MG (ret.) Brand did interview LtG. Krupinski for my book and he claimed that he was injured on the 4th and could not provide any information on Kursk.

Toliver and Constable in their books (i.e. Blond Knight of Germany, page 61) claimed that he was injured on the morning of the 5th during the Soviet airstrike on the German airfields. He tried to emergency land his damaged plane, and had to swerve to dodge a departing flight. He applied too much brake causing the aircraft to flip on the runway, injuring Krupinski and taking him out of the battle.

The OKL fighter claims provided by Tony Woods on the Luftwaffe 1933-45 site show that Krupinski is credited with a kill at 07:15 and another at 18:05 (Film C.2032/II Anerk Nr755 & Nr761 respectively). One notes that the Soviet airstrike against the German airfields probably occurred between 0330 and 0430.

Finally, according to material provided me by Christer Bergstrom (Black Cross/Red Star) from the "Meldungen uber Flugzeugfalle und verluste bei den fl. Verbanden (Taglich), Ob.d.L. Gen.Qu. Gen.6.Abt." Lt. Walter Krupinski was injured on 5 July at Fl.Pl.Ugrim due to "Uberschlag bei Landung infolge Ausweichen rollenden Flugzeug. Bruch 80%." The record does mistakenly refer to his unit as 6/52 (vice the 7th squadron).

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So, before we go back and bug LtG. Krupinski....

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This apparently is not an option, as LtG. Krupinski has since passed away.

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Originally posted by Chris Lawrence:
In a number of works (i.e. Robin Cross), it is claimed that Walter Krupinski (197 claimed kills) shot down 11 Soviet aircraft on 5 July. So, before we go back and bug LtG. Krupinski....does anyone know what is the source for the claim?

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Victories 80-90 according to Messerschmitt Aces a mostly undocumented book from Walter A. Musciano. For more information about Krupinski and Rudel, the books listed below might be of more use if you can locate them. I found these titles in the online NYC Public Library catalogue...

Author: Fast, Niko.
Title: Das Jagdgeschwader 52.
Imprint Bergisch Gladbach : Bensberger Buch-Verlag, 1988-
Edition 1. Aufl.
Descript v. : ill., maps ; 21 cm.
Note Bde. 4-5: 2. Aufl.
Bd. 4 has 2 folded maps.
Includes indexes.
Contents 1. Bd. Im Spiegel von Dokumenten und Berichten von Zeitzeugen -- 2. Bd. Persönliche Erlebnisse, Kriegsgefangenschaften und "Sonderfälle" -- Bd. 4. "Die Verluste des Jagdgeschwaders 52" sowie Nachträge für die ersten 3 Bände! -- Bd. 5. Flugzeugführer-Erlebnisse und 227 Foto-Dokumente von der Geschichte des JG 52 -- Bd. 6. In alphabetischer Reihenfolge: 1. Die Mitautoren. 2. Neue Fotos nach Personen-Namen. 3. Alle Personen-Namen aus dem Band VI.

Author: Nauroth, Holger.
Title: Stukageschwader 2 IMMELMANN ; eine Dokumentation
über das erfolgreichste deutsche Stukageschwader.
Imprint Preussisch Oldendorf : K. W. Schütz, 1988.
Edition 1. Aufl.
Descript 366 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 31 cm.

Author: Smith, Peter Charles.
Title: Stuka squadron : Stukagruppe 77 : the Luftwaffe's 'fire brigade'.
Imprint Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England : Stephens, 1990.
Descript 192 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

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Originally posted by Dan Stevlingson:
Victories 80-90 according to Messerschmitt Aces a mostly undocumented book from Walter A. Musciano.

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Thanks Dan. Not sure how I'm going to evaluate an undocumented claim. Does the book say where the list was from...and does it describe Krupinski's accident on the 5th (which is documented)?

By the way, the Tony Woods list (available on-line) of German claims for 5 July comes out to 202 kills. The German estimate of kills in the VIII Air Corps records for this day is 220 + 40 from flak. According to my count from the Soviet air records, they lost 187 this day.

[This message has been edited by Chris Lawrence (edited 09-20-2002).]

