The Dieppe Raid was, from the point of view of the German fighter pilots, one of the happiest days since the days of the Battle of Britain.
Hans Ring - Historian ofthe German Association offormer Fighter Pilots
This is an accurate assessment, especially as it was the biggest air battle in which German fighter pilots in the West had been engaged for well over a year. Throughout 1941-42 the Royal Air Force's constant offensive actions over Northern France, Belgium and Holland had brought continual action but in the main it was no more than just nibbling at the large British formations of bombers and Spitfires. The RAF's Sweeps, Circuses, Ramrods and Roadsteads were all designed primarily to bring the Luftwaffe to battle but more often than not only a relative handful of German fighters would be able to get in position to attack and with sometimes over a hundred British Spitfires buzzing around a dozen or so twinengined medium daylight bombers, made it difficult to engage in an all-out, old-fashioned dog-fight. Above Dieppe, however, there was a continual stream of aeroplanes and the action remained over this general area for hours. Thus the Luftwaffe fighter pilots were able to bring all of its available aeroplanes to do battle over this one locality.
As previously mentioned, there were only two Jagdesgeschwaders in France, JG2 and JG26. JG2's area of operations was generally to the west of the River Seine - Normandy and Cherbourg, while JG26 operated east of the Seine, over Northern France and BelgIum.
Major Gerhard Schopfel was Kommodore of JG26. He was a prewar pilot, had shot down his first RAF fighter over Dunkirk and by the end of the Battle of Britain had 29 kills and the Knight's Cross. His fighters were the first to be involved in the Dieppe Operation due to their bases being in close proximity to the harbour town.
The Jagdesgeschwader's Staff Staffel was based at St Omer/Wizernes, its I Gruppe, commanded by Hauptman Johannes Siefert, at St Omer/Arques. II Gruppe led by Oberleutnant Wilhelm-Ferdinand Galland, was at Abbeville/Drucat and III Gruppe headed by Hauptman Klaus Mietusch had its base at Wevelghem, near Cour-trai.
Major Walter Oesau's JG2's I Gruppe under Oberleutnant Erich Leie was at Tricqueville, its II Gruppe commanded by Hauptman Helmut Bolz at Beaumont-le-Roger. III Gruppe led by Hauptman Hans Hahn were stationed at Maupertus. All these units were equipped with the Focke Wulf 190 A-2 and A-3s. Both of the Jagdesgeschwaders had their No 10 'Jabo' (fighter-bomber) Staffeln, equipped with FW 190 A-3U1, and both had their Staffeln equipped with Messerschmitt Mel09G-ls, and some 109Fs.
Gerhard Schopfel, by 19 August 1942, had nearly 40 victories. Siefert, also a holder of the Knight's Cross (Ritterkreuz), also had 40 victories and had also been with JG26 since before the war. 'Wutz' Galland, was the brother of Adolf Galland, and had 12 victories to date. Klaus Meitusch was another experienced fighter pilot and had been with JG26 since 1938. Erich Leie, another Knight's Cross holder, had 42 kills. He had flown with two of the finest German pilots of the 1940-41 period, Helmut Wick and Walter Oesau. He had taken over the command of I/JG26 in May 1942. Hans 'Assi' Hahn had 65 victories, the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and a wealth of experience. He was another pre-war pilot who had been with JG26 since the outbreak of war.
The bomber force which became committed against the ships of the British and Canadian forces came mainly from Kampfgeschwader 2 who were mostly based in Holland. KG 2 'Holzhammer' was equipped with the Dornier 217E. Other units that became involved in the battle were the Junkers 88s of 1 Staffel of KG77, Dornier 217s of KG40's II Gruppe plus Heinkel Ills of III/KG53.
I Staffel of JG26 were the first fighters to fly against Jubilee. Before 6 am, this Staffel scrambled all available aircraft - just ten. Shortly afterwards the 2 and 3 Staffels put up eight Focke Wulfs each. One of the first successes fell to Oberfeldweber Heinrich Bierwith of II/JG26 who claimed the destruction of a Spitfire.
