Kampfgeschwader 40

Kampfgeschwader 40
active	June 1940 to February 2, 1945
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	air force
Branch of service	Air force
Type	Combat Squadron
structure	Squadron staff and 5 groups
equipment	Focke-Wulf Fw 200 , Dornier Do 217 , Heinkel He 111 , Heinkel He 177 , Junkers Ju 88 , Messerschmitt Me 262
Second World War	Battle of Britain Atlantic Battle Northern Sea Convoys Allied invasion of France
Squadron commodors
First commodore	Lieutenant Colonel Hans Geisse

The Kampfgeschwader 40 was an association of the Luftwaffe in World War II .

Lineup

The staff of the combat squadron 40 was the first time in June 1940 in the French Bordeaux-Merignac ( location ). On December 22nd, it was renamed Staff Kampfgeschwader 28 . A new staff of Kampfgeschwader 40 was set up again on April 1, 1941 in Bordeaux. Group I was formed on May 1, 1940 and was initially equipped with the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 . From July 1942, the conversion to the Heinkel He 177 took place . The second group was set up on May 1, 1941 in Lüneburg ( Lage ) and was equipped with the Dornier Do 217 . The II. Group of Kampfgeschwaders 40 was renamed from June 1943 to V. Group of Kampfgeschwaders 2 . A new II. Group, equipped with the Heinkel He 177, was set up in September 1943. The III. The group emerged on January 1, 1941 from the renamed I. Group of Kampfgeschwader 1 and had the Focke-Wulf Fw 200. In September 1944 it was converted to the Messerschmitt Me 262. The IV (supplementary) group belonged to the squadron from September 1, 1941 and was stationed in Lechfeld ( Lage ). Between January 1943 and August 1943 there was a fifth group that flew with the Junkers Ju 88 C-6. The wing recognition was F8.

history

Focke-Wulf Fw 200 C-3 of the 1st squadron

The I. Group of Kampfgeschwader 40 was in Copenhagen ( Lage ) from May to early June 1940 . From there she undertook far-reaching reconnaissance flights along the Norwegian coast. On June 9, 1940, a Fw 200 succeeded in sinking the Vandyck (13,241 GRT). In mid-June 1940 she moved to Bordeaux-Merignac . There she was subordinate to the 9th Air Division of Air Fleet 2 during the Battle of Britain . With her four-engined Focke-Wulf Fw 200 she flew reconnaissance flights in the Atlantic area west of the British Isles. She cleared up North Atlantic convoys and reported them to the Navy . Ships were also attacked directly. A Focke-Wulf Fw 200 of the 1st squadron sank the British freighter Goathland ( Lage ) on August 25, 1940 and the Greek freighter Victoria on October 30 . On October 8th and 26th, aircraft of the I. Group damaged the two large passenger ships Oronsay and Empress of Britain . In November 1940, Group I continued its operations on the western access roads to Great Britain. On November 3, she severely damaged the British passenger ship Windsor Castle by bomb hits and sank the British Nalon ( Lage ) on November 6 . On November 8, she damaged the Swedish Vingaland from the convoy HX 84 . On November 9, the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 damaged the passenger liner Empress of Japan and on November 11, the British Balmore . On November 13th the Empire Wind ( Lage ) was sunk, on November 14th the single rider Fishpool and on November 18th the British Biela was damaged. From the convoy SL 53 they sank the British Apapa ( Lage ) on November 15 and the British Nestlea ( Lage ) on November 18 . On December 3, the freighter W Hendryk ( Lage ), which had fallen behind the convoy HX 90 , was sunk .

