Seeking booklet titled "Air Battle over Buchenberg"

Hi Bart,

I assume you've probably tried just about everything to get that booklet including the following. Apparently there's a small museum in the town of Buchenberg and perhaps, if you haven't done so already, someone there might be able to help you: https://www.heimatmuseum-buchenberg.de/

Another option, with respect to a translation, you might want to reach out to Roland Geiger who is an avid genealogist and lives in Germany, and who speaks and writes fairly good English, he might be able to assist you with a translation. I don;t know him, but know of him, so mentioning my name will probably not help but do reach out to him and see what he says. If he can't help you directly he might have some better suggestions that what I just came up with.

In any event, good luck!

Dear Mr. Hildreth,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

If you are interested in German sources related to the battle at Buchenberg, then you may locate some relevant records in the National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized (Record Group 242). For example, we searched the National Archives Catalog and located the series Downed Allied Aircraft Kampfflugzeug Unterlagen (KU) Reports, ca. 1943 - 1945 in Record Group 242 that contains 9 references to Memmingen, 4 references to 18.7.44 (18 July 44), and 1 reference to 18.7.1944 (18 July 1944). The series Downed Allied Aircraft Reports, 1943-1945 includes 4 references to Memmingen and 12 references to 18.7.44 (18 July 44) as well. We also located 2 references to Buchenberg and 4 additional references to Memmingen in various series in Record Group 242. These records have been digitized and may be viewed online using the Catalog. Please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) at archives2reference@nara.gov with questions about the Captured German Records.

Additional information about the Captured German and Related Records, including many German Army and other military records, is available on NARA’s website.

Due to the continued impact of COVID-19, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgment as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2.  We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience as we balance mission-critical work and the safety of our staff during the pandemic. Please check NARA’s web page about COVID-19 updates for the latest information.

Finally, we searched WorldCat.org and located an entry for Luftschlacht über Buchenberg that lists the volume as part of the Buchenberg history series Buchenberger Geschichtshefte, which were published by the Heimatgeschichtlicher Verein Buchenberg (the local historical society). The historical society and the Heimatmuseum Buchenberg that Lidio Rivera mentioned seem to be connected, therefore, we suggest that you contact them directly for more information. We also suggest that you contact your local public or university librarian for any further assistance.

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!

Hi Lidio,

Thank you so much for responding. Contacting the Buchenberg museum was an excellent suggestion. I've just sent them an email.

While waiting for their response, I will hold off on imposing a question for Mr. Geiger, but that is another excellent suggestion.

Thanks again. Best regards,

Bart

Hi Rachael,

Wow. Those are great leads. I'll look into them.

My father, Major Paul Hildreth, was the pilot of a B-17 shot down in the Memmingen battle. His entire crew survived, he was assigned to Stalag Luft I, and the entire crew returned to the states. I enjoyed meeting most of them in the 1980s during a crew reunion. I have the Missing Air Crew Reports and some other documents, but your leads open up new opportunities.

In my academic research, I've spent days in the National Archives in College Park, as well as those in Chicago and NYC, so I miss the opportunity to explore the folders in person.

Best regards,

Bart

Despite the title of the message chain, I have the booklet. I'm just searching for a translated version. Thanks.

Is there a way to search within this folder for a last name? Translations of American Incidents - AV 1100/44 - AV 1200/44

Dear Mr. Hildreth,

Thank you for posting your follow-up request on History Hub!

We searched the National Archives Catalog and located the series Translations of German Amerikaner Vorgaenge (AV) Reports in the National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized (Record Group 242) that includes two files named Translations of American Incidents AV 1100/44 - 1200/44. These files have been digitized and may be viewed online using the Catalog. If you select the PDF icon below the thumbnail images of the file, then a “Find in Document” magnifying glass search option should appear. Please note that this search feature relies on optical character recognition (OCR) technology, so handwritten notes and poor quality text may affect the search results.

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!

Hi Bart,

Since you have a copy of the booklet in question then you have another option, more in the "self-help" category. You can scan the booklet into digital form and then copy and paste the scanned text onto one of any number of online translators, such as Google's, which should give you a fairly decent translation from German into English. It wouldn't perfect but it will certainly provide you with a fairly good idea of the content, and it's an economical way to get at whatever facts you may want to extract from the booklet.

Good luck.

Lidio

I was pleased to find in Record Group 242, "National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized 1675-1958", the Series of "Downed Allied Aircraft Reports, 1943-1945". In it, I found the folder, ME-1616, of the Hildreth crew. It includes police reports of the capture of this downed B-17 crew. There are pictures of the dog-tags of all crew members except the pilot, Major Paul Hildreth. Could an National Archives' archivist check the original file to see if that is an oversight of the copying process since there is a duplicate set of images (pages 28 and 29) of one member's dog-tags? If the Hildreth tag is found, please correct the online set of images and let me know. Thank you so much.

His son,

Bart

Dear Mr. Hildreth,

Thank you for posting your follow-up request on History Hub!

Many of the files in the series related to Downed Allied Aircraft Reports in the National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized (Record Group 242) do not contain dog tags for each individual airman, so it is possible that there simply are no tags for the pilot of report ME-1616. We suggest that you contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) at archives2reference@nara.gov with questions about these records.

Due to the continued impact of COVID-19, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgment as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2.  We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience as we balance mission-critical work and the safety of our staff during the pandemic. Please check NARA’s web page about COVID-19 updates for the latest information.

We hope this is helpful.