Combat Squadron 26

Combat Squadron 26
Squadron badge
active	May 1, 1939 to May 8, 1945
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	air force
Branch of service	Air force
Type	Combat Squadron
structure	Squadron staff and groups
Location	Staff Lüneburg I. Group Lübeck-Blankensee II. Group Lüneburg III. Group Jesau IV. (Supplementary) group Lübeck
Nickname	Lion Squadron
Aircraft type	Heinkel He 111 , Junkers Ju 88 , Junkers Ju 188
Second World War	Assault on Poland Norwegian campaign Western campaign Air battle for England Balkan campaign German-Soviet war Northern convoys Allied invasion of Italy Allied invasion of France
Squadron commodors
First commodore	Major General Hans Siburg

The Kampfgeschwader 26 was an association of the Luftwaffe in World War II . It was also called the Lion Squadron because of its coat of arms .

Lineup

The Kampfgeschwader 26 was created on May 1, 1939 from the Combat Squadron 257, which was set up in Lüneburg on April 1, 1938. The Staff and II./KG 26 were formed on May 1, 1939 in Lüneburg from the wing staff and the II./KG 257. At the same time, the I. Group from I./KG 257 was formed in Lübeck-Blankensee . At the beginning of 1940 the III./KG 26 was established in Jesau and the IV (supplementary) group in Lübeck-Blankensee in August 1940.

The squadron was initially equipped with the Heinkel He 111 . In April 1942, Group II was the first to convert to the Junkers Ju 88 . The I./KG 26, the last group in the squadron, was equipped with this type of aircraft until March 1944. In August 1944 the III./KG 26 received the Junkers Ju 188 . The wing recognition was 1H.

history

The staff and the II. Group of Kampfgeschwader 26 (II./KG 26) took part in the attack on Poland in the 1st Air Division of Air Fleet 1 in the northern section of the front . At first they were at Gabbert Air Base ( Lage ), but then moved to Nieder-Ellguth ( Lage ). From September 12, the campaign for the two squadron parts was over.

At the same time, Group I of the 4th Air Division was subordinate to Air Fleet 2 in the west. The main base at that time was Schleswig Air Base ( Lage ), while Group II was in Westerland on Sylt ( Lage ) from October . From there they undertook air strikes on Allied ships in the North Sea and the English Channel . In doing so, she mistakenly bombed the German destroyers Leberecht Maass , Max Schultz , Richard Beitzen , Theodor Riedel , Erich Koellner and Friedrich Eckoldt , who had left for the Wikinger company , on the night of February 22nd to 23rd in the Doggerbank area . The captain of the boat, Korvettenkapitän Bassenge, was killed by three direct bomb hits on Leberecht Maass. As a result of the attack, Leberecht Maass and Max Schultz got into a British mine lock and sank, leaving 590 dead. Furthermore, on March 1, 1940, the Norwegian freighter Vestfoss was sunk southeast of the island of Copinsay and the British passenger ship Domala was so badly hit near the Isle of Wight that it caught fire. On March 16, 1940, there was an attack on the British naval base Scapa Flow ( Lage ). In addition to air strikes on flak positions and the Stromness, Barthhouse and Kirkwall airfields, the stuck old battleship Iron Duke and the heavy cruiser Norfolk were also damaged.

Then the entire squadron was assigned to the X. Fliegerkorps in order to take part in the Weser Exercise Company from April 9, 1940 . The squadron was successively on the sites in Aalborg-West ( location ), Stavanger-Sola ( location ) and Trondheim-Vaernes ( location ). Already on the first day a British warship group consisting of the cruisers Aurora , Manchester , Southampton , Sheffield and Glasgow and the destroyers Afridi , Gurkha , Sikh , Mohawk , Somali , Matabele and Mashona were able to track down southwest of Bergen . Together with 47 Junkers Ju 88 of Kampfgeschwader 30 and attacked the 41 Heinkel He 111 of KG 26 and sank the destroyer Gurkha ( Lage ) while the light cruisers Southampton and Glasgow were damaged.

