Kampfgeschwader 4 "General Wever"

Combat Squadron 4
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 4 groups
Location	Staff Erfurt I. Group Gotha II. Group Erfurt III. Nordhausen group IV. (Supplementary) group Faßberg
Aircraft type	Heinkel He 111 , Junkers Ju 88 , Heinkel He 177
Second World War	Invasion of Poland Norwegian campaign Western campaign Air battle for England Balkan campaign German-Soviet war
Squadron commodors
First commodore	Colonel Martin Fiebig

The Kampfgeschwader 4 "General Wever" was a tradition squadron of the Air Force in World War II . It was named after Walther Wever , who had a fatal accident as Chief of the Air Force General Staff on June 3, 1936.

Lineup

The squadron was created through the renaming of Kampfgeschwader 253, which had been set up since April 1, 1936. On June 6, 1936, it was given the honorary name General Wever. The reason was the fatal plane crash of the Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force Walther Wever three days earlier. On May 1, 1939 I. to III./KG 253 became I. to III./KG 4. The honorary name was retained. A fourth (supplementary) group was added on June 18, 1940.

The Heimathorste were for the staff and the II. Group in Erfurt ( location ), for the I. group in Gotha ( location ), for the III. Group in Nordhausen ( location ) and for the IV. (Supplementary) group in Faßberg ( location ).

Initially the squadron was equipped with the Heinkel He 111 . In the summer of 1940 the III. Group Junkers Ju 88 , but left the squadron association in October when she switched to Kampfgeschwader 30. From December 1942, the I. Group converted to the Heinkel He 177 . In October 1943, the 1st group of Kampfgeschwader 4 and 100 swapped squadrons. The squadron identification was 5J.

history

On September 1, 1939, when the attack on Poland began , the squadron was subordinate to the 2nd Air Division in Luftflotte 4 . The staff and the II. Group were in Oels ( location ) and the I. and III. Group in Langenau ( location ). All groups were equipped with the Heinkel He 111P. It was the task of the squadron to support the army units in the southern section of the front. The squadron also took part in air strikes on Warsaw .

During the occupation of Norway as part of the Weser Exercise company , the squadron was under the command of the X. Air Corps . From April 9, 1940 it fought from the Norwegian airport Oslo-Fornebu ( Lage ) in the southern and central Norwegian area. On April 16, 1940, a Heinkel He 111 of Group II sank the Swedish freighter Mertainen on its way from Narvik to Newcastle .

With the beginning of the western campaign , the entire squadron relocated to northern Germany. The staff and the II. Group started from Faßberg Air Base ( Lage ), the I. Group from Gütersloh ( Lage ) and the III. Group from Delmenhorst ( Lage ). It attacked targets in the Netherlands and was subordinate to Fliegerkorps zbV 2 in Luftflotte 2 . On May 11, 1940, the squadron attacked the port of Rotterdam and sank the passenger ships Statendam (28,291 GRT) and Veendam (15,450 GRT) as well as the destroyer Van Galen . Following the general advance of the army, it intervened in support of the ground fighting or attacked airfields.

Heinkel He 111 of Kampfgeschwader 4 "General Wever" during a repair

In July 1940, the squadron staff retrained Groups I and II on the use of air mines . The reason for this was the upcoming air battle for England , in which the squadron participated as part of the 9th Air Division of Air Fleet 2. In the meantime, the staff and the I. group were in Soesterberg ( location ), the II. Group in Eindhoven ( location ) and the III. Group in Amsterdam ( location ). The groups also received an improved version of the bomber with the Heinkel He 111H. In the subsequent attacks on the British Isles, the squadron was involved in all major attacks on London . Other focal points were Hull , Bristol , Liverpool and Belfast .

In January 1941, the 2nd squadron moved to the Comiso airfield ( Lage ) in Sicily. There she served within the X. Air Corps as a mine squadron . She mined the Suez Canal several times and, from April, Greek waters. The freighters Aghios Georgios and Ranee sank on the laid mines on February 4 and 5, 1941, and the British motor ship Jersey on April 23, 1942 off Suez

When the Balkan campaign began on April 6, 1941 , Group II of Kampfgeschwader 4 was subordinate to Luftflotte 4. From Vienna-Aspern ( Lage ), it was involved in the air raid on Belgrade together with other squadrons . There were at least 2,271 victims and around 9,000 houses were destroyed or damaged. Subsequently, she moved to Ziliştea ( Lage ) in Romania on April 21 , as the fighting activity shifted further to the Greek region.

At the same time, the 4th season moved to the Iraqi capital Baghdad . Under the command of Special Staff F , she fought British troops who were holding Iraq.

When the attack on the Soviet Union began, only Group II was subordinate to IV Air Corps of Air Fleet 4 in the southern section of the Eastern Front. She was still stationed in Ziliştea. From there she laid mines in the Black Sea, off Sevastopol and Nikolayev. On these air mines sank on 22./23. June the tug SP-12 , the Dnepr , a floating crane and the destroyer Bystry ; other warships were damaged. From mid-July the entire squadron gathered at the Prowehren air base ( Lage ) to intervene in the fighting from here. In addition to mining the Baltic islands of Oesel and Dagö , the squadron also took part in the air raids on Moscow .

In 1942, Groups I and II provided army support in the northern and central sections of the Eastern Front. On April 4th and 5th, they took part in the ice shock company. Together with parts of Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 and 2 , Kampfgeschwader 1 and Jagdgeschwader 54 , they attacked warships of the Baltic Fleet in the port of Leningrad . Here Damaged were the battleship were doing 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 heavy hit and the destroyer Grozjashchi , the minelayer Marti and the training ship Svir by easier hits. In addition, the destroyers Stoyki and Svirepy were damaged as well as the submarines M-79 , P-2 and P-3 . Mine operations in the Gulf of Finland and the Kronstadt Bay were also flown again. From October to December the III. Group, from San Pancrazio ( Lage ) in Italy, supply operations to support the German troops in North Africa. At the turn of the year 1942/43 she moved to the southern section of the Eastern Front to undertake supply flights to the Stalingrad basin.

The IV (supplementary) group, stationed in French places like Laon-Athies and Avord , whose primary task was the training of new crews, flew missions in 1942 at the Allied landing near Dieppe and when the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau breached the canal .

In 1943 the squadron remained active in the southern and central sections of the eastern front. From June 5-22, it took part in the air strikes on Gorky and Yaroslavl. 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. The staff, the II. And III. Group then took part in the Citadel company . Under the Air Force 6 assigned to the 1st Air Division, they supported the northern attack wedge, ultimately failed attack towards Kursk .

Also in 1944 the squadron was with the I. to III. Group active in the southern and central section of the eastern front for army support. On the night of June 22nd to 23rd, it attacked, with bombers of the type Heinkel He 111H-20, from the air bases Bialystok-Zawady ( Lage ) and Focşani / Süd ( Lage ), the American airbases as part of Operation Frantic Airplanes used Poltava airfield ( location ). 43 American B-17 bombers were destroyed and another 26 damaged. In addition, an ammunition depot and 900,000 liters of aviation fuel were destroyed. In autumn the squadron moved into airfields in Hungary, e.g. B. in Debrecen .

The last missions were in 1945 to supply the enclosed cities of Budapest and Breslau as well as Berlin. The last berth before the surrender on May 8, 1945 was for the staff, the I. and III. Group Hradec Králové ( location ) and for the II. Group Eggebek ( location ).

Commanders

Squadron commodors

Rank	Surname	time
Colonel	Martin Fiebig	September 1, 1939 to May 10, 1940
Colonel	Hans-Joachim Rath	May 30, 1940 to June 1, 1942
Lieutenant colonel	Gottlieb Wolff	June 16, 1942 to January 11, 1943
Lieutenant colonel	Hans-Joachim Schmidt	January 12, 1943 to May 12, 1943
Lieutenant colonel	Werner Klosinski	May 10, 1943 to December 1944
major	Reinhard Graubner	December 4, 1944 to May 8, 1945

Group commanders

I. group

• Lieutenant Colonel Nikolaus-Wolfgang Maier, May 1, 1939 to November 24, 1939
• Lieutenant Colonel Hans-Joachim Rath , November 24, 1939 to May 30, 1940
• Major Hans von Ploetz, June 5, 1940 to June 1, 1940
• Major Friedrich Meissner, June 9, 1940 to December 14, 1940
• Major Erich Schult, December 14, 1940 to January 28, 1941
• Captain Klaus Nöske, January 28, 1941 to May 18, 1941
• Major von Groddeck, May 18, 1941 to July 8, 1941
• Major Klaus Nöske, July 8, 1941 to December 31, 1941
• Major Heinz Alewyn, January 4, 1942 to March 21, 1942
• Captain Helmuth Boltze, March 26, 1942 to September 20, 1942
• Major Wolf Wetterer, September 21, 1942 to June 1, 1943
• Captain Hans-Gotthelf von Kalckreuth, June 1, 1943 to October 21, 1943
• Major Hansgeorg Bätcher, October 21, 1943 to March 24, 1944
• Major Ernst Göpel, March 24, 1944 to February 1945
• Captain Rolf Rannersmann, February 1945 to May 8, 1945

II group

• Lieutenant Colonel Wolfgang Erdmann, May 1, 1939 to September 30, 1939
• Major Dietrich Freiherr von Massenbach, October 1, 1939 to June 1940
• Lieutenant Colonel Gottlieb Wolff, July 3, 1940 to June 15, 1942
• Major Rolf Samson Himmelstjerna, July 1942 to September 23, 1942
• Major Karl von Knauer, 23 September 1942 to 15 October 1942
• Lieutenant Colonel Heinz-Joachim Schmidt, October 18, 1942 to January 11, 1943
• Major Reinhard Graubner, January 30, 1943 to July 1, 1944
• Major Carl-Otto Hesse, July 1, 1944 to May 8, 1945

III. group

• Major Wilhelm Evers, May 1, 1939 to December 1, 1939
• Major Neudörffer, December 1, 1939 to April 1940
• Major Erich Bloedorn, June 19, 1940 to October 15, 1940
• Major Wolfgang Bühring, February 3, 1941 to November 25, 1941
• Captain Hermann Kühl, November 25, 1941 to July 22, 1942
• Major Wolfgang Queisner, July 31, 1942 to September 5, 1942
• Major Werner Klosinski, September 6, 1942 to May 1, 1943
• Major Kurt Neumann, May 20, 1942 to February 1944
• Major Ernst Dieter von Tellemann, March 1944 to June 1944
• Major Reinhard Graubner, July 2, 1944 to December 4, 1944
• Major Herbert von Kruska, December 5, 1944 to May 8, 1945

IV. Group

• Major Karl-Gerd Roth, June 18, 1940 to June 17, 1943
• Major Karl Alber, June 19, 1943 to August 15, 1944

Known squadron members

• Heinz-Ulrich Beuther (1923–1990), was from 1979 to 1980 as Brigadier General of the German Air Force , commander of the air transport command
• Kurt Dahlmann (1918–2017) was editor-in-chief of the Allgemeine Zeitung in Namibia from 1958 to 1978
• Lothar von Heinemann (* 1905) was from 1958 to 1960, as Brigadier General of the Air Force of the Bundeswehr, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Command
• Ernst Kusserow (1903–1968), was from 1961 to 1963, as Brigadier General of the Air Force of the Bundeswehr, head of the Air Force Office

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 4  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp 160-161 , accessed on 23 March 2020th
2. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , p 231 , accessed on 23 March 2020th
3. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp 488-489 , accessed on 23 March 2020th
4. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp 173-175 , accessed on 23 March 2020th
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Wolfgang Dierich, p. 105.
6. ↑ The traditional squadron of the Wehrmacht Bundesarchiv Online ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) 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. . 
7. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp 499-500 , accessed on 23 March 2020th
8. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp 373-374 , accessed on 23 March 2020th
9. ↑ Horst Rohde: The German Reich and the Second World War , Volume 2, The establishment of hegemony on the European continent , Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-421-01935-5 , p. 103.
10. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Luftwaffe Airfields 1935–45, Norway , pp. 27–28 , accessed on March 23, 2020.
11. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, April 1940. Retrieved on February 4, 2017 . 
12. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp 173-175 , accessed on 24 March 2020th
13. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp 122-123 , accessed on 24 March 2020th
14. ↑ Ulf Balke, pp. 401-405.
15. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, May 1940. Retrieved on January 11, 2017 . 
16. ↑ Ulf Balke, pp. 408-413.
17. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45, the Netherlands , pp 19-21 , accessed on 25 March 2020th
18. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45, the Netherlands , pp 10-11 , accessed on 25 March 2020th
19. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45, the Netherlands , pp 3-5 , accessed on 25 March 2020th
20. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Wolfgang Dierich, p. 106.
21. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Luftwaffe Airfields 1935-45, Italy, Sicily and Sardinia , pp. 64-66 , accessed on March 25, 2020.
22. ^ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, January 1941. Retrieved on January 12, 2017 . 
23. ↑ ^{a b} Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, April 1942. Retrieved on January 5, 2017 . 
24. ↑ Ulf Balke, pp. 414-415.
25. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45, Austria (1937 Borders) , pp 34-36 , accessed on 25 March 2020th
26. ↑ Belgrade Historical Archive: Bombardovanje Beograda u drugom svetskom ratu. Belgrade 1975, pp. 1-5.
27. ↑ Walter Manoschek : “Serbia is free of Jews”: military occupation policy and the extermination of Jews in Serbia 1941/42. Volume 38 of contributions to military and war history. Oldenbourg , Munich 1995, ISBN 3-486-56137-5 , p. 18 f.
28. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Luftwaffe Airfields 1935-45, Romania , pp. 53-54 , accessed on March 26, 2020.
29. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, June 1941. Retrieved on January 5, 2017 . 
30. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp 537-538 , accessed on 28 March 2020th
31. ↑ Horst Boog : The German Reich and the Second World War, Volume 4, The attack on the Soviet Union , Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-421-06098-3 , p. 692.
32. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45, Italy, Sicily and Sardinia , S. 209 , accessed on 28 March 2020th
33. ↑ ^{a b c d} Wolfgang Dierich, p. 107.
34. ↑ 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.
35. ↑ AV Fedorčuk: Jaroslavl'. Istorija tvoego goroda , Akademija Razvitij, ISBN 5-7797-0630-1 , p. 79
36. ^ 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.
37. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Luftwaffe Airfields 1935-45, Russia (incl. Ukraine, Belarus & Bessarabia) p. 80 , accessed on March 28, 2020.
38. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45, Romania pp 26-27 , accessed on 28 March 2020th
39. ↑ Horst Boog: The German Empire and the Second World War. Volume 7. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 2001, p. 364.
40. ↑ Wolfgang Dierich, p. 108.
41. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45, Czechoslovakia 13-14 , accessed on 30 March 2020th
42. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Germany (1937 Borders) , pp 151-152 , accessed on 30 March 2020th

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap