Luftwaffe on D-Day - In Their Own Words

in a couple of days it'll be the 76th anniversary of the Normandy landings in June 6 1944 Allied soldiers landed on 5 different beaches in northern France to liberate West Europe now when we think about d-day Operation Overlord and aviation our mind immediately tends to jump to those airborne units jumping or gliding into Normandy we might also remember how the Allies flew a staggering 13,000 sorties on June 6th alone in order to cover the landing zones flying supplies and bomb the Axis forces and positions but distant begs the question what was the German Luftwaffe doing at the same time when it comes to d-day we don't really remember the Germans doing much in the air now doing if you've ever seen the movie The Longest Day you might remember that somewhat humorous scene where what is supposed to be German is use of pillar strafing the sword Beach with his wingman both of course are from Yogeshwara sex in transit now that actually happened but that's to aircraft against an invasion you may place your bets now that scene from the movie however I think is probably the only time the Luftwaffe and d-day go together sort of popular history or memory they are off in fact when I was creating this video I created a custom scenario and il-2 crate battles editor to bring you some of the footage that you see throughout this video and when I posted a little teaser on Twitter on Instagram then on Facebook and of course YouTube community to happen asked people what they thought the video might have been about well I got 95 responses but only nine of those guessed correctly now the YouTube if your interest that you took community to have actually won before correct guesses no I don't know how representative it is it was an off-the-cuff poll and because the io2 editor doesn't have the Normandy map just yet because the objects in the game are somewhat limited I had to improvise a little bit and that might have been misleading people but anyway I think it does say something that most people immediately thought about a million other possibility except d-day even if the anniversary was just around the corner to get back to the topic at hand there were more Luftwaffe aircraft than just those two FW 190s from Rakesh Juarez excellency flying against the beachhead start a something you might know if you saw this video I made a few years ago now it's an older video but overall it still checks out the Luftwaffe in all fairness did not put up much of a fight they really couldn't Allied bombings ahead of and during the invasion paired with aggressive fighter sweeps and interdiction made sure that the Luftwaffe essentially was grounded it had however also pulled most of its strength out of France by that point they had other worries mainly over yonder on the Eastern Front there were still some Luftwaffe units of course that remained in France for example of flak units were under command of the Luftwaffe but you are probably here for the fighter units so I will give those to you in one of my last archive visits pre lockdown 2020 I went to the German military archives big thank you here to my patrons and channel members who allow me to make those aircraft trips because they aren't cheap and if you are a patron or a channel member it is really thanks to you that I can make these sorts of videos based on actual factual research and publish them here on YouTube so thank you now I went to the archive and I found this well what's on this tab liked and that is the creased huggable or war diary of the the Turkish Turkish mafia now I will show you pictures of the actual document but because of the copyright laws I'd have to buy a license to do that and quite frankly I'd rather spend that money on a natural research day I guess most of you will agree I have added the source in the description as usual however now some offers have already used this war diary in their books but having seen the actual original file I don't always agree with their translations but that's a point aside so what I want to know now is invite you to join me in discovering how to do the Turkish Turkish part of here experience the normally Thanks what they try to do to stop them what sort of troubles they ran into on you're in for a treat there and what ultimately happened now it's a good look beyond the whale I believe because of what you usually see is kill crimes aces performance comparisons this however is the executive summary so to say of their day-to-day life which probably yeah isn't as exciting but it gives you a so much better picture of what it actually was like to fly against a Normandy beachhead from a macro perspective since it is in German I have translated it to be as close as possible to the original starting on June 1st 1944 and going through the next two weeks if you are interested I'll also be tweeting out what happens to the Koper on June 6th and 7th in real-time on the exact times as given in the war diary if you want to see that remember to follow me on Twitter but yet skip started for now some pointers on the de cobre Saki Shibata feel it is equipped with wolf fw 190s it is not a fighter wing but a sluggish bar the meaning was meant for close air support interdiction and/or anti-shipping mainly equipped with the fw 190 F and G it seems they might also have retained a few of the older a models but this is hard verifying now the data copper is comprised out of septa after + 9 - tougher on June 1st the copper is dispersed around France knowledge Dauphin is down nearly Luke extra Marseille while the tough stuff - n - dub is head classical Santa and the after Stiffler has just deployed there as well from of aw remember as I go for this video this is the actual document describing the situation of the written hope in the words of