Focke-Wulf Fw 200C of the I. group

On February 9, 1941, five Fw 200 of the I./KG 40 attacked the British convoy HG 53 in cooperation with the Admiral Hipper and U 37 . The convoy, which was tracked about 280 kilometers west of Bordeaux in Spanish waters, lost five ships ( Britannic ( location ), Dagmar I ( location ), Jura ( location ), Tejo ( location ), Varna ( location )) in air raids. On February 19, another Fw 200 of Group I managed to find and attack a convoy. Convoy OB 287 lost the two tankers Gracia ( Lage ) and Housatonic ( Lage ) south of the Faroe Islands through bombing raids . Another four ships were damaged. Later on February 26, 1941 six Fw 200 of I./KG 40 attacked the convoy OB 290 off the west coast of Ireland and bombed the Amstelland ( Lage ), Beursplein ( Lage ), Kyriakoula ( Lage ), Llanwern ( Lage ), Mahanada ( Lage ), Solferino ( Lage ) and Swinburne ( Lage ) with 36,250 GRT. In March 1941 the Fw 200 captured an outbound convoy and sank the Dutch freighter Simaloer ( Lage ) from OB 292 , and on March 25th the single drivers Beaverbrae ( Lage ) and Empire Mermaid ( Lage ). In May 1941, Fw 200 of I./KG 40 sighted several convoys and sank the Somerset , ( Lage ) the Karlander ( Lage ) and the Statesman ( Lage ). On June 9, the British fish freighter Diana ( Lage ) and the Finnish freighter Fenix ( Lage ), which runs from Baltimore to Petsamo , were located northwest of the Faroe Islands and sunk with bombs. One member of the ship's crew died.

From March 1942 the entire I./KG 40 moved to Trondheim in Norway ( Lage ). As part of the Fliegerführer Nord (West) of Air Fleet 5 , she flew reconnaissance over the North Sea and the North Sea and was supposed to track down northern sea convoys . Independently of this, several Focke-Wulf Fw 200s succeeded in sinking the British freighter Fort Barbine ( Lage ) on September 13, 1943, 250 nautical miles southwest of Cape Finisterre . Later, on February 10, 1944, they sank the anchored tanker El Grillo ( Lage ) off the Icelandic east coast near Seidisfjord . From October 1944 it was stationed in southern German squares, where it was disbanded in Neuburg ( Lage ) on February 2, 1945.

Focke-Wulf Fw 200 of the squadron, shot down west of Ireland over the Atlantic

Group II, with its Dornier Do 217, also moved to the area of Air Fleet 3 to the west from summer 1941 . Here it was in Cognac ( Lage ) from July to September and then in Soesterberg ( Lage ) in the Netherlands until March 1943 . From there she flew attacks against ships in the North Sea and English Channel. Between November 1941 and April 1943 always trained a season, the Italian Grosseto ( location ), on air torpedo order. In June 1943 it was renamed V./KG 2. From October the newly erected II./KG 40, equipped with the Heinkel He 177, was again subordinate to Luftflotte 3. During this time the Henschel Hs 293 , a bomb that could still be controlled after being dropped, was introduced. With this bomb, several Heinkel He 177s of Group II attacked the convoy KMF 26 on November 26th in the Mediterranean Sea off the Algerian coast. A glide bomb hit the troop transport Rohna ( Lage ) on the starboard side in the rear area of ​​the engine room. The ship sank within an hour and with it about 1138 people, including 1015 US soldiers. Eight of the attacking Heinkel He 177s were shot down. After the Allied invasion of Normandy, the II./KG 40 moved to Oslo-Gardermoen ( Lage ) in July 1944 in the area of ​​Air Fleet 5. From October 1944, it was stationed on German bases, most recently in Parchim ( Lage ) where it was should be retrained on the Messerschmitt Me 262 . It was not used until it was dissolved on February 2, 1945.

From January 1941 the III./KG 40 was under the command of the Fliegerführer Atlantik ( Martin Harlinghausen ) of Luftflotte 3. Initially still with the Heinkel He 111, from December 1941 with the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 it fought sea targets by bombs, mines or Torpedoes. It was in Cognac for a long time , but at the beginning of 1944 it also briefly used parts of Avord ( location ) and until July 1944 (7th season) also Saint Jean d'Angély-Fontenet . The 9. Staffel / KG 40 intervened briefly in January 1943 from Sicily in the fighting in Tunisia . In this group, too, the Henschel Hs 293 was introduced, a bomb that could still be controlled after being dropped. Several Focke-Wulf Fw 200s succeeded in sinking the British freighters Shetland and Volturno in the North Atlantic on June 23, 1943 . On July 11, 1943, several Focke-Wulf Fw 200s of the III. Group, in the North Atlantic, a convoy with several large troop carriers. Despite strong anti-aircraft defense, they attacked him and met the California ( Lage ) and Duchess of York , who then caught fire and had to be abandoned.

