the blistering heat, I got to talking with the few Afrika Korp personnel at the field. Apparently they'd heard over the speakers in the control tower that a flight from Zerstörergeschwader 26 had been almost completely destroyed after the group of Merchant craft they attacked turned out to be heavily armed AAA Q-Ships, built with the appearance of Merchant ships but in fact hiding large calibre armament under their decks. Only one 110 managed to limp back to base heavily damaged. 4 men died, while 2 others managed to bail out at the coast.
None of us would dare to think that it might be us next. That sort of thought is poison to your sense of judgement. But in this conflict, one thing is evident to us all: Die Würfel sind gefallen."

Nach Aktion

Flugzeug-Status
  • Schwarze 10 - Blown gasket
Pilot-Status
  • Alle verbucht
Staffel Haltung
  • Volle Stärke
Siegeszahl
  • Gefr. Juhre/Uffz. Marx - Hurricane - Damaged - Streaming Glycol and Fuel - Fate Unknown
  • Gefr. Juhre - Hurricane - Damaged - Starboard wing tip shot off - Fate Unknown


Editor's note: I found these two photographs unattached to a page. There's no description and there doesn't seem to be any missing anecdotes made by Gefr. Juhre, so I've attached them at the end anyway.
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Re: The War Diary of 2./JG27 (The Seige of Tobruk)

Post by Kurse » Wed Jun 02, 2021 7:44 pm

This is brilliant! :salute:
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Re: The War Diary of 2./JG27 (The Seige of Tobruk)

Post by Cule » Wed Jun 02, 2021 7:59 pm

A worthy complement to my briefing style! We should archive these Blondi
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Re: The War Diary of 2./JG27 (The Seige of Tobruk)

Post by Kit Pepper » Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:46 pm

Another classic for the ACG Press.
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Re: The War Diary of 2./JG27 (The Seige of Tobruk)

Post by Kildren » Sun Jun 06, 2021 11:50 am

Get to the juicy homoerotic
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Re: The War Diary of 2./JG27 (The Seige of Tobruk)

Post by Woop » Sun Jun 06, 2021 6:49 pm

Blondi, this is brilliant. Very well done indeed.
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Re: The War Diary of 2./JG27 (The Seige of Tobruk)

Post by Blondi » Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:17 pm

~ Tag drei ~

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Fotografie - Gefr. Martin 'Blondi' Juhre
Vorwort - Gefr. Martin 'Blondi' Juhre
Gazala Flugplatz
Nordküste, Libyen
1941-06-17


Overview
"After the successes of the last few days, Tommy is now in retreat. This also means our mission time table has been stepped up. It's imperative that we continue to hound his vulnerable formations, afford him no respite, and pin down his Air Force until Rommel can consolidate a stronger defensive front on the DAK's newly capture ground. We've been ordered to escort a flight of Italian Bombers on a bombing mission to close off "Half-way House Pass"; a road being used to evacuate Britische Units currently in danger of being cut off. Once complete, we are to conduct a Frei-Jagd in the area of Sollum. Strafing any enemy vehicles/aircraft and, or, positions we come across. If all goes well, this could well be the beginning of the end for Tommy and his offensive operations in the East."

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["Teacher's Pet" - "Schwarze 3" of 1.Schwarm 2./JG27 West of Sidi Rezegh]

"Flying with 1.Schwarm as No.3 today. Take off was a nightmare with crosswind, and a few of us had to make two attempts to get airborne, stopping just in the nick of time before the point of no return.
It's still incredibly hot. Almost burned my hand this morning on the KG stick. Maybe others were struggling in the heat.
Still getting to grips with this new Camera. It's amazing what technology is available to us these days."


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[Fiat BR.20 Cicogna's of the Italian 4 Squadriglia - East of Sidi Rezegh]

"Delay to our take off meant we had to throw caution to the wind with the engine and gun it to meet our rendezvous with our escort mission. These Italienisch BR.20s are a bizarre aircraft. You would be forgiven for mistaking them for a passenger craft or some sort of transport. They don't look very much like a warmachine. Then again, that might work in their favour."


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["The African Expanse"]

"Never have I seen such an vastness of nothing. The dust just doesn't seem to end, and with the haze you might think the sky and sand become one the further you go.
We heard a few rumours from some DAK Schützen around Gazala that were waiting for transport to the front, that there's some kind of group of trucks rolling around the deep desert shooting up parked aircraft and blowing up whole airfields, that they only come at night, and what's even more bizarre; there's barely a handful of them. It may sound like the rumblings of a mad man, but these men seemed visibly shaken, even afraid. Many of us thought nothing of it, that it was some sort of Britische trick to sow discontent among the lines. Still, I think I'll sleep with my P38 tonight."


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["Little Friends" - Fiat G.50 fighter]

"Arrived over Sidi Rezegh and handed off the BR.20s to their "Kleine Freunde".
By no means a match for our Emiles, the G.50s were all the Italians had to spare at the minute. A number of Jagdgeschwader have had near misses with them in the past, often mistaking their shape for Hurricanes, only to realise at the last minute, or worse, too late. They lack horsepower and their weaponry just about makes it combat effective. But what they lack in machinery, these pilots make up for in eagerness."


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[Dropping Tanks - Sollum]

"I never enjoyed flying with extra fuel. The tank increased your drag and take off weight, and made you slower. In a War where speed was very much everything, this was a detriment to your well being. 400 Litres is plenty, however we found that barely managed to get us from Gazala to Sollum. A necessary evil unfortunately. Where possible we tried to be cognisant of where we jettisoned them. I would have hated myself if some Landser down there begged for rain and receive a 300 Litre fuel tank travelling at 300kmph instead."


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["Contact" - Fighting over Sollum]
"Schwarze 3" piloted by Staffelkapitän Hauptmann Fritz Reichert engaged with Desert Airforce Aircraft, South of Sollum.

"Our Frei-Jagd was quickly cancelled as ground controllers vectored us towards the Italiener. They were in trouble, having been attacked by a large group of Tommy's Air Force still in the area. We made best speed to their aid, and found them in a terrible state. Hauptmann Reichert wasted no time in calling an immediate Staffel attack to relieve them."


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["A Shark by his tail!" - 8mm film from "Schwarze 9"'s Gun Camera]

"Tomahawks. We knew some Amerikanisch equipment had made it to Afrika, but we hadn't had the opportunity to seem them up close. Now we have. Large engine in the front as well as 6 machine guns, and very manoeuvrable for their size. Earlier in the fight, one had almost taken my tail off with a quick burst, however I was able to avoid his shooting, or so I thought. Many of them sported "The Shark's Mouth" on their cowling, and if they dove on you from above they were an exceptional dangerous foe indeed... But not this one."


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"Both myself, Hauptmann Reichert, and Unteroffizier Scheyda went to work on him and his Wingman, as they attempted to bring down a lone BR.20 that was frantically disengaging from the fight. My first pass on the leader was unsuccessful but "Der Alte Mann" separated him from his wingman, and followed him up with a short burst of Maschinengewehr and Minengeschoß. I rolled around his attack and dove down slightly to increase speed, pulling up behind the Tomahawk in a vertical climb. I gave him a quick burst from my MGs and then a concentrated burst from the Cannons as well, but due to my low speed the gunnery was sub par and missed.
He rolled over to escape, and I dove after him, adamant to finish the Shark off. My rounds hit his lower right tail and some of the cannon burst impacted his left wing, but failed to bring him down. I went back into the vertical, and looking over my shoulder saw the Staffelkapitän put the finishing blow into him as the Tomahawk's altitude lessened, and he belly landed in the dust."


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[Royal Air Force Tomahawk MK IIb - South of Sollum]

"I suddenly became aware of the second Tomahawk in our midst after he narrowly avoided colliding with me. He passed my nose and I instinctively pulled the trigger flush against the control stick. A few puffs of impacts were seen, but the aircraft continued on unfazed. I rolled upside down and performed a splint S to keep my speed up, but he was pulling away in the direction of Buq-Buq. However, he was not alone.
Behind him I saw the two unmistakable shapes of Me-109s. Scheyda and Hauptmann Reichert had come down on him from a height and caught him unaware."


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[Gun Camera footage from "Blondi" Juhre's BF-109E7 "Schwarze 9"]
Hauptmann Fritz Reichert (Schwarze 3) and Unteroffizier Josef Scheyda (Schwarze 4) engage Tomahawk attempting to flee towards Buq-Buq.

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Schwarze 3 overshoots and Schwarze 4 successfully engages and overshoots Tomahawk.

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Schwarze 3 second pass.

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Schwarze 3's shots impacting at close range.

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Schwarze 3 passes under floundering Tomahawk. Pilot bails out. Schwarze 4 can be seen in the background.


