Kampfgeschwader 100

Kampfgeschwader 100
Squadron badge
active	November 29, 1941 to 1945
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	air force
Branch of service	Air force
Type	Combat Squadron
structure	Squadron staff and 4 groups
Nickname	Wiking squadron
equipment	Heinkel He 111 , Dornier Do 217 , Heinkel He 177
Second World War	Invasion of Poland Norwegian campaign Air battle for England German-Soviet war Allied invasion of Italy Capricorn company Landing in Normandy
Squadron commodors
First commodore	Lieutenant Colonel Heinz von Holleben

The Kampfgeschwader 100 was an association of the German Air Force in World War II . It was also called the Wiking Squadron because of its coat of arms.

Lineup

The squadron staff was established on December 15, 1941. Group I was formed from the previously independent Kampfgruppe 100. The II group was renamed III in the winter of 1941/42. Group of the Kampfgeschwader 26 . As III. Group took over the squadron in the winter of 1941/1942 the coastal aviation group 126. A fourth (supplementary) group was also formed. The squadron was initially equipped with the Heinkel He 111 , later with the Dornier Do 217 and the Heinkel He 177 . The squadron identification was 6N.

history

The independent Kampfgruppe 100 was involved with three squadrons of Heinkel He 111 H as part of the X. Fliegerkorps , in the occupation of Denmark and Norway . The berths changed frequently during this time. She was stationed one after the other in Nordholz ( Lage ), Schleswig ( Lage ), Jonsvannetsee, Aalborg-West ( Lage ), Trondheim-Vaernes ( Lage ) and Stavanger Sola ( Lage ). During the operation, on May 4, 1940, she sank the Polish destroyer Grom ( Lage ), which was currently firing at German landing forces in Narvik with its artillery. 59 Polish sailors died. On May 26, she sank the British anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curlew ( Lage ) off Skaanland, losing 9 British sailors . On May 31, 1940, Kampfgruppe 100 moved back to Lüneburg and was subordinate to the 9th Fliegerdivision, which at that time received its orders directly from the High Command of the Air Force .

On August 9, 1940, Kampfgruppe 100 moved to France at Vannes-Meucon airfield. There she was subordinate to the 9th Air Division of Air Fleet 2 .

In the Battle of Britain , which began on August 13th, the crews of Kampfgruppe 100 with their Heinkel He 111 took on the task of a target finder / target marker (scout tasks). In doing so, she used the X method developed by the German physicist Johannes Plendl , which made it possible to hit a square 300 meters wide at a distance of 350 km. In this capacity they were involved in all major air raids on London , Glasgow , Birmingham , Liverpool , Manchester and others. Also during the air raid on Coventry ( Lage ) on November 14, 1940, the combat group took over the targeting / target marking for the following combat aircraft. In total, at least 568 people died that night in Coventry .

The Italian battleship Roma was sunk using Fritz X glide bombs

When the attack on the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941, Kampfgruppe 100 was still in France and was assigned to the IX. Air Corps assigned to Air Fleet 3 . It was not until July 19 that she switched to the 2nd Air Corps of Air Fleet 2 in the central section of the Eastern Front. For the air raids on Moscow she again took on target finders / target marking tasks. On December 15, the name was changed to Group I of Kampfgeschwader 100, as a squadron staff had been formed in the meantime. On July 2, 1942, they carried out an attack on the Soviet port city of Novorossiysk . In doing so, it destroyed the already damaged flotilla leader Tashkent , sank the destroyer Bditelny , the transporters Ukraina (4727 GRT) and Proletari (1123 GRT) and damaged the school cruiser Comintern , the destroyers Soobrazitelny and Nezamozhnik , the guard boats Shtorm and Shebkval , the watch boats Shtorm and Shebkval as well as the vans Voroshilov (3908 GRT) and Kursk (5801 GRT). In 1943 she took part in the air raids on Gorky and Yaroslavl from June 5th to 22nd . In night raids, together with other combat squadrons, the "Molotov" armored car plant and the Yaroslavl synthetic rubber plant were to be attacked. 282 people were killed in Gorki, 527 injured and 52 buildings of the plant were destroyed. In Yaroslavl, over 120 people were killed, around 150 others injured and over 200 buildings (including some of the rubber works) completely destroyed. She then took part in the Citadel company with her Heinkel He 111 . Assigned to the 8th Air Corps under Luftflotte 4, they supported the southern attack wedge in the ultimately failed attack in the direction of Kursk .

A Heinkel He 177 of the 2nd season is loaded with bombs

On December 15, 1941, the former III. Group of Kampfgeschwaders 26 the II. Group of Kampfgeschwaders 100. In August 1943 they moved with their Dornier Do 217 to northern France to attack enemy shipping in the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay . In doing so, she used the Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb for the first time . On August 28, at 18 Do 217, they attacked the British 1st Support Group with the sloops Pelican and Egret in the Bay of Biscay, the frigates Jed , Rother , Spey and Evenlode and the destroyers Athabaskan and Grenville , and sank the Egret ( location ) with one Glide bomb. 197 crew members died. Then she moved to Istres , where the newly formed III. Group was stationed and fought the Allied shipping in the Mediterranean. After the Italian surrender, it was possible to sink the Italian battleship Roma ( Lage ) with Fritz X glide bombs on September 9th . From September 11 to 19, they attacked Allied warships in a series of attacks in the Bay of Salerno. The US cruiser Savannah and the British cruiser Uganda were each hit with a Fritz X glide bomb. In addition, three bombs hit the British battleship Warspite . All three Allied warships were badly damaged and long failed. In addition, on September 13, there was a hit on the Newfoundland ( Lage ), which was used as a British hospital ship , which then caught fire and had to be self- sunk with the loss of 21 dead.