the person writing this was a member of the Turkish Turkish mafia these entries were ever made on the day or sometimes they were backdated now this is nothing out of the ordinary some people took writing these waterways more seriously than others and sometimes you just didn't have time to write that entry very specific entry on the day itself so you just did it the day after or the week after now it does represent the perspective the published a freshwater fear at least of the person writing it at the time and that does not make it error-free but it is a primary source any mistakes that happen through the translation of the document however well those are my own and if there are any words that I couldn't decipher because it was all in handwriting although this was not really is such a big deal this time around they will be marked with a question mark alright so let's dig into the file all entries are handwritten with the first five ones bio Beloit and Purina first of June 1944 Tetris following orders bytes white illegal core the simplest offer will relocate with key personnel and combat aircraft to lay Luke to relieve the no integer for at oh five hundred twenty two hours two Ju 52s takeoff of equipment and technical personnel of the zip - tougher 7 fw 190s takeoff at oh six hundred twenty eight hours on the command of hope monday likened to lay luke second june 1944 cat res commander mio of I got Hauptmann Milan oberleutnant Koba and oberleutnant Halawa traveled to the site of legal code to a meeting of the commander the commanding officers and NSO's commander proposes to the commanding general that experienced pilots should be given bad weather and night navigation training so that in the event of dawn the gaffar vest bad weather and night attacks are possible commanding general agrees and wants to propose this to the fleet zip-t and Noida staffer you both hunt and alert readiness just like the previous day just as clarification hero on the far west also known under the codename dr. gustav west was the German code for an invasion in the western hemisphere of its territories that mainly meaning France 3rd of June 1944 address to Ju 52s bringing equipment and technical personnel notice traffic goes back to Clara's from La Luke combat aircraft remain in lay Luke for now Lloyd land returns with off one 90s from tours septa and ninety shuffle mission one water alert lanús from morning to dusk one of water 15 minutes alert readiness for you hunt around too long meet one at dusk wonder how to hunt around the to lure meth on 4th of June 1944 klaris zip - duffel mission and readiness just like the previous day no I - tougher transfer of 11 pilots to plat vests 5th of June 1944 Clavis the coppa has 38 fork above 190s of which 25 are operational zip - tougher with mission and readiness like the previous day 6th of June 1944 cat has as a sight out here before we go into the content the handwriting of the higgs tiger book changes at this point as to why well that would become obvious very soon writing now is low and upper commander informed at all 300 hours by their finger eins are Maya farm duck over made and ongoing air landings north of car and amphibious landings around the mouth of the sin o 645 hours to command their orders alarms to finds on his own discretion o 735 their fingers inés our orders preparation for the transfer of the copper into the area of limo on a question wherever transfer should happen immediately the answer is to wait for the teleprinter order one of the previously agreed code words for an enemy landing was not given the different unit commanders are instructed by the commander to prepare transfer readiness all operational combat aircraft with pilots and mechanics are to be transferred with key personnel and the staff medical officer following in to ju 52s after the teleprinter order arrives at oast 935 hours to transfer to it Laval the individual stuffer takeoff as follows 1215 hours stop and no - defer from Clara's landing at Laval at 13 45 hours 13:45 hours after shuffle from frias landing in talks at 14 45 hours 1200 hours zip - defer from Lee Luke landing in Laval at 1900 hours for security reasons the transfer of units from Santa runs by a route south of Paris at a low altitude nevertheless all units have contact with enemy fighters and engage in combat with Mustangs and fun of all the losses of the copper on the 6th of June 1944 our pilots over lightened Purina ki a over lightnin Karuna you might remember was the one who was writing the kickstarter book until now he was shot down and killed however he was not the only loss oberfeldwebel Kohlberg ki a belt Weber ki a photo op eds fear ki a lighten and Limburg wounded in action mechanics that we have a lead on ki a photo of it co Kuzmin ki a photo fitzy idea bot ki a over the fighter Alwine ki a horrified a clunker wounded in action if you're wondering why so many mechanics were among the casualties this is because each aircraft also had one mechanic on board who was stored inside the fuselage you might have seen the focke-wulf 190 walk around it I did there's a small hatch at the back where somebody essentially can crawl into it and lie down in the space behind the cockpit it's not very comfortable but it allows the transportation of one person the Germans often did this if they wanted to transfer a unit to another airfield very quickly and this meant that the key mechanics would essentially arrive at the same time as the machine from 1700 hours the no additional flies in Schwalm strength against landings and motor vehicle concentrations at the ORN estuary were three missions and 13 aircraft in one instance the target is not reached due to strong fighter defense experiences from the transfer first the coppa could have been put into action earlier if the transfer owners would not have arrived too late second given the air superiority of the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force it is absurd to transport mechanics and combat aircraft furred the airfield at Laval was in no way ready for the incoming schlaf event missing where our fuel trucks bomb lifting devices support personnel and any airfield protection the airfields commander was left with the impression that the units would arrive only in the evening and would only fly sorties from the next day dispersal possibilities are insufficient housing too close to the airfield 7 of June 1944 tres Laval at 430 hours to Jo 50 tools takeoff with key personnel from catalast two tours this should have taken off on the 6th of June 1944 around 1300 hours but arrived there with 8 hours of delay there it was not possible for command against all efforts to progress with motor vehicles onward journey with a Ju 52 was not possible only two days later progress was made command arrives at Laval only on the 9th of June 1944 from Oh 600 hours onwards for missions of 24 aircraft on landings and tank assemblies around the Owen bridge in three missions the target was not reached due to strong fighter defences and the bombs were jettisoned around 10 100 hours strafing attack by 10 Mustangs on the airfield lloyd ylenne SL shut down and heavily wounded four FW 190s destroyed on the ground around 2100 hours attacked by three mustangs on the machines of after staff recovering from tours oberleutnant shot down heavily wounded overfed waver Schmieder shot down wounded mission success is even considering good weather parameters low as without fighter escorts an effective story is not possible all losses of pilots and machines these days are due to the absence of any flak around the airfield 8th of June 1944 LaValle from 1243 missions of 17 aircraft against landings at the Viva Bella and to bridge over the own at-at been you will one mission cancelled on route 2 to strong fighter defense failed Weber gyoja mi a first fighter escorts provided by a staccato of yak ashraddha 11 success generally low as the rendezvous area and mission routes set by a bigger fuel arrest cannot be obeyed due to ongoing enemy activity above the airfields the order take of times cannot be guaranteed due to dogfights on route the rendezvous times cannot be met around 20 to 100 hours the truck convoy from shot vests arrives losses due to strafing attacks one car one o'clock one workshop truck with trailer in the evening commander is a trigger few harvest deliberations over mission policies the times given on the previous day by the Frigga Corps cannot be met figure few arrests or even better the köppen commander needs to be given Liberty to set mission parameters based on strength area time defenses and whether the last attack on our marsh with a route leading above Whoville in parallel to the whole invasion coast was nonsense and could ignoring the fact that the whole distance was above 200 kilometers only be ordered by Levites who do not understand the situation and strength of the enemy defenses answer to this slight if Lea Corps will not be swayed from the ongoing rigid command structure ninth of June 1944 was 610 hours early mission in bad weather at low altitude did not reach target the admission twenty ten hours on landings at our Eva Bella commander emergency landed at fillet on the whole fourteen machines were used during the night heavy bombing attack by four-engine bombers airstrip damaged by multiple bomb craters 1052 1944 lavalla no activity airfield cannot be used Hopman later kent and lloyd land Limburg visit figure few arrests 11th of june 1944 Lavar no activity airfield is being repaired 12th of June 1944 novel Oh 635 hours mission with four aircraft on landings at Reba Bella did not reach target bombers jettisoned overhead we have a shopper emergency landed supply run to Luftwaffe base to commence during takeoff all four FW 190 is destroyed by gunfire from Spitfires to fighters bf 109s shot down no activity after this ten pilots to travel to a liberal J to get new aircraft Oberoi Ken Kaenel goes to Shudras as the copper is to relocate their war correspondent fed via Schreiber and one of its here arrived at the copper and that summarizes two weeks in June 1944 for the Turkish lakshmana's here in the coming days there will be many things to do but there isn't actually much to group a can do and soon enough they are forced to relocate once again if you are a patron or a channel member thank you very much because you make this sort of content and especially my inside the cockpit series possible as they would never be made a traditional media now if you are not supporting me just yet please consider it by honor understand that that's not possible for everybody so if you want to help out beyond that option you can also subscribe and hit that notification button so that you are not a slave to or YouTube's algorithm telling you when to watch a video or you can share this video with your friends on social media that helps a great deal as well remember to check out the inside the cockpit series that I have right here I just uploaded one on the BF 109 and I also have that older video that already mentioned on the Luftwaffe on d-day that'll be up here as well and oh boy you will see that the visual quality of my videos has changed a lot Oh anyway as you go off watching those I wish you guys a great day and see you let's go

Channel: Military Aviation History

Views: 286,128

Rating: 4.8851824 out of 5

Keywords: Luftwaffe, DDay, Fw 190, Overlord, Normandy, Invasion, 1944, Omaha, Sword, Gold, Juno, Utah, WW2, History, Education, Military Aviation History

Id: DHVQM5PqDf0

Length: 19min 5sec (1145 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 04 2020