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Originally posted by Chris Lawrence:
Thanks Dan. Not sure how I'm going to evaluate an undocumented claim. Does the book say where the list was from...and does it describe Krupinski's accident

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Musciano did not quote a source document for the 11 victories in one day. And there was no mention of an accident.

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The German estimate of kills in the VIII Air Corps records for this day is 220 + 40 from flak. According to my count from the Soviet air records, they lost 187 this day.

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It goes without saying but some of the Soviet losses may have been due to non-combat causes, e.g. landing mishaps, collisions, mechanical failures, running out of fuel, etc.

Almost never discussed is the spectre of friendly fire losses to aircraft and ground forces. So far I haven't read anything about blue-on-blue incidents during Operation Zitadelle.

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Originally posted by Dan Stevlingson:
Musciano did not quote a source document for the 11 victories in one day.

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Does his bibliography indicate primary (archival) source research? If not, than my guess is that he drew the list from another secondary source. It doesn't seem to establish anything other than the claim of 11 kills on July 5 is wide spread.

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And there was no mention of an accident

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Makes you wonder, doesn't it. Now Toliver and Constable's books have a lot of errors, but I gather they got the story of the crash by either talking to Hartman or with Krupinski. Krupinski himself "says" (interview by MG Brand taken April 20, 1999):

"I cannot contribute anything regarding the events of July 5th, namely our warding off the Soviets' preemptive air attack. I had been wounded on July 4th, and did not partiipate in the sorties flown as part of operation 'Zitadelle'"
"I was located with my squadron on the advanced airfield at Ugrim in proximity to Kharkov".

If the accident actually occurred the morning of the 5th, I could understand him being a little confused, but the rest of his interview seems pretty clear concerning dates and losses. The quartermaster records do report him crashing (80% damaged) and injured on the 5th. Regardless, in 1999 Krupinski still recalled the preemptive air attack and knew that he did not participate.

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It goes without saying but some of the Soviet losses may have been due to non-combat causes, e.g. landing mishaps, collisions, mechanical failures, running out of fuel, etc.

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I have not seen much evidence of that. The primary cause of Soviet air losses is "failed to return". There are a number of planes that crash land, or crash behind their own lines, but on this day, certianly the vast majority of losses is from combat.

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Almost never discussed is the spectre of friendly fire losses to aircraft and ground forces. So far I haven't read anything about blue-on-blue incidents during Operation Zitadelle.

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Oh, I haven't counted but I have at least a dozen of those cases in my book (mostly ground vs ground). It shows up in the interviews and in the daily unit reports at times. I recall there is at least one incident of German air downed by German AA, and there are a number of cases (3+ ?) of German air attacking German ground. We also have a number of Soviet tanks lost to mines, which is probably also fratricide, and the Germans driving an assualt gun unit into one of their own minefields that they did not clear.

"I have the answer given by an absolute reliable document sent to me on my request by the Deutsche Dienststelle - Wehrmachtsauskunftstelle in Berlin. I just got it.

FirstLt Walter Krupinski, Staffekkapitän, 7. Staffel III./ JG 52, was slightly injured on 5. July 18:43 h at the airfield Ugrim. His plane crashed turning over during the landing phase coming back from enemy egagement ( Feindflug ) Estimated time to recover: ca. 4 weeks. He was handed over to LwLaz ( airforce hospital ) Charkow,section II.

So Krupinski himself was wrong, and very likely that he shot down some enemy aircraft on that dramatic day.

I will send you a copy by mail. The document I am referring to is the official report on losses ( namentliche Verlustmeldung ) by III./ JG 52 with the attached list of personell. Of course I got only information on Krupinski."

1) The Krupinski interview was in error (showing the problems with interviews).

2)Toliver and Constable were wrong, it did not occur in the morning (showing the problems with many secondary sources).

3) The two kill claims in the Tony Woods list appear to have been claims that could have occurred at the times given (this does not validate the claims, as at least 20% of the German claims made that day were not correct).

4) It is now possible that Krupinski had the time and opportunity to claim 11 kills on this day. This still does not mean that this is the case, as I have not yet found a secondary source that clearly footnotes or list the source of the claim. As already established, there are problems with relying on secondary sources.