Bradys5 and myself have been given the opportunity to develop the next Aces High scenario, Kurland-Kessel.
The Kurland-Kessel Scenario is designed to recreate the "epic battles" between Heeresgruppe Kurland and the Soviet 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts in the waning months of WWII. Despite six separate attempts by the Red Army to eliminate the Kurland Bridgehead the German forces held out until the end of the war.
In the air over Kurland the Grünherzjäger of Jagdgeschwader 54 faced the elements of the Soviet 3rd, 14th and 15th air armies. Soviet bombers attacked the ports of Libau (Liepaja) and Windau (Ventspils) while their low flying assault aircraft (Il2s) attacked German armor and troop positions.
From January 1945 until May 1945 Jagdgeschwader 54 claimed more then 400 kills. A shot down Russian Major was reported to comment, "The fighters with the Green Heart are always outnumbered, but once we meet them they give us a hard time. They are all aces."
The Luftwaffe had no bomber wing in Kurland. For close air support the pilots of Schlachtgeschwader 3 and 4 (attached to Schlachtgeschwader 3) were in constant action over the front flying FW190-F8's and G's.
Dietrich von Saucken commented on SG3, "Everyone knew them. But it was the grenadiers, most of all, who could rely fully upon that unit".
The Soviet air armies fought hard as well. They flew hundreds of attack sorties against German armor and defensive positions. Braving both flak and Luftwaffe fighters IL2s flew sortie after sortie.
In fact it may have been one of these brave Il2s pilots that shot down the Luftwaffe’s highest scoring 190 ace, Otto Kittel.
On February 14, 1945, Otto Kittel took off to intercept a flight of Il-2's. Witnesses say that Kittel dove into a formation of 8 of the close-support aircraft. He damaged one but it did not go down, instead disappearing back over the Russian lines, on fire and in serious trouble. Kittel's Fw 190 A-8 "Black 1" (Wk. no. 960282) was hit by return fire from the other Il-2s and burst into flames. The aircraft plummeted to earth, trailing a long sheet of flame and smoke, where it crashed. Otto Kittel had no chance to take to his parachute. In the end, the long time adversary of Kittel finally got him.
Otto Kittel flew 583 combat missions and scored 267 kills, many of them Il-2's, making him the fourth highest scoring ace of all time. He started the war as an Unteroffizier and died as Staffelkapitan of 2./JG 54.
For more on the background of this event go
Here Planeset Force Division The webpage is still under construction but follow the link in my sig.
Registration will open on Saturday April 3rd, 2004. We have planned the event for 152 allies and 80 axis players. However, registration will stay open and any one who wants to fly can. We will adjust the player ratios to reflect the actual number of registered participants. Right now the ratio is 1.9 to 1 in favor of the allies.
Frame 1
Saturday May 8th, 2004
Frame 2
Saturday May 15th, 2004
Frame 3
Saturday May 22nd, 2004
Frame 4
Saturday May 29th, 2004
We plane to run a Beta frame on May 1.
Vladd is the Allied Co
Naso is the Axis Co
The terrain is currently under construction but is slated to be run in the Combat Theater on March 19.
