Combat squadron of the Supreme Army Command

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The Combat Squadron of the Supreme Army Command ( Kagohl ) and the Bomb Squadron of the Supreme Army Command ( Bogohl ) were bomber units of the German Air Force set up for long-range operations during the First World War , which were directly subordinate to the Supreme Army Command (OHL). They are among the first approaches to implement a strategic air war .

history

background

The military aviation stuck in the early 20th century in Germany, as elsewhere still in its infancy. In the German Reich there had been a balloon detachment since 1884, the first military airships were acquired in the 1900s and in 1910 a provisional military aviation school was founded in Döberitz for training on military aircraft . Before the First World War, there was a strict separation in the German military between the aviation forces of the Imperial Navy and those of the Army , some of which were in competition with one another. The structure was further complicated by the character of the German Army as a contingent army, in which the Bavarian air force was represented in addition to the dominant Prussian army , as well as the functional breakdown and the like. a. in balloonists, airmen and airmen. There was no clear management structure; the Berlin War Ministry , the General Inspectorate of Military Traffic (the pilots were part of the transport troops ) and the General Staff were involved in the organization of the Prussian Army Aviation Troops . During war, the aviation divisions should be assigned to the army corps or armies more or less rigidly.

Air bombs were first used to a small extent from airplanes in the Italo -Turkish War of 1911 and in the Balkan Wars ; previously, bombs had been dropped from balloons as early as the middle of the 19th century . In 1914 the German air force used the so-called carbonite bombs, which were available in four sizes from 4.5 to 50 kg. They were introduced after the previously tested APK bombs had proven unsatisfactory. The streamlined PuW bombs (developed by the testing institute and shipyard of the air force ) with a weight of 12.5 kg to one ton were used from 1916.

Before the war there was no consensus in German military circles as to which means of attack should be given preference in a future conflict, the airship or the airplane. The conservative military leadership believed that they could play a lead over other nations in military airship travel. Bomb planes as such, such as existed in Russia in the form of the Sikorsky Ilja Muromez , in France in the form of the Voisin L or in Great Britain with the Avro 504 , did not exist in the German air force before 1914. The air force, equipped with unarmed single-engine single-deckers and double-deckers ( A and B types ) from various manufacturers, was primarily used as a means of reconnaissance support for the land and naval forces. The first German bombing raids of the war were carried out by military airships, for example against Liège on August 6, 1914. Either way, when the war began in August 1914, a strategic aerial warfare concept was still a long way off. Airborne bombings were initially isolated events, with primarily propaganda intentions, such as the appearance of an Etrich Taube over Paris on August 30th, during which a handful of bombs and a few propaganda leaflets were dropped. They did not have any military effect.

The "carrier pigeon departments" Ostend and Metz

The forerunners of the first two combat squadrons of the OHL were the so-called "carrier pigeon department Ostend " (BAO) set up at the end of November 1914 under a code name from parts of the pilot replacement department 1 and the “carrier pigeon department Metz ” formed in August 1915 by the pilot replacement department 2 “(BAM). The air replacement departments were rear units set up during the mobilization for the First World War, which trained personnel for the front air units.

The "carrier pigeon department Ostend" was set up on November 27, 1914 under the then 42-year-old Major Wilhelm Siegert in Gistel near Ostend. As one of the longest-serving officers in the air force, Siegert had been in command of the Metz pilot station in the realm of Alsace-Lorraine before the war and had the first night flight exercises carried out for his crews in 1913. During the First Battle of Flanders , which ended in mid-November 1914 , he approached the OHL with the plan to launch attacks on England from the north of France, which was to be occupied. The originally planned base Calais could not be conquered by the army in this battle, so that his unit, which in reality was called the "Air Corps of the Supreme Army Command" and had 36 aircraft, was finally due to the limited range of the B-type aircraft used Missions in the hinterland of the Flemish front, including against the ports of Calais, Dunkirk and Nieuwpoort , was used. From the end of 1914, isolated attacks on England were initially only flown from their base in Zeebrugge by naval pilots who were subordinate to the Flemish Marine Corps , and from January 1915 also with naval airships. Until early 1917, zeppelins remained the preferred offensive weapon for targets in England.

