Saturday 5 October
The weather improved slightly today, though there was still extensive cloud.
The improved weather persuaded the Luftwaffe to resume its fighter bomber attacks and today 480 sorties were flown on or in support of five ‘Jabo’ operations.
The largest operation was made early in the afternoon with about 200 Messerschmitts from Luftflotte 2 flying towards London and various targets in Kent, while at the same time Luftflotte 3 sent thirty-eight Bf 110s from ZG 26 along with forty Bf 109s from JG 2 and seven from JG 53 on a fighter sweep up towards the Isle of Wight area. Fierce fighting ensued with seven squadrons scrambled to oppose this raid and six Bf 109s were shot down for the loss of four RAF fighters.
Today Helmut Wick, of interest to some here, made a number of claims. He had a total of 36 air victories on his account, five behind Galland and six behind Molders. He claimed two of No 607 Squadron’s Hurricanes with other pilots from JG 2 claiming nine more. This makes eleven claims, more than the total number of the seven Hurricanes flown on this operation by No 607 Squadron! Only one Hurricane was shot down, though three others were damaged. Wick then gave this account of the action as his unit retired.
“Having turned towards the base, I suddenly spotted three Spitfires above myself. They seemed to come from the sea. I saw them first, attacked, and soon I had shot down the first one. […] I gritted my teeth and made a new attack. Number two also plunged into the sea after just a few rounds. Now only one was left. Unfortunately, by then I had run out of cannon shells, so I was left with only the machine guns. After a while, he left a white trail behind, which presaged gasoline fire. By all accounts, the pilot was also hit, since the aircraft swerved off uncontrollably. However, after a while the pilot seemed to have regained control over the machine, so I have to give him the coup de grace. The Spitfire reeled over and splashed into the sea.”
The problem is that these Spitfires, these losses, simply do not match any British records. These aircraft did not exist. One wonders whether Wick may have been a little too keen to catch up with his rivals. His five claims today, only one of which can possibly be verified, put him level with Galland. Wick was not alone in his pursuit of numbers. Within the Luftwaffe men like him were said to be suffering a ‘sore throat’, a reference to the ‘Ritterkreuz’ which was worn around the neck. There was a feeling among Luftwaffe pilots that the fighter operations over England were not serving to defeat the RAF but to increase the scores of the ‘experten’ (sometimes called hawks) at the expense of the men protecting their rears. Most over claiming was the result of genuine mistakes, the result of the confusion of air fighting. There is more than a suspicion that some of the Luftwaffe ‘experten’ were making outright fraudulent claims. In some cases it was proven and in very rare cases action taken against the claimers. The case of the "Expert Schwarm" (composed of Vogel, Sawallisch, Bendert and Stigler) of 4./JG 27 in North Africa was one such rare case.
This raid may have served as cover for another attack by the two Bf 110 Staffeln of Epgr 210, which targeted the Becton gas works and West Malling airfield. The first Staffel never reached Becton. It was intercepted by No 303 (Polish) Squadron which was patrolling over Dungeness, with No 501 Squadron joining in. No 1 (Canadian) Squadron tangled with the Bf 109 escorts. Two of the Bf 110s were shot down. The acting Gruppenkommandeur, Oblt. Werner Weymann and his Bordfunker, Untoffizier Erwin Hubner were shot down into the Channel. At least three of the Poles, F/O Henneburg, F/O Feric and F/O Pisarck claimed this aircraft in an example of confusion rather than fraud. Feric reported.
“I noticed an Me 110 break away from the circle, and dive towards the sea, smoking slightly, but maintaining a very high speed. I chased E/A and catching up with him about seven miles from the coast fired a short burst from 20 yards into his cockpit. E/A immediately dived into the sea.”
Weymann was the fourth Gruppenkommandeur to be killed in action since 15 August.
A second Bf 110, that of Fw Fritz Duensing and Fw Helmut Krappatsch was also shot down, diving into the ground at high speed. The CEAR noted that
“…aircraft dived with engine on and exploded on impact, scattering wreckage over a wide area.”
What could be found of the two crew was buried in Hawkinge cemetery where they remain today, not having been reinterred at Cannock. They were victims either of Sgt Belc of No 303 Squadron or, more likely, No 501 Squadron’s S/Ldr Hogan who reported that he
“was able to attack an Me 110 with two short bursts. The Me 110 attempted to evade by diving and turning but I followed and as he went into a steep diving turn, I gave him one long burst and he rolled onto his back and went in, crashing two miles south of Ashford.”
This position exactly matches that of Kingsnorth, where Duensing and Krappatsch came down. One other 1st Staffel Bf 110 returned to France badly damaged.
The 2nd Staffel reached and bombed West Malling, but no serious damage was reported. They were intercepted, one Bf 110 being damaged but able to make it back to France.
In operations against Britain today the Luftwaffe had lost or written off 11 aircraft with 9 more damaged. The RAF had lost 6 of its fighters with another 8 damaged. Looking at the numbers over the last few days it is difficult to see what the Luftwaffe was hoping to achieve. It was suffering attrition at a greater rate than Fighter Command and was less able to sustain it. 250Kg bombs dropped indiscriminately by fighter bombers were never going to have anymore than a nuisance value. To me it seems that the Luftwaffe leadership, stymied at every turn, had simply run out of ideas. Dowding on the other hand knew exactly what he was doing.
It almost goes without saying that the Luftwaffe’s bombers were back tonight. 177 sorties were flown and raids were almost continuous through the night. In London a number of factories in the Woolwich area were hit. Many bombs were reported to have fallen across Essex, Sussex and Kent. Portland was bombed as was Holyhead. Bombs fell close to Ford aerodrome in an unsuccessful attack.
Bomber Command was back in action tonight attacking targets in Germany and Rotterdam. The Channel ports were no longer a priority as the invasion fleets were clearly dispersing. Oil and rail targets in Cologne, Gelsenkirchen, Hamm, Osnabruck and Soest were targeted by 20 Hampdens. 10 Hampdens went minelaying in the Elbe and 4 Wellingtons went to Rotterdam. 3 Hampdens were lost.