1.(F)/125 (2nd)
1./Aufklärungsgruppe 125 (2d Formation)
(Unit Code 7R+)
Also as: 1.(F)/Aufklärungsgruppe 125
Formation and History. (April 1941 - May 1941)
Formed 1 April 1941 at Kiel-Holtenau (new) with Heinkel He 60s.[1]
Eastern Baltic. (June 1941 - November 1941)
22 June 1941: at either Fischhausen or Pillau, both near Königsberg/East Prussia, with 9 He 60s under Stab/Aufkl.Gr. 125 for the attack on the Soviet Union beginning this date.
July 1941: began receiving some Heinkel He 114 floatplanes, which were intended to gradually replace the older He 60s.
8 July – August 1941: in addition to Pillau, elements were also operating out of Turku in south-west Finland.
12 July 1941: Oblt. Günter Zedelius WIA when his floatplane was attacked by a fighter while on a recce patrol off Hangö/Finland.
17 July 1941: based at Pillau/East Prussia with He 60s and He 114s.
8 August 1941: still at Pillau.
September 1941: moved to Pärnu/Estonia at the beginning of September to take part in the amphibious landings on the islands of Hiiumaa and Saaremaa that began on 6 September.
15 September 1941: He 114 B-l returned to Pärnu shot up by AA fire, 30%.
28 September – 4 November 1941: elements - probably a Kette of 3 aircraft - based at Helsinki-Santahamina before joining the rest of the Staffel at Tallinn.
8 October 1941: now at Helsinki/Finland with He 114s.
19 October 1941: ordered to transfer from Helsinki to Tallinn/Estonia.
11 November 1941: returned to Pillau in early November to rest and refit, and then on 22 November ordered to North Norway. However, the order was changed and instead the Staffel was sent to List on the island of Sylt in the North Sea to convert to the Blohm und Voss BV 138 flying boat. Following conversion, it normally had a complement of 7 to 9 of them.
Norway. (March 1942 - February 1943)
March 1942: conversion and work-up completed at List, transferred to North Norway by mid-March with half of the Staffel at Tromsö and the other half at Bodö, and remained there to approximately July 1942.
2 July 1942: BV 138 crashed in fog on Kvalöy Island to the north of Tromsö, 100%, 2 killed and 2 injured.
4 July 1942: BV 138 (7R+HH) failed to return from a recce mission, 100%, 5 MIA.
July 1942: Staffel said to have moved north to Alta in northernmost Norway and continually identified there in September, November and December 1942, operating under Fliegerführer Lofoten with BV 138s. Alta Fjord was a major anchorage for German Navy surface units deployed in Arctic waters.
17 November 1942: BV 138 force landed north-west of Trondheim Fjord and sank, 100%, 1 killed.
January 1943: now back at Tromsö, but small detachments of 1 to 3 aircraft also identified at Alta and at Billefjord (on 22 January).
23 January 1943: BV 138 damaged in accident at Tromsö, 20%.
February 1943: renamed 2./Küstenfliegergruppe 706.
FpN: 1.(F)/125 (L 05789).
Staffelkapitän:
Hptm. Heinz Seebens? ( ? - ? ) 1940-41
Hptm. Friedrich Schallmayer ( ? - ? ) 6/41
© by Henry L. deZeng IV (Work in Progress). (1st Draft 2022)
References
- ↑ J.-P.Défieux - Répertoire des Unités Aériennes de la Luftwaffe 1935-1945: Reconnaissance Aéronavale (Nanterre, privately published, n.d. (c 1988-90?); W.Dierich - Die Verbände der Luftwaffe 1935-1945: Gliederungen und Kurzchroniken – Eine Dokumentation; G.Tessin - Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945, Teil 14: Die Luftstreitkräfte (Osnabrück, 1980); N.Kannapin - Die deutsche Feldpostübersicht 1939-1945. 3 Bde (I – III) (Osnabrück, 1980-82); F.Kurowski - Seekrieg aus der Luft: Die deutsche Seeluftwaffe im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Herford, 1979), pp.91, 297; U.Balke - Der Luftkrieg in Europa: Die Operativen Einsätze des Kampfgeschwader 2 im Zweiten Weltkrieg, 2 Bde (Koblenz, 1989-90), Teil 1, p.416; PRO London: AIR 40/1976, 1981, 1995; PRO London: ADM 223/OIC-SI (Operational Intelligence Centre - Special Intelligence), a daily intelligence report based on ULTRA and other signals intelligence that began about January 1942; PRO London: AIR 40 Air Ministry intelligence reports and lists based on ULTRA, “Y” Service intercepts, captured documents and PoW interrogations; BA-MA Freiburg: RL 2 III Meldungen über Flugzeugunfälle…..(Loss Reports – LRs); NARA WashDC: RG 242 (Microcopy T-77); C-F.Geust/H.Valtonen – comments in Luftwaffe Verband Journal No. 19, Issue 3; K.Maesel – personal correspondence with H.L.deZeng; M.Holm-website ww2.dk.