Lieutenant Colonel von der Lieth-Thomsen (center) and Major Wilhelm Siegert (right) around 1916

In March 1915, at Siegert's suggestion, the post of "Chief of Field Aviation" was created, which was filled with Major Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen . Siegert was assigned to him as chief of staff, his successor as commander of the BAO was first captain Gustav Kastner-Kirdorf , then in April 1915 job Heinrich von Dewall . The BAO was relocated to the Eastern Front in March 1915 , first to Deuthen near Allenstein / East Prussia to the 8th Army , then to Galicia to the 11th Army , in order to be deployed in the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnów , which began at the beginning of May . In the course of the year it was converted to the newly introduced C-type aircraft (armed multi-purpose aircraft) and relocated to the Western Front in July. In the course of the year, the first of the new, twin-engine large aircraft, which were still inadequate in their performance, reached the troops.

The “Metz carrier pigeon division” was formed on August 17, 1915 under Captain Kastner-Kirdorf and was used against the Verdun fortress until the end of 1915 .

The Kampfgeschwader / Bombergeschwader

On December 20, 1915, the "carrier pigeon departments" were renamed to Kampfgeschwader 1 (ex-BAO) and 2 (ex-BAM). On the same date the Kampfgeschwader 3 was formed under Captain von Dewall, the later "England Squadron". All combat squadrons were divided into six squadrons (called Kampfstaffeln or Kasta for short ) of six aircraft each. By April 1916 the Kampfgeschwader 4, 5 and 6 b (Ayeric) followed, in June the Kagohl 7. During this time up to four Kagohls were used in the battle of Verdun , where they bombed the French rear connections. Parts of the Kagohl 1 (a half-squadron) also took part in the operations on the Balkan Peninsula from 1916 and carried out attacks on Bucharest and on the Salonika Front .

By the Battle of the Somme as crowded even at Verdun in the second half of 1916 on the defensive, the C-type bomber had the Kagohls increasingly for "air lock" operations, or as a ground attack aircraft are used. Against this background, among other things, the 3rd OHL ( Hindenburg / Ludendorff ) deployed at the end of August implemented a reorganization of the air forces as part of the Hindenburg program . By AKO the position of Commanding General of the Air Force (which was from October 8, 1916 Kogenluft ) created, with Lieutenant General Ernst von Hoeppner was occupied, the Lieth-Thomsen was as chief of staff to the side. Combat squadrons 3 and 5 to 7 were dissolved on December 31, 1916, and their squadrons were converted into so-called "Schutzstaffeln" ( Schusta ), the rest of the squadrons were renamed in April as "bomb squadrons" and reduced to three squadrons each. The only exception was the newly established "England Squadron" (Bogohl 3), which had six squadrons.

German P&W aircraft bombs from the First World War, in the background a Gotha bomber

Bogohl 3 under Ernst Brandenburg , stationed at the airfields around Ghent in Belgium , was equipped with the new Gotha G.IV bombers from March 1917 , whose increased range compared to earlier models now also allowed attacks on London . The attacks carried out under the code word Turkic Cross began on May 25, 1917. On that day, 21 Gothas crossed the canal and dropped their bombs over the county of Kent , as they could not find London due to heavy cloud cover . Another unsuccessful attack took place on June 5th. At noon on June 13th, 14 Gothas reached the British capital and dropped 118 bombs, killing 162 people and injuring 426 others. Due to the increased British defense, night raids were carried out in September 1917, as had been the case with the zeppelins. The last of 52 attacks by Bogohl 3 on England, partly supported by giant multi-engine aircraft (R types) of the " Riesenflieger -Abteilung" ( Rfa ) 500 and 501, took place on the night of May 19-20, 1918. All in all, 857 people were killed and over 2,000 injured in these attacks on England, the bomb load dropped in the end totaled 73 tons.

In December 1917 the Bogohls 5 to 7 were set up, to which the Bogohl 8 was added in April 1918. Before and during the spring offensive of 1918 , several long-range attacks on the French capital Paris took place in addition to attacks on the immediate rear of the front.

Known relatives

See also

literature

  • Jörg Mückler: German bombers in the First World War . Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-613-03952-0 .
  • Lee Kennett: The First Air War, 1914-1918. The Free Press, New York 1991.
  • Eric and Jane Lawson: The First Air Campaign: August 1914 - November 1918. Da Capo Press, Cambridge MA 1996.
  • William Edward Fischer: The Development of Military Night Aviation to 1919. Air University Press, Maxwell AFB, 1998.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Imperial War Museum : Pictures of a 12.5 kg PuW bomb with description
  2. ↑ John Killen: The Luftwaffe: A History. Pen & Sword, 2003, pp. 20-22.