At 07.00 hours, Spitfires of 324 Wing engaged 12 Fw 190s, claiming one destroyed and one damaged although there is no record of any SG 4 personnel casualties. For their part, the Germans reported that Thunderbolt Jabos had been forced to jettison bombs and two pilots from 2./SG 4, Lt. Biber and Uffz. Reinwerk claimed P-47s shot down near Montalto di Castro at 07.14 and a minute later, respectively. The 79th FG were certainly in the right area, reporting destruction of the Montalto di Castro bridge. The MATAF daliy intelligence/operations summary records that at 07.15 hours, two single-engined enemy aircraft passed under a formation of fighter bombers near Montalto but that there was no contact, let alone any P-47s shot down.

The small force of Fw 190s was withdrawn during the third week of the campaign to north Italy, probably as a result of the losses inflicted on them.

RAF Mediterranean Review, Vol. 2

SG 4 had begun withdrawing from the battle area: Signals Intelligence had picked up “10 possible Fw 190” leaving an unidentified airfield for Piacenza at 05.40 hours. At 09.20, seven Focke-Wulfs left Piacenza for Levaldigi: one with factory markings and "two white, three black and one green."

At 15.00 hours, Komm. Gen. Mittelitalien signalled that ground attack operations would not be possible in the immediate future as the Schlachtflieger had left his sphere of command "for other tasks." Piacenza was to remain SG 4's base airfield but Stab SG 4 and I./SG 4 were being pulled back to Airasca and II./SG 4 would go to Levaldigi.

In the comparative safety of North West Italy, they were to rest, refit and be made ready against outflanking landings. In view of the lack of Flak protection, dispersal to airfields in the Airasca area was to be carried out "to the greatest possible extent" and Feldluftgau XXVIII was giving priority to the task of supplying airfields occupied by SG 4 with aircraft armament [presumably for use as auxiliary Flak guns: NB].

In the battle area, Spitfires of 324 Wing claimed an Fw 190 and a Bf 109 destroyed in an encounter with 15 hostile aircraft near Graziano at 15.50 hours. In fact, they had probably run into the 16 Bf 109s of III./JG 53 which flew a freie Jagd to the Viterbo area between 15.18 and 16.25 hours. At 16.02, this Gruppe reported contact with eight Spitfires over Orte without success and eight minutes later sighted two Spitfires sighted at 5,000 metres over Lake Bolsena. These shot down one of the Bf 109s, its pilot baling out 3 km south of Montefiascone. He was later reported to be making his way back to the Gruppe. That evening, III./JG 53's strength was 21(15) aircraft and 32(20) pilots.

Deciphered German signals later gave a fuller picture of SG 4's transfer northward. At 07.10 hours, Fw 190 "white 6" had landed at Isola San Antonio from Diavolo. By 10.10, nine Fw 190s, four with black markings, two with white, one with yellow and one carrying factory codes had landed in the Milan-Torino-Genoa area from Piacenza. (Five of the these plus one with white and one with black markings had made an intermediate landing in Piacenza from Viterbo by 07.50 hours).

At 11.45, Fw 190 "white 2" had reached Piacenza from Diavolo and took of again at 15.00 for Isola S. Antonio.

At 06.30 hours, Fw 190 "green 3" landed at Piacenza from Canino.

During May, the Geschwaderstab had lost six aircraft to enemy action, the I. Gruppe 13 (plus 10 in accidents) and the II. Gruppe 14 (plus four in accidents).

The human cost had been 18 pilots killed, three wounded and one missing (all but one of these casualties being suffered between 13 and 27 May). Among the dead were a Geschwaderkommodore, a Gruppenkommandeur and two Staffelkapitäne. All but one of these losses was attributed to fighters, information from the Allied side shows that the other (posted missing) had however fallen to the same cause.

In terms of people and aircraft lost, May seems to have been SG 4’s worst month of 1944 in Italy.

The strengths of Stab, I. and II./SG 4 on 31 May were:

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