2.(H)/41
2.(H)/Aufkl.Gr. 41
Code: (C2 + )
Formation and Training. (Nov 38 - Aug 39)
Formed 1 November 1938 at Reichenberg/Sudetenland (ex-2. (H)/Aufkl.Gr.52) and equipped with Heinkel He 45s and He 46s, although these were replaced with Henschel Hs l26s during the first half of 1939.[1]
Polish Campaign and Germany. (Sep 39 - Apr 40)
1.9.39: deployed from Reichenberg to Gross-Lassewitz/Silesia with 12 Hs l26s on receipt of the 26 August call to general mobilization and assigned to support XVI. Armeekorps (mot)/10th Army for the advance into Poland along the line Kreuzberg/Silesia - Piotrkow - Radom area - Warsaw.
10.39 – 3.40: location unknown, but the Staffel probably returned to Reichenberg on conclusion of the campaign at the end of September to rest and refit before moving West for the next offensive.
West - Attack on France and the Low Countries. (May 40 - c.May 41)
12.4.40: Hs 126 crashed during practice maneuvers near Fp. Marx/18 km SW of Wilhelmshaven in NW Germany, 80%, 2 injured.
13.4.40: Hs 126 crashed during practice maneuvers at Fp. Marx, 70%, 1 killed and 1 injured.
10.5.40: assigned to support XVI Motorized Corps/Army Group B for the campaign in the West beginning this date, advancing through Belgium into northeast France.
17.5.40: Hs 126 shot down by a RAF Hurricane over Nivelles/S of Brussels, 100%.
19.5.40: Hs 126 failed to return from a recce mission over Flanders, 100%.
13.8.40: West France, possibly in the Royan area on the Bay of Biscay, under Stab/Aufkl.Gr.4l with 7 Hs l26s.
14.11.40: Hs 126 damaged taxiing at Fp. Biarritz/SW France, 50%.
19.2.41: Hs l26 B-l ran out of fuel and force landed at Steinau/NE of Frankfurt/M., 50%.
Central Russia and Germany. (Jun 41 - Apr 42)
22.6.41: Brest-Litovsk area in eastern Poland under Koluft AOK 4/Army Group Center for the attack on the Soviet Union this date - assigned to support IX. Armeekorps/4th Army along a line of march via Minsk (29 June) - Smolensk (16 July) - Yelnya (August) Vyazma (23 October) - Yukhnov (November) and then to the vicinity of Moscow.
11.8.41: at field airstrip Prudki in the Smolensk area and now under Koluft Panzergruppe 2 in support of IX Corps.
15.8.41: 2 aircrew personnel WIA near Yelnya.
20.12.41: Hs 126 crashed at Posnakova, 100%, Staka Hptm. Girke + 1 KIA.
1.42 – 5.42: withdrawn from operations and returned to the Reich or the occupied West for conversion to the Focke Wulf Fw 189, but it is not known where this took place. On 1 March 1942 a total of 3 of the Fw 189 A-1s had been delivered and most or all of the balance had been received before the end of the month.
South Russia. (May 42 - Mar 43)
24.5.42: conversion completed, arrived at Fp. Kharkov I this date for assignment to Nahaufklärungsgruppe 4.
20.6.42: Staffel reported 9(9) Fw 189s on strength. The German summer offensive toward the Don and Stalingrad began 5 days later.
30.6.42: Fw 189 A-3 shot up by a fighter over Bosovaya. 50%, Hptm. Gregor Werder + 2 KIA.
19.7.42: Oblt. Dr. Hans Schulz strafed by a Russian fighter and KIA at Fp. Millerovo to the west of Stalingrad.
10.8.42: Fw 189 belly landed at Fp. Frolov/W of Stalingrad, 20%.
3.9.42: one man WIA by enemy fire at Yelampyyevski airstrip.
18.9.42: one aircrew member WIA by AA-fire near Kotluban along the Don to the NW of Stalingrad.
1.10.42: Staffel reported 2 x Fw 189 A-1, 2 x Fw 189 A-2 and 4 x Fw 189 A-3 on strength.
21.10.42: Fw 189 damaged by bombs during enemy air attack on Ffp. Yelampyyevski/72 km NW of Stalingrad, 35%.
17.11.42: Staffel ordered to transfer to Konotop this date to rest, refit and re-equip under NAGr. 4. But this move is unlikely to have occurred, since the massive Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad began on 19 November.
12.42: operating under Aufklärungsgruppe Fleischmann, a composite reconnaissance group formed from the remnants of a number of Aufklärungsstaffeln.
1.1.43: Staffel reported no aircraft on strength.
3.2.43: Staffel reported destroyed at Stalingrad; among the many casualties was the Staffelführer, Hptm. Fink, who was listed as wounded.
3.43: a few survivors from 2.(H)/41 are thought to have been incorporated into 2./NAGr. 4, which was formed at about this time.
FpN:2.(H)/41 (L 01220).
Staffelkapitän:
Hptm. Udo-Ernst Haack ( ? - ? ) 9/39, 8/40
Hptm. Heinz Girke ( ? - 20 Dec 41) 8/40, KIA
Hptm. Herbert Fink ( ? - c.Feb 43)
Also see:
BECKERT, Horst, Oblt.
BENWETSCH, Erwin, Lt.
BRENKEN, H. (Hans?), Lt. (Kr.O.)
BRONWOTSCH, E., Lt.
FRIEDRICH, Eberhard, Oblt.
HABER, Dr. (rer.nat.) Heinz, Oblt.
HENNE, Arnold, Oblt.
KRUMEICH, Klaus, Lt.
MARTEN, Walter, Lt.
OHME, Arno., Lt.
PFEUFFER, Josef, Oblt.
RABER, ? Dr., Oblt.
SCHULZ, Dr. Hans, Oblt.
TOMOWSKY, Armin, Oblt.
UEBELE, Friedrich, Lt.
WERDER, Gregor, Hptm.
© 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?); K.Ries - Luftwaffen Story 1935-1939; 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; U.Balke - Der Luftkrieg in Europa: Die Operativen Einsätze des Kampfgeschwader 2 im Zweiten Weltkrieg, Teil I, p.399, 412; AFHRA Maxwell: Karlsruhe Collection KC - Kl13.309-3/v.1; NARA WashDC: RG 242 (T-313 roll 85/898); (T-321 roll 115/001ff); PRO London: AIR 40/1975; BA-MA Freiburg: Signatur RL 20/274-77; BA-MA Freiburg: RL 2 III Meldungen über Flugzeugunfälle…..(Loss Reports – LRs); BA-MA Freiburg: Flugzeug-Bereitstellungen (Aircraft Availability Status Reports – FzB) in: M.Holm-website (ww2.dk).