1./NAGr. 8
1./NAGr. 8
(Unit Code E3+)
Formation. (March 1944))
Ordered formed approximately March 1944 (1 February 1944 according to other sources) at Herzogenaurach/Bavaria (ex-Nahaufkl.St. 11./13) and equipped with Messerschmitt Bf 109G single-seat fighters outfitted for reconnaissance missions. The Staffel’s Feldpost number was assigned on 21 April 1944.[1]
Germany. (March 1944 to May 1945)
March – July 1944: Herzogenaurach - formation, training and work-up under Stab/NAGr. 8. At the end of June, the Staffel had 3 Bf 109 G-8s and during July it received 16 more.
July - September 1944: ordered to Olita (Alytus)/55 km south of Kaunas in Lithuania about 8 July to reinforced Luftwaffe assets along the front east of Warsaw where German forces were in retreat following the Russian Belorussian summer offensive that began on 22 June. The following account of the Staffel’s movements from July to the end of 1944 is based on unconfirmed secondary material that may have originated from flight logs (Flugbücher) but cannot be certified as absolutely correct. Next, the Staffel is said to have moved to Raczki/13 km south-west of Suwałki in northeastern Poland on 11 July, and then to Jürgenfelde/East Prussia on 24 July and remained there until mid-September as the Russian offensive rolled through Lithuania and approached East Prussia.
1 September 1944: Staffel reported 14 Bf 109 G-8 on strength.
12 September 1944: ordered forward to Polangen (Palanga)/25 km north of Klaipeda (Memel) in western Lithuania as part of German plans to keep a corridor open into north-west Latvia. Not quite a month later (8-10 October) Soviet 1st Baltic Front pushed through to the coast and severed the corridor.
October 1944: withdrew to Eichwalde (Polessk)/40 km east-north-east of Königsberg in East Prussia and remained there through December. From July to the end of October, 1./NAGr. 8 lost 10 Bf 109Gs in action and another 11 to causes not related to direct action by the enemy.
January 1945: transferred to Mackfitz (Ploty)/62 km north-east of Stettin (Szczecin), probably after the Russians began their winter offensive on 12 January that quickly drove German forces out of eastern and central East Prussia.
18 February 1945: Bf 109 G-8 failed to return from an operational sortie but location not given, 100%, Oblt. Werner Crede MIA.
1 March 1945: at Finow/c.55 km north-north-east of Berlin under NAGr. 8.
29 March 1945: still at Finow. Believed to have remained there until the latter part of April when advancing Soviet forces forced it to withdraw northwest toward Schleswig-Holstein.
28 April 1945: attached to Stab/NAGr. 3 in north Germany under 1. Fliegerdivision. The Staffel probably withdrew to Leek in Schleswig-Holstein with Stab/NAGr. 3 at the beginning of May and surrendered there on 8 May.
FpN:1./NAGr. 8 (L 20070).
Staffelkapitän:
Hptm. Heinz Rehdantz ( ? - c.8 May 1945) 4/45
© by Henry L. deZeng IV (Work in Progress).
(1st Draft 2022)
References
- ↑ 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); NARA WashDC: RG 242 (Microcopy T-321 roll 50/876); AFHRA Maxwell: decimal 512.625S (British Air Ministry) OKL document; BA-MA Freiburg: RL 2 III Meldungen über Flugzeugunfälle…..(Loss Reports – LRs); BA-MA Freiburg: Signatur RL 40/Kart; BA-MA Freiburg: OKL order Ia Nr. 280/45; M.Holm-website ww2.dk.