survived. One P-47 and one P-51 were shot up on the ground. Other Allied Engagements Over Ophoven Airfield, a Spitfire of No. 610 Squadron flown by Australian Flight Lieutenant A.F.O. "Tony" Gaze took off but was shot at by P-51s chasing JG 11. He however shot down one Fw 190. At Ophoven JG 11 were able to shoot up several Spitfires of No. 125 Wing RAF with seven fighters of No. 350 Squadron RAF destroyed along with several C-47 Dakotas. Buildings were also strafed. Although the flak crews claimed eight to ten aircraft downed several claims were duplicated by Allied pilots and flak crews, total claims being 42. III./JG 11 strafed for 45 minutes taking heavy losses. Unteroffizier Kurt Nüssle, 'Unteroffizier Hermann Barion and Feldwebel Peter Reschke were all shot down and killed, with Oberfeldwebel Franz Meindl listed as missing. Also among the pilots killed was Major Specht. Specht received the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross after his death. Paisley's wingman Johnson claimed two German fighters shot down but his aircraft was heavily damaged from return fire. Bailing out he landed in a field near Asch. A Bf 109 had "belly landed" not far from the field and he went to inspect it, riding a borrowed bicycle. The Bf 109 was still intact but the pilot was dead. Johnson claimed that the pilot's identification card named him as a Lieutenant Colonel () Specht. The claim has been disproved by German records that indicate Specht flew a Fw 190 (Werknummber 205033—factory number), and that he was a Major. Johnson's actual victim that day was Oberleutnant August Engel. Hauptmann Horst-Günther von Fassong, commander of III./JG 11, also went missing near Opglabbeek shot down by P-47s. Defense of the Reich January–May 1945 A severely weakened JG 11 faced Hawker Tempests of No. 3 and 486 Squadrons on 14 January 1945. With the Allied fighters trying to keep the German fighters away from the Saar region, other Geschwader joined JG 11 and JG 11 lost two pilots in the engagement. JG 11 was finally ordered to move to the Eastern Front in Poland on 23 January 1945. Specht's successor as JG 11 Kommodore was Jürgen Harder, formerly Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 53. He died on 17 February 1945 near Berlin, crashing due to oxygen failure. On 24 April 1945, five pilots were killed in action, including Unteroffizier Willi Kleemann who was killed in battle