Kampfgeschwader 77
|
Kampfgeschwader 77 |
|
|---|---|
| active | May 1, 1939 to July 20, 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 | Staff Prague I. Group Prague II. Group Brno III. Group Koniggratz IV. (Supplementary) group Laon-Couvron |
| equipment | Dornier Do 17 , Junkers Ju 88 |
| Second World War |
Attack on Poland Western campaign Air battle for England German-Soviet war Theater of war Mediterranean area |
| Squadron commodors | |
| First commodore | Colonel Heinrich Seywald |
The Kampfgeschwader 77 was an association of the Luftwaffe in World War II .
Lineup
The kampfgeschwader 77 was on May 1, 1939 the conditions laid down in Merseburg on April 1, 1936 Kampfgeschwader 153. From the Wing staff and I./KG 153 arose on May 1, 1939 in Prague ( location ) of the rod and the I. / KG 77. From the II. Group of KG 158 the II./KG 77 was formed on May 1, 1939 in Brno ( Lage ). The III./KG 77 was also created on May 1, 1939 in Königgrätz ( Lage ) from the II./KG 255. In October 1940 the IV. (Supplementary) group was established in Laon-Couvron ( Lage ). The squadron was equipped with the Dornier Do 17 from 1939 to 1941 . In February 1941, the squadron staff and the I. Group were the last to convert to the Junkers Ju 88. The squadron ID was 3Z.
history
The staff, the I., II. And III. / Kampfgeschwader 77 took part in the attack on Poland as part of the 2nd Air Division of Air Fleet 4 in the southern section of the front . The squadron remained stationed on its Czech bases. On September 25, the entire squadron launched an air raid on Warsaw.
During the western campaign , the entire squadron was under the command of the VIII Air Corps of Air Fleet 2 . The staff, the II. And III. Group flew from Düsseldorf ( Lage ) and the I. Group from Werl ( Lage ) from air strikes on airfields to achieve air supremacy and tactical missions for army support. In June the staff changed, the I. and III. Group to Laon-Couvron and the II. To Asch ( Lage ).
In the ensuing battle of England , the entire squadron switched to the I. Fliegerkorps, Luftflotte 2. It remained stationed on the French bases Laon-Couvron and Reims-Champagne ( Lage ) and the Belgian base Asch and flew air raids on Great Britain . In the further course parts were also in Juvincourt . On May 28, 1941, aircraft of the I. Group sank the British destroyer HMS Mashona ( Lage ).
On the attack on the Soviet Union , the squadron participated from 22 June 1941st For this purpose it was subordinate to the 1st Fliegerkorps of Air Fleet 1 in the northern section of the Eastern Front. The I. group was in Jesau ( location ), the II. In Wormditt ( location ) and the III. in Heiligenbeil ( location ). In July / August 1941 the entire squadron transferred to the Dno air base ( Lage ). In many purely tactical operations for army support, it was often used at the focal points in the north of the eastern front.
At the turn of the year 1941/42 the staff, the II. And III./KG 77 moved to the Mediterranean area to Air Fleet 2. Until May 1942, the Italian Comiso ( location ) was the starting point for air raids on Malta . The I./KG 77, however, stayed on the Eastern Front, from February to May in Orsha ( Lage ) and in May / June 1942 in Kharkov ( Lage ) and Kursk ( Lage ). In May the staff changed, the II. And III. Group to Luftflotte 3 to France. From Creil ( location ) / Rennes ( location ) and Beauvais ( location ) / Vannes ( location ) it carried out air raids on England. From July the I./KG 77 came from the Eastern Front to Creil / Rennes. This was renamed on August 31st in I. Group / Kampfgeschwader 6. Meanwhile, the squadron staff and the II. Group moved to the Greek Iraklion ( location ) and the III. Group in the Italian Comiso . On September 10th, the new I./KG 77 emerged from the coastal aviation group 606. In October, the entire squadron in Sicily was merged in Gerbini ( Lage ) and Catania ( Lage ) under the command of the II. Fliegerkorps of Luftflotte 2.
After the squadron was used against the Allied troops that landed in North West Africa in November 1942 ( Operation Torch ), the II. And III. Group returned to Piacenza ( Lage ) to be re-established. Group I followed from February 1943. Until the second half of the year, Piacenza remained the starting point for all operations of the squadron.
From July / August all three groups retrained to use air torpedoes at home. At the beginning of 1944 the training was not yet finished. The squadron was in Königsberg-Devau ( location ), Prowehren ( location ), Barth ( location ) and Wormditt ( location ).
On March 10, the staff, the I. and III. Group to the 2nd Aviation Division of Air Fleet 3 to France, where they were exclusively in Orange ( Lage ) until June . 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.
