THIS Decision Led To A Massacre | The Me 323 Giant's Bloody April (1943)

is the 22nd of April 1943 flying low over the Mediterranean Sea 14 Giants are on a vital Mission heading for Africa their assignment is to deliver much needed Fuel and supplies to the beleaguered Africa Corps around Tunis the meshesma me-323s are expected and not just by the German comrades suddenly the shout goes out enemy aircraft have been sighted with no altitude to maneuver and carrying a maximum load of Highly flammable fuel they are setting Ducks it's a massacre none of the gigantes survive the onslaught worse still countless lives are lost as rescue missions to find the men in the water are delayed what's more the flight of junkers ju-52s are departed with the Behemoth of me-323s arrived at their destination without a scratch this is the story of the death of the German Giants at the hands of the Desert Air Force by 1943 the infamous Africa Corps was on the back foot suffering a significant defeat at the end of 1942 in the Second Battle of El Alamein the German position was further undermined by the Allied Landings the same month in Morocco and Algeria codenamed Operation Torch Rommel was forced to conduct a fighting Retreat back towards Tripoli and was subsequently ordered to personally withdraw from North Africa in March 1943 the remaining Africa Corps was being squeezed between two fronts and their supplies were running dangerously low top on the list was Fuel and ammunition the Allies were well aware of the German situation and attempted to cut their supply lines by land sea and by air operation Flags launched at the beginning of April 1943 was the air campaign that was aimed at closing the Sicilian Strait the 22nd of April 1943 Monday Thursday goes down as the worst in history for the Messiah Smith me323 the six engine Colossus was a motorized adaptation of the me321 glider variant it had been developed to enable the air mark to transport heavy equipment over sea berries such as the English Channel with a crew of 5 the me323s could transport up to 130 troops or up to 12 000 kilograms or 26 and a half thousand pounds first entering service in November 1942 their 1 100 kilometer Ferry range would be tested by the Mediterranean Sea in A Renewed effort to deliver desperately needed supplies the German forces in North Africa the luftwaffle launched the large Supply operation in late November from Italy via Sicily to Tunis on the morning the 22nd an assortment of aircraft had been detailed for the mission that day including yunker's je52s and the huge me323 10ju 52s from kg-106 took off from pomigliano near Naples at 6 40. their destination was Tunis across the Mediterranean Sea in Tunisia this formation was led by Stafford Capitan oppsloiten biederman joining the trimeter Yonkers was a group of 14 me323s which also took off on pomigliano 30 minutes later the transport planes would not face the long sea Crossing alone steps were taken to provide them with the maximum available fighter escort they would be joined over the coast of Sicily by their first group of escorts and then met by this second group flying out to nurse herself as the mission was being prepared confidence must have been pretty high on the 19th of April a successful Mission had been completed where all the aircraft had returned safely however other flights had met the patrolling enemy too and flight plans were drawn up accordingly and so each of the gigantes was loaded up with 12 metric tons of fuel ammunition and any other supplies destined for the Africa Corps to put that in context each me3t3 was carrying enough fuel to fill up your average Toyota Corolla 680 times another way to put it is that a single me323 was carrying enough fuel to fill the tanks of just over three squadrons of 109s however in reality each giant aircraft was only bringing enough fuel to run 22 pounds of four tanks which for a very thirsty mechanized Army wouldn't go very far by the time of the mission The Desert Fox was gone and the hard-pressed force was led by General Ops Von Armin he would later surrender to the allies and in no small way due to actions such as the one on the 22nd of April 1943 The Plan called for 16 me323s to be used for this operation this was out of a force of some 38 aircraft assigned to kg-323 as was usually the case not all these aircraft were serviceable at the time this is perhaps surprising since they only recently arrived in the theater two more would be left on the ground as the other 14 me323s got Airborne one of the pair was prepared for the mission but was found to be non-operational despite the ground crew's best efforts the second had been loaded up and actually started its takeoff run when disaster struck despite a seemingly successful engine run up two engines from c8bn failed during the takeoff role of the gigantic aircraft the remaining four known Rhone 14 ends couldn't provide enough thrust to achieve flying speed the aircraft ended up in a field After Rolling off the end of the runway reportedly it was later recovered lumbering into the air the Force turned roughly Southwest into the Gulf of Naples and then