ВИФ2 NE

	От	SVAN
	К	All
	Дата	03.10.2000 23:21:18
	Рубрики	WWII; ВВС;

Soviet VVS in October 1944 - German estimates

Dear Forum,
Recently I read some US-published book on "Air War in Russia" dedicated primarily to the strategy and tactics of Luftwaffe bomber groups. Some interested document photocopy was presented as an illustration: German intelligence estimates of Soviet planes present in front units by October 1, 1944.

Fighters: 8,162
Including: American-built - 1,052
Modern Soviet-built - 6,851
Obsolete Soviet-built - 259

913 - Aircobra
913 - Yak-1
764 - Yak-7
2,692 - Yak-9
265 - Yak-3
2,417 - La-5, La-7
219 - LaGG-3

Shturmoviks: 4,785 - Il-2

Bombers: 4,058
Including: American-built - 894
Soviet-built - 3,164

220 - Mitchell
616 - Boston
133 - Tu-2
413 - Li-2
822 - Il-4
1,700 - Pe-2

+ 1,733 Transport and auxiliary, including 1,570 Po-2.

Question is: how close this data correspond to the real numbers? Large number of Il-4's looks suspicious for me. And too many Li-2's are listed as bombers (and it's not a classification mistake, as all other Li-2's are in Transports section).

Any comments?

SVAN