I./KG 100 participated in the Steinbock company from the beginning of 1944 to May 1944 . The II. And the III. Group continued to operate in the Mediterranean. Here they sank the freighter Ocean Hunter (7178 GRT) off Oran on January 10, 1944 and torpedoed the Daniel Webster (7176 GRT). On January 29th, the III. Group with their Dornier Do 217 together with the I. Group of Lehrgeschwader 1 with type Hs 293 glide bombs, the British light cruiser Spartan ( Lage ) and the transporter Samuel Huntington . Both ships had participated in the Allied landing at Anzio . On February 15, the British destroyer Inglefield ( Lage ) was hit in the same sea area. This sank with the loss of 35 of the 192 crew members. The III. The group was in Toulouse from the spring . From June 1944, after the Allied landing in Normandy , they attacked the landing forces. Here came the I. and III. Group so that the entire squadron fought on the invasion front. It suffered heavy losses until September 1944, so that it had to be withdrawn from the front. The squadron disbanded by early 1945.

Commanders

Squadron commodors

Rank	Surname	time
Lieutenant colonel	Heinz von Holleben	November 29, 1941 to April 22, 1943
major	Fritz Aufhhammer	May 4, 1943 to September 10, 1943
Lieutenant colonel	Bernhard Jope	September 10, 1943 to August 20, 1944

Group commanders

I. group

• Major Helmut Küster, December 15, 1941 to March 21, 1942
• Major Werner Hoffmann, March 21, 1942 to October 1942
• Major Paul Claas, October 1942 to June 20, 1943
• Major Hansgeorg Bätcher, July 28, 1943 to October 21, 1943
• Captain Hans-Gotthelf von Kalckreuth, October 21, 1943 to?
• First Lieutenant Kurt Maier,? to ?

II group

• Major Horst Röbling, December 15, 1941 to October 15, 1942
• Major Hermann Diekötter, October 15, 1942 to October 30, 1942
• Major Fritz Auffhammer, October 30, 1942 to May 4, 1943
• Major Franz Hollweg, May 7, 1943 to September 10, 1943
• Captain Heinz Molinnus, September 10, 1943 to October 4, 1943
• Captain Heinz-Emil Middermann, October 4, 1943 to February 16, 1944
• Major Bodo Meyerhofer, May 5, 1944 to May 14, 1944
• Captain Hans Molly, June 11, 1944 to February 2, 1945

III. group

• Major Schulz, September 20, 1942 to January 31, 1943
• Lieutenant Colonel Hermann Busch , January 31, 1943 to February 1943
• Captain Ernst Hetzel, May 4, 1943 to July 28, 1943
• Captain Bernhard Jope, July 28, 1943 to September 10, 1943
• Captain Gerhard Döhler, September 10, 1943 to December 1943
• Captain Herbert Pfeffer, December 1943 to April 30, 1944
• Captain Wolfgang Vorpahl, June 12, 1944 to August 1944
• Captain Heinrich Schmetz, August 1944 to September 7, 1944

IV. Group

• Captain Enno Russell, August 24, 1940 to February 14, 1942
• Major Paul Claas, February 15, 1942 to October 1942
• Major Eduard Zimmer, October 1942 to June 12, 1943
• Captain Bernhard Jope, June 12, 1943 to July 28, 1943
• Captain Gerhard Döhler, July 28, 1943 to September 10, 1943
• Captain Willi Silbersiepe, September 10, 1943 to August 20, 1944

Known squadron members

• Hermann Busch (1902–?), Was from 1958 to 1961, as Brigadier General of the Air Force of the German Armed Forces , the first head of the Air Force Office
• Roderich Cescotti (1919–2015), was a German major general in the air force of the Bundeswehr and author
• Kurt John (1923–1988) was from 1955 to 1970 for the Democratic Party of Saar (DPS) a member of the state parliament of Saarland

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).
• Ulf Balke: The Air War in Europe 1939–1941 . Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-86047-591-6 (1057 pages).

Web links

Commons : Kampfgeschwader 100  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfgang Dierich, p. 139.
2. ↑ Leo Niehorster : Scandinavian Campaign X Air Corps, German Air Force, company Weser Exercise 9 April 1940. November 11, 2010, accessed on February 3, 2017 (English). 
3. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, May 1940. Accessed January 10, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Ulf Balke: The air war in Europe 1939-1941 , Bechtermünz Verlag, ISBN 3-86047-591-6 , pp. 408-413.
5. ↑ Wolfgang Dierich, p. 140.
6. ↑ BBC: 1940: Germans bomb Coventry to destruction (= On this day, November 15) Online , accessed on February 6, 2017.
7. ↑ Horst Boog : The German Empire and the Second World War . The attack on the Soviet Union. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-421-06098-3 , p. 692 (1172 p.).
8. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, July 1942. Retrieved on January 8, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Horst Boog : The German Reich and the Second World War , The German Reich on the Defensive , Volume 7, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-421-05507-6 , p. 347.
10. ↑ AV Fedorčuk: Jaroslavl'. Istorija tvoego goroda , Akademija Razvitij, ISBN 5-7797-0630-1 , p. 79
11. ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser : The German Reich and the Second World War , Volume 8, The Eastern Front 1943/44 , Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-421-06235-2 , p. 91.
12. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, August 1943. Retrieved on February 15, 2018 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Dierich, p. 141.
14. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, September 1943. Retrieved on January 8, 2017 . 
15. ↑ Ulf Balke, p. 390.
16. ↑ ^{a b} Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, January 1944. Retrieved on January 8, 2017 . 
17. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, February 1944. Retrieved on January 17, 2019 . 

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