At 0140 GMT, Maj. Schlegelsberg, Gefechtsverband Helbig’s Operations Officer, urgently signalled his Lfl. 6 counterpart to say that 18 Wasserballons and five ‘special’ men (specialist technicians?) were available in Prague for a night operation, with the proviso ‘decision delayed by inquiry’. Seven hours later word came that ‘Ferrying over of Wasserballon rejected by OKL’. Again the idea of a night operation suggests that the Wasserballons in this case were not Flam C 250 which, as we have seen, needed daylight and had already been used on the Danube.

Orders overnight had assigned II. and IV./JG 53 to bomb and strafe the expanding Dillingen bridgehead, while, north of the Danube, American forces pushing south east from Cham toward Passau were to be engaged by III./JG 53, JG 27, JG 300 and EJG 1. Meanwhile a ‘special operation’ by Gefechtsverband Neubiberg was cancelled so instead pilots were to rejoin and operate alongside their regular units as soon as possible. In the event, III./JG 300 sent up 23 Bf 109s to attack traffic and infantry in the areas Dillingen–Binswangen and Regen–Deggendorf, claiming hits on seven vehicles but posting three aircraft and pilots missing. The III. and IV./JG 53 clained two trucks destroyed and several damaged on fighter-bomber missions over Dillingen–Höchstädt and round Cham, dropping two AB 250 canisters. One Bf 109 was shot down and its pilot killed while another was missing. Two Bf 109s of 2./NAG 13 did not complete their task (photographic and battle reconnaissance of Viechtel–Amberg–Regensburg) owing to technical defects but an Ar 234 of 1. (F)/100 did succeed in carrying it out while another flew a battle recce of the region Donauwörth–Treuchtlingen–Günzburg. Once again the defending 572nd AAA Bn claimed an Me 262 although none is recorded as operating in the area.

For one loss of their own, Allied fighter bombers destroyed four aircraft and damaged 20 at Bad Aibling, and three burned out plus 14 with minor damage at Holzkirchen which also had eight bombs fall on its landing area. Erding was hit twice during the day with ‘several’ aircraft damaged by strafing in the morning although the airfield Flak claimed three of the attackers at the cost of one its own men killed. Late in the afternoon some 80–100 Marauders severely damaged the landing ground and killed two Flakhelfer (auxiliaries) as well as wounding many others; in addition, the base workshops, armoury and other facilities were destroyed.

During the evening, Stab, I. and III./JG 27 (all at Bad Aibling) were subordinated to Lw.Kdo. West and 7. Jagd Div. Their primary role was to be engaging Allied fighter bombers; surplus personnel should be given up for ground fighting and it was proposed that the two Gruppen should disband once their strength had fallen too far. On the night of the 25/26th, nine Fi 156 sabotage sorties were sent out from 0145, again with Dillingen among their targets, but only four machines returned.

More of Lw.Kdo. West’s effort was now being directed against the American advances eastward along the Danube toward Deggendorf, Passau and the Czech border but as yet the Dillingen–Höchstädt sector was not being ignored altogether. Between them, JG 53 and JG 300 sent 32 aircraft to bomb and strafe enemy movements in the sector Cham–Regen–Passau from 0410 onward and they had landed again by 0550, minus six aircraft and their pilots posted missing. In addition, an Ar 234 of 1.(F)/100 flew a reconnaissance of roads in the same area. Just five Bf 109s were dispatched to Dillingen and were in the air for an hour from 0350. They shot up three trucks and had a combat with two Mustangs without enemy success. One aircraft was lost on this mission and a pilot was wounded.

A further round of operations took place in the afternoon: 11 Bf 109s and eight Fw 190s of JG 300 in two waves shot up and bombed whatever movement they found south of Straubing from 1414–1530, claiming the destruction or burning of no fewer than 17 trucks, the silencing of three light AA emplacements and the destruction of an Auster on the ground. Engagements with 15 P-47s and 30 P-38s resulted in claims of one of the former and two of the latter shot down; their own losses amounted to one aircraft shot down and one missing, a pilot dead and another missing plus two officers wounded. Five Bf 109s and five Fw 190s of JG 27 followed up between 1712 and 1816, only to come away minus five aircraft and their pilots following a ‘bounce’ by 12 P-4s. Conversely, the mission to Regensburg by 10 Bf 109s of JG 52 up from 1615–1800 seems to have passed off uneventfully.

Overnight, 24 aircraft of NSG 1, NJG 2, NJG 11 and NJG 6 attacked road traffic between Dillingen, Nördlingen, Weissenburg and Regensburg, claiming to have destroyed 18 vehicles and blown up an ammunition dump at a cost of three aircraft and nine men missing. Reconnaissance over Straubing, Kehlheim, Regensburg and Cham was flown by an Fw 189 of 13./NAG 14.

Although JG 27, JG 53 and JG 300 put up 54 morning sorties between them, none of these seems to have been to the Dillingen area and this was also true of the 31 mounted by JG 27 and JG 300 that afternoon. However a Rotte from NAG 13 reconnoitred the bridges over the Danube between Deggendorf and Neu-Ulm.

None of the three Fi 156s that had taken off in the early hours had returned by evening. From JG 27, seven Bf 109s and 2 Fw 190s were dispatched on an early morning attack on traffic around Memmingen. Ordered at 1730 to carry out a reconnaissance in force of enemy advances either side of the Ammersee, NAG 13 replied that it had no fuel. During the day, Augsburg surrendered to the Americans.

The only recorded operation was by 12 Bf 109s and 4 Fw 190s of JG 27 shooting up traffic in the Dillingen–Augsburg area from 0405–0450 and coming up against fierce AA fire. None was lost but three of them broke off with technical defects. Overnight, 4./NJG 2 sent up five Ju 88s to attack traffic in the area Regensburg-Bayreuth-Nuremberg–Ingolstadt and they claimed to have set nine vehicles afire. The aircraft crewed by Ltn. Langer, Uffz. Frank and Ogefr. Brugger crashed on take-off, killing all on board; another broke off early after losing oil heavily. Munich fell to the US Army the next day.

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