"I watched the Tommy bail out almost in front of my prop and tumble away, parachute deploying behind him. Reichert ordered immediate reform over Bardia, and we swooped low to mainly speed and separation from any other Tommies who might want to go another round. As we pulled up over the cliff face, I shot a glance over my shoulder only to see Unteroffizier Scheyda's aircraft being tailed by a pair of aircraft. I tried to warn him, but I was far too late. To my horror tracer engulfed the Me and it began to spiral out of control into the ground. There was no call for help. No parachute. Just a mass of tattered metal and flames.
The Hauptmann ordered full power and I threw the throttle forwards to get everything out of the engine that I could. Behind me, the two aircraft broke away in the direction of Buq-Buq and disappeared into the late afternoon haze."

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["An unplanned stop" - Amseat Flugplatz, just West of Sollum]

"This was not the time to lament Schwarze 4's loss. We reformed what little we could of the staffel. One Schwarm of 4 and another of 3.
We had lost Unterfeldwebel 'Doc' Edmann in defence of the BR.20s, having seemingly been struck by Tomahawks and bailed out into the desert. We are still unsure if he survived.
Leutnant Eickhoff had vanished as well. Though none of his Schwarm could confirm what had happened, they did report a parachute.
Vowing to press on, we flew for Buq-Buq. We would hunt around their airspace for any stragglers that may yet be looking for safe harbour. As we rounded the coast over Sollum again, within striking distance of the Tommies, I pushed the throttle forward slightly to stay in position and suddenly my whole aircraft began to violently shake. Almost immediately I began to lose engine power and slipped from formation. I called out that my aircraft had suffered a catastrophic failure, and I was making best speed for Sidi Azis, the nearest operational Flugplatz.
As I pulled away, I could hear the rest of the Staffel being ordered to return to Sidi aswell due to our reduction in combat strength. I cannot help but feel like this was my fault, and that I had forced the Staffel into early retirement from the field. These thoughts became swept from my mind when my engine finally gave up the Ghost and my RPM spun to zero. I radioed that I could not reach Sidi Azis, and that I would be putting down on Amseat Foward Flugplatz. It was abandoned for all I knew, but the hope was that there might be Afrika Korp units already in that area.
I trimmed out my aircraft, lowered my landing gear and braced for a rough landing on the unkept dust bowl. Thankfully, I was able to direct the aircraft onto the aerodrome in a three point landing. I couldn't save the engine, but at least the airframe was undamaged.
I rolled to a halt just in front of a group standing on the Northern end of the field. I was unsure of their allegiance, so as I opened the cockpit canopy, I unbuckled my P38 holster for what little good it would do me. Fortunately, the grubby faced Afrika Korp Engineers approached my aircraft and helped me out of the cockpit.
I was exhausted. Between the heat, strain, and adrenaline, I could barely stand. I explained to them what had happened, to be on the lookout for any other pilots, and that I needed transport immediately to Gazala. They helped me to the wing and motioned to my engine. I could now see why my machine had died. A single .50 calibre shaped hole right into the cowling, oil spilling out. The Tomahawk I evaded had hit me with a single round from his burst.
I had been extremely lucky, however a great many of us had not."

Nach Aktion

Flugzeug-Status
  • Schwarze 2 - Lost
  • Schwarze 4 - Lost
  • Schwarze 8 - Lost
  • Schwarze 9 - Damaged



Pilot-Status
  • Lt Alfons 'Rex' Eickhoff - Fehlt
  • Uffz Josef Scheyda - Getötet
  • Ufw Paul 'Doc' Edmann - Fehlt
Staffel Haltung
  • 70 Prozent Stärke
Siegeszahl
  • Hptm Fritz Reichert - Tomahawk - Abschoss - Streaming Glycol and Fuel - Belly landed in desert.
  • Hptm Fritz Reichert - Tomahawk - Abschoss - Pilot bailed - Crashed and exploded.
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Re: The War Diary of 2./JG27 (The Seige of Tobruk)

Post by Cule » Tue Jun 08, 2021 12:21 am

Really cool man. Missing Coopes and the brigade.
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Re: The War Diary of 2./JG27 (The Seige of Tobruk)

Post by Konaber » Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:03 am

First time the LW encountered the Tomahawks over Africa, they misidentified them as Brewsters (which were also in the area, sadly we don't have them in the sim):
A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945, Volume One: North Africa, June 1940 – January 1942 wrote: Monday, 16 June 1941

During the mid afternoon at 1500, the pilots of eight Tomahawks of 250 Squadron reported the unit’s first combat over the desert when five Bf 109s were met at 22,000 feet over Bardia. Sqn Ldr J.E.Scoular and Flt Lt R.F.Martin, both of whom had served with distinction with 73 Squadron in France in 1940, each claimed damage to one of the German aircraft. It is interesting to note that the Luftwaffe pilots initially identified these new opponents as ‘Brewsters’.
I love it, thanks for creating this! :salute:

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