3.(H)/14 (2nd)
3.(H)/Aufkl.Gr. 14 (2d Formation)
Code: (5F + )
also as: 3.(H)/14 (Pz)
Formation and Training. (Nov 38 - Aug 39)
Formed 1 November 1938 at Aigen/Austria (ex-3.(H)/Aufkl.Gr. 18) with Heinkel He 46s. Probably transferred from Aigen to Köttingbrunn/Austria with the rest of the Gruppe on 15 December 1938, and then to Bad Vöslau/Austria a few months later. The Staffel converted to Henschel Hs 126s during the first half of 1939.[1]
Polish Campaign. (Sep 1939)
8.39: Staffel at Bad Vöslau at the end of August. One source (Dierich) places it in support of XVII. Armeekorps/14. Armee (XVII Corps/14th Army) in South Poland, ending the campaign on 23 September in the Lvov area.
8.9.39: 3.(H)/14 at Bielitz (Bielice)/Silesia in support of XVII. Armeekorps. (TsAMO 500/12452, Akte 673/85)
West - Phony War. (Sep 39 - May 40)
No information has come to light covering this period, but the Staffel’s transfers and activities probably paralleled those of 1.(H)/Aufkl.Gr. 14 (see there).
18.2.40: Hs 126B force landed 20 km from Göttingen, 45%.
Campaign West - Attack on France and the Low Countries. (May 40 - May 41)
10.5.40: Eifel area along the Belgian border south of Aachen under Koluft AOK 4 with Hs 126s for the attack into France this date, and assigned to support 7. Panzer-Division across Belgium to the Somme River between St.-Quentin and Abbeville in northeast France.
10.5.40: Hs 126 shot down by a French fighter - no details.
11.5.40: Hs 126 shot down by a Morane 406 over Dinant/SW Belgium.
6.6.40: Hs 126 shot down over Amiens on the Somme.
20.6.40: 1 KIA and 4 WIA when hit by ground fire near Lyon. This entry suggests the Staffel took part in the second phase of the campaign in France from around 6 to 23 June, driving south from the Riems area to the Swiss border.
3.8.40: Do 17P crashed - no details, Oblt. Volkel and Oblt. Schäfer both killed. It is unlikely that the Do 17P belonged to 3.(H)/14, rather it was probably being used to transport Staffel personnel.
12.9.40: Hs 126 landing accident near Malines, just north of Brussels, 40%.
1.10.40: Hs 126B crash landed at Haarend (Belg., or near Tilburg/Holland?).
17.10.40: Hs 126B crash landed at Fp. Keerbergen/c.30 km NE of Brussels, 25%.
30.10.40: Hs 126 crashed near Brussels in bad weather, 100%, 1 killed.
11.40 – 3.41: Staffel location unknown, but probably remained in the Brussels area.
24.4.41: Hs 126 B-1 damaged taxiing at Bad Vöslau/Austria, 10%.
9.5.41: Staffel member struck by a propeller at Fp. Lüben in Silesia.
Central Russia. (Jun 41 - Nov 41)
22.6.41: Brest-Litovsk area in eastern Poland under Koluft Panzergruppe 2/Army Group Center for the attack on the Soviet Union this date, and assigned to support 10th Panzer Division/XXXXVI Motorized Corps along a line of advance to the Minsk area (29 June) and then to Smolensk (16 July).
10.7.41: Staffel mentioned in dispatches for being instrumental in the destruction of two Russian artillery batteries north of Shirovka by spotting them and then calling in counter-battery fire.
26.7.41: Staffel operating from Luchesy near Smolensk.
11.8.41: now at Pochinok/50 km SE of Smolensk under Gruppenfliegerstab 14 in support of 10th Panzer Division.
19.9.41: a crew member was WIA by enemy fire near Smolensk.
2.10.41: Operation “Taifun” (Typhoon), the attack to take Moscow - Staffel continued to support 10th Panzer Division, which was now under XXXX Motorized Corps/Panzergruppe 4, along the axis Vyazma to the outskirts of Moscow by early December, and then withdrawing to the Yukhnov area/SE of Vyazma.
10.10.41: Staffel operating from Vyazma.
West - Germany and France. (Nov 41 - May 42)
11.41 or 12.41: Staffel withdrawn from operations and returned to Germany (or France) to convert from the Hs 126 to the Fw 189.
18.2.42: Hs 126 crashed near Leningrad due to engine trouble while ferrying the aircraft to another unit on the northern sector of the Eastern Front, 70%. This was in connection with the Staffel divesting itself of its Henschels in preparation for conversion to the Fw 189.
1.3.42: Staffel reported 5 x Fw 189 A-1 on strength.
7.4.42: Fw 189 A-1 crash landed at Auve/NE of Chalons in France, 80%, 1 injured.
South Russia. (May 42 - Nov 42)
16.5.42: in transfer to Stalino for assignment to Nahaufklärungsgruppe 3.
6.6.42: arrived at Barvenkovo airfield and here until 5 July.
20.6.42: Staffel reported 9(6) Fw 189s on strength.
5.7.42: Fw 189 A-1 crash landed at Fp. Makeyevka/12 km E of Stalino, 40%.
