Battle Squadron 2 "Immelmann"
|
Battle Squadron 2 |
|
|---|---|
| active | October 18, 1943 to April 1945 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
|
| Armed forces | Wehrmacht |
| Armed forces | air force |
| Branch of service | Air force |
| Type | Battle squadron |
| structure | Squadron staff and 3 groups |
| Nickname | "Immelmann Squadron" |
| Patron saint | Max Immelmann |
| Aircraft type |
Ju 87 Focke-Wulf Fw 190 |
| Second World War |
Invasion of Poland Balkan campaign Eastern front |
| Squadron commodors | |
| First commodore | major |
| Last commodore | Colonel |
| Important commanders |
Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel |
| insignia | |
| Sleeve stripes |
|
The Schlachtgeschwader 2 (SG 2) Immelmann (formerly Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 ) was a traditional squadron of the Luftwaffe in World War II , named after the fighter pilot of the First World War, Max Immelmann . SG 2 fought mainly on the southern part of the eastern front . Since April 1993 the reconnaissance wing 51 of the Bundeswehr has been nicknamed "Immelmann" and is thus one of the traditional air force squadrons of the Bundeswehr.
history
Foundation and first operations
The squadron was initially reorganized on May 1, 1939 under the name Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 "Immelmann" . It was divided into three groups: Group I stationed in Cottbus , Group II in Stolp and Group III. Group in Bad Langensalza . The wing recognition was T 6.
All three groups took part in the attack on Poland in 1939 . On the morning of September 1, 1939, the attack on the small Polish town of Wieluń took place . 1200 civilians died in this air strike. The pilots had not established any military targets. Since it was an attack on a non-military target, the bombing should be regarded as a war crime.
In 1940 it took part with the VIII. Air Corps in the western campaign and the Battle of Britain . On May 24th, the I. and III. Team up and sink the British destroyer Wessex . On July 4th, parts of the squadron attacked British convoy OA 178 in the English Channel. They sank the auxiliary flak ship HMS Foylebank (5582 GRT) and the freighters Dallas City (4952 GRT), Deucalion (1796 GRT), Kolga (3526 GRT) and Britsum (5255 GRT) and severely damaged nine other ships with 40,236 GRT.
In January 1941 the unit was transferred to Romania and fought in Greece during the Balkan campaign . During the Merkur operation , Ernst Kupfer sank the British cruiser HMS Gloucester on May 22, 1941, and Alwin Boerst sank the Royal Navy destroyers HMS Kelly and HMS Kashmir on May 23, 1941 .
Operation Barbarossa
From June 1941, StG 2 was relocated to the Eastern Front as part of the Barbarossa company . On June 26, 1941, the squadron attacked 60 Soviet tanks south of Hrodna , but could only destroy one T-34 tank .
From September 21 to 24, 1941, the squadron launched several attacks on the Baltic fleet in the ports of Kronstadt and Leningrad. During these attacks, Lieutenant Hans-Ulrich Rudel hit the battleship Marat with a 1,000 kg bomb , which then ran aground. The artillery towers B, C and D with their 30.5 cm tubes remained operational. The battleship Oktjabrskaja Revoljuzija was badly hit by six medium bombs and the cruiser Kirov was badly damaged by a crashing Ju 87. The destroyer Stereguschtschi capsized after a direct hit, the cruisers Maxim Gorki and Grozjashchi and the destroyers Gordy , Grozjashschi and Silny were damaged in the attack.
On April 4th and 5th, parts of StG 2 took part in the Eisstoss company . Together with parts of Sturzkampfgeschwaders 1 , Kampfgeschwaders 1 and Jagdgeschwader 54 , they again attacked warships of the Soviet fleet in the port of Leningrad . Here were damaged: the battleship Oktyabrskaya Revolutsija by four bomb hits, the cruiser Maksim Gorky by seven goals medium caliber cruiser Kirov and Petropavlovsk and the destroyer Silnyj each by a severe hit, and the destroyer Grozjashchi , the minelayer Marti and the training ship Svir by easier hits. The destroyers Stoyki and Svirepy as well as the submarines M-79 , P-2 and P-3 were also damaged .
At the end of 1942, the squadron was assigned a "Panzerjäger Squadron" due to the poor experience it had with fighting tanks, which was so successful that such a squadron was then added to each Stuka squadron. From spring 1943, the squadron received new aircraft of the type Ju 87 G-1 "Kanonenvogel" , which were equipped with two Rheinmetall-Borsig 3.7 cm Flak 37 under the wings. Rudel recorded the first successful shooting down of an enemy tank in March 1943. These machines were replaced by improved machines of the Ju 87 G-2 type as early as 1944. The squadron with its three groups took part in Operation Citadel from July 5, 1943 . Assigned to the 8th Air Corps under Luftflotte 4 , it supported the southern attack wedge in the failed attack in the direction of Kursk .
