Kampfgeschwader 1 "Hindenburg"
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Combat Squadron 1 |
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|---|---|
 Squadron badge |
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| active | May 1, 1939 to August 25, 1944 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
|
| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | air force |
| Branch of service | Air force |
| Type | Combat Squadron |
| structure | Squadron staff and 4 groups |
| Location | Rod Kolberg I. Group Kolberg II. Group Pinnow-Plathe III. Group Burg IV. (Supplementary) Group Münster-Handorf |
| Nickname | Hindenburg squadron |
| equipment | Heinkel He 111 , Junkers Ju 88 , Heinkel He 177 |
| Second World War |
Invasion of Poland Western campaign Air battle for England German-Soviet war Allied invasion of Italy |
| Squadron commodors | |
| First commodore | Colonel Ulrich Kessler |
The Kampfgeschwader 1 "Hindenburg" was an association of the Luftwaffe during World War II . It was named after Paul von Hindenburg , a General Field Marshal of the First World War and the last Reich President of the Weimar Republic .
Lineup
The Kampfgeschwader 1 was created on May 1, 1939 from the 152 "Hindenburg" Combat Squadron, which was set up on April 1, 1936 in Greifswald . From the Geschwaderstab and IV./KG 157 in Kolberg ( Lage ) on May 1, 1939, the Staff and I./KG 1. From the I. Group of Lehrgeschwader 3 formed on September 18, 1939 in Pinnow-Plathe the II./KG 1. The III./KG 1 was created on December 15, 1939 in Burg ( Lage ) from personnel taxes of the other two groups. In August 1940 the IV (supplementary) group was established in Münster-Handorf ( Lage ). The squadron was equipped with the Heinkel He 111 from 1939 to March 1941 . After that, the first and second groups were the last to convert to the Junkers Ju 88 . From December 1943 the first Heinkel He 177s reached Groups I and II. The III. The group was only able to take over their He 177 in June 1944. The wing recognition was V4.
history
The staff, the I./Kampfgeschwader 1 and the I./KG 152 (from September 18, the II./KG 1) took part in the attack on Poland from their home bases in Kolberg and Pinnow-Plathe . In addition, they were subordinate to the 1st Air Division of Air Fleet 1 in the northern section of the front.
During the western campaign, all three groups were under the command of the 1st Fliegerkorps of Air Fleet 3 . From the squares in Gießen ( Lage ), Kirtorf ( Lage ) and Ettingshausen ( Lage ), the first air raids were carried out on airfields to gain air supremacy and tactical operations for army support.
In the ensuing Battle of Britain , the entire squadron remained with the 1st Air Corps, but now under the command of Air Fleet 2 . Initially it flew from the French bases of Montdidier ( Lage ) and Rosières-en-Santerre ( Lage ) air strikes against southern English port facilities. From August it flew so-called retaliatory attacks on London and Coventry . This was followed by night raids against England and mining of important rivers ( Thames , Humber , Bristol Channel ) until June 1941 . The bases used included a. Bapaume ( location ) and Roye-Amy ( location ). The I./KG 1 was renamed III./KG 40 and withdrew from the squadron. A new I. Group was created on June 8, 1942 when III./KG 26 was renamed I./KG 1.
On the attack on the Soviet Union, from June 22, 1941, took the squadron with the staff and the II. Group in Powunden ( location ) and the III. Group in Eichwalde ( Lage ). For this purpose it was subordinate to the 1st Fliegerkorps of Air Fleet 1 in the northern section of the Eastern Front. In many purely tactical operations for army support, it was often used at the focal points in the north of the eastern front. From September 15, there were air raids on the port of Leningrad .
On April 4 and 5, 1942, parts of Kampfgeschwader 1, from Dno Air Base ( Lage ), took part in the "Operation Ice Shut". Together with parts of Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 and 2 , Kampfgeschwader 4 and Jagdgeschwader 54 , they attacked warships of the Baltic Fleet in the Leningrad port. Here, they damaged the battleship Oktyabrskaya Revoljuzija by four bomb hits, the cruiser Maksim Gorky by seven goals medium caliber cruiser Kirov and Petropavlovsk and the destroyer Silnyj each by a severe hit, and the destroyer Grozjashchi , the minelayer Marti and the training ship Svir by easier hits. The destroyers Stoyki and Svirepy as well as the submarines M-79 , P-2 and P-3 were also damaged .
From October 1942, the squadron moved to Morozovskaya ( Lage ) in the southern section of the Eastern Front to intervene in the Battle of Stalingrad . There were also combined attacks against the Soviet oil industry in Grozny .
In 1943 the squadron returned to the northern and central sections of the eastern front. The III./KG 1 upgraded to the Junkers Ju 88 P (with a 7.5 cm cannon) and was used for anti-tank defense. She remained as an independent group on the Eastern Front, among others in Oryol , ( location ) from where they, as part of the 1st Air Division of the Air Force 6 on Operation Citadel took part.
The staff, groups I and II were already in Italy from May 1943. From Piacenza ( Lage ) and Grottaglie ( Lage ), they intervened in the defensive battles in Sicily and southern Italy. After the squadron was almost completely destroyed, it was entrusted with occupation and administrative tasks in Northern Italy.
From November 1943 the relocation to the airfields Burg and Brandis ( Lage ) took place. The conversion to the Heinkel He 177 began there. In June 1944 the I./KG 100 came as the new III. Group to Wittmundhafen. The conversion and the necessary retraining were very time-consuming, so that it was not until June 1944 that it was placed under the IV Air Corps on the Eastern Front. But already in August it moved back home. It was dissolved there. The personnel changed to the newly established Jagdgeschwader 7 "Hindenburg".
