Original Message
Good Morning,My name is Mykel Beorchia and I am the granddaughter of Christine Emma Drautz Beorchia. I am writing a book about my grandmother, who died in 2005, to preserve her memory for my nieces and nephews. I archived her photos (included here) and she mentioned that she was drafted into the Air Force on New Years Eve, 1944.
There is a photo of her in a meadow (included) in which she says she is in Donaueschingen near the hidden planes in the forest. She later mentions that she defected in March 1945 after the city was bombed. I'm trying to find records of her service in the Air Force and the bombing raids she mentioned. I translate everything into English and think I discovered that there was a bomb attack on February 22nd, 1945.
Does your library have a record of this event? Do you have any ideas where I could look for information about your service in the Air Force or the role of women in the Air Force? This is very sad research and I want to keep this story for my family.
Thank you in advance for any guidance.
Mykel
Reply from City Library
Hello Mrs. Beorchia,
I have already been able to put together some information, which you can find in the appendix. I forwarded your request to the former head of the main office, Mr. Ernst Zimmermann, who is well versed in local history, and he answered immediately. My colleague from the archive will copy the pages from the city chronicle, which you will also receive.
The topic of the role of women in the air force is more complex. There is certainly information on this, but not in our library. I found this article in no time: https://www.zeit.de/kultur/2015-05/wehrmacht-frauen-geschichtsschreibung-hagemann?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
I hope that you can already do something with it.
Sends best regards
CITY OF DANUBE SCHINGEN
Christiane Lange, StadtbibliothekKarlstraße 60 - 78166 Donaueschingen
Telefon 0771 857-246 - Fax 0771 857-6246
The diary of the Dutchman Bart Heyning
Forced labor in Hüfingen from 1943 to 1945 Edited by Julie Heyning-van Maanen and Rüdiger Schell Hartung-Gorre Verlag, Konstanz
Our author Bart Heyning, born April 18, 19 His full name: Hendrik Willem Lambertus Heyning (also Heijning) recording before its inauguration around 1942.
Feb. 20, 1945 Got a letter from Papa, which means a huge reassurance for me. In addition, two letters from my love from December and January, thank God mother now knows that I have contact with dad. Hans (Vos) is with us with angina and slight pneumonia - Jo and Willem are with Weggler. Picked up Eric's pills together with Toon, back to Ms. Doctor. At Germany there's cake and coffee. After a quiet start, Baumchen is suddenly excited again and very rude. I finish my plate and then go to bed. Lots of planes, initially 16 fighter-bombers - heavy detonations between 12 and 1 o'clock, without us being able to see anything. In the evening it turns out that it was in Vilingen. All together very uncomfortable and not at all nice. (This pen is too bad to write down pensées ".)
Feb. 21, 1945 Cold. Around 8:00 am, two large co-workers, some with the Red Cross, drive past Hofingen. Poor visibility. Therefore only a few at 12 noon for a short time Airplanes. Send a letter to mother, because the post office in Hüfingen is accepting mail again.
Feb. 22, 1945 Dense morning fog, heavy hum in the air at around 10.30 am The holes in the cloud cover make condensation disputes visible, later endless groups 1- to 4-engine bombers In the barracks above I the Spanish auxiliary words, estar, haber and tenir (as well as amar) Suddenly throwing the alarm when Weggler left at 12.30 and 16 hunters over us - walked on quietly Jager bombs. Opposite Frau M. lying on her stomach, incredibly tense, but still reasonably calm. From there the Gunung Schalli (Malay for Schellenberg) ran in. His meadows and arable land are uncomfortably wet when you seek shelter d must throw. Then I kept going up until I came to the French, who on the one hand found good cover -
February 23, 1945, mother's birthday. The day starts full of excitement, beautiful blue weather. After a while, “pillar boards are unloaded, then we are supposed to fill up bombshells. Lots of air raid alarms, numerous fighters, no two or four engines. When the planes come, I always try to run up Schellenberg as quickly and as far as possible, but it is actually too flat to offer full protection. Esch-Zeisingen () etc. etc. Two detainees fly over Hüfingen for a long time.
Long conversation with Boro's one-legged man: he is filled tot he brim ". Later spoke with a sergeant major who told me that hospital trains with wounded are not attacked by Allied Fliegem. In the evening with Henk and Leo at Weishaupt. Baumchen is Now totally twisted. No 2- and 4-engine. If de ten. The air is full of 4-2- and 1-engine airplanes and falls are not carried out above, the bombing stops. At first I see big, bizarre plumes of smoke Groups of four-engine bomberm arrive. They appear to have been shot down, which makes me terrified when they fly over us. But later it turns out that the smoke generated is bomb or smoke signals.
Donaueschingen receives a destructive load of four-engine bombs At the beginning we see the bombs falling, all in all extremely exciting, but anything but already. At around 3 am it is quiet again. We forced laborers are supposed to destroy the bomb Collect the payers at the ticket counter in front of the Sagerei site. More bombs have to be cleared up, namely a blind ginger in the eastern part of the company, close to the warehouse (right next to a Red Cross train), plus a bindganger 300 m high on the Schellenberg, plus one or two unexploded bombs at the school, one blind ganger on the white building block by the hospital and two bilind ganger by the garden of the state hospital.
