BOXART STORY

#7465

Text: Jan Bobek

Illustration: Adam Tooby

Night over Würzburg

On the cover of the Bf 110 G-4 night fighter

release, Adam Tooby depicts a dramatic scene

in which fighter ace Wilhelm Johnen shoots

down a British Lancaster bomber. The Messerschmitt, which sports Johnen's victories

marked on its tail surfaces, was found at the

end of the war in Neubiberg, Bavaria, and belonged to the 7./NJG 6, which was part of the

III./NJG 6 led by Johnen. This machine brings

several questions. For example, why are the

victories of the Gruppe commander marked

on an airplane from the 7. Staffel. How is it

possible that some of Johnen's victories are

missing or show a wrong date on said markings. Another question is whether or not the

rudders of this machine were painted white.

This Johnen's aircraft is a classic example

of Luftwaffe improvisation level at the end

of the war.

Wilhelm Johnen was trained in Pardubice

in occupied Bohemia, then in Zeltweg, Styria,

Wien-Aspern and finally in Schleissheim, Bavaria. In June 1941, he became a night fighter

pilot in 3./NJG 1. This Staffel was redesignated

in December 1942 to 5./NJG 5 and in May 1944

to 9./NJG 6. The last change was related to the

redesignation of the entire II./NJG 5 to III./NJG

6 and Johnen was appointed commander of

8./NJG 6. In mid-February 1945, Hptm. Johnen,

already a Knight's Cross recipient, became

commander of the entire III./NJG 6. His unit,

previously deployed in Hungary for several

months, had to withdraw to bases in Bavaria

before the advancing Red Army. At the end

of March, Johnen was forced to reorganize his

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INFO Eduard

force and concentrate all combat equipment

and personnel under 7./NJG 6. Hence his

aerial victories appeared on the tail surfaces

of a machine from the 7th Staffel, even though

he was the commander of the entire Gruppe

and didn't previously serve with 7./NJG 6,

even when it bore different designations.

Wilhelm Johnen achieved his last, 34th victory on the night of 16-17 March 1945 near

Würzburg. His plane was destroyed by RAF

Mosquito after the landing. The city was raided by 225 Lancasters and 11 Mosquito aircraft

from 5 Group Bomber Command RAF. The

town was an important transport hub, but there were no industrial or military targets. The

primary reason for the raid was to break the

resistance of the German population. The first

bombs fell on the city at 2125 hours. Firstly 396

tons of bombs were released on the buildings,

destroying roofs and windows, then the bombers dropped 582 tons of incendiary bombs.

The raid lasted only twenty minutes, but some

3,000 residents and approximately 2,000 refugees were killed in the firestorm, which reached between 1,500 and 2,000°C. About 90%

of the historic centre and 68% of the buildings

in the suburbs were destroyed. Considering

the extent of the percentages of the urban

area destroyed, this was bigger a destruction

than the raid on Dresden. The fire was visible

from a distance of 240 km and the clearing

of the debris was not completed until 1964.

The RAF lost only six Lancasters during the

raid and probably five of these were attacked

by night fighters. It is not certain which one

was shot down by Johnen's crew. One of these

was an NG352 (EA-J) from No. 49 Squadron RAF, commanded by F/O John B. Gibson.

Flight Engineer Sgt. Roberts later recalled

that they reached the target area a little earlier than the Pathfinder crews. Roberts was

just pouring tea when their machine was hit

by a devastating cannon fire. He knew that

he had about ten seconds to bail out of the

burning Lancaster. He helped their bombardier, Canadian Sgt. R. M. Henderson, to get out

of his position. The machine was full of smoke and flames. Apart from the top gunner,

Sgt. Austin Finnerty, all crew members managed to bail out. In the days that followed, they

were all successively captured. One experience Roberts has not forgotten was a member of the German Home Guard escorting him

with a World War I spiked helmet.

Next morning, two clergy men found radio

operator Sgt. Don J. Hughes hiding in the sacristy of the Elbelstadt church. They handed

him over to a local doctor, from whom he

was taken for interrogation. After two days

in police custody, on Sunday, March 18, 1945,

detectives Josef Axt and Johann Weber of the

Würzburg Criminal Police came for him. They

took him to the river and Axt shot him in the

back of the head. Hughes' body was found

the next day and after the war he was buried

in the Durnbach War Cemetery. Following

a trial in 1946, Axt was executed by firing

squad, while Weber was sentenced to twenty

years in prison.

November 2022