Luftwaffe KG-100 Pilot - Glider Bomb - Wehrpass

[hucks216]

The latest item to enter my collection is this Wehrpass to Feldwebel Reinhold Trenz who entered the Luftwaffe in 1938 and trained to be a pilot. After all his training he ended up in first 11./KG-100 for a couple of months before being assigned to 5./KG-100 (II Gruppe) in January 1942.

From December 1941 to April 1942 II/KG-100 flew operations against first Russian forces near Moscow and then after handing its aircraft over to I./KG-28, it moved to France where it flew on operations against UK targets. Then from April 1942 to April 1943 the Gruppe flew on operations over the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa, including
attacks on British convoys, mining sorties along the Suez Canal, raids in support of German troops near El Alamein and raids against Algeirs and Tripoli.

What first attracted me to this Wehrpass was that I knew that KG-100 operated the He-177 bomber but thought that this particular pilot might of been killed too early for that to be a factor (an assumption that was correct). But I also knew that KG-100 were also tasked with operating the worlds first anti-shipping missiles. The initial source I looked at
kind of confirmed this but just mentioned that III/KG-100 (and not II Gruppe) operated the Fritz-X missile which was designed to target armoured ships such as battlecruisers and battleships. But then while checking through Larry de Zeng's & Doug Stankey's Vol 2 of LW Bomber Units it mentioned that in April 1943 a small detachment was left
behind at Athens with He-111 aircraft while the majority of II Gruppe went to France to retrain on Do-217 aircraft and on the use of the new Hs-293 Glider Bomb. And as it shows on the Campaign Pages of the Wehrpass (Pg 32) Trenz's time in the Mediterranean came to an end in April 1943.

While a good indicator that he could of gone to France this wasn't proof so I carried out a simple Google search with his name and found details of his loss on 17th September and he was killed flying the Do-217E-5 - a variant designed and built specifically to carry the Hs-293 missile.

The first ever attack using these weapons to actually hit targets were carried out by II/KG-100 (flying from Cognac in western France) on the 25th August when HMS Bideford and Landguard came under attack off the northern coast of Spain. The latter ship was targetted by 3 weapons which all narrowly missed but still inflicted damage while Bideford came under attack from 5 of the missiles - 4 missed narrowly and while one hit the rigging it failed to explode properly although it still inflicted casualties and damage. As this was the first ever attack from such weapons it can only be imagined what went through the minds of the sailors when they first saw the aircraft formation drop what they presumed to be bombs into open ocean far from them only for the 'bombs' not to hit the sea but steer a course towards them and remaining on target even though the ships manouvered to escape.

Two days later another attack was carried out and this time saw the first ship to be sunk by this new weapon. HMS Egret was a sloop in the 1st Support Group and formed a task group of 5 ships, with 3 more joining after the 27th. This group was off the northwest coast of Spain on the 27th August when it came under attack from II/KG-100 at around midday. HMS Grenville managed to evade the attentions of 6 missiles through skilled manouvering of the helm and heavy AA fire. HMCS Athabaskan was targeted by 5 bombers and while four of the missiles missed for various reasons one (launched by Hauptmann Vorpahl) did hit, going in one side of the hull and coming out the other to explode 10 feet from the ship! However, HMS Egret didn't have even that luck. She was targetted by 7 Hs-293's. Five fell into the sea as they came to the end of their range, one was shot down by Egret's AA fire but one (launched by Oberleutnant Paulus) hit the ship in the after magazine, detonating the explosives within and ripping the ship apart. In just 40 seconds the ship had gone and only 35 survivors remained from the crew of 232.

[hucks216]

While the raids on the 25th & 27th came as an unpleasant surpise to those on the ships, according to Martin Bollinger (Warriors & Wizards) there had in fact already been a possible 10 such attacks previously (possibly training sorties). In fact HMS Egret was carrying several RAF personnel from a secret signals intelligence unit specifically to monitor any frequencies between the aircraft and their weapons and communications from the bombers. And HMS Grenville was carrying filming equipment, possibly to record such an attack. Captain Hill of HMS Grenville later revealed that he and other Commanding Officers from the group were warned before sailing from Plymouth on the 25th (i.e. even before the attack on Bideford & Landguard) of intelligence that suggested that the Germans were about to introduce rocket-propelled guided weapons and that ships in the Bay Of Biscay were a logical target. Were the ships of 1st Support Group used as a decoy to entice the Germans to attack to allow the British the chance to gather intelligence on the weapons and tactics? Captain Hill seems to think so judging by what is mentioned in Warriors & Wizards but with such a high loss of life and the sensitivities of using such a large force of ships from 2 countires as decoys and not intervening in their fate the truth might well remain locked up for some time.

Whether Reinhold Trenz was used on any of these raids is unknown but considering the number of missiles launched it would be logical that as many crews were used to allow them all to gather experience in the use of the weapons in an operational environment.

In early September II/KG-100 transferred from Cognac to Istres in southern France and joined forces with the Fritz-X equipped III/KG-100 to attack Allied shipping off the coast of Palermo in Sicily and Salerno in Italy.

There seems to be some confusion as to how and when Trenz was killed. The Wehrpass mentions a date of 12/13th September - crash on take off on his 174 Sortie, while the Volksbund database, the loss report and the KG-100 history by Ulf Balke state the 17th September with the loss report mentioning Salerno. However as Trenz is buried in a French cemetary a crash on take-off would appear to be the cause with just the date being in question.

During his service life Reinhold Trenz won the following awards...

Pilots Badge

EK II

EK I

Bomber Clasps in Bronze, Silver & Gold

...with his Wehrpass being closed on the 27th September 1943.

Edited February 13, 2013 by hucks216

[Bobesponjo]

Thanks for sharing.I didn' know about missiles.

about his dead,which indicates the wehrpass shoul be correct or could be wrong?

[hucks216]

Considering that all the other pointers about his death are leaning towards the 17th it would seem that the details entered in the WP were incorrect when the admin clerk entered the details on the 27th September.

[Paul R]

This is the first such wehrpass I have seen. Thank you for posting this great research.