Despite the fact that 19 August came during one of the periods the Germans considered it possible for the Allies to launch an attack on the French coast, due to tides etc; the Luftwaffe commander for the Dieppe Area had not maintained a readiness state. It seemed apparent from the weather predicted for the 19th, cloud and rain following later in the day, that there would be little risk of such an attack taking place. He had, therefore, allowed many of his pilots leave until noon of the 19th. In fact one pilot in three had been granted 24-hours' leave passes. There was some rapid return to airfields and squadrons when it was known that the 'Tommies' were over Dieppe in force.
As the day progressed and the scale of the raid became apparent more and more Luftwaffe aircraft began to take off to join the battle with the RAF. These aircraft were monitored by British radar. At between 8.29 and 9.14 am fifty German aircraft were reported climbing up from the St Omer and Desvres area, then 12 more from Lille followed by 12 to 15 from Dunkirk — probably from the airfield at Mardyck. What was also apparent was that so far nothing was reported from the area covered by JG2. At this hour there was a total of fifty or more enemy aircraft to battle with the RAF in the general vicinity of the town of Dieppe.
The first reported reaction of the Le Havre — JG2 — area was recorded at approximately 9.40 am. At 9.41, twenty or more fighters appeared from Abbeville - Wutz Galland and his II Gruppe was taking the air. Five minutes later a further gaggle lifted off from Abbeville.
The peak of German fighter cover came between the two hours 9.30 to 11.30 am, during the time they covered and escorted the Dorniers, an estimated 100+ being recorded. Over the hour 12 noon to 1 o'clock over fifty fighters escorted further Luftwaffe bombers. One hour later, at 2 pm, radar picked up reinforcements coming in from Belgium and Holland, these being joined by a further group of aircraft from Le Havre and Amiens — an estimated 75 to 80 aircraft. At 1.50 pm 25 to 30 came up from St Omer.
Abbeville was out of the battle for some time following the American Fortress raid. Only three minutes warning of this raid was received by the 'Abbeville Boys' before the first bombs began to rain down. Several 190s, as observed by the American crews and their Spitfire escort, were caught on the ground and destroyed. This was at approximately 10.30 am and it was not until after 3 pm that radar picked up activity from this base. This was part of the 80 to 100 aircraft reported from bases to the south of Dieppe.
From British radar reports it was estimated that German bombers, mostly Dorniers 217s, had carried out 125 sorties, while FW 190s and Me 109s had flown 500 sorties, 350 of which had been over Dieppe itself. In actual fact bombers had flown some 145 sorties, and the fighter pilots about 800, of which JG26 flew 377 in 36 separate missions. Many individual fighter pilots had flown up to three and some as many as six missions during the day.
The most outstanding Luftwaffe fighter pilot of the day was 25-year-old Josef 'Sepp' Wurmheller. As Staffelkapitän of 9/JG2 he had had a successful early start to 1942, having destroyed ten Allied aircraft in May, and a further 12 in June. On the morning of 19 August he was in fact suffering from a broken foot and had his lower leg encased in plaster bandage. However, when the alarm came and the huge Allied effort was revealed, Wurmheller was helped into his Focke Wulf and took off. Not long after take off his machine developed engine trouble and he had to force-land in a field. He hobbled to a German command post from where he was returned to his airfield by car. He had banged his head in the landing but in spite of a raging headache, climbed into another 190 and headed for the battle. Over Dieppe he claimed one Blenheim and two Spitfires, before returning home to refuel and rearm. On his second sortie he claimed three Spitfires and then later on his fourth flight over the ships shot down another Spitfire. These seven victories brought his score to 60 and won for him the Eichenlaubs (the Oak Leaves) to his Knight's Cross, the 146th Luftwaffe pilot so honoured. During his final sortie his headache had got so bad that he flew with a veil before his vision. At the end of the day a doctor discovered that his head injury had in fact caused a concussion. Wurmheller ended the war with 102 victories, the vast majority claimed in the west and he had received the Schwertern (the Swords) to his Knight's Cross.
