Mysterious Soviet ship damaged, is this true?

[Victor]

In his memoirs, cpt. av. Ion Profir (member of the 5th Bomber Group) claims that on 9 September 1941, north of Odessa, there was a landing attempt and 9 He-111Hs from the group were sent to attack it. He was the leader of the last 3 aircraft formation. He claims that the airplane on his right managed to damage the ship with two bombs and that the rest of their bombs fell among the boats shuttling between the ship and the shore.

The only landing in that area made by the ChF during the siege of Odessa, that I know of, was that of the 3rd Marine Brigade on 21/22 September. Dates don't seem to be very accurate for the 1941 campaign in his memoirs, as he mentions the loss of adj. Livovschi in August, one month before it actually happened. So 9 September could be a mistaken date.

My question is: were there any Soviet ships damaged during the landing operations in September 1941?

[Miroslav Morozov]

Hello, Victor!

Yes. On 13.00 21.9.41 by near misses was damaged DD Bezuprechnij, on 17.30 the same day with direct hit DD Besposhadnij. In both occasion the planes was Ju-87, which belonged to StG 77.
The only ship which was damaged on 9th off Odessa was DD Bodrij, which got direct hit from a costal battery.

Regards,
Miroslav

[Victor]

Thanks. Since I didn't find any other mention so far from thre Romanian side I thought it was somewhat suspicious.

[Victor]

Another mysterious Soviet ship claimed damaged by a veteran of the 5th Bomber Group. Apparently it happened on 24 July 1941 in the port of Bugaz. Any details on this?

[sid guttridge]

Hi Victor,

Is it possible that the location might be wrong?

Presumably Romanian bombers often tried to bomb Odessa docks, where the targets were static. Are there any recorded Soviet shipping losses in Odessa docks?

It was very difficult for medium bombers in level flight to hit a moving ship on the open sea, as the Italians, amongst others, found out. Only dive bombers had a good prospect of hitting a moving ship.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Victor]

In both cases theships were stationary. In the second one, as I said, the ship was in the Bugaz port.