After the Allied invasion of Normandy , she moved via Trondheim to Lübeck ( Lage ). All but one of the squadrons was to be converted to the Messerschmitt Me 262, but this was no longer implemented until it was disbanded on February 2, 1945.

Commanders

Squadron commodors

Rank	Surname	time
Lieutenant colonel	Hans Geisse	June 1940 to September 7, 1940
Lieutenant colonel	Georg Pasewaldt	September 1940 to December 31, 1940
major	Edgar Petersen	March 1, 1941 to August 1941
Colonel	Karl Mehnert	January 1942 to July 1942
Colonel	Martin Vetter	July 1942 to September 1, 1943
Colonel	Rupprecht Heyn	September 2, 1943 to November 1944
Colonel	Hanns Horst Heise	November 1944 to February 1945

Group commanders

I. group

• Major Edgar Petersen, April 26, 1940 to November 1940
• Captain Fritz Fliegel , March 25, 1941 to July 18, 1941
• Captain Edmund Daser, August 31, 1941 to June 1942

II group

• Captain Wendt Freiherr von Schlippenbach, April 15, 1941 to April 7, 1942
• Captain Waldemar Hörner zu Drewer, April 8, 1942 to June 25, 1942
• Major Martin Kästner, June 28, 1942 to June 19, 1943

III. group

• Captain Robert Kowalewski, August 1941 to September 1943
• Major Lambert Konschegg , January 12, 1944 to February 1945

IV. Group

• Lt. Col. Edmund Daser, April 15, 1941 to August 31, 1941
• Major Roman Dawczynski, September 1941 to 1943
• Captain Albrecht Kuntze, 1943 to July 5, 1943
• Captain Siegfried Freiherr von Cramm, November 6, 1944 to January 22, 1945

Known squadron members

• Fritz Fliegel (1907–1941) was a German amateur champion in cycling sprint in 1929
• Hanns Horst Heise (1913–1992), was from 1962 to 1968 as a stage manager for flight safety in the Air Force Office in Cologne-Wahn and from October 1968 as Brigadier General of the Air Force of the German Armed Forces , commander of the German Air Force Command USA / Canada
• 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
• Rudolf Mayr (1910-1991), was a member of the German Antarctic Expedition 1938-39 , and was in 1960 together with Werner Utter the first Lufthansa flight captain of a license for the Boeing 707 purchased

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 40  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfgang Dierich, pp. 120-122.
2. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, June 1940. Retrieved on January 6, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Ulf Balke, pp. 408-413.
4. ^ Clay Blair : Der U-Boot-Krieg, Die Jäger 1939-1942 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag , Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X , p. 283.
5. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, August 1940. Retrieved on January 6, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, October 1940. Retrieved on January 19, 2017 . 
7. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, November 1940. Accessed on January 19, 2017 . 
8. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945, December 1940. Retrieved on May 9, 2019 . 
9. ^ Clay Blair: Der U-Boot-Krieg, Die Jäger 1939-1942 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X , p. 286.
10. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, February 1941. Retrieved on February 5, 2019 . 
11. ^ Clay Blair: Der U-Boot-Krieg, Die Jäger 1939-1942 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X , p. 291.
12. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, March 1941. Retrieved on February 14, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, May 1941. Retrieved on January 6, 2017 . 
14. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945, June 1941. Retrieved on March 4, 2020 . 
15. ↑ Leo Niehorster : German Airforce, Order of Battle, 5th Air Fleet, Air Force Commander Nord (West), June 28, 1942. September 22, 2010, accessed on January 6, 2017 (English). 
16. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, September 1943. Retrieved on January 6, 2017 . 
17. ^ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, February 1944. Retrieved January 6, 2017 . 
18. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, November 1943. Retrieved on January 7, 2017 . 
19. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Dierich, p. 121.
20. ^ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, June 1943. Retrieved January 15, 2017 . 
21. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, July 1943. Accessed January 15, 2017 . 

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap