Werner Baumbach

Units: 5/KG-30 (5/40), Kdr I/KG-30 (7/41), Kdr III/KG-30 (12/42), Kdr KG-200 (12/44)

Awards: RK(5/8/40)-EL(7/14//41)-S(8/17/42), EK 1 & 2, Bomber Operational Clasp w/Pendant

Known Aircraft: Ju 88A in KG-30, Fw 200 & Ju 188 in KG-200

Remarks: POW until 1948. Bomber attacks on France. Holland and Belgium. Transferred to Norway, attacking Allied convoys on their way to Sevastopol in June, 1942. End of 1942, transferred to the Mediterranean. He was the most highly decorated and most successful German bomber pilot of the war, with over 300,000 tons of shipping sunk. He was the 16th recipient of the RK-EL-S. Operated the 'Mistel' aircraft in KG-200. He left Germany in 1948 and worked in Argentina. KIFA over the La Plata Mouth near Buenos Aires during a test flight with a Lancaster bomber on 20 October 1953. Hoehler Personality

 Peter Wilhelm Stahl

Units: 6/KG-30, Detachment Kdr KG-200

Awards: DK-G(6/9/42), EK 1 & 2, Bomber Operational Clasp

Known Aircraft: Ju 88A-1 (lost 11/30/40), Ju 88A-4 WNr 142074 '4D+GP' (lost)

Remarks: MIA (but later returned) 28 August, 1942; crashed due to engine trouble while on a mission at Archangelsk. Remaining crew (all MIA, but later returned); Fw Hans Fecht, Observer; Fw Gerhard Hallert, R/O and Fw Helmut Görtz, Gunner (Source: SIG Norway). During the Lowlands Campaign, he lost a Ju 88 at Gilze (Neerhoven) Holland on 30 November, 1940. Flew round the clock missions against Murmansk in June and July of 1941. Survived the war. Wrote the books 'Kampflieger zwischen Eismeer und Sahara' and 'KG 200, The True Story'.

 Gerhard Straube

Units: 6/KG-30

Awards: Bomber Operational Clasp

Known Aircraft: Ju 88A-14 WNr 140099 4D+FP (lost)

Remarks: KIA 14/15 March, 1944 during an attack on London, when he was shot down by a Mosquito Night Fighter of RAF No. 96 Sq., piloted by F/L Head. The AC dove into the ground at a steep angle and crashed at Blaclbrook, near Dorking, Surrey. Remaining crew (KIA): Uffz Alfred Schiffmann, Observer; Uffz Hans Sing, R/O and Gefr Heinz Wende, Gunner.

 Oblt. Rudolf von Wartenberg, Uffz. Siegfried Weiss and Uffz. Herbert Muller

At 0500 hours on the morning of 10 May 1940, 1.5 million men of the German Armed Forces attacked France, Holland and Belgium along a front extending from Emmerich on the Dutch border to Bitburg on the French border. The operation was one which Adolf Hitler had been wanting for months. On the day Poland surrendered, 27 September 1939, he had informed the three commanders of the armed forces that he intended to launch a campaign in the west. Under the designation 'Case Yellow', the Army High Command hesitantly began working out the attack plans. Hitler was initially dissatisfied with the results, and the attack was postponed several times. An attack plan was finally accepted, and the offensWe was scheduled to begin on 17 January 1940. On 10 January, however, something happened that threw the German plans into disarray. That morning Major Reinberger, general staff officer of the parachute troops, a man who was to play an important role in the planned airborne landings, was ordered to Air

Some other aircraft of KG 30's 1. Staffel, seen from Oblt. von Wartenberg's Ju 88A-2, 4D+IT. The photo was taken on the Oldenburg airfield on 9 May 1940. in addition to KG 30's 'DWing Eagle' emblem, here with a white background shield for the I Gruppe, aircraft 4D+IT wears on its engine cowling the emblem of the 1. Staffel: British Prime Minister Chamberlain's umbrella in crosshairs. The aircraft in the background wears the code 4D + KT, which confirms that in the spring of 1940 the 1. Staffel used the Staffel letter 'T' instead of the usual 'N'.

