From Fliegerdivision 2 to Luftflotte 3 at 1130 GMT:-

Airfields in the Rhone Valley being continuously attacked. Shall KG 26 move to airfields further north or to SW Germany? Are Avord and Bourges serviceable? A decision is urgent.

Plans and Assets

At 21.30 hours the previous evening, Fl.Div. 2 had announced as its intentions for the 17th: reconnaissance and fighter operations as on the previous day; bomber operations with "strong forces" in the sea and landing areas of St. Tropez and St. Raphael. Fliegerkorps IX had been asked for the support of its bombers, with the exact target area to be notified later. Early on the 17th, Fl.Div.2 reported that 1.(F)/33 had too few aircraft and that today only one was serviceable. The unit would only be able to carry out the tasks allotted to it by Luftflotte 3 if it received a further three day- and three night-reconnaissance planes. The same held true for 2./NAG 13: the invasion had doubled the demands on it. Adequate support for the Nineteenth Army would only be possible if reserve aircraft could be brought up. At 07.30, reconnaissance and fighter ops were ordered as for the previous day and Fl.Kps. IX's bombers were again called for. At 08.30, word was passed that six Ju 88s were ready for collection at Avignon-West while five minutes later the Allies photographed 24 single-engined fighters at Orange-Caritat.

Early Reconnaissances

In the small hours, four Ju 88s of II./KG 26 flew FuG 200 reconnaissances from the French Riviera to the west coast of Corsica and reported sightings of shipping. At 07.26 hours, five Bf 109s from JGr. 200 provided cover for a P/R Fw 190 between Marseille, Toulon, St. Tropez, Le Luc and Aix. Screening of the reconnaissance area was also provided by 19 fighters from II./JG 77 whose Geschwaderkommodore, Obstlt. Steinhoff, arrived in Orange during the day. After so determined an effort to secure this coverage there must have been considerable frustration when the results could not be interpreted.

First Combat

Reconnaissance aircraft, American ones this time, were also responsible for the next flurry of activity, at around 09.50 hours. Capt. Dave C. Hearrell Jr, in an F-6 of the 111th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, claimed a Ju 52 destroyed. Then, at Avignon-East airfield, he claimed a Fw 190 damaged while 2/Lt. Forrest L. White of the same unit damaged a Ju 52. A wrecked Fw 190 was later found on the airfield and the two Americans had indeed hit three-motor transports, but not Ju 52s.

After leaving Strasbourg, a Savoia Marchetti S.82, 1Z+OP of 6./TG 1, reported an attack by two fighters between Avignon and Orange. The transport caught fire and its centre engine was apparently blown right off, injuring the pilot, Obgfr. Fritz Pauleweit, while gunner Uffz. Otto Meistring was hit in the head by gunfire. After landing at Avignon, both were driven 30 km. to the military hospital at St. Andiol. Radio operator Uffz. Heinz Herbstleb accompanied them in the ambulance and although the two wounded men were delivered successfully he disappeared.

As a footnote to this episode, 6./TG 1 transferred from Italy to Germany on the 18th and 19th. Pauleweit flew out in 1Z+PP — apparently at the controls — and on the afternoon of the 19th 1Z+OP was amongst a group of four aircraft leaving Bettola (BS) for München-Riem, Bavaria. Meistring is not listed as being aboard any of the departing aircraft and what became of him is not known.

More Intentions

At 13.00 hours, the Germans decided that the coming night's main effort by the torpedo and guided-weapons aircraft was to be in the sea area south of St. Raphael but II./KG 26’s targets were not yet determined. Just half an hour later a request came to pull KG 26 back in view of continuous attacks on the Rhône Valley airfields. At noon, Fl.Div.2 announced its intention that three reconnaissance aircraft should sortie that night.

The Afternoon and Evening

At 15.25, six Thunderbolts strafed the airfield at Avignon, setting a parked Ju 52 on fire (perhaps an S.82, since two were later found burned out there). One of the P-47s overflew the position of 2. Batterie, 1. Abteilung, Flak Regiment 501 (mot.) and was hit several times, crashing 2 km. south of Avignon.

II./KG 26 had to cancel a planned operation when its crews were prevented from reaching their aircraft by a low-level P-47 attack on their base which also caused slight damage to three Ju 88s. The delay left the bombers unable to reach their objective before it was too dark to identify targets. Photographs taken by the Allies of Valence-La Trésorerie suggested that "several Ju 88s" had been destroyed by bombing. Nevertheless, as one Allied assessment put it, the Luftwaffe maintained its efforts "in spite of losses, fatigue, lack of flare dropping, fuel shortages and cut communications..." At about 21.00, two reconnaissance Bf 109s were reported to have approached ALPHA Beach, one being destroyed by AA fire and the other driven off.

Despite the problems at Valence, bomber operations resumed at dusk: the callsign for KG 26 was FAHNE ("flag"), for III./KG 100 it was GEMÄLDE ("painting") and for Blagnac flying control, LOTHAR. At 20.40, six Ju 88s dropped bombs between St. Raphael and St. Maxime without causing any damage while five minutes later the control vessel HMS Ulster Queen logged bombers and AA fire over the St. Tropez area, its Type 651 Receiver recording the release of "one radar-controlled bomb." First reports spoke of a glider bomb hitting the Charles F. Hughes but as it turned out the missile only registered a near miss and the ship was undamaged. Five of III./KG 100's Do 217s had operated: two aborted the mission; another jettisoned its Hs 293; two claimed near misses. Use of the Fritz X was reported to have been impossible on account of cloud cover, yet the crew of 6N+DR claimed a near miss on a 6–8,000 tonne troop transport with this weapon.

Just under an hour later another American destroyer, USS Champlin, came under attack, this time from a low-flying Ju 88. Struck by the ship's return fire, the bomber exploded and I./KG 26 posted four NCO's missing.

At 22.15 hours, two II./KG 26 Ju 88s had managed to get off from Valence for radar coverage of the sea area between Nice and Corsica and south of Toulon. Three other aircraft were unable to take off owing to damaged propellers and the reserve turned out to have a fault with its undercarriage.

From IC early on 18/8:

Activity report No. 14. 17/8.

III/KG 100. Operational strength 5 Do 217. 2 broke off. None lost.

Successes. 2 near misses with Hs 5 metres short of bow and stern … (word illegible) … Transport of 6000 tons, heavily damaged. FX attack not possibly [sic] owing to thick cloud. Amn expenditure. 3 Hs (1 jettisoned).

Special events. 15 minutes after take-off low-level attack by Lightnings on GAF station Toulouse-Blagnac. 1 Lightning shot down by a Do 217 curving in.

Movements

With the Germans clearly not holding their own, assets began to be moved to safer locations and Luftflotte 2 in Italy requested Fl.Div. 2 to return one of its Me 410s immediately. At 21.00, JGr. 200 was ordered to transfer to the Dijon area while Aix-Les Milles airfield was to be destroyed. An advance party from 1./JGr. 200 had already moved to Avignon and was followed during the night by the rest of the ground echelon. En route, a 7-tonne lorry carrying aircraft mechanic Uffz. Karl Mokry and five others was hit by partisan grenade. The injured Mokry was taken back to the Marine Hospital at Aix-Les Milles and captured by the Allies on 21 August. Also that night, KG 26 directed its III. Gruppe to transfer with all its vehicles and equipment to the Reich frontier. No onward rail transport could be guaranteed however and everything was therefore to remain at the border.

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