Commanders
Squadron commodors
| Rank | Surname | time |
|---|---|---|
| Colonel | Ulrich Kessler | May 1, 1939 to December 17, 1939 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Ernst Exss | December 19, 1939 to July 12, 1940 |
| Colonel | Josef Kammhuber | July 12, 1940 to July 18, 1940 |
| Major general | Karl Angerstein | July 18, 1940 to March 1, 1942 |
| major | Herbert Hole | March 1942 to June 1942 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Peter Schemmell | June 1942 to August 14, 1942 |
| major | Hans Keppler | August 15, 1942 to September 3, 1942 |
| major | Heinrich Lau | September 1942 to March 15, 1943 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Horst von Riesen | March 17, 1943 to August 1944 |
Group commanders
- I. group
- Lieutenant Colonel Robert Krauss , May 1, 1939 to November 1, 1939
- Major Ludwig Maier, November 4, 1939 to September 5, 1940
- Lieutenant Colonel Hermann Crone, September 13, 1940 to December 20, 1940
- Major Walther Herbold, December 20, 1940 to March 24, 1941
- Lieutenant Colonel Hellmut Schalke, June 8, 1942 to June 8, 1942
- Lieutenant Colonel Werner Dahlke, July 42 to June 26, 1943
- Major Günther Hoffmann-Loerzer, June 26, 1943 to February 17, 1944
- Major Manfred von Cossart, February 17, 1944 to July 1944
- II group
- Major Benno Koch, September 18, 1939 to 1941
- Captain Otto Stams, 1941 to June 27, 1941
- Captain Emil Enderle, June 1941 to November 3, 1941
- Captain Karl-Heinz Lüdicke, November 1941 to?
- Captain Heinz Laube,? until December 8, 1942
- Major Herbert Lorch, December 1942 to January 1943
- Major Horst von Riesen, January 1943 to March 17, 1943
- Captain Günther Dörffel, April 1, 1943 to July 1, 1943
- Captain Klaus Mohr, July 1, 1943 to September 24, 1943
- Captain Martin Rohrdantz, September 1943 to August 25, 1944
- III. group
- Major Otto Schnelle, December 15, 1939 to June 22, 1940
- Major Willibald Fanelsa, June 22, 1940 to August 27, 1940
- Captain Heinz Fischer, September 10, 1940 to April 11, 1941
- Major Walter Lehweß-Litzmann , April 1941 to?
- Captain Hans Keppler,? until August 15, 1942
- Captain Werner Kanther, August 1942 to March 24, 1944
- Captain Kurt Maier, May 1944 to August 1944
- IV. Group
- Captain Herbert Lorch, August 16, 1940 to May 5, 1941
- Major Werner Dahlke, May 6, 1941 to July 20, 1942
- Captain Günther Hoffmann-Loerzer, August 1, 1942 to November 23, 1942
- Major Manfred von Cossart, November 24, 1942 to February 4, 1944
- Major Siegfried von Cramm, February 5, 1944 to August 31, 1944
Known squadron members
- Hans-Wolrad Dölling (* 1916), Brigadier General of the German Air Force
- Fritz Dörner (1908–1976), was from 1959 to 1967 first general doctor in the air force of the German armed forces
- Josef Kammhuber (1896–1986), was from 1957 to 1962, as General of the Air Force of the Bundeswehr, the first inspector of the Air Force
- Lambert Konschegg (1912–1977), was from 1945 to 1962 an ÖVP member of the National Council , chairman of the board of the Austrian Airlines (AUA) and president of the international association of airlines IATA
- Walter Lehweß-Litzmann (1907-1986) was, from 1952 to 1959 head of the pilot training of the KVP and NVA - air forces and 1959-1970 director of flight operations of the Inter flight in the GDR
literature
- Wolfgang Dierich: The air force associations 1935-1945 . Outlines and short chronicles one document. Ed .: Wolfgang Dierich. Verlag Heinz Nickel , Zweibrücken 1993, ISBN 3-925480-15-3 (703 pages).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Dierich, p. 98.
- ^ Bernhard R. Kroener : The German Empire and the Second World War . Volume 5/1, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-421-06232-3 , pp. 718-719.
- ↑ Leo Niehorster : Battle for France, German Order of Battle, 3rd Air Force, I Air Corps, May 10, 1940. December 12, 2001, accessed on January 4, 2017 (English).
- ↑ Ulf Balke: The aerial warfare in Europe 1939-1941 . Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-86047-591-6 , p. 408 (1057 pp.).
- ^ Leo Niehorster: German Air Force, Order of Battle, 1st Air Fleet, I Air Corps, June 22, 1941 , accessed on May 2, 2015.
- ↑ a b c Dierich, p. 99.
- ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45, Russia (incl. Ukraine, Belarus and Bessarabia) pp 154-156 , accessed on 14 March 2020.
- ^ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, April 1942 , accessed on July 14, 2013.
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser , Klaus Schmider and Klaus Schönherr : The German Empire and the Second World War . Volume 8: “The Eastern Front 1943/44 - The War in the East and on the Side Fronts.” Ed .: Military History Research Office , DVA 2007, ISBN 978-3-421-06235-2 , pp. 90-92.
- ↑ Dierich, p. 100.
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