FA 2 casualties in Italy

[Immo_Frese]

Hi,

on 26 Dec 1917 FA 2 suffered heavy casualties near Trevignano. 3 pilots and 2 observers were KIA and another 2 observers and 1 pilot were made POW!

Who knows more about the circumstances of this casualties?

Immo

[duedicoppe]

Dear Immo,
it’s the so called “Air Battle of Istrana”. On that day there was a big German attack on the Italian airfield of Istrana in retaliation to an allowed British raid on their field on Christmas. Several Italian planes of the fighter units based on Istrana (Squadron 70, 76, 78 and 82) took-off under the first bombs to attack the two waves of the raiders. In the fight, in which were involved two British planes, too, at least six German bombers were shot down without losses in air combat.
I have the following German losses for that day:

Lt. KESSLER -WIA + Lt. Res. EDEBOHLS- KIA, F A 2 - DFW CV, shot down near Trevignano
Uffz. Willi PETZOLD- KIA + Lt. Res. Wilhelm VOIGT- KIA, F A 2 - DFW CV , shot down near Trevignano.
Wzfw. Karl UECKER- KIA + Lt. Res. Heinrich PFEIFFER- WIA/DOW, FA 2 - DFW CV, shot down near Istrana.
Wzfw. POHLMANN- WIA + Lt. SCHLAMM-WIA, FA (A) 219 - DFW CV, shot down behind the Italian lines.
Uffz.P. Franz HERTLING-KIA + Lt. O. Georg ERNST-KIA + Lt. Res. O. Otto NIESS-KIA, BG IV - AEG G IV. Shot down near Pederiva or Montebelluna.
Uffz. HEDESSINSKI - POW + Lt. PALLASCH - WIA, FA 2 - DFW CV, shot down behind the Italian lines.

If you are interested in the subject, I would be happy to correspond about the German operations on the Italian front.
Happy landings
Paolo

pavarri@tiscali.it

[TomVrille]

The Christmas Day raid which supposedly provoked the German response on 26 December 1917 was led by the famous RFC ace William George "Billy" Barker. Because of Barker's celebrity status, a number of 'colorful' accounts of the raid appeared in various magazines, and it became somewhat difficult to separate fact from fancy. Nevertheless, if you research Barker's career, you can probably find several pieces of useful information dealing with the German casualties on 26 Dec 17.

A short version of what happened, based largely on the book Barker VC by Wayne Ralph follows:

Barker, accompanied by Lt. Harold Hudson, conducted an unauthorized raid on a German aerodrome, violating what was a sort of gentleman's agreement that no fighting be done on Christmas. The aerodrome attacked was probably San Fior, home base of FA 204. It is rumored that Barker and Hudson stopped at Istrana before continuing on to Grossa, the home base of RFC 28. As some versions of the story go, spies observed the stopover at Istrana, and relayed this information back to German HQ. A retaliatory attack against Istrana was scheduled for 26 December. The attack was launched in two waves, a large formation early in the morning, and a smaller attack around noon. The fitness of the German crews, particularly in the early morning attack, is questionable. Many were thought to have severe hangovers from Christmas celebrations. At least one pilot is said to have been asleep (drunk) when he was taken POW, after a marvelous landing behind Italian lines.

As noted earlier, it is a bit difficult to separate fact from fancy.

[Immo_Frese]

Hello Paolo & TomVrille,

thank you both for your response These are very interesting details. Paolo, do you by chance have a correct time for the german casualties. Did I understand you correct, that the italian Squadrons 70, 76, 78 and 82 were all involved in the fight? I ask this because british Camel-pilots 2/Lt. A.G. Jarvis, 2/Lt. O.W. Frayne and 2/Lt. P.G.Mulholland, all from 28.Squadron RFC, claimed this day a shared D.F.W 2 km north-west of Povegliano between 9.15 and 9.20.They reported, that a lot of italian fighters were in the dogfight too. The german C-plane managed to land but according to the british pilots burst into flames a few seconds later on the ground... Belonged this german plane possibly to the first german wave? Possibly the pilots from 28.Squadron RFC were the british pilots involved in the fight?

Is Povegliano located in the vicinity of Istrana or Trevignano?

Regards, Immo

[Gregvan]

Hello Immo,

I see that Deudicoppe and Tom Vrille have filled you in on most of the details, and very well indeed. The late James Kerr wrote a 3-part article on the aerial aspects of the Battle of Caporetto and its aftermath in "Over the Front", and covered "The Boxing Day Raid" or the "Aerial Battle of Istrana" in Volume 1, No. 3. Here's how he tried to match up claims:

Ltns. Edebohls and Kessler (DFW C.V) at Trevignano- Scaroni made three claims, and this fits his second victory of the day.

Ltn. Voigt and Uffz. Petzold (DFW C.V)- Either this or the next loss fits Scaroni's first claim of the day, probably shared with the British pilot Mulholland, who calimed a DFW at Povegliano at 0930 hrs.

Ltn. Pfeiffer and Vzfw. Uecker (DFW C.V)- possibly Scaroni's first, as noted.

Based on the somewhat dubious British accounts that TomVrille mentions, Kerr says that one of the two crews of Pallach/Heddessinski or Schlamm/Pohlmann (all MIA) were the crew that "ran out of gas and force landed near Istrana, where they fell asleep" and were taken POW.

In addition, there was the big AEG G.IV of BG IV which was also lost. Scaroni (his 9th), Brenta and British pilot Mitchell "shared" an AEF at Oederiva at 1300 hrs.

I'm not saying the Jim's deductions are 100 % accurate, I'm just quoting his deductions


Greg

[Gregvan]

Hello Again,

The magnificent book "Italian Aces of WWI" by Roberto Gentilli, Antonio Iozzi and Paolo Varriale includes this fascinating account by Scaroni of the day's events:

"About 9 yesterday morning the spotters of the field gave an alarm, as 2 large groups of enemy aircraft were coming toward the airport from the Montello. I watched that way with binoculars and I saw the aircraft in close formation at a level of about 3,000 meters, and higher another large group of small fighters, for a total of about 40 planes. I dropped the binoculars, jumped in my fighter, had the propeller turned and took off. I had not yet completed a circuit of the airfield and I was at about 500 meters, when I saw 3 enemy planes zooming below me, while bombs of all sizes were exploding around the hangars....I didn't waste time thinking and didn't worry about the other aircraft; I attacked the closer one, which was engaged strafing airplanes of my squadron on the field. With two, short, well-aimed bursts I brought it down just at the border of the airfield. It crashed and caught fire.

"Then another large aircraft passed above me 2 or 3000 meters higher. I gave full throttle and I quickly got at it. Keeping a bit lower and behind to remain hidden I started firing, aiming more or less at the cockpit section. At my first rounds the pilot tried to maneuver and get free of my attack so the observer could use his m.g. against me, but he couldn't do it so he went into a dive and I was above him. Then another Hanriot came next to mine, and from the insignia I saw it was Michetti. The enemy was trying to regain his lines but it was a long trip and we were determined not to let him go. Michetti and I yo-yoed, attacking him with short bursts. The observer, thanks to the excellent maneuvering of the pilot, fought back at us with admirable ability and tenacity making our attacks difficult and ineffective. We harassed him down to 500 meters above the ground and its maneuvers were geting slower and more difficult, while we were sure of victory and more and more aggressive. The observer stopped firing and I understood why; I saw him quickly removing a new cartridge belt tied around his waist to replace the empty belt on his gun. I exploited that moment and from close range I fired one last burst. This time the pilot went down, hoping to escape with a good landing, but when it touched the ground the airplane turned over. Now we saw it, all white with its huge crosses, defeated. As we flew around it we saw the passenger crouching and getting out, then with a special explosive device he torched the wreck without worrying about the pilot who died miserably in the fire.The explosion of the fuel tanks also splashed the passenger with burning fuel, who started thrashing and rolling on the ground. Some artillery men reached him and helped him removing his burning clothes, then they captured him."

Whew!

Greg

[Gregvan]

It's me again, continued:

Elsewhere in the excellent "Italian Aces of WWI" book, in the section on Michetti, the authors quote yet another Scaroni account of his second victory, which was shared with Michetti: " The enemy waits until the fighter (his or Michetti's) is real close and then opens fire at close range....I see him (the German observer) quickly unfastening a belt of bullets wound around his waist and inserting it in to the m.g., and now he's ready to shoot again. He must be an expert at this movement, as he did it in the quick moment when I couldn't fire. The guy knows his business...Michetti and I are convinced we are dealing this time with a couple of experts; this crew has shown us a hundred times how to avoid the fire of machine guns, even our well-aimed fire."

Nonetheless, they shot the DFW down - this is the one that overturned and was supposedly torched by the observer with the helpless pilot still inside.The observer was, they reported, a German Major, and when they visited him in the hospital they had a 'furious' argument with him, as he claimed vociferously that he had been brought down by British fighters and not Italians. Scaroni and Michetti thought this was just "Prussian arrogance", but the truth is he may well have mistaken their Hanriots for Sopwith Camels. The Hanriot was still relatively new and this was a common error.

The Germans attacked again at 1230 hrs, and Scaroni describes his third victory over the AEG:

"I was cruising above the Grappa when I noticed intense AA fire in the direction of the Montello. I went that way and found a large group of enemy airplanes dueling with our fighters. As I was getting ready for combat I saw a large twin-engine bomber coming toward me with a fighter on its tail shooting at a close distance. From its insignia I recognized Tenente Brenta. I got on his side and we both fired a long burst at the enemy at the same time. The monster went down on a wing,fell for hundred of meters, broke apart and crashed, catching fire. When I turned back, there were no more planes, friend or foe, so I retruned to the airfield."

The authors go on to say the Italians lost no fighter in combat despite three claims by the Germans. Damages at Istrana were "minor", a few Hanriots destroyed or damaged and six men were killed and more wounded among the ground personnel. Scaroni had a poor opinion of Austro-Hungarian airmen, and when he found out that all their opponents had been German, he said "This explains their aggressiveness and their daring."

Sounds like Scaroni had some prejudice of his own.

Greg

[Gregvan]

Hello,

As I peruse the fantastic book by Gentilli, Iozzi, and Varriale, the role played by the Italian Hanriot pilots from the several different squadrons involved begins to emerge. No doubt this assigning of victories was controversial then and remains so today. Here's how they break it down, if I read it correctly:

1. Scaroni's first victory of the day (his 7th overall) was the DFW which came down at Musano about 900 hrs. This was shared with s.ten. Fucini of the 76a Squadriglia, ten. Masiero and serg. Fornagiari of the 78a Sq., and ten. Commandone of the 82a Sq.

2. Scaroni's second victory of the day (8th overall) was the DFW which came down at Camalo, about the same time. This was shared with s.ten. Michetti and Fucini of the 76a Sq., cap. Riva of the 78a Sq., ten. Avet, sergs. D'Urso,Benvenuti, Teobaldi, and ten. Commandone of the 82 Sq., and also with the three British pilots of No. 28 Squadron: Mulholland in Camel B6345, Jarvis in B2303, and Frayne in B5183. The British pilots timed their victory at 0920 hrs, and said it landed 2 km NW of Povegliano and burst into flames.

3. Scaroni's third victory of the day (9th overall) was the big AEG from BG IV, which was shared with ten. Brenta of the 76a Sq. and Lt. Mitchell of No. 28 Sqn, RFC.

Greg

[Immo_Frese]

Hi Greg,

wow, thank you very much for the detailed report It seems, that the book about the italian aces is a "must have". I will look out for it.

Thanks again guys, theaerodrome is a great place!

Immo

[duedicoppe]

Dear friends,
please, stop your praises, I'm too much presumptuous, yet!
what I can say?... Many thanks for your kind words about my work. The Latins said Ars longa, vita brevis, but we tried to do our best.
duedicoppe, aka Paolo Varriale