Another successful day was had by Oberleutnant Siegfried Schnell, Staffelkapitän of 9 Staffel of II Gruppe, JG2. 'Wumm' Schnell had already been decorated with the Knight's Cross and Oak Leaves in 1940 and 1941 respectively. He claimed the destruction of five Spitfires over Dieppe, bringing his score to 70. Later in the war he commanded III Gruppe of JG54 but died in action on the Russian front in February 1944 having achieved 93 victories.
JG26's most successful pilot was Oberleutnant Kurt Ebersberger who claimed four Spitfires, victories 25 to 28. Oberleutnant Fuel-bert Zink gained his 24th, 25th and 26th victories by claiming two Spitfires and a Mustang while Ofw. Emil Babenz of 2 Staffel 1/ JG26 claimed three Spitfires to bring his personal victories to 21. For Oberleutnant Egon Mayer,Staffelkapitän of 7/JG2 and Knight's Cross winner, it was a special day — his 25th birthday. He had been with JG2 since December 1939 and had gained his first victories over France in 1940. His two Spitfire kills over Dieppe brought his score to a round 50. He was to gain 102 victories in the west, and received the Oak Leaves and Swords, before his death in combat in March 1944.
At least 19 holders or future holders of the coveted Knight's Cross were successful over Dieppe and at least 30 of the pilots who made claims were what is more popularly known as 'aces', the Experten of the German Luftwaffe.
Also successful had been 10 Jabo Staffel of JG2 commanded by 26 year old Oberleutnant Fritz Schröter. He had been with JG2 since March 1941 but Staffelkapitän of 10 Staffel since only July 1942. For his outstanding leadership over Dieppe on 19 August he was awarded the Knight's Cross. His Staffel claimed to have bombed and sunk one destroyer, two landing craft, and damaged another destroyer, two trawlers, two landing craft and also to have shot down one RAF aircraft. Whether the destroyer claim was the Berkeley is not known. In one report the Berkeley was hit by bombs jettisoned by a harassed Ju88, in another it was hit by a bomb-carrying FW 190.
Wing Commander Michael Pedley recalls the Luftwaffe tactics and his own side's as seen from the standpoint of a Spitfire squadron commander.
The Tangmere Wing being equipped with Spitfire Vs had been ear-marked for low level and medium cover whilst Spitfire IXs . . . were to provide the high cover, although in the event we seldom actually saw them over the beach-head. Whilst the RAF Wings had to relieve each other in rotation the enemy fighter force could choose its own moment to strike and in fact came in waves at unpredictable timings. We could generally watch the FW190s building up overhead like a swarm of bees before they started diving down to try and engage our shipping and assault forces.
The Tangmere Wing would be stepped up by squadrons from about 5,000 feet to 12,000 feet with their sections weaving about in battle formation ('finger-four' or line astern depending on choice). The tactic adopted was to break formation just as the enemy was coming within range and climbing steeply, engage the EA head-on. Occasionally it was possible to get after a FW190 that had hesitated in its dive but usually the EA were going too fast to follow down. Nevertheless, our form of attack was highly effective in diverting the enemy fighters from their target and from time to time achieved 'kills'„ thereafter, having lost their advantage of height the EA seldom stayed below us but instead dived away clear of the danger area.
We were happiest when the bombers showed up, usually in twos or threes or even as single aircraft; these we attacked with great gusto and generally succeeded in shooting down before they could do any damage.
By mid to late afternoon the Luftwaffe fighter force had been considerable reduced in number due to losses, battle damage etc, and it was almost 'grounded'. Eighteen Focke Wulfs at the Luftwaffe's Forwarding Centre at Welveghem, being its total spare machines, were all issued to units during the day. Also by the late afternoon all the stocks of 20mm ammunition had been expended and was not replenished until the next day and then by special air-lift. This also affected serviceability of the Focke Wulf fighters. One wonders what the casualty figures on both sides might have been if the Focke Wulfs had been higher in number.
At Dieppe the 190 pilots had, for the first time, encountered the new Mustangs, although it was not appreciated that the latter were flying reconnaissance missions, and not part of the overall fighter force. They had mixed fortunes when in combat with the Mustang. One which was attacked caught a burst in the port wing tank and promptly exploded in mid-air. Another was chased from near Dieppe to almost Eastbourne but the German pilot could not close nearer than 150 yards.