An account of the action given by Otto Rezeppa:
We took off from Orleans-Bricy on the evening of 15th August and orbited
the airfield waiting for the Gruppe to take off. Our target was an airfield north
of Winchester. Over St.Omer we picked up our escort of Bf109s and in the
distance to the west we could see Bf110s. I flew in the aircraft that was the
furthest right in the formation. Another aircraft in our kette was flown by
Uffz Erwin Poggenesee. After we crossed the coast I was the first to spot the
enemy. I shouted and fired in the direction of the fighters as they swept in
from the right. In what seemed a few seconds, but was probably ten minutes,
everything happened. We shot at a Hurricane on the tail of Obltn HansJoachim
Helbig’s aircraft (Staffelkapitan). Suddenly, Willi Rimek panicked
and jettisoned the rear canopy and my gun. He suddenly collapsed and lay
on the cabin floor with his mouth wide open; he had been shot in the back of
the head and killed instantly. I then waved my hankerchief at the attacking
Hurricane and Fritz Dieter decided to land, which he did at very high speed
in a corn field. As the aircraft stopped we all got out. I was limping as I had
been shot in the right leg, and dragged out Willi’s body. Soon British troops
arrived. We all stood there covered with dust. They took my camera, gun and
knife and took me on a stretcher away from the aircraft. We were then taken
to a hospital in Chichester where I met an RAF pilot who had a wound in his
shoulder. I think he shot us down. He said I was lucky as I would survive the
war. He was not sure if he would.
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