3.(H)/23 (2nd)
3.(H)/Aufkl.Gr. 23 (2nd Formation)
Code: (6K + )
also as: 3.(H)/23 (Pz)
Formation and Training. (Dec 40 - Apr 41)
Formed or ordered formed around late December 1940 or early January 1941, possibly at Vienna, using assets taken from 1.(H)/Aufkl.Gr. 23 and equipped with Henschel Hs 126s.[1]
North Russia. (May 41 - Fall 41)
4.41: after initial training and work-up, transferred to East Prussia.
26.5.41: Hs 126 crash landed at Allenstein-Mohrungen/East Prussia due to engine trouble, 80%.
22.6.41: East Prussia under Koluft Panzergruppe 4/Army Group North for the attack on the Soviet Union this date - assigned to support 6. Panzer-Division/XXXXI. Armeekorps (mot) that advanced across Lithuania - eastern Latvia - Ostrov (4 July) Luga River line where the offensive was delayed for a month, and then on to the outskirts of Leningrad (14 September).
7.41 – 8.41: if the Staffel followed the 6th Panzer Division’s line of advance into Russia, which it probably did, then it was accomplished without loss. There is no mention of 3.(H)/23 in the loss reports for this period.
9.41: believed disbanded during the second half of September, as were many of the stepsister Staffeln formed at the end of 1940, and its Feldpost number deleted in January 1942. Some accounts claim it wasn’t disbanded until January 1942, but offer no corroboration to substantiate this belief.
FpN:3. (H)/23 (L 43782)
Staffelkapitän:
Hptm. Walter Pletke ( ? - ? ) 1941
Also see:
ALLEXI, Josef, Lt.
PFAFFENDORF, Armin, Lt.
© 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; AFHRA Maxwell decimal Karlsruhe Collection KC-Kl13.309-3/ v.1; BA-MA Freiburg: RL 2 III Meldungen über Flugzeugunfälle…..(Loss Reports – LRs).