Staff and Group I then moved to Salon ( Lage ) at the end of June . Group II stayed in the east.
On July 20, the staff, the II. And III. Gruppe, while I. Gruppe was renamed I. Gruppe / Kampfgeschwader 26.
Commanders
Squadron commodors
| Rank | Surname | time |
|---|---|---|
| Colonel | Heinrich Seywald | May 1, 1939 to September 13, 1939 |
| Major general | Wolff von Stutterheim | September 14, 1939 to March 21, 1940 |
| Colonel | Johann-Volkmar Fisser | March 21, 1940 to May 31, 1940 |
| Major general | Wolff von Stutterheim | May 31, 1940 to June 15, 1940 |
| Major general | Heinz-Hellmuth von Wühlisch | June 21, 1940 to August 1, 1940 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Johann Raithel | August 1, 1940 to March 13, 1942 |
| major | Arved Crüger | March 13, 1942 to March 22, 1942 |
| Lieutenant colonel | Hermann Schlueter | March 23, 1942 to February 12, 1943 |
| major | Wilhelm Stemmler | February 12, 1943 to July 20, 1944 |
Group commanders
- I. group
- Major Balcke, May 1, 1939 to 1940
- Captain Joachim Pötter,? until October 25, 1941
- Major Ernst-Günther von Scheliha, May 7, 1942 to September 1, 1942
- Major Willi Sölter,? until July 1944
- II group
- Lieutenant Colonel Augustin, May 1, 1939 to November 2, 1939
- Lieutenant Colonel Karl Angerstein , November 3, 1939 to January 8, 1940
- Major Behrendt, 1940
- Captain Dietrich Peltz , August 13, 1941 to September 30, 1941
- Captain Heinrich Paepcke, October 1941 to October 17, 1942
- Captain Eberhard Stüwe,? until July 1944
- III. group
- Lieutenant Colonel Wolf von Stutterheim, May 1, 1939 to September 13, 1939
- Major Walther Wadehn , September 13, 1939 to December 15, 1939
- Major Max Kless, January 1940 to September 18, 1940
- Major Handke, September 1940 to?
- Major Egbert von Frankenberg and Proschlitz , 1941
- Captain Heinz Richter,? until June 2, 1943
- IV. Group
- Major Hans-Jörg Leutze, October 30, 1941 to June 11, 1943
- Major Peter Schnoor, June 12, 1943 to September 6, 1944
Known squadron members
- Herbert Büchs (1913–1996), was from 1967 to 1971, as lieutenant general in the Bundeswehr Air Force , deputy inspector general of the Bundeswehr
- Arved Crüger (1911–1942), died in 1942 as a squadron commodore in the Mediterranean area and was the husband of actress Carola Höhn
- Ernst Ebeling (1919–1991), was from 1972 to 1980 general physician in the Air Force
- Egbert von Frankenberg and Proschlitz (1909–2000), was from 1950 member of the Thuringian state parliament for the NDPD and was vice-president there
- Carl-Heinz Antonius Greve (1920–1998), was the first commodore of Fighter Bomber Wing 34 in 1957 , from 1970 to 1974 commander of the 1st Air Force Division and from 1974, as Lieutenant General of the German Air Force , Commander of the 4th Allied Tactical Air Force (ATAF )
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 d Wolfgang Dierich, p. 137.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Leo Niehorster : Battle for France, German Order of Battle, 2nd Air Force, VIII Air Corps, May 10, 1940. November 4, 2010, accessed on January 8, 2017 (English).
- ↑ Ulf Balke: The aerial warfare in Europe 1939-1941 . Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-86047-591-6 , p. 408 (1057 pp.).
- ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945 , Manfred Pawlak VerlagsGmbH (Herrsching 1968), ISBN 3-88199-009-7 , p. 126.
- ^ Leo Niehorster: German Air Force, Order of Battle, 1st Air Fleet, I Air Corps, June 22, 1941. October 1, 2010, accessed on January 8, 2017 (English).
- ↑ a b c d Wolfgang Dierich, S. 138th
- ^ Leo Niehorster: Campaign for North Africa, Order of Battle German 2nd Air Fleet, 2nd Air Corps, 23 October 1942. November 21, 2010, accessed on January 8, 2017 (English).
- ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, April 1944. Retrieved on January 16, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, May 1944. Retrieved on January 16, 2017 .
- ↑ Leo Niehorster: German Air Force, Order of Battle 3rd Air Fleet, 2nd Air Force Division, June 6, 1944. November 4, 2008, accessed on January 8, 2017 (English).
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