Fleet 2 headquarters in Cologne. Reinberger took off from Münster in a Bf 1 08. In his briefcase were top-secret concentration plans and operational orders for the airborne landings in neutral Belgium and Holland. En route the weather suddenly deteriorated, and the pilot, Major of the Reserve Hoemnanns, lost his bearings. Finally the aircraft developed engine trouble and Hoemnanns was obliged to make a forced landing. The pair soon realized that they were in Belgium. Reinberger's attempt to destroy the secret papers was only partially successfitl, and elements of the German attack plan felt into Belgian hands.

The Germans did nothing. Weeks later; after the weather had improved, the attack was rescheduled. Generalleutnant van Manstein bad developed a better plan. By the time 10 May 1940 was selected as the attack start date, the offensWe bad been postponed 29 times.

It was envisaged that the attack would include various airborne operations in Hal/and and Belgium. These included assaults on Rotterdam's Waalbaven airport, where the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Parachute Regiment was to jump, and on the road and rail bridge at Moerdijk, more than a kilometer long. Both landings were to be preceded by bombing raids to take out the defenses.

Based at Oldenburg, the 1. Gruppe of KG 30 was ordered to support the attack on Waalhaven and bomb anti-aircraft positions near Ypenburg, Katwijk, Ockenburg and Moerdijk-Dortrecht. The unit had only moved from Westerland on the island of Sylt to the airfield in northwestern Germany on 1 May, in preparation for the attack. Some crews had gained operational experience in Norway, where they had flown missions in the Narvik and Andalsnes areas in difficult weather conditions. One such crew was that of Oblt. von Wartenberg of the 1. Staffel. The first attack in the west was about to begin. In the early hours of the morning at Oldenburg, the 23-year-old Leutnant, known to his crew simply as 'Stefan', taxied out for takeoff in his Ju 88A-2 (4D+IT), Werk Nr: 2027). He and the other crews of the J Gruppe bad been ordered to fly 'armed reconnaissance' over Holland. Not on board was Uffz. Uhlig, the crew's regular gunner: Confined to quarters for three days because of a disciplinary matters his place was taken by the aircraft's ground crew chief, Uffz. Herbert Muller: This change was to save Uhlig's life and mean death for Uffz. Herbert Muller. The dramatic events of this mission are described in a memo written after the interrogation of observer Gefr. Falke:

An aerial photo taken by KG 30 showing the bridge over the Hollandscheep between Willemsdorp and Moerdijk. It was precisely at this spot that Oblt. von Wartenberg's 4D+IT was hit in the cockpit by anti-aircraft fire, killing Uffz. Weiss. Dietrich Falke wrote on the back of the photo: 'Flying over such a bridge at 1000 meters was akin to an attempted suicide.

Ju 88A 9./KG30 (4D+IT) Wartenberg Beek May 10 1940
This view is what observer and bomb-aimer Geft. Dietrich Falke saw when he looked forward from his 'workplace'. Pilot Oblt. von Wartenberg sat to the left of him. Directly in front of Falke on the floor of the cockpit is the bombsight, with its slightly projecting eye piece and the bomb release button to its right. To its right, on the cockpit wall, are the automatic bomb release controls. The round instrument in the center of the photo is the radio direction finder with repeater compass.

Billets, 10 June 1940
To the post chief medical officer, field postal number 18985 Reference: Order of 9 June 1940
Order: Interrogation of Gefreite Falke
Today 1 interrogated Gefreite Falke about the loss of the aircraft and the fate of the crew. He stated:
'On 10 May 1940 our aircraft4D + IT took offfrom Oldenburg aiifield with the crew of pilot Oberleutnant von Wartenberg, observer Gefreite Falke, radio operator Unterofjizier Weiss, and gunner Unterofjizier Muller.

Our orders stated that, (ifter completing our bombing assignment, we were to reconnoiter the roads south of Rotterdam until approximately 0900 hours together with Feldwebel Schlecht and his crew. We had selected the big bridge over the Hollandscheep between Willemsdorp and Moerdijk as our starting point. Af tel' the attack (Waalhaven) we climbed to about 1500 meters for a better view in the hazzy weather. We had just flown over the Hollandscheep when we suddenly came under anti-aircraft fire (20-mm). We had seen no tracer prior to that. The first salvo scored a direct hit on the cockpit, but none of the shells exploded. Unterofjizier Weiss took a round vertically through the head (entry beneath the chin, exit top of the skull) and was killed instantly. No one else was injured, the controls were intact. Immediately afterwards the right engine began losing power and shaking badly. We were unable to maintain altitude, and Oberleutnant von Wartenberg decided to make a forced landing in the very difficult terrain. I advised the gunner of this intention. The aircraft must have been hit again as we began to descend, and this time the shells did detonate. At that moment I lost consciousness, and I only came to after the machine had hit the ground. I was lying on my stomach, something was pressing against the back of my head, and I was unable to see because of heavy bleeding from my head wound. I heard foreign-speaking voices – including female ones, therefore probably civilians - and the sound of people poking at the machine with hoes and spades. I called out, and after a while I was freed and lifted clear. I immediately passed out again. When I woke up it was in the midst of an operation in a Dutch military hospital,' they were removing shell fragments from my head. I lay in this hospital until about early afternoon, then they took me to a civilian hospital. There I learned that I was in Breda. Later I was questioned by Dutch officers as to my unit, base, etc. I asked about my crew and aircraft, and they told me that Oblt. von Wartenberg's 4D+IT, photographed several days after its forced landing near Beek. The aircraft obviously came down hard. The port engine was ripped from its mounts on impact. The Staffel letter T, and the aircraft letter I in the Staffel color white are clearly visible.

An interesting photo showing part of the port engine's cowling. It confirms that 4D+IT carried the emblem of the 1/.Staffel on both port and starboard engines. The Werknummer 2027 was applied beneath the emblem, a most unusual location.

we had crashed and that our machine had been completely wrecked They said that no one else from the crew had survived At first I took this to be a means of pressuring me, to break me down and obtain more accurate information. But they were satisfied with the fictitious information I had given voluntarily and left me in peace. I immediately notified my mother through the Red Cross. I was told that all they could find of my things was my coveralls and flying tunic and trousers. Even my watch had disappeared After two to five days - it was difficult to estimate time as they kept the sick in the cellar - the first German doctor came into the hospital He told me that a German military hospital was being set up. On 17 May I was moved to the 1st General Hospital 61 0 in Herzogenbosch for treatment of my fractured jaw. We expected to be transferred to a hospital in Germany in a few days.

About a week ago 1 received news from the 1. Staffel, informing me that the other three crew members are still missing. It therefore appears that what the Dutch told me was true after all'

Contrary to Dietrich Falke's initial assumption, Oblt. Rudolf van Wartenberg and Uffz Herbert Muller, as well as Uffz. Weiss, who had been fatally wounded in the aircraft, were all killed, even though von Wartenberg had made a very good forced landing. The crash took place at 0730 hours* near Beek (now Prinsenbeek). After Dietrich Falke had been rescued and taken to Princenhage hospital, the Dutch also recovered the three dead crewmembers and buried them in the church cemetery in Princenhage.

After recovering from his serious head injuries, Dietrich Falke returned to KG 30 and resumed operational flying. He ended the war as a pilot in 4./KG1. We wish to thank Mr. Dietrich Falke for allowing us to use his records and photos in the preparation of this article. Mr. Jan Jolie of the Netherlands also made a significant contribution to its completeness by providing photos and reports from the Dutch side. The time is based on a Dutch publication. A Dutch document dated 8 July 1940 cites 04/4 hours as the time of the crash. Neither time can be reconciled with the takeoff time of 0800 hours contained in KG 30:, handwritten casualty report.

The Wehrmacht transferred the remains of Oblt. Rudolf von Wartenberg, Uffz. Siegfried Weiss and Uffz. Herbert Muller from the church cemetery in Princenhage to the German military cemetery in Breda. Gefr. Dietrich Falke while on his first home leave during his hospitalization, his speech was still badly impaired at that time, as his jaw had been wired shut. He wears the Wound Badge in Black that he was awarded as a result of his wound.