August
14, 1944, 26th victory August
14, 1944, 26th victory 
P-47D Thunderbolt Serial
42-28361
Code ??
?
of the 358th Fighter Group
/ 366th Fighter Squadron piloted by
2
Lt. Santo
A. GIAMALVA U
The picture was taken round August 15,
1944 near Argentan.
Photo: Bundesarchiv.
Searches concerning this victory :
| progress of the search | 4 | Last update | February 28 , 2003 | Evaluation quality of information | 3 |
The mission of the USAAF
COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
FTP SITES
1. ftp.rutgers.edu in directory pub/wwii/usaf
2. byrd.mu.wvnet.edu (129.71.32.152) in pub/history/military/airforce/wwii_chronologyMONDAY, 14 AUGUST 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force) :
Mission 552 :
1,183 bombers and 429 fighters are dispatched to attack 9 airfields, 2 aero engine factories, 1 oil plant, 2 bridges, 2 rail junctions and other secondary and targets of opportunity in SW Germany, E France, and the Bordeaux, France region; 2 bombers and 1 fighter are lost (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of
bombers attacking the target):
1. Of 376 B-24s dispatched to France, the following airfields are hit: Lyon/Bron (108), Dijon/Longvi (83) and Dole/Evaux (70); bridges hit are at Anizy (46) and Fismes (34); and 12 B-24s hit Liart rail junction and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 1 B-24 is damaged beyond repair and 32 are damaged; 2 airmen are WIA. Escort is provided by 92 P-47s and P-51s without loss.
2. 77 B-24s are dispatched to hit French rail junctions at Saintes (38) and Angouleme (38) without loss. Escort is provided by 40 of 42 P-51s without loss.
3. 349 B-17s dispatched to Germany hit Ludwigshafen (144), Mannheim (110) and Mannheim/Sandhofen Airfield (72); 4 others hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-17s are lost and 232 damaged; 8 airmen are WIA and 18 MIA. Escort is provided by 88 of 99 P-51s without loss.
4. 381 B-17s dispatched to Germany hit airfields at Hagenau (92), Metz/Frascaty (72), Florennes (24) and Chievres (9); and Stuttgart/Echterdingen (72), Kaisereslautern (46), Sindelfingen (12), Trier (10) and targets of opportunity (16); 20 B-17s are damaged. Escort is provided by 168 of 193 P-51s; they claim 10-0-11 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot is MIA).
Mission 553:
6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night; they claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft. 37 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions in France; 1 B-24 is lost.
136 P-38s and P-47s fly fighter-bomber missions in the Paris area; they claim 3-0-0 aircraft; 1 P-38 and 2 P-47s are lost, 1 P-47 is damaged beyond repair and 2 P-47s are damaged; 2 pilots are MIA.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force):
In France, A-20s and B-26s with fighter escort hit several highway and rail bridges, junctions and sidings mostly beyond the battlelines to delay and complicate the German retreat;
fighters fly armed reconnaissance over the Falaise, Broglie, and Chartres areas, and support ground forces, especially 7 armored and infantry divisions, over wide areas of N and W France;
a XIX Tactical Air Command squadron uniquely effects the surrender of a number of German ground troops, Germans on roads being strafed by the squadron NE of Carrouges wave white flags, whereupon the planes buzz the road and shepherd the enemy troops into a column which then proceeds to US lines to surrender;
HQ 358th Fighter Group and the 365th, 366th and 367th Fighter Squadrons move from Cretteville to Pontorson with P-47s ;
HQ 367th Fighter Group moves from Beuzeville to Cricqueville.
P-47 declared lost on August 14, 1944 (current result of my works) :
|
serial number |
plane type |
squadron |
code |
reason |
mission lost on |
pilot |
|
42-8491 |
P-47D-5-RA |
8 USAAF |
OC-C |
Crash Location
near Le Tréport |
1
Lt. Louis G Alphonse |
|
|
42-26318 |
P-47D-22-RA |
9 USAAF 405 FG |
I./JG2
|
Crash Location
Moinville-la-Jeulin |
Lt Robert Haas |
|
|
42-26327 |
P-47D-22-RA |
9 USAAF 405 FG |
I./JG2
|
Crash Location
Voise, on the soccer place |
Lt Julian Morford |
|
|
42-26393 |
9 USAAF |
Was lost while
he attacked a convoy, but not shot down by a plane.
|
Lt. Richard Kik,
who was behind Capt. Montag, assert that having attacked vehicles he
tried to make a resource when he rushed in trees.
Crash location In forest, 5 miles east of Domfront |
Capt Thomas Montag |
||
|
42-26449 |
P-47D-25-RA |
8 USAAF |
HL-X |
Crash location
Crouy (4kms North of Soissons) |
Capt. Charles M
Peal |
|
|
42-28361 |
P-47D-26-RA |
9 USAAF |
Crash location
South East from Rânes |
2
Lt Santo A. Giamalva |
||
|
42-76282 |
P-47D-15-RE |
9 USAAF 373 FG |
MACR 9707 |
|||
|
42-76471 |
P-47D-20-RE |
9 USAAF 405 FG |
III./JG3
|
Crash Location
Fontaine-la-Guyon |
Lt Clifford B. Russel |
|
|
42-76513 |
P-47D-20-RE |
9 USAAF 405 FG |
Crash Location
Prunay-le-Gillon |
2nd Lt
Howard Stricker |
||
|
? |
P-47D |
9 USAAF |
Crash Location
near Prunay-le-Gillon |
Lt Frederick Wilson,
EVD, |
||
|
? |
P-47D |
9 USAAF |
Crash location
? |
Lt Wilson R. Elwood |
This table contain all 8 MACRs
dated August 14, 1944.
