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(Page 123) FIGARO (16 November–17 December 1944)

On 2 December, two Einhorn Fw 190s were damaged owing to human error while on an operation. This was the night of the attack on Forlì.

Source: Bundesarchiv RL 2-III/872: Materialverluste.- Flugzeuge.- Einsatz alle Fronten.- Listen, Bd. 30, Sonstige fliegenden Einheiten (1941–1945)

Civil Affairs Officer, Capt. Coleman A. Harwell, author of a report to the Allied Military Government about conditions in Forlì on 11 November 1944 was ‘inclined to accept the view that 40,000 of the city’s normal 45,000 are here now, as cellars are packed …’ Exactly a month later Capt. Harwell reported to AMG that the following casualties had been ascertained from the air attack late the previous afternoon:

Military: 8 dead and 44 wounded

Civilian: 10 dead and 52 wounded

San Biagio, ‘perhaps the most important church in Forli from an artistic and historic point of view’ had been destroyed, with only a small section of fresco remaining. ‘An estimated 20 remain buried [there] and are being removed today. An unestimated number but not thought to exceed 30 remain in another location.’

Two women had been recovered alive from the church thanks to Army volunteers, the city’s firemen and civilians. Trooper Francis Da Silva of 51 Royal Tank Regiment was commended for his ‘exemplary conduct’ in rescuing one of them, leading a group digging toward the sound of a voice and himself digging ‘in a precarious position beneath a boulder held back by other soldiers with ropes’. He worked continuously for several hours to get the woman out but tragically her baby was found dead.

Source: TNA WO 204/9958: Region 9, Emilia: reports from Forli province (November 1944–March 1945)

(Page 126) 11./KG 200 (November 1944–February 1945)

Correction: here and later, 'Erich Goll' should read 'Ulrich Goll'.

A General Staff paper from 1 August 1944 states that: ‘We are concentrating I./SG 5 in Southern Finland so that it is ready for deployment over the Karelian isthmus or in support of Lfl. 1 in the Gulf of Finland’.

Source: Bundesarchiv RL 2-I/67: Lageorientierungen und Einsatzplanungen.- Besprechungs-, Tages-, Vortrags- und Aktennotizen (Fragmente), Bd. 5 (c. 1944)

On 2 August Luftflotte 5 notified General Kurt Uebe at Luftflotte 1 that I./SG 5 was being transferred to ‘the South Finnish area’, proposing Utti as a suitable destination.

Source: National Archives HW 5/549: Government Code & Cipher School German section: reports of German army and air force high grade machine decrypts (3 August 1944)

For more about I./SG 5's transition into III./KG 200, see this page..

(Page 128) Remagen and Bad Kreuznach (8–23 March 1945)

Correction: Rather than Remagen, the Staffel’s target on 19 March was a bridge over the River Nahe at Bad Münster am Stein, west of the Rhine, close to Bad Kreuznach. Four Fw 190s were in the air from 1842-1930 and bad visibility made it hard to spot the target and their four SC 500 Trialen bombs landed near the bridge but apparently without damaging it; the unit suffered no casulaties.

Source: Bundesarchiv RL 2-II/842: Morgen-, Abendmeldungen, Nachträge, Nachträge zu Schadensmeldungen (Lw. FüSt. Ic Meldewesen). Bd 7: West (März 1945)

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