Uncategorised 4x Interesting Death Cards

[AlecH]

Last Saturday a trader on the market had over 200 soldier death cards. I bought four, but four interesting ones.

First - SS Sturmann Ludwig Hornung - KIA near Metz 2nd Oct. 1944 fighting against Patton's Third Army, believe he may have been a member of 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division may have to do further research.

Second - A German Bomber pilot - Lorenz Beil - killed in heavy Ariel fighting during the blitz over London on the 2nd Sept.1940. Hoping to find out which squadron or battle group he belonged to. Any information welcome.

Third - WW1 Soldier Georg Schlickenreider belonging to Hitler's old world war 1 regiment, KIA in France 10th June 1915

Fourth - Gebirgjäger Georg Beham - nice portrait.

[hucks216]

With regards to Lorenz Beil this is the entry in Vol 1 of The Blitz Then & now...

6./ZG-2

Messerschmitt Bf110D-1 (3309).

Exploded over Vensons Farm, Eastry 1245pm whilst under attack from Flight Sergeant J. Steere of 72 Squadron.

Fw L. Beil & Obergefr J. Oehl both killed. Aircraft A2+KL a write-off.

Both of them are buried in the same grave in Cannock Chase.

Edited May 29, 2012 by hucks216

[AlecH]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your post - not only the devil, but history and interest is in the detail. I take it 6/ZG-2 stands for 6th Squadron Zerstörer Gruppe 2. I did post the Lufty card on a specialist WW2 aviation forum, came up with mostly the same information as yourself plus the plane belonged to Luftflotte 3. The place where the plane came down Eastry is near Sandwich on the Norfork coast, makes me wonder if it was on its way to London (as it exploded in the air - possibly still fully loaded)or returning empty to base ? Again thanks for your time.

Best Wishes

[hucks216]

6./ZG-2 stands for 6 Staffel (or Squadron to use the English equivalent) of Zestoerergeschwader 2.

I have a book about the Me-110 and its units in 1940 so will have a look in there to see if it can shed anymore light of what ZG-2 were up to on that day when I return home tomorrow. As for empty/full, it is hard to say without more details. An empty fuel tank can be more dangerous then a full one as an empty (or nearly empty) one contains more fuel vapour which is very volatile, but I'm sure there are plenty of things on an armed aircraft that can cause an explosion.

Edited June 4, 2012 by hucks216

[Chris Boonzaier]

I knew an SS Guy who fought at Metz... there was an SS Nachrichten Schule there that took poart in the fighting.

Best

Chris

[hucks216]

Here is a brief description of the events on September 2nd - I'd say that ZG-2 were on escort duties..

This day saw an acceleration of the Luftwaffe’s attempt at wiping out the RAF’s strength, particularly that of 11 Group, the airfields of which were under continuous attack.

Early that morning several groups of 30 plus aircraft were forming up behind Calais. These groups turned into one large formation of 100 aircraft, split roughly between fighters and bombers. They were soon flying across the Channel where they split up into small groups again going for individual targets. These turned out to be Eastchurch, Rochford, North Weald and Biggin Hill. 11 Group succeeded in getting 5 squadrons into position where they could intercept. Some attacks were from high flying aircraft while others were from low flying aircraft, the latter being very difficult to detect.

Early in the afternoon a group of some 250 aircraft crossed the south coast and then broke up into smaller groups. Amongst the targets which were attacked was Debden which was very heavily damaged.

In the mid afternoon a third group formed up over Calais, mounting to 250 aircraft. Once again being half bombers and half fighters. They then crossed the Channel and spread widely over Kent. Raids were sent yet again to Biggin Hill, Kenley and Brooklands. Damage was also caused to Eastchurch and Hornchurch. But at Hornchurch the interception by 11 Group squadrons was so successful that only some six bombs fell within the perimeter of the airfield. Maidstone was heavily bombed. Industrial targets were also hit namely the Vickers factory at Brooklands and the Short Brothers factory at Rochester.

Finally, a little after 5 pm the fourth raid of the day developed. This raid concentrated on Eastchurch and Detling. Eastchurch received two attacks where severe damage was done where some 5 aircraft were destroyed on the ground together with considerable damage being done to the airfield’s communications. Eastchurch was made unusable.

That day Fighter Command had lost 25 aircraft to the Luftwaffe’s 35. 8 RAF pilots had been killed.

(Source: http://battleofbritainblog.com/category/september-1940/page/3/ )

[AlecH]

Kevin,

Many thanks for the extra information. One of the members on the aviation site came up with a newspaper cutting showing the plane and human remains being collected up at the crash site.Here it is -

6./ZG2 Messerschmitt Bf110D-0 (3629). Exploded over Vensons Farm, Eastry, under attack from F/Sgt J. Steere of No.72 Squadron 12.45 p.m. FF Fw Lorenz Beil and BF Obergefr Hans Oehl both killed. Aircraft A2+KL 100% write-off.

Scattered human remains collected from this site were originally buried as three 'Unknown German Airmen' in Graves 137 - 139 at Aylesham Cemetery on September 5, one being incorrectly identified as Obergefr Eisold a name found on a parachute and document recovered by RAF Intelligence. They were subsequently re-interred in the Soldatenfriedhof at Cannock Chase on October 30, 1962

[hucks216]

The place where the plane came down Eastry is near Sandwich on the Norfork coast...

Eastry is in Kent, not Norfolk. Beil's aircraft was escorting a large raid (250 aircraft) that was approaching Dover at 1pm when it was engaged by 5 RAF squadrons. Before ZG-2, Lorenz Beil was an original pilot of 3./ZG-52

[AlecH]

Kevin, of course yoü are right my mistake - Kent