APPENDIX 1: Nachtschlachtgruppe 1's known casualties, 24 February 1945

Staffel

Type

Werk Nr.

Damage

Crew

Fate

2.

Ju 87 D-5

141983

80%

Hptm. Robert Magath

WIA

Fw. Heinz Kolbe

WIA

(crashlanded due to pilot error)

3.

Ju 87 D-5

142098

100%

Fw. Horst Erdmann

POW

V8+PD

Uffz. Günther Marth

MIA

(shot down by light AA in Jülich area, c. 2000 hrs)

3.

Ju 87 D-5

141970

100%

Ofw. Jürgen Campsen

MIA

Oblt. Helmut Steffen

MIA

(failed to return from operation in Jülich area)

3.

Ju 87 D-5

131372

30%

—

—

V8+KD

—

—

3.

Ju 87

—

<10%

Fw. Otto Dey

—

(damaged by AA fire)

3.

Ju 87

—

<10%

Hptm. Wilhelm Kögel

DOW

—

(damaged by AA fire)

Key

WIA = wounded in action; MIA = missing in action; POW = prisoner of war; DOW = died of wounds.

In each case the pilot is listed first, then the radio operator.

Notes

Magath had previously served with JG 3 and had been set for transfer to I./SKG 10 (by way of an attachment to SG 152) when, on 24 August 1944, Luftflotte 3 instead ordered his transfer to NSG 1 with immediate effect. In October 1944, a prisoner had reported that he was expected to take over command of 1. Staffel from Oblt. Modrach.

In the case of Marth records conflict: aircraft casualty returns are as above; PW interrogation has him flying with Erdmann. Personnel loss returns list him as hospitalised in Krefeld following a parachute jump nearby on 1 January 1945.

Again, personnel records state that Kögel (himself a pilot) was flying with Erdmann and that he was wounded by fire from a heavy machine gun, dying on 10 March 1945.

Steffen and Campsen were never traced.

Dey's usual crewman was Fw. Burchardt.