Loco busters

[filnorm]

Dear all, I would like to let you know I started a blog on strafing missions in then Czechoslovakia - please see at Hloubkari. Unfortunately, this is in Czech only now but I am going to write down at least a summary of some posts. Regards, Filip

 

[filnorm]

Are there any German records surviving that can be used to assess claims in a particular region of Europe as to Locomotive destruction? There would have had to have been records as the Germans strike me as the type of people that keep records of what records they took, so did any of these records survive?

Yes, there are many records on such raids in local archives containing details such ID of locos, RR cars, names of people who were killed or wounded etc. Regards, Filip

 

[Civettone]

for some reason the yanks never liked the 20mm but i think the P-47's volume of fire was fine with the 8 guns..........

Not only the Yanks but also the Germans which were common cannon users. Even though those massive trains might suggest you need cannons for the job, they are still unarmoured. As such MG fire was sufficient. At least this becomes clear when you look at the main German trainbuster, the Ju 88C.

Kris

 

[HealzDevo]

Ok, just thought it would be interesting that is all to assess the reliability of claims in those areas for which there were records to assess reliability.

 

[Njaco]

May 25, 1943: Lt. Udo Cordes of 9.(Eins.)/KG 3 was awarded the Ritterkreuz after 150 combat missions and forty-one locomotive kills, nineteen trains of which were two tank wagons and three carrying ammunition. Until the award he had also destroyed eleven tanks, two flak emplacements and achieved two aerial victories. Lt. Cordes was one of the most successful bomber pilots known as "Der Lok-Toeter".

from a thread on TOCH.

plus page 51 from John Weal's Luftwaffe Schlachtgruppen.
Amazon.com: Aviation Elite Units 13: Luftwaffe Schlachtgruppen: Books: John Weal

List of Knight's Cross recipients: C: Information from Answers.com

Tank Killers - Panzerjäger, Panzerchlachtflieger, Schlachtflieger, Schnellkampflieger, Zerstörerflieger, Jagdflieger

 

[Erich]

Kris :

actually KG 3 Ju 88C tank killers had the addition of several more 2cm weapons to their arsenals on the individual Ju 88's noting that MG 17's alone would not destroy the soviet trains/Locos

 

[Civettone]

I was under the impression that the Eisen-units were quite succesful with those MGs...

Kris

 

[filnorm]

Please see the statistical digest of the Ninth Air Force by type of ground target:
Army Air Forces in World War II
Regards, Filip