During the western campaign, the staff, the I. and III. Group to the Fliegerführer Trondheim and were stationed in Trondheim-Vaernes, while the II. Group was assigned to the X. Fliegerkorps and flew from Aalborg-West. Both superordinate command authorities were subordinate to Air Fleet 5 , which led the fight against the Western powers from Denmark and Norway.

In the Battle of Britain it remained under the command of the X. Fliegerkorps of Air Fleet 5 and intervened in the fighting from bases in southern Norway and the Danish Alborg-West. From August / September 1940 the entire squadron moved to France to the positions of Beauvais (staff, 1st group), Amiens (II. Group, situation ) and Poix-Nord (III. Group, situation ). They remained stationed there until early 1941.

Heinkel He 111 of the Kampfgeschwader 26

Group II moved to Sicily in January 1941 and attacked the British crown colony of Malta and targets in Egypt ( Suez Canal , Red Sea ) from Catania ( Lage ), later from Comiso ( Lage ) . On January 31, 1941, she sank the British minesweeper Huntley ( Lage ) off Marsa Matruk and the Egyptian transporter Solloum with 250 Italian prisoners of war on board at Sidi Barani .

Then she moved to Greece from May 1941 and took part in the conquest of Crete . In addition, she was subordinate to the 8th Air Corps of Air Fleet 4 . The departure bases were Eleusis (May to November, Lage ), Kalamaki (November to March 1942, Lage ) and Saky (March to December 1942, Lage ). On the night of August 3rd to 4th, Group II attacked the port of Suez at the mouth of the Red Sea, sank the Belgian freighter Escaut , damaged the Belgian tanker Alexandre André and the British tanker Desmoulea . At the beginning of October she succeeded in sinking the freighters Thistlegorm ( Lage ) and Rosalie Moller south of Suez and damaging the Salamaua . The II. Group remained stationed in the Mediterranean area until 1944 and was retrained for air torpedo use in May 1942 .

With the beginning of the German-Soviet War , III./KG 26 fought in the east from the end of July 1941. The first base was Brest-Litovsk ( Lage ), from September Bobruisk ( Lage ) and from December Seschtschinskaja ( Lage ), all in the middle section of Air Fleet 2. Later, from December 1941, I./KG 26 also moved to Petsamo ( Lage ), Finland , in the far north of the Eastern Front.

Heinkel He 111H-6 of the KG 26 with an air torpedo

In February 1942, the III. Group from the eastern front and was re-equipped with the Heinkel He 111 H6. Then she was relocated to Grosseto , where she was trained as an air torpedo squadron. The I./KG 26 then attacked allied northern convoys from Bardufoss ( Lage ) in northern Norway from March 1942 . From June 1942, III./KG 26 also intervened in these battles from Banak ( Lage ). On May 2, 1942, aircraft of Group I attacked convoy PQ 15 with air torpedoes and sank the freighters Botavon and Cape Corso and damaged the Jutland , which was sunk by U 251 on May 3 . During the following convoy PQ 16, aircraft of I./KG 26 sank the freighter Lowther Castle . On July 5, 1942, the I. Group, with 25 Heinkel He 111s, carried out a torpedo attack against convoy PQ 17 . With the loss of three aircraft, she sank the freighter Navarino and damaged others, which were later sunk by submarines. The largest attack of this kind took place during the attack on the convoy PQ 18 in September 1942. On September 13, the I. and III. Gruppe, together with aircraft from Kampfgeschwader 30, and sank the cargo ships Wacosta ( Lage ), Oregonian ( Lage ), Macbeth , Africander , Empire Stevenson ( Lage ), Empire Beaumont , John Penn ( Lage ) and the Soviet freighter Sukhona . To protect the convoy from air raids, the aircraft carrier Avenger accompanied him with Sea Hurricanes fighter planes. As a result, both groups of the squadron suffered heavy losses in several attacks. The I./KG 26 lost a total of twelve aircraft and seven crews, while the III./KG 26 lost eight aircraft and seven crews.

