ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 192930
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| Date: | Thursday 18 January 1945 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Ilyushin Il-2 |
| Owner/operator: | 618 ShAP Soviet Air Force |
| Registration: | |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Witkowice, 5 km south from Wyszogrod -
 Poland
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
On 18 January 1945 two Il-2 of 618 ShAP left their airfield in the area Ljubica Gotslava (Poland) for a reconnaissance sortie. The first was flown by St. Leyteinant Valentin Vasilievich Shishkin, the second by Leyteinant F W Shchelkunov. Weather conditions were very bad with low clouds and snow.
In the area across the Vistula near the town of Wyszogród the pilots discovered a group of German who tried to cross the river on the ice to the other side. The planes took pictures and then made a second pass and attacked the enemy crowd, but came under fire from small caliber antiaircraft artillery.
Shishkin’s plane was hit and he tried to fly away from the Vistula River on the south-east toward the town of Sochaczew, which has liberated the Soviet troops. However, he was not high enough, the engine of the Il-2 began to disintegrate, and he crash-landed on a snowy field near Witkowice, 5 km south from Wyszogrod. Shelkunov circled over the landed aircraft, but Shishkin got out with his gunner from the aircraft, and showed him a "cross" with his hands, meaning "landing forbidden." Shchelkunov flew back to the base.
The crashplace of Shishkina was literally at the forefront of the German defenses. Nearby, in the ranks of the retreating Germans, were the ex-Soviet soldiers of the Kalmyk Cavalry Corps fighting on the German sides. Seeing the plane land, they rushed to capture the pilots. Shishkin and his gunner, Serzhant Alexander Viktorovich Khrenov, engaged the enemy with the machine gun of the Il-2. Both airmen killed about 50 enemies according to Soviet documents, but the forces were unequal. Khrenov was killed andShishkin was seriously wounded in the leg and lost consciousness. Brutal enemies cruelly mocked the pilot. They cut him a star on his forehead, gouged his eyes out, cut off his tongue, and threw straw on him and set it on fire while he was still alive.
Polish farmers buried the dead crew, but 20 days later, the bodies were moved to Warsaw and buried in mass graves No.404 at the Warsaw Memorial Cemetery of Soviet soldiers.
Sources:
http://allaces.ru/p/episode.php?id=534
http://allaces.ru/p/people.php?id=11001
http://allaces.ru/p/people.php?id=11154
http://www.maplandia.com/poland/mazowieckie/sochaczew/witkowice/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 18-Jan-2017 12:29 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 02-Jul-2021 08:08 | JF | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities] |
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