But Missing Air Crew Report were issued when a crew was missing.
If the American pilot was shot down over allied territories and rescued
he was not considered missing = no MACR.
But his aircraft was really lost. This show that if MACRs are very precious
sources,
they are not the exact reflect of effective material losses, in particular
from june 1944 until the end of the war.
- - - Special
thanks to Marc
Doucet for his help
- - -
-
- - Special thanks to
Kenneth Kik for his help
- - -
- - - Special
thanks to the Association "Forced Landing"
for its help - - -
What I still look for :
|
Hypothesis :
Knoke made a mistake,
merging Rennes and Rânes.
|
|
A mail from Jean-Pierre Noel on
Februar 21, 2003 gave me an important information:
P-47, N°42-28361, of 2nd Lt. Santo Giamalva crashed in the South-East of Rânes. If this fact came to be confirmed, my hypothesis would be verified: Knoke by writing his memories after war would have confused, during the second reading of what he had scribbled at the time in his FlugBuch under stress with the infernal rhytme from 5 to 6 missions a day, Rânes's town with that of Rennes. Rennes appears on any map of France with poor detail level (easier to find in Germany after war), what is not the case of the little town Rânes. |
 |
| In the Prien & Rodeike's book
on JG1 the objective of the mission is indicated as being Mortain.
Departure airfield was Bretigny-sur-Orge.
(In Red - - - - - on the map) One notices that Rânes is situated on the main axis of the mission. Rennes, without any geographic link, was no more a strategic objective on August 14, 1944. |
| HQ 358th Fighter Group and the 365th, 366th and 367th Fighter
Squadrons move from Cretteville to Pontorson with P-47s; The direct route between Cretteville and Pontorson (In Blue - - - - - on the map) is (at its best point) only 18 miles far from Mortain. On August 14, 1944, this unit had been flying very near from Rânes (only 50 miles!). Maybe Knoke and his wingman, signaled by ground control, have been chased by 358 FG' P-47s on the axe Mortain - Rânes, and Knoke surprised them? |
|
P-47 N°42-28361 would have crashed
on August 14, 1944 (need to be confirmed) in small saillant formed by
Rânes in the allied front. This would explain why this victory,
in territory still occupied by German, will have been able to be officially
approved to Knoke.
|
| The photo at the head of page of the wreck of a P-47
cames from Bundesarchiv. It is renowned to have been taken round August 15, 1944 near Argentan. Rânes being in 11 Miles of Argentan and, to my knowledge a single P-47 having fallen in Argentan's sector, on August 14, 1944, it exists some little chances that this wreck is that of P-47 N°42-28361, 2nd Lt. Santo Giamalva! ! ! ! Any information concerning this photo would be welcome ! ! ! |
Description of this victory by Heinz Knoke and different information :
Heinz Knoke Informations
Personal comments
Source
Date
Type of claimed plane
Place of the interception
Jean-Bernard Frappé in his book "La Luftwaffe face au débarquement allié" notices that no P-47 was shot down near Rennes this day. It was Heinz KNOKE's first mission on the front of Normandy. Part of the South frontline seemed to be the investigated sector on this August 14, 1944. In the Prien & Rodeike's book on JG1 the objective of the mission is indicated as being Mortain. What is logical because German forces (farest in west) are still in Sourdeval's sector which is freed only during August 14.
For his very first mission on the front of Normandy Knoke flew a recognition mission very early the morning, wishing to learn on which land he was going to operate.
Looking at Brétigny-sur-Orge, Mortain is situated on the horizontal axis. It was an easy cap to follow.
It is probably on this axis that must be looked for the crash location.
On this axis three cities or villages wear names being able to be confused with Rennes :
a quite small village situated 15kms in the southeast of Domfront, Rennes-en-grenouilles ;
Another small situated village 4 km in the northeast of Argentan is called Crennes ;
Finally, maybe more significant is Rânes town, situated 18 km in the southeast of Argentan.
Indeed, on August 14, the south front of the pocket of Falaise follows the axis Flers-Argentan, with the exception of Rânes, still held by German forces.
Rânes, Rennes...
It is advisable to remind that Heinz Knoke did not take notes during this very animated period. In 1952 when he wrote his book it is from his memory that he appealed to describe his fights of August, 1944 above regions which he probably flew only once.
This P-47 was confirmed. It would be interesting to find the official German documents confirming this victory.Crash Location
Near the axis Brétigny-sur-Orge < > Mortain, in the neighborhood of the pocket of Falaise.
Presumed mission
Luftwaffe
KNOKE and a wingman.Schedule
Brétigny-sur Orge's takeoff
Weather report
Knoke's Unit
III./JG1
Description of the fight
That Knoke met P-47s " Panzer Dusters " in the sector Mortain <> Argentan was not surprising.
Concerning mention of Rennes (certainly not the city situated in Brittany which had no more strategic interest) it is possible that Knoke made some confusion with a small town named Rânes, still held by German forces, situated 11 miles in the southeast of Argentan.
The P-47 N°42-28361 of 2nd Lt. Santo Giamalva crashed south-east from Rânes.
If the P-47 exploded "in mid-air" there were few chances that the pilot survived.
No other German pilot claimed victory in this region.