10.8.42: Fi 156 damaged taxiing at Fp. Konstantinovka/115 km W of Voroshilovgrad, 25%.
8.42: supported LVII Panzer Corps/1st Panzer Army into North Caucasia under NAGr. 3, penetrating to the Maikop area.
16.9.42: Fi 156 damaged taking off at Naftyanaya near Maikop, 25%.
24.9.42: Fw 189 (5F+LL) failed to return from a recce sortie over Tuapse on the Black Sea coast, 100%, 3 MIA.
4.11.42: transferred with NAGr. 3 from Maikop/North Caucasia to Dretun/83 km NW of Vitebsk on the central sector of the Eastern Front.
9 December 1942: Fw 189 A-2 (5F+NL) from 3.(H)/14 shot down by AA-fire near Velikiye Luki, 100%, 3 MIA.
29 December 1942: Fw 189 shot up by a fighter and force landed south-east of Velikiye Luki, 100%, Staka Hptm. Hans Mühlenstädt + 1 WIA and 1 KIA.
Central Russia. (Nov 42 - Feb 44)
8.2.43: Fw 189 severely damaged taking off from Fp. Dretun, 80%.
1.3.43: Staffel reported 1 x Fw 189 A-1, 5 x Fw 189 A-2 and 1 x Fw 189 A-3 on strength.
5.5.43: Fw 189 A-2 shot down by AA-fire south of Velizh, 100%.
8.5.43: Fw 189 (5F+BL) probably shot down by ground fire over Yazhonitsa, 100%, Staka Hptm. Bickert (observer) and 2 others reported MIA, but all were able to safely find their way back to German lines.
29.5.43: Fw 189 (5F+KL) shot down by a fighter - no details, 100%, 2 WIA and 1 MIA.
6.43 – 2.44: with a few exceptions, the Staffel’s location and activities are combined with those of the NAGr. it was assigned to and cannot be separated in the surviving records. These assignments are believed to have been: NAGr. 3 to c.1.43; NAGr. 5 and NAGr. 3 from c.2.43 to c.9.43; and NAGr. 4 from c.10.43 to c.2.44.
25 August 1943: Fw 189 (5F+GL) failed to return (FTR) and believed shot down by a fighter in the Kirov-Spas Demensk area, 100%, Hptm. Rolf Grosse WIA and 2 KIA.
2.44: probably at Orsha - Staffel renamed Nahaufklärungsstaffel 13./14.
FpN:3.(H)/14 (L 07230).
Staffelkapitän:
Maj. (first name?) Stein ( ? - ? ) 5/40
Hptm. Gustav-Wilhelm Pettenpaul ( ? - c.Nov 40 or Jun 41?)
Oblt. Ottheinrich Lang ( ? - Sep 42) 8/42
Hptm. Hans Mühlenstädt (Oct 42 - ? ) 12/42
Oblt. Hermann Donecker ( ? - May 43) MIA 8.5.43
Hptm. Erich Bickert ( ? - Feb 44) 5/43
Also see:
ALBERS, Hans, Oblt.
BERTRAM, Heinz, Oblt.
BOHMMÜLLER, Dr. (jur.) Friedrich-Wilhelm ("Fritz"), Oblt.d.R.
BOIE, Werner, Oblt.
DREWES, Friedrich, Lt./Oblt.
EICKMANN, Walter, Lt.
GROSSE, Rolf, Hptm.
KOLL, Paul, Lt.
KREFT, Walter, Oblt.
KRIEGLSTEIN, Rolf, Lt.
LEHMANN, Erich, Oblt.
MASTALLER, Viktor, Lt.
MEYER, (first name?), Oblt.
MEYER-zu-BANTRUP, Walter, Lt.
NEUBERT, Frank Ingolf Armin Leo, Lt.
OBENHUBER, (first name?), Oblt.
SCHÄFER, Helmut, Oblt.
THEDERING, Ernst August, Lt.
THIES, Reinhard, Oblt.
VÖLKEL, Rolf, Obblt.
WEIGELT, Karl, Hptm.
WEIGOLD, Karl, Oblt.
WÖLFING, (first name?), Lt.
© by Henry L. deZeng IV (Work in Progress). (1st Draft 2021)
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; Tessin, Georg, Deutsche Verbände und Truppen 1918-1939: Altes Heer, Freiwilligenverbände, Reichswehr, Heer, Luftwaffe, Landespolizei; 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.398; C.Shores - Fledgling Eagles: The Complete Account of Air Operations During the ‘Phony War’ and Norwegian Campaign, 1940, pp.16-24; NARA WashDC: RG 242 (T-77 roll 922/1138); (T-313 roll 85/898); AFHRA Maxwell decimal Karlsruhe Collection KC-Kl13.309-3/ v.1; PRO London: AIR 40/1968 and 1982, 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); BA-MA Freiburg: Flugzeug-Bereitstellungen (Aircraft Availability Status Reports – FzB) in: M.Holm-website (ww2.dk); Luftwaffen-Revue magazine, 4/1992; http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=50483&page=13 (aerial photo).