18th Flak Brigade

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The 18th Flak Brigade was a brigade-strength combat unit of the Luftwaffe in World War II . The brigade staff was set up on February 13, 1943 under the later Major General Karl Halberstadt .

Mission history

Initially set up under the name Flak Brigade XVIII for use in France , the brigade staff took over the operational management of all flak regiments stationed in southern France. The command post was in Nîmes . The brigade staff of the 11th Flak Division was subordinate to it . As of November 1, 1943, it included the

• Flak Regiment 69 in Marseille
• Flak Regiment 85 in Tarascon and the
• Flak Regiment 653 in Narbonne

At the beginning of January 1944, the brigade staff was relocated from its previous station to the north and placed under the 16th Flak Division . The command post here was Havrincourt . The brigade staff took over the leadership of the Flak Regiment 95 in Antwerp and the Flak Regiment 656 in Beauvais . After the Allied landing in Normandy , the subordinate regiments changed constantly. As of November 1, 1944, the Flak Regiment 94 and Flak Regiment 95 were subordinate to her. In the course of the gradual withdrawal from France and Belgium, the brigade staff was initially in Brussels , later in Arnhem and in February 1945 in the Geldern area .

In March 1945 the brigade was engaged in mobile combat operations on the left bank of the Rhine, which moved to the right bank of the Rhine in the following days. The following regiments were subordinate to the brigade staff:

• Anti-aircraft regiment 95
• Flak Regiment 100
• Flak Regiment 129 and that
• Anti-aircraft regiment 181

On March 24, 1945, these regiments were able to shoot down 135 enemy aircraft and gliders, for which the brigade was commended on March 26, 1945 in the Wehrmacht report. On April 11, 1945, the brigade staff was ordered to protect the Weser ferries north of Bremen . The command post became Oldenburg . In the very last days of the war, the brigade was ordered to move to the eastern combat area of ​​the Elbe , which it reached on May 3, 1945 with 12 heavy and 25 medium and light flak batteries in the area south of Cuxhaven . It seems doubtful whether the air security of the Elbe crossings in this area could be started before the end of the war. With the partial surrender of the Wehrmacht in the northwest on May 4, 1945, the fighting of the 18th Flak Brigade ended . Her brigade staff and the subordinate regiments were then taken into American captivity.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945. Your major formations and regiments . VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-048-1 , p. 157-158 .