Combat squadron e.g. V. 172
|
Combat squadron e.g. V. 172 |
|
|---|---|
| active | August 26, 1939 to November 10, 1939 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
|
| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | air force |
| Branch of service | Air force |
| Type | Transport squadron |
| structure | Squadron staff and 3 groups |
| Location | Staff Berlin-Tempelhof I. Group to III. Berlin-Tempelhof group |
| equipment | Junkers Ju 52 |
| Second World War |
Airborne Battle of Crete Battle of Cholm |
| Squadron commodors | |
| First commodore | Lieutenant Colonel Carl August von Gablenz |
The Kampfgeschwader zb V. 172 (for special use) was an association of the Luftwaffe in World War II .
Lineup
The staff, the I., II. And III. Group of the squadron was created on August 26, 1939 as a combat squadron for special use 172 (KG zb V. 172) in Berlin-Tempelhof ( Lage ). Many Lufthansa crews served in the squadron with their transport planes that had become free due to the cessation of civilian flight operations. The squadron staff was disbanded on November 10, 1939 and the three groups continued as independent combat groups for special use (KGr. Zb V.). The I. Group, from March 1940 renamed III. Group of the Kampfgeschwader zb V. 1 changed the squadron association. The second group disbanded in November 1939, only to be re-established in February 1941. In June 1941 it was dissolved again, this time for good. The III. Group was renamed in November 1939 to I. group and later to combat group eg V. 172. After renaming again to IV. Group of Transportgeschwader 3 (IV./TG 3), this went to this squadron. All three groups were equipped with the three-engine Junkers Ju 52 . The squadron identification was N3 and 4V.
history
During the German attack on Poland , the squadron was directly subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force and was located in Berlin-Tempelhof. There it was available for supply and transport tasks according to his order.
In the airborne battle for Crete , which began on May 20, 1941 , the I. and II. Groups were assigned to the XI. Fliegerkorps subordinated to Luftflotte 4 . From the Greek airfield of Corinth they flew paratroopers and airborne troops to Crete.
The independent KGr. Eg V. 172 stayed in the Mediterranean area and was based on June 22nd, 1941 at the Greek airfield Eleusis ( Lage ) and was subordinate to the X. Air Corps .
From the beginning of February 1942, the air supply of the Wehrmacht soldiers trapped in Cholm on the Eastern Front began. The independent KGr. eg V. 172 was involved. However, she suffered heavy losses in the process. On February 3rd alone, three aircraft were destroyed on the ground by Soviet bombers. Overall, the group lost five of their seven machines.
Commanders
Squadron commodors
| Rank | Surname | time |
|---|---|---|
| Lieutenant colonel | Carl August von Gablenz | August 26, 1939 to November 10, 1939 |
Group commanders
- I. group
- Captain Rudolf Krause, March 40 to?
- Major Walter Hammer, 1941 to August 1942
- Hauptmann / Major Erich Zähr, August 1942 to May 1943
- II group
- Captain Krause, August 26, 1939 to November 1939
- III. group
- Hauptmann / Major Otto Babekuhl, 26 August 1939 to March 1940
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).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bernhard R. Kroener : The German Reich and the Second World War , Volume 5/1, dva, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-421-06232-3 , p. 718.
- ↑ Leo Niehorster : The Battle for Crete, Order of Battle German 4th Air Fleet 20 May 1941 , accessed on June 22, 2019.
- ↑ Leo Niehorster: German Air Force, Order of Battle, X Air Corps, June 22, 1941 , accessed on June 22, 2019.
- ↑ Александр Заблотский / Роман Ларинцев: Демянск - Предтеча сталинграда , in: Авиамастер 1 (2004); Otto Karsten: Cholm , 1944, p. 19 f.
- ^ Robert Forsyth: Ju 52 / 3m Bomber and Transport . Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4728-1881-2 , pp. 73 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ a b Georg Brütting : The book of German flight history: The great time of German aviation until 1945 . Drei Brunnen Verlag, 1979, ISBN 3-87174-001-2 , p. 582 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
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