Night Fighter Squadron 4
|
Night Fighter Squadron 4 |
|
|---|---|
 A Rotte Bf 110 in western France on June 21, 1942. These are probably aircraft of the 7th squadron of NJG 4. |
|
| active | May 1, 1942 to May 8, 1945 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
|
| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | air force |
| Branch of service | Air force |
| Type | Jagdgeschwader |
| structure | Squadron staff and 3 groups |
| Insinuation |
3rd hunting division 4th hunting division |
| equipment | Bf 110 , Do 217 , Ju 88 |
| Squadron commodors | |
| First commodore | Major Rudolf Stoltenhoff |
The Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 was a squadron of the Luftwaffe in World War II , which was primarily set up and used for night hunting . After its formation, the squadron first flew in western France , later exclusively in defense of the empire. Among other things, it was tasked with air raid protection for southern Germany. The squadron also flew long-range hunting missions over England from the end of 1944 . At the end of the war, the squadron was in the Schleswig-Holstein area , where it capitulated.
Calls
The order to set up the future Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 (NJG 4) was issued in January 1941. The headquarters of the squadron was set up in Metz . But it was not until December 1941 that parts of Groups I and II of Destroyer Squadron 26 on the Eastern Front were withdrawn from their deployment there and converted for night hunting. Group II of NJG 4 was set up in April 1942 in Laupheim . She moved to Rheine in May . The III. Gruppe was formed in May 1942 by adding machines from 1st, 4th and 8th squadrons to Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 . May 1, 1942 is given as the official formation date of the squadron. It was not until October 1942 that the first group was formed as the last of the groups. Their contingents came from their own squadron group III. and the I. Group of the Night Fighter Squadron 3 . This completed the installation of NJG 4. The squadron identification was 3C.
The NJG 4 was initially subordinated to the 3rd Hunting Division , later to the 4th Hunting Division . In 1942 and 1943, the squadron's groups were in France at airfields such as Metz , St. Dizier , Dijon-Longvic , Dole-Tavaux , Laon-Athies , Florennes and Juvincourt . In addition, locations of the III. Group acquainted with Brandis and Jüterbog . In the spring of 1944 the squadron staff was in Chenay , the I. Group in Florennes, the II. In Coulommiers and the III. in Mainz , later again at Juvincourt. After the Allied landing in Normandy in June 1944, the squadron was deployed on the invasion front until August 1944, including missions in the Avranches area and Nijmegen in the Netherlands .
Then the squadron was relocated back to Germany for the defense of the Reich. The squadron staff was delegated to Mainz . The I. group was in Langendiebach , the II. In Frankfurt am Main and the III. The group was stationed in Twente . Here, the squadron was responsible for protecting southern Germany. At the end of 1944 the squadron was relocated again. The squadron staff was now in Paderborn -Mönkeloh, the I. still in Langendiebach, the II. Group in Gütersloh and the III. was in Kassel - Rothwesten . By the end of the war, the remnants of the squadron were pushed towards Schleswig-Holstein ( Eggebek among others ), it surrendered there, some also in Faßberg . At the beginning of May 1945 the squadron consisted of only three squadrons. Until then, it had been used in long-range hunting missions against England in the last months of the war and in the destruction of the Allied pontoon bridges near Wesel .
In total, the NJG 4 won 579 aerial victories against large bombers from its formation until the end of the war, which corresponded to about three complete bomber divisions.
Last outline
The last structure of NJG 4 dates from the beginning of May 1945. This results in the following structure:
| group | Rank | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| I. group | Captain | Krause |
| II group | Captain | Rough |
| III. group | Captain | Most of time |
Squadron commodors
The squadron was led by three commodores:
| Rank | Surname | date |
|---|---|---|
| major | Rudolf Stoltenhoff | April 18, 1941 to October 20, 1943 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Wolfgang Thimmig | October 20, 1943 |
| major | Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer | November 1944 to May 8, 1945 |
literature
- Wolfgang Dierich: The air force associations 1935-1945 - structure and short chronicles - a documentation. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1976.
- Ernst Obermaier: The Luftwaffe Knight's Cross bearers 1939–1945. Volume I: Fighter pilots. Publisher Dieter Hoffmann, Mainz 1966.
- Werner Girbig: Start at dawn - A chronicle of the sinking of the German hunting rifle in the West in 1944/1945. Motorbuch-Verlag Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-613-01292-8 .
- Martin Streetly: Confound and Destroy. Macdonald, 1979, ISBN 0-354-01180-4 .
- Raymond F. Toliver, Trevor J. Constable : These were the German fighter pilot aces 1939–1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1972, ISBN 3-87943-193-0 .