In November 1942, after the Americans landed on the North African coast , the I. and III. Group in the Italian Grosseto ( Lage ). Group II also moved to Grosseto in December, coming from Greece, so that the entire squadron was gathered here. The I. and II. Groups were with the Heinkel He 111H-6 and the III. Group equipped with the Junkers Ju 88A-4. During reconnaissance flights over the western Mediterranean and targeted attacks on ship convoys, ships were repeatedly sunk with air torpedoes. So on January 20, 1943, the British freighter Hampton Lodge , on January 29, the British flak ship Pozarica ( Lage ) and on February 6, the Canadian corvette Louisburg ( Lage ). In January the I and II groups moved to Sardinia ( Decimomannu ( location ) and Villacidro ( location )). From there, Heinkel He 111H-6 LT of the I. Group attacked convoy KMF 11 north of Cap Ténès on March 23. They hit the British troop carrier Windsor Castle ( location ) with several torpedoes. Since the ship sank very slowly, all but one of the 290 crew members and all 2699 soldiers on board could be rescued.

Freighter Paul Hamilton explodes after being hit by a torpedo

The I., II. And III. Gruppe moved to southern France to the air bases in Montpellier ( Lage ) and Salon-de-Provence ( Lage ) in May 1943 . The task remained the same. Again, reconnaissance flights were to be carried out over the western Mediterranean and ships were to be attacked with torpedoes. On October 21, Junkers Ju 88A-4 of the III. Group joined the convoy MKS 28 at Cape Tenes and sank the British freighter Saltwick and the US freighter Tivives with torpedoes . On November 6, an attack on the convoy KMF 25A with 35 aircraft followed, in which the US destroyer Beatty ( Lage ), as well as the troop transports Santa Elena and Marnix van St. Aldegonde ( Lage ) were sunk with air torpedoes. On November 11th attacked the I. and III. Group with a total of 40 torpedo planes and the II. Group of Kampfgeschwader 100 with 16 planes, again off the Algerian Mediterranean coast, an Allied convoy. The convoy KMS 31 lost the freighters Birchbank , Indian Prince and Carlier ( Lage ) in torpedo attacks . The also torpedoed freighter Nivose sank after a collision. A total of seven planes were lost. On the night of April 21, 1944, around 60 torpedo aircraft of III./KG 26 and I. and III./KG 77 attacked the Allied convoy UGS 38 with 87 ships. They sank the destroyer USS Lansdale and the freighters Royal Star and Paul Hamilton ( location ). On May 11, another UGS convoy was captured. A total of 62 aircraft of the I. and III./KG 26 and the I. / and III./KG 77 attacked the convoy UGS 40 in four waves of attack. Some of the attackers were intercepted by land-based Allied fighters of the type Beaufighter , which shot down 19 torpedo planes. The convoy suffered no losses. During a new mission on May 30th against the convoy UGS 42, a ship (freighter Nordeflinge ) was sunk with the loss of five aircraft.

When the Allied invasion of northern France began on June 6, 1944, the staff, the II. And III. Group with the Junkers Ju 88A-17 still the 2nd Fliegerdivision of Luftflotte 3 in southern France. Group I also returned to southern France in July with the Junkers Ju 88A-17. When the Allied landing in southern France took place on August 15, 1944, the squadron moved to southern Germany, to the Munich-Riem , Kaufbeuren and Neubiberg squares .

In September / October 1944 the squadron groups moved to Norway to the bases in Banak, Bardufoss and Trondheim. There they were subordinate to the pilot 5 of the air fleet 5. The III. The group was now equipped with the Junkers Ju 188A-3. On December 12th, I./KG 26 attacked convoy RA 62 , but was unable to achieve anything despite the loss of two aircraft. The same happened to the I. and II. Groups in February 1945 when they attacked the convoy JW 64 , which was not sunk after the loss of twelve aircraft. On February 23, the squadron sank the freighter Henry Bacon ( Lage ) from convoy RA 64 after losing six aircraft . This was the last ship sunk by German aircraft during World War II.

