Six aircraft of Sonderkommando Kaatsch (as Luftflotte 3’s diary called it) carried out armed reconnaissance operations, Lt. Bell claiming another Auster III, 5 km south east of Besançon at 07.20 hrs. Finding and shooting down these low- and slow-flying artillery spotters was far from easy but Bell on this occasion managed it at an altitude of only 20 metres.

A road reconnaissance mission to Mouchard – Pontarlier – Besançon – Vercel – Les Dames landed in Luxeuil 15.40 hours. Another mission landed in Luxeuil at 16.46 after an hour-long flight covering roads from Chagny to Chalon-sur-Saône and Chalon airfield.

At 16.00 hrs. FAG 123 ordered 5.(F)/123’s Kapitän, Oblt. Kaiser, immediately to establish contact with an officer of the SS Military Police unit 2./Feldjäger Regt. 3 (Mot.) and to “release personnel and motor transport as operational unit is being organised from here.”

Note: This battalion was part of the Feldjägerdivision Nibelungen.

FAG 123’s Kommandeur signalled elements of his Gruppe (apparently in Freiburg) that their next operational base would Mulhouse-Habsheim, which would be stocked up for them and asked whether they would need air transport to effect the transfer. At 20.00 hrs. he told 5.(F)/123 that supplies of C3 and MW 50 had been arranged through Luftgau XXIX in Strasbourg. In addition two pilots taken on strength counted as having been transferred to Kaiser and could be employed.

At at 22.00 hours, Staffel Kaatsch reported its strength as 11 (5) aircraft and 13 (10) pilots.

Staffel Kaatsch’s leader told a Technical Officer (probably FAG 123’s) that three Bf 109 G-6 fighters with DB 605A motors and MW 50 boost were required immediately as replacements and they should be brought to Mulhouse-Habsheim.

During the day, 5.(F)/123 filed a return on its pilot status:

Obltn. Kaiser, sick; Ltn. Weber, detached [to Dijon]; Ofhr. Stütz, conditionally ready; (name not intercepted), conditionally ready; Uffz. Mittermayer, ready; Uffz. Geisser, in hospital; Uffz. Kuhlmann, detached [to Dijon]; Uffz. Lück, ready; Uffz. Müller, detached [to Dijon]; Uffz. Büttner, Uffz. Krestan and Gefr. Mack, conditionally ready.

Casualties had been: Obltn. Spies, crashed on 28 August and Gefr. Schmidt, crashed on 31 August.

Note: On 21 October, Uffz. Geisser "until now ill" was reported to be transferring to the aircrew pool at Quedlinburg.

FAG 123’s Kommandeur gave out that the Staffel was to prepare for immediate transfer to Gelsenkirchen-Buer (30 km. WNW of Dortmund and 200 km. NNW of Mommenheim) with signals and principal technical personnel going by road while the rest unit should go by rail. The final transfer order was to follow.

The next afternoon Oblt. Kaiser responded that rail transport was “probably assured” by the 16th but later advised his Kommandeur that the Staffel’s other elements could not transfer as fuel for road vehicles could be “scraped up from anywhere.” It was only at 14.30 hrs. on the 12th that Kaiser was able to report that fuel for motor transport had been allocated and the transfer would be taking place at once.

On this date the Kaatsch Staffel was reported as being disbanded. Nevertheless two of its aircraft flew battle reconnaissance for Nineteenth Army in the area Toul – Nancy – Luneville – Mirecourt – Neufchateau. According to FAG 123’s report this was — in the stock Luftwaffe phrase — “without particular incidents” («ohne besonderen Ereignisse», a standard reporting phrase) but an Auster had been shot down.

This was the third such victory for Lt. Bell, taking place at 09.50 hrs. German Summer Time (two hours later than GMT), 3 km. south west of Charmes. For his two previous claims, Bell’s unit had been given as Stab/JGr. 200 but now it was recorded as Aufklärungsstaffel Kaatsch.

Luftflotte 3 decided that Jagdgruppe 200 should be disbanded “with the exception of the crews at present with Sonderstaffel Kaatsch.” Four days after that, JGr. 200 in Bierstadt (an eastern suburb of Wiesbaden, Germany) itself relayed news of its disbandment to “Aufklärungsstaffel K” which was also now on home soil, at Freiburg-im-Breisgau.

In its new operational area, 5.(F)/123 put up four sorties over Allied forward areas on the Belgian-Dutch border, reporting a Bf 109 damaged by Thunderbolts at 14.20 hrs. An hour later, the Staffel’s Oblt. Kaiser reported a strength of 10 (7) pilots and 8 (1) aircraft. The unserviceable machines were: Werk Nummern 15220, 110520, 110553, 110554, 110557, 760005 and 780692. Bf 109 G-6 WNr. 412169 was the lone operational aeroplane.

Even so, on the 18th Kaiser told FAG 123 that the “Mommenheim detachment” had yet to transfer as no lorries had arrived there thus far.

Notes:

Bf 109 G-5 WNr. 110553, “43” crashed on 25 September and was a total loss.

Bf 109 G-6 WNr. 412169, "19" was given up by 5.(F)/123 at Plantlünne on 16 October.