2.(H)/32
2.(H)/Aufkl.Gr. 32
Code: (V7 + )
also as: 2.(H)/32 (Pz)
Formation and Training. (Apr 40 - May 40)
Formed about April-May 1940 (new) with Henschel Hs 126s. Place of formation is not known, but presumably in southern Germany under Luftflotte 3.[1]
Attack on France and the Low Countries. (May 40 - Mar 41)
10.5.40: not believed to be operational in time for the campaign in the West this date, but by June may have been assigned to XXIV. Armeekorps/1st Army in the Saarpfalz region and based at or near Pirmasens.
30.8.40: Belgium-North France area under Koluft AOK 16 and assigned to XXXXII. Armeekorps.
2.9.40: Hs 126 accident at Fp. Konstanz/Boden-See (Lake Constance), 20%.
10.9.40: Hs 126B damaged in forced landing - no details, 45%.
16.9.40: Hs 126 crash landed near Kassel, 90%.
24.9.40: Hs 126B damaged landing at Fp. Beulemont (Deulemont? - not located), 40%.
11.10.40: Hs 126A (V7+LD) damaged in accident at Fp. Roth near Nürnberg, 12%.
14.11.40: Fi 156 damaged at Feldflugplatz (airstrip) Beulemont during a storm, 40%.
1.12.40: Hs 126 crash landed at Feldflugplatz (airstrip) Beulemont, 20%.
Balkan Campaign. (Apr 41 - May 41)
6.4.41: Austria or western Hungary under Koluft AOK 2 for the attack on Yugoslavia this date, and assigned to support 14. Panzer-Division. The campaign ended with the surrender of the Yugoslav Army on 17 April, so it is unlikely that the Staffel had much operational exposure. No losses were reported.
20.5.41: Hs 126 B-1 struck obstacle at Fp. Lippstadt/NW Germany, 50%.
Central Russia. (Jun 41 - Feb 42)
22.6.41: Sudauen (Suwałki) area in East Prussia under Koluft Panzergruppe 3/Army Group Center for the attack on the Soviet Union this date - assigned to support 19th Panzer Division/LVII Motorized Corps along a line of advance Sudauen area Vilnius/Lithuania - Minsk (29 June) - Smolensk (16 July) - Nevel (August) Vyazma - Mozhaisk - Kaluga (12 October) to roughly 70 kilometers SW of Podolsk near Moscow (30 October).
22.10.41: Hs 126B failed to return from a recce mission to the Podolsk area/40 krn S of Moscow, 100%, 2 MIA. This is the only known loss for the Staffel from June 1941 to the end of the year. Either it truly did not have any, or they were not recorded for some unknown reason.
11.41: withdrawn from operations and ordered back to the Reich or West to convert to the Focke Wulf Fw 189. It is not know where the conversion took place aside from the fact that it was in France.
13.2.42: Fw 189 A-1 belly landed at Fp. Cambrai in France, 10%.
1.3.42: Staffel reported 2 x Fw 189 A-1 and 1 x Fw 189 A-0 on strength, but by 1 April 8 x Fw 189 A-1 on hand.
South Russia. (May 42 - Mar 43)
23.5.42: Kursk area under Nahaufklärungsgruppe 14 in support of 4th Panzer Army.
31.5.42: man from the Staffel’s ground staff KIA near Fp. Shchigry/50 km ENE of Kursk by a strafing Russian fighter.
12.6.42: Fw 189 crashed on take-off from Kursk-West, 100%, 3 killed.
20.6.42: Staffel reported 7(7) Fw 189s on strength.
28.6.42: Fw 189 A-1 crash landed at Spaskoye/25 km ENE of Orel (or 138 km NNE (NNW?) of Voronezh), 45%.
13.8.42: Fw 189 damaged by bombs at Fp. Mineralnyye-Vody/North Caucasia during enemy air attack, 65%.
26.10.42: air crew member WIA by machine gun fire at Alexandrovskaya/North Caucasia.
11.42: from this date on, all Staffel losses were reported under the Nahaufklärungsgruppe to which it was assigned.
1.12.42: Staffel reported 3 x Fw 189 A-2 and 2 x Fw 189 A-3 on strength.
12.42: moved from North Caucasia to the Stalingrad front with other components of NAGr. 14.
2.2.43: Staffel decimated in the heavy fighting around Stalingrad, having lost all of its aircraft by 1 January 1943; remnants of its scattered personnel were reported in the Donets Basin area during February and March.
4.43: Staffel officially disbanded around 1 April 1943.
FpN:2.(H)/32 (L 33214).
Staffelkapitän:
Hptm./Maj. Ernst-Eugen von Michaelis ( ? - ? ) 7/40, 5/41?
Hptm. Paul Liesenhoff ( ? - Jan 43) 11/42
Also see:
ABEL, Dietrich von, Lt./Oblt.
ALLEXI, Josef, Oblt.(Kr.O.)
BAUMELER, Hans, Lt.
GÄRTNER, Ludwig, Oblt.
GÖRG, Friedrich (Fritz?), Lt./Oblt.(Kr.O.)
GRAPP, Günther, Hptm.
HÄNSLER, Fritz, Lt.
KANTZ, Georg, Lt./Oblt.
KARSTEN, Helmut, Lt.
MENTZEL, Rolf, Oblt.
MÜLLER, Paul, Lt.
WESTERMANN, Hans, Oblt.
© by Henry L. deZeng IV (Work in Progress).
(1st Draft 2021)
References
- ↑ G.Tessin - Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945, 16+ Bde., Teil 14: Die Luftstreitkräfte (Osnabrück, 1980); W.Dierich - Die Verbände der Luftwaffe 1935-1945: Gliederungen und Kurzchroniken – Eine Dokumentation; N.Kannapin - Die deutsche Feldpostübersicht 1939-1945; C.Shores et al - Air War For Yugoslavia, Greece, and Crete 1940-41, p.180; AFHRA Maxwell decimal Karlsruhe Collection KC-Kl13.309-3/ v.1; NARA WashDC: RG 242 (T-312 roll 1660/066); PRO London: AIR 40 Air Ministry intelligence reports and lists based on ULTRA, “Y” Service intercepts, captured documents and PoW interrogations