Around 4:30 a.m., planes again. Alamm. Again we run up the Schellenberg, again bombs fall on Donaueschingen and Oberal in the area. A horrible day. very restless. The air is full of 42nd and 24th February 1945. Today, although it is Saturday, we are supposed to help level the bomb craters until 5 o'clock. Around 10 o'clock our team was placing a few small orders when I once heard planes approaching and quickly disappeared up the mountain. (The others after.)
The factory raises the alarm, but the guards scolded us because we were running away. At 12 o'clock a quick meal at Weggler's in a hurry. At lunchtime, the alarm repeated, Operations Manager Mott, alias Signor Lapiz, comes to our little hat (shelter) and loudly claims that the danger is over ... and bombs fall on Braunlingen again. When we finally want to go to work around 3:30 p.m., Hug firmly refuses. As it turns out, Hug is of the opinion that such efforts are pointless in view of the dangers posed by low-flying aircraft. Then I shaved in the barracks.
On the way to the plumber, have a conversation with a borrower of Italian nationality. Chatted with Brunet for a moment at Schmidt's little Vila. Suddenly, however, I hear airplanes and after a short drag I run up the Schellenberg again to the barn. Bombs a Hülingen The dive flies seem aimed directly at me. A screaming child, a nervous dog. During a bomb break I crawl further away to the Steinemen Kreuz. On February 22nd and as of February 194, Donauschingen had a particularly difficult time. In the afternoon of February 22nd, explosive bombs and air mines fell on the city center.
During this time, the District Office and the Protestant Church were significantly destroyed and several streets in the city center were hit hard. In the district office there were 17 servants and 25 other people, mostly air force helpers, the death as well as district administrator Binz and the Angahorige sainer family, the Luan grt on February 25th, especially the Kasemen area.
Cf. de Sidurier brochure from 1952 Donaueschingen in the mirror of his homeland. P. 14 H The community of Hofingen was severely affected by the Lutangrilen on February 22nd and 24th as well as on March 7th and 15th. On February 24th, several houses were totally destroyed or severely damaged in a row along the railway line damaged. In addition, a total of 29 residents were killed in the Lutan attacks, including 5 foreign workers. (From August Veter, HOfingen 1984, p. 439).
Zimmermann Email
Information from the mail dated 02/23/2021 from Ernst Zimmermann from Donaueschingen-Pfohren, former head of the city of Donaueschingen:
“I do not know any literature with detailed information about the airfield. It could be, however, that information on this is contained in two other books by Fred Trendle (Brennendes Land - Der Luftkrieg im Südwests 1940-1945, self-published in 2005 and Point Blank - Der Luftkrieg in Europa). In the Historical Atlas of Baden-Württemberg - Explanations, Heinz Bardua mentions in the epithet to map 7.11 War damage in Baden-Württemberg 1939-1945 that there were two airfields with fighter and night flight squadrons in the former district of Donaueschingen.
I suspect that one of these two airfields was on the area of the current airfield, where glider operations began again at the beginning of the 1950s. The other airfield was on the Hüfinger district between Allmendshofen and Hüfingen. To protect against air attacks, a mock airfield was laid out in the Gewann Mittelmeß between Unterbaldingen and the Immenhöfen. The petrol barrels stored there during an air raid would have caught fire in order to simulate a successful attack. Both airfields are likely to have been managed from Donaueschingen, where according to the Wehrmacht lexicon there was also a corresponding office. This can be found in the attached document, which I found on the Internet (search term: Lexicon of the Wehrmacht / barracks and locations in the Wehrkreis 05 - Donaueschingen) was in October 1913 with the entry of the III. Battalion of the 170th Infantry Regiment Garrison town.
The battalion first moved into temporary barracks and was later to move to the infantry barracks. The First World War prevented this. The battalion had to go into the field on August 6, 1914. On February 7, 1915, the 1st Replacement Battalion of the 4th Baden Infantry Regiment "Prinz Wilhelm" No. 112 moved into the barracks at Linsenösch. In January 1919, the 112th Infantry Regiment arrived back in Donaueschingen from the front and was demobilized here on March 31, 1919. On June 9, 1920 the Reichswehr Rifle Battalion No. 5 was relocated from Freiburg to Donaueschingen.
In the summer of 1920, the battalion became a supplementary battalion of the 14th Infantry Regiment and on October 1, 1934, the 2nd Battalion of the Constance Infantry Regiment, which on October 1, 1935 became the 75th Infantry Regiment. On October 1, 1935, the I. / Artillery Regiment 5 moved into the city. The 13th Company of the 75th Infantry Regiment followed on October 9, 1935. In the summer of 1938, the 15th and 16th companies of the 75th Infantry Regiment were set up. In August 1939 the garrison units were moved to the French border. Several reserve units were set up in the barracks. A field airfield was explored between Donaueschingen and Hüfingen before the start of the war and, after the start of the war, it was expanded into a second order port of operations.
