Schleppgruppe 2

Schleppgruppe 2

Code: (F7+__)?

Ordered formed October 1943 by renaming Verbindungskommando (S) 4.

FpNs:

Stab/2: L 51 591 (*26 Nov 1943 by renaming Stab/Verb.Kdo.(S) 4. +12 Dec 1944),

1.(DFS) Staffel/2: L 49 222 (