The end of the war in May 1945 saw the staff, the II. And III. Group at the Norwegian Air Base Trondheim-Vaernes. Only the I. Group was stationed in Vejle- Vandel, Denmark, and carried out supply and wounded flights from here.

Commanders

Squadron commodors

Rank	Surname	time
Major general	Hans Siburg	May 1, 1939 to September 29, 1939
Colonel	Robert Fuchs	September 29 to October 15, 1940
Colonel	Alexander Holle	October 15, 1940 to June 1941
Colonel	Martin Harlinghausen	January 6, 1942 to November 1942
Colonel	Karl Stockmann	December 1942 to February 1943
Lieutenant colonel	Werner Klümper	February 1943 to November 1944
Lieutenant colonel	Wilhelm Stemmler	November 1944 to January 1945
Lieutenant colonel	Georg Teske	February 1945 to May 1945

Group commanders

I. group

• Major Walter Loebel, May 1, 1939 to September 28, 1939
• Lieutenant Colonel Hans Alefeld, October 17, 1939 to April 10, 1940
• Lieutenant Colonel Hermann Busch , April 10, 1940 to March 1, 1942
• Captain Bert Eicke (i. V.), March 1, 1942 to July 5, 1942
• Major Werner Klümper, July 5, 1942 to January 31, 1943
• Captain Herbert Vater, March 31, 1943 to July 1943
• Captain Klaus Toball (i. V.), July 1943 to August 21, 1943
• Captain Siegfried Eitel Friedrich von Rabenau, August 21, 1943 to November 11, 1943
• Captain Joachim Müller, November 12, 1943 to July 20, 1944
• Major Willi Sölter, July 20, 1944 to February 1945

II group

• Lieutenant Colonel Joachim von Bushe, May 1, 1939 to October 1939
• Lieutenant Colonel Hans Hefele, October 1939 to April 3, 1940
• Major Martin Vetter, April 6, 1940 to August 20, 1940
• Major Eckhard Christian , August 21, 1940 to December 31, 1940
• Major Helmut Bertram, January 1, 1941 to January 17, 1941
• Captain Robert Kowalewski, January 18, 1941 to May 14, 1941
• Major Horst W. Beyling, May 15, 1941 to February 11, 1943
• Major Georg Teske, February 12, 1943 to August 10, 1944
• Major Otto Werner, August 11, 1944 to December 2, 1944
• Major Rudolf Schmidt, December 3, 1944 to May 8, 1945

III. group

• Major Viktor von Lossberg, November 1, 1939 to May 31, 1940
• Major Günther Wolfien, June 1, 1940 to February 1941
• Major Viktor von Lossberg, February 1941 to August 30, 1941
• Major K. Lersche, September 1, 1941 to October 1941
• Major S. Böhme, October 1941 to February 1942
• Captain Ernst-Heinrich Thomsen, February 1942 to July 21, 1942
• Captain Heinrich Möller, July 22, 1942 to September 1942
• Major Karl-Ferdinand Hielscher, September 1942 to November 1942
• Major Horst Kayser, November 1942 to December 19, 1942
• Captain Klaus-Wilhelm Nocken, December 20, 1942 to February 17, 1944
• Major Ernst-Heinrich Thomsen, February 18, 1944 to October 1944
• Major Wolf Harseim, October 1944 to May 8, 1945

IV. Group

• Major Franz Ziemann, March 22, 1941 to October 6, 1941
• Major Fritz Gehring, October 7, 1941 to February 17, 1944
• Major Klaus-Wilhelm Nocken, February 18, 1944 to September 6, 1944