The 1st platoon of Fla-MG-Reserve-Company 305 was deployed to secure the railway bridge over the Brigach in the direction of Aufen. The train had four 2-cm guns and was deployed northwest of Donaueschingen as follows:
1. Gun on a 4 m high observation house on the Donaueschingen-Grüningen road
2. Gun on a roof position in the army supply store
3. Gun on a raised stand directly on the railway bridge
4. Gun at a fork in the road 250 m west of Aufen
The 2nd train was used to protect the Donaueschingen - Hüfingen overpass and the Donaueschingen train station. It also had four 2-cm guns and was deployed as follows: 5th gun on an elevated position east of the bridge entrance 6. Gun on an elevated position west of the bridge dam 7th gun in an earth position south-southwest of the Donaueschingen crossroads and south of the station 8th gun In an earth position 800 m southwest of the Donaueschingen road crossing and west of the train station How long the company lasted here cannot be determined.
On August 18, 1940, the Infantry Replacement Battalion 358 was set up, which was relocated to Altkirch in Alsace on October 10, 1942. Towards the end of the Second World War, Donaueschingen was bombed several times. The first air raid hit the city on January 2, 1945. The main target was the train station, which was badly damaged by 96 bombs. 96 people were killed in the attack. Most of them were soldiers who died in the destruction of the air raid shelter in the train station.
Another attack followed on February 22nd. 14 bombers attacked the city center, completely destroyed 38 houses and damaged 53 others. The district office was destroyed by a direct hit. 339 people were killed in the attack, 165 of them soldiers. Just one day later, the station was again the target of a bomb attack.
On February 24, the railway lines at Hüfingen and Wolterdingen were the target of Allied air raids. The last heavy attack on the city came on February 25th, when 36 bombers were again bombed the barracks. This attack again cost 136 dead and 51 injured. The city was quiet until April 20th. Then a bomber dropped incendiary bombs on the city, which started several fires. At the end of the war, 124 of around 1200 houses were totally destroyed, 276 badly and 727 slightly damaged.
On the night of April 20, the last German troops left the city. The Volkssturm also dissolved. On the morning of April 21, the railway bridge over the Brigach near Aufen was blown up. At around 11 a.m., several bridges (Käfer, Sollbad and Schützenbrücke) were blown up. The first French tanks appeared in Dürrheimer Strasse around 11.30 a.m. At Behla there was another heavy firefight. Then the French marched into the city without a fight.
After the war, the French moved into the barracks. In 1990 the barracks were handed over to the Bundeswehr, which set up the Panzer Pioneer Company 550 here. The company was relocated to Immendingen in September 1942. In their place, parts of the Franco-German brigade moved into Donaueschingen.
Front troop units Infantry Regiment 14, Staff, 14th, 15th Company Infantry Regiment 14 2nd / Infantry Regiment 14 Infantry Regiment 75, Staff 13th / Infantry Regiment 75 16th (E.) / Infantry Regiment 75 18th . (EI.G.) / Infantry Regiment 75 2nd / Infantry Regiment 75 (Jäger-) 1st / Artillery Regiment 5 Military District Doctor V with Medical Department Donaueschingen Medical Staffel 7:03 PM Sat Feb 27 * L 46% I Luftwaffe (1944/45 only): 2nd / Close Reconnaissance Group 13 Stab./Jagdgeschwader 53 III./Jagdgeschwader 76 Spare parts Army technical school (VW) Army technical school (V.) Infantry replacement regiment 205 Infantry Replacement Battalion 358 Jäger Replacement Battalion 75 Replacement and Training Battalion 75 Landwehr Infantry Replacement Regiment 14 Infantry Replacement Battalion (Landwehr) 33 Landesschützen Regiment 5 / V Landesschützen Regiment zbV 55 Command authorities / departments Wehrbezirks-Kommando Wehrmeldeamt Wehrmacht Welfare Officer Site hospital Army auxiliary equipment office Army site administration Army catering office Army catering main office Heeres Bauamt Border section command Donaueschingen Information subsidiary Donaueschingen Fliegerhorbommandantur XII v Ochs, Oliver: Donaueschingen as a garrison. 1681-1995. Self-published by Jürgen Zapf: Luftwaffe airfields 1934 - 1945 - and what was left of them. VDM Heinz Nickel, 1st edition 2010 Georg Tessin: Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in the Second World War 1939 - 1945, Volume 16. Biblio-Verlag Osnabrück, 1996 Reichsgesetzblatt Part I, No. 180 of September 18, 1939, Pages 1777 ff. Including attachments Adolf Reinicke: The 5th Jäger Division 1939 - 1945. Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Bad Nauheim 1962 Prien, Dr. J., PIK-AS history of the Jagdgeschwader 53, part 1, Hamburg, self-published, 1990
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