JG5 In Combat
Here are some excerpts from the actual combat reports of JG5 airmen.
'On 13 September 1940, three Blackburn Skuas were reported at 17.13hr arriving in Square 50111-06 East. At 17.15 hr, a Schwarm led by Lt. Georg Schirmbock took off to protect Bergen. Over this area were several clouds and a heavy rain diminished visibility to 1km. Victim of the bad weather, Lt. Schirmbock hit the sea with his propeller-blades and the damage forced him to fly back to base. He landed at 17.45hr and led the rest of the mission by radio. Uffz. Niemeyer took command of the three aircraft as he had a better knowledge of the area. The Kette flew further over the Bergen area and, at 18.05, it sighted two Blackburn Skuas. Uffz. Froba and Uffz. Niemeyer were attacked by one of those. While Uffz. Froba defended himself in a dogfight, Uffz. Niemeyer could attack. At 18.10hr, the enemy plane landed on the sea near the western side of Askoy Island (Quarter 5151) after having been hit by Uffz. Froba. Both crew were picked up in their dinghy by a German ship. Uffz. Froba and Uffz. Niemeyer carried on with their protection mission and were finally ordered to land at base (landing time 18.23hr). The second enemy plane was attacked and shot down by Fw. Haarbach. It at first dodged by diving into a large cloud. But Fw. Haarbach turned around and waited until the reappearance of the enemy. After about 15 minutes, he sighted the Blackburn Skua trying to escape, diving and flying at low height. On the sixth attack, the British aircraft turned over on one wing and crashed on the ground in Square 5119 at 18.25hr. Feldwebel Haarbach landed at his base at 18.55hr'.
(Staffelofficer of 4/JG77)
The Bf109F belonging to ace Ofw. Rudolf Muller, of 6/JG5.
'On 10th May 1942 at 15.50hr, we started with eight Bf110s from Kirkenes to escort a Stuka group flying to Murmansk. The Stukas aborted their mission, turning back over Liza when they sighted to the north a Soviet bomber formation (around seven SB-3s) flying over the Notowki Bight under large escort (15-20 MiGs and Hurricanes). They flew at 2800 metres to the west. Our Staffel immediately dived on the enemy but the escort prevented us from attacking their bombers: the dogfight began. In the meantime, we could observe the enemy bombers jettisoning their bombs and turning back. Already on the first attack, Oblt. Karl-Fritz Schlosstein and Ofw. Munding shot down a MiG-3 and a Hurricane. A Rotte [pair] of MiGs attacked an Hs-123 flying over the western bank of the Riza, and Ofw. Theo Weissenberger shot them both down in two attacks. The other fighters remained very close to the bombers, protecting them. North-west of the Liza Bight, Ofw. Theo Weissenberger and Reinhold Fieldler destroyed 2 Hurricanes, the planes falling into the sea. The enemy then took the Ura Bight direction, followed by our aircraft. Ofw. Theo Weissenberger claimed his 17th and 18th victories (1 Hurricane and 1 MiG-3), and 3 more were claimed by our pilots. In total: 7 Hurricanes and 6 MiG-3s were reported shot down. Our damage was 4 hits on a Bf110, but nothing serious.'
(Oblt. Karl-Fritz Schlosstein, Staffelkapitan of 10(ZG)/JG5)
'On that day [25th April, 1943], our mission was a normal one to protect a maritime convoy. I took off alongside Schwab in his Bf110 at 10.51hr and headed towards the sea. When we reached our first destination, we began to circle at a height of 600m. We were called by radio and warned that enemies were approaching from behind. We looked and finally saw 2 twin-engined aircraft, identified first as Bf110s. We thought that they came to replace us. But they were then four and their number grew to eight. This was quite strange because, including our aircraft, our unit had only four machines serviceable at Kirkenes. I finally understood that I had misidentified the types: Soviet Pe-2s were easily confused with the Bf110 as they too had twin engines and a double fin! I could see the red star. We were flying at a higher altitude than the Soviets and Schwab dived onto them. He was very impatient to get his first victory, having been posted to JG5 for more than one year. I was in the unit for about four weeks and it was my first aerial battle. I dived too and attacked at fantastic speed, firing without stop. Pushed by my dive and speed, I flew along the formation of Pe-2s, a very dangerous position as all the Soviet gunners could concentrate their fire on my aircraft. Nevertheless, it was possible that I had killed or wounded one or two gunners. The fight became very confused and I saw then with horror that I had already spent all my ammunition in that exciting dive. But I was lucky because my aircraft was and old 'D' which could be reloaded from inside (which was impossible in the more recent types). My radio/observer, Uffz. Walter Bengard was able to load a new ammunition cartridge in the machine gun. It was just in time because a Pe-2 appeared suddenly in front of me and I could fire on him, destroying both engines. It then crashed into the sea. I saw a second smoke column and thought that Schwab had passed over his misfortune by claiming his first victory. I was right, and very happy by this suprise fight, we landed at Kirkenes at 12.45hr'.
(Lt. Wolfgang Wollenwaber, 13 (Z)/JG5)