Known squadron members

• Hermann Josef von dem Bongart (1897–1952) was a marksman and vice world champion in clay target shooting
• 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 major general in the German Air Force and author
• Rolf Dräger (? –1970), was professor at the Technical University in Karlsruhe from 1949 to 1960 and director of the Institute for Materials Handling
• Martin Harlinghausen (1902–1986), was from 1957 to 1961, as Lieutenant General of the Air Force of the German Armed Forces, Commander of the Air Force Group North
• Ottmar Hollmann (1915–2005) was a sculptor and graphic artist

literature

• Alexander Steenbeck: The track of the lion. The way of the lion squadron through Europe. Lübeck, 2012/13. ISBN 978-3-00-038734-0 .
• 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 26  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfgang Dierich, pp. 110–111.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Bernhard R. Kroener : The German Reich and the Second World War , Volume 5/1, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-421-06232-3 , pp. 718–719.
3. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, February 1940. Retrieved on January 24, 2017 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, March 1940. Retrieved on January 24, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Leo Niehorster : Scandinavian Campaign X Air Corps, German Air Force, company Weser Exercise 9 April 1940. November 11, 2010, accessed on January 10, 2017 (English). 
6. ^ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, April 1940. Retrieved January 10, 2017 . 
7. ↑ Leo Niehorster: Battle for France German Order of Battle 5th Air Force Air Commander Trondheim 10 May 1940. November 2, 2010, accessed on January 11, 2017 (English). 
8. ↑ Leo Niehorster: Battle for France German Order of Battle 5th Air Force X Air Corps 10 May 1940. November 2, 2010, accessed on January 11, 2017 (English). 
9. ↑ Ulf Balke: The aerial warfare in Europe 1939-1941. Bechtermünz Verlag, ISBN 3-86047-591-6 , pp. 408-413.
10. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Dierich, p. 111.
11. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, January 1941. Retrieved on January 13, 2017 . 
12. ↑ Leo Niehorster: The Battle for Crete Order of Battle German 4th Air Fleet VIIIth Air Corps 20 May 1941. November 24, 2010, accessed on January 13, 2017 (English). 
13. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, August 1941. Accessed on January 20, 2017 . 
14. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, October 1941. Retrieved on January 5, 2017 . 
15. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45, Russia (incl. Ukraine, Belarus and Bessarabia) pp 103-104 , accessed on 24 March 2020.
16. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45, Russia (incl. Ukraine, Belarus and Bessarabia) pp 85-87 , accessed on 24 March 2020.
17. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45, Russia (incl. Ukraine, Belarus and Bessarabia) pp 621-622 , accessed on 24 March 2020.
18. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Dierich, p. 112.
19. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, April 1942. Retrieved January 15, 2017 . 
20. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, May 1942. Retrieved January 15, 2017 . 
21. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, July 1942. Accessed January 15, 2017 . 
22. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, September 1942. Retrieved January 15, 2017 . 
23. ↑ ^{a b} Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, January 1943. Retrieved on January 5, 2017 . 
24. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, February 1943. Retrieved on January 5, 2017 . 
25. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, March 1943. Accessed on May 5, 2020 . 
26. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, October 1943. Retrieved January 15, 2017 . 
27. ↑ ^{a b} Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, November 1943. Retrieved on January 15, 2017 . 
28. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, April 1944. Retrieved on January 16, 2017 . 
29. ↑ ^{a b} Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, May 1944. Retrieved on January 16, 2017 . 
30. ↑ Leo Niehorster: German Air Force Order of Battle 3rd Air Fleet 2nd Air Force Division 6 June 1944. November 4, 2008, accessed on January 16, 2017 (English). 
31. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Dierich, p. 113.
32. ↑ Olve Dybvig: Special Interest Group Luftwaffe in Norway, Luftwaffe units in Norway and Finland at 25.12.44. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 19, 2011 ; accessed on January 16, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
33. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, December 1944. Retrieved on January 16, 2017 . 
34. ^ ^{A b} Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, February 1945. Retrieved on January 16, 2017 . 

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