Retreat battles
The Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 was renamed on October 18, 1943 in Schlachtgeschwader 2 "Immelmann" and the II. Group received new fighter-bombers Focke-Wulf Fw 190 , from June 1944 also the I. group.
At the beginning of 1944, II./SG 2 supported the withdrawal of the German units from Kirowohrad and was heavily involved in the battles in the Crimea . Group II flew many hunting missions here and recorded the downing of 247 Soviet aircraft, Lieutenant August Lambert alone 70 within just three weeks.
The end
Until May 8, 1945, the squadron continued to support the withdrawal of German troops on the Eastern Front. But then Geschwaderkommodore Rudel decided to move west to surrender to the Americans. Rudel himself and a few other pilots with three Ju 87s and four Fw 190s flew west and landed safely on the American-controlled airfield in Kitzingen . The rest of the squadron, which was traveling there in a convoy, was less fortunate. He was attacked on the way and there were few survivors.
Commodore
- Major Oskar Dinort - October 15, 1939 to October 15, 1941
- Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Werner Hozzel - October 16, 1941 to February 12, 1943
- Major Ernst Kupfer - February 13 to September 9, 1943
- Lieutenant Colonel Hans-Karl Stepp - September 10, 1943 to July 31, 1944
- Lieutenant Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel - August 1, 1944 to February 8, 1945
- Major Friedrich Lang - February 9 to March 13, 1945
- Lieutenant Colonel Kurt Kuhlmey - March 14 to April 20, 1945
- Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel - April 21 to May 8, 1945
Group commanders
I./SG 2
- Major Oskar Dinort - May 1, 1939
- Captain Hubertus Hitschhold - October 1, 1939
- Major Bruno Dilley - October 15, 1941
- Captain Alwin Boerst - November 1, 1943
- Captain Kurt Lau - May 1, 1944
- Captain Herbert Bauer - November 7, 1944
II./SG 2
- Major Walter Ennecerus - 1940
- Major Karl Kennel - unknown until October 18, 1943
- Major Heinz Frank
- Major Karl Kennel - July 1, 1944
III./SG 2
- Captain Hein Brückner - May 1, 1939
- Captain Ernst-Siegfried Steen - August 1, 1941
- Captain Gustav Preßler - October 1, 1941
- Captain Walter Krauss - April 1, 1943
- Captain Hans-Ulrich Rudel - July 19, 1943
- Captain Lothar Lau - August 1, 1944
- Major Müller - January 23, 1945
10th (Pz) Jagdstaffel
- First Lieutenant Helmut Schübel - June 17, 1943
- Lieutenant dR Anton Korol - September 1, 1944
Known squadron members
- Bruno Dilley (1913–1968), Eichenlaub to the Knight's Cross on January 8, 1943, was after 1956 lieutenant colonel in the air force of the German armed forces and commander of the Reutlingen defense district
- Walter Rudolf Enneccerus (1911–1971), was from 1963 to 1967 as Brigadier General of the Air Force of the German Armed Forces, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Office
- Friedrich-Wilhelm Grunewald (1920–2001), was a brigadier general in the air force of the Bundeswehr and federal chairman of the small party Patriots for Germany
- Paul-Werner Hozzel (1910–1997), was in 1969 as Brigadier General of the Air Force of the German Armed Forces, Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces of the Baltic Sea Accesses
- Claus Hinkelbein (1909–1967), was from 1966 to 1967 as major general of the air force of the German armed forces, commander of the 4th air force division
- Kurt Kuhlmey (1913–1993), was in 1968 as major general in the air force of the German armed forces, first commander of the air transport command (LTKdo)
- August Lambert (1916–1945), was last squadron captain of the 8th squadron in the battle squadron 2 , Knight's Cross on May 14, 1944, died on April 17, 1945
literature
- David Thomson (Red.): The Air Force. BechterMünz, Eltville am Rhein 1993, ISBN 3-86047-050-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Target destroyed in Zeit online from September 1, 2009, accessed on July 8, 2011
- ↑ Hans-Erich Volkmann: Wolfram von Richthofen, the destruction of Wieluń and the international law of war. In: Military History Journal. 70 (2011), pp. 287–328, in particular p. 290 (on the number of victims), p. 314 ff. (Wieluń as a military exercise target) and others. P. 326 ff. (War crimes).
- ↑ Joachim Trenkner: Destroyed target. In: The time. Edition 7/2003.
- ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, May 1940. Retrieved on January 11, 2017 .
- ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, May 1940. Retrieved on January 11, 2017 .
- ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, September 1941 , accessed on July 13, 2013
- ^ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, April 1942 , accessed on July 14, 2013
- ↑ Military History Research Office (ed.): The German Reich and the Second World War . Volume 8: Karl-Heinz Frieser (Ed.): The Eastern Front 1943/44. The war in the east and on the secondary fronts. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-421-06235-2 , p. 91.