out into the turinian sea Bound for the Sicilian Coast to meet them over the axis held Island was a force of 39 bf-109s from JG 27 taking off nearly an hour later than the charges the 109 slowly assembled over trepani on the western tip of Sicily at 8 30. anticipating Allied interceptors a further force of 65 fighters from jg53 and jg77 based in two nears had been ordered to Rendezvous with the transports and jt-27 Fighters if everything went as planned this would be an impressive force that could almost guarantee the successful completion of the mission joining up with a fighter escort the transports turned West slightly in order to arrive over the North African Coast far from rewarding Allied Fighters This brought them over the small island of maretimal just off the western coast of Sicily reaching the Open Sea the transports then dropped to almost wavetop height skimming the Mediterranean as low as 20 feet according to One Source the crews had been briefed to make landfall to the west of Tunis over cap Farina at all costs they should not cross-cat Bon this Headland lays 75 kilometers further east the other side of Tunis operation Flats was in full swing and supplies were being lost to enemy action on a regular basis this area was known to be heavily patrolled by Allied Fighters and would put the heavily loaded transports in extreme danger should they overfly the Headland well on their way to their destination the me323s which were flying further east to the ju-52s made a fatal error about halfway between Sicily and the African Coast oppsloiden vernest Stefan who was leading the 14me13 threes turned his formation further south contrary to orders this heading would now take the giant Transport Aircraft straight over cap Bonn what's more is the distance between the ju-52s and the me323s grew the bulk of the 32 escorting bf-109s stuck with a former however as soon as the lumbering ju-52s had been cited by aircraft from jg53 and jg77 jg27 was free to chase after Stefan and his Giants be that as it may as the me323s approached the precarious cat Bond they only had seven to nine fighters from the available 104 detail to escort them some 40 miles from Tunis Stefan and his me323s ran out of luck at approximately 925 the force of 14 Giants and less than a dozen bf-109s were jumped by four squadrons from the South African Air Force and RAF the action took place over the island in zembra which is just west of cat Bonn in fact as the disaster unfolded biederman was leading his je52s safely across capfarina they could actually see the attack on their Wayward colleagues as it was executed firstly Spitfires from the first Squadron South African Air Force and 145th Squadron RAF engaged the meager low-flying escort Force driving them away from their charges the me323s were opened up to the full Fury of the second and larger attacking Force P-40 Kitty Hawks from number four and five squadron's South African Air Force tore into the fuel and ammunition-laden me323s a third Squadron of kitty Hawks number two South African Air Force joined the Spitfires in their fight against the 109s meanwhile the ju-52s led by biederman had patiently been circling a fighter base at anderless while he waited for the landing clearance he needed from two niz the arrival of the Allied Fighters was no coincidence although the Allies had been actively hunting supply aircraft since the start of operation flax there was another more sinister reason for their presence it was well known by the Allies that any Transport Aircraft flying in from the Italian Mainland would naturally make for Tunis airfields further along the Tunisian Coast were sparse or already captured by the Allies nevertheless they could have missed such a prized Target had they not received a tip-off that very day according to sources the Germans uncovered a radio transmitter which had been used to send information to the Allies on all German flight movements from Trapani when a large formation of 109s had been sent up it was a good indication that another Supply mission was on its way interestingly the radio was hidden in a confessional in a church on the Hills above Trapani while its operator was to release upon the force of me323s was nothing short of Old Testament fire and fury as soon as the news had been sent an attacking force of Allied Fighters was prepared and the Ambush was set as the p-40s closed in on the force of me-323s which was later reported as 20 aircraft not 14 all hell broke close still flying at low altitude and in a tight formation the me3t3s scattered as the fight is fired into the ranks attempting to evade enemy fire and return it with their own Wing mounted gun positions disaster struck one time after another the me323 is being largely made of wood could usually take a huge amount of punishment that day however they were packed full of fuel and ammo which just lit up as The p40s Ripped into them many of the me323s were set ablazed and fell into the sea others simply exploded after a few short bursts nonetheless it was not a one-sided at least five of the p-40s fell to the Gunners on board the doomed me323s after the attack had begun more Allied Fighters arrived over Kat Bon number 260 Squadron including flight Lieutenant Edwards arrived just in time to find one final me323 trying to escape towards the African Coast he turned his Kitty Hawk towards the huge plane and shot it to pieces soon the guns fell silent as the final giant crashed into the waves below the escort was either outnumbered by the Spitfires and p-40s or in the case of jg53 and jg77 too far away to lead to hand when all was said and done it was the perfect interception and even if the 109s had been able to intervene the me323s would have been hard-pressed to make it to Tanis unscathed as the battle was winding down even more Allied Fighters arrived this time from 112 Squadron RAF and Tangled with the remaining 109s from jd27 a handful were lost the German Fighters but not enough to make up for the significant loss of the transport planes Lloyd and Schneider claimed two kitty Hawks while under officer stangelmeyer destroyed a Spitfire for his first Victory on the ground at Tunis biederman was finally able to spread the news of the air battle by telephone as the news was given to the gershwada Commodore of kg 323 OBS lightning Gustav Dam it became irate he demanded to know what the RC rescue service had not been a alerted By Radio while the ju-52s were still Airborne it's unclear if he received a satisfactory answer disastrously nearly three hours after the first shots have been fired German rescue efforts began conditions were not ideal for sea rescue and the faisler stalks sent out to drop one man life rafts were not very successful Heavy Seas led to most of these life-saving vessels being dropped far away from the men in the water other men were picked up by motor torpedo boats which could get to the location quickly given the proximity to land however the waves and wind finding the men difficult the stalks circled overhead for hours to guide the boats to the men in the water at long last the last survivors were dragged into the boats at about 6 PM this meant that some of them have spent eight and a half hours in the water although the Allies would over claim that day their Butchery had indeed reaped results of the 14 me3t3s that left palminiculiano that morning not a single one arrived in town a Firma on the North African Coast joining them at the bottom of the med where at least 700 Drums of precious fuel seven German Fighters were also reported last the human cost was even more devastating an initial and rather optimistic tally put the dead at just two with 113 men in offices missing in the sea a further 18 were put down as injured to some degree as the day continued the final and more sobering count came in of the 138 men that left Italy in their gigantic steeds only 19 were still breathing by Sundown however the German attempt to resupply his army in Africa hadn't been a complete failure according to me323 Pilot Ernst Peters between late November 1942 and that fateful day the 22nd of April 1943 kg-323 had transported 15 000 metric tons of equipment to Chinese in approximately 12 000 sorties among the items delivered were 309 trucks 51 medium Prime movers of up to 12 000 tons 200 109 guns up to 150 millimeter caliber 324 light guns 83 anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns 42 anti-aircraft radar units including Wurzburg Riser and 96 armored troop carriers and self-propelled guns safely in two nears the crews of the 10 ju-52s must have been counting their lucky stars The crucial Factor their Commander had stuck to the plan and stayed clear of cap Bonn ultimately we could argue that the actions of furnace Stefan in changing course and leaving the rest of the air Armada led to the massacre but seeing how determined the Allies were we might also say his sacrifice saved the 10ju52s that escaped catharina had the formation stuck together perhaps more German aircraft would have fallen Stefan was officially honored by General Feld martial Albert kessering for his heroic actions however no one would ever find out why he chose to fly directly into the jewels of death he would take his reasons to an early grave it has since been suggested that the course change was merely motivated by an urge to end a long and ardious journey whatever the risk may have been had Stefan lived he may have been asked to answer this charge in a court martial as it was his leadership led to one of the worst days of its kind in lufwa for history what's astounding is that the events of the 22nd of April 1943 weren't the worst suffered by the Germans as a result of operation flax just four days earlier 34 ju-52s and axis Fighters had fallen to American p-40s and British Spitfires in an almost identical Mission known as the Palm Sunday Massacre but that's a story for another video so if you made it this far please like the video to help it spread to more people and why not watch the video I made for you on screen now it's a good one

Channel: Caliban Rising - Aviation History

Views: 412,865

Keywords: aviation history, military aviation

Id: UTz9mcMkb9Y

Length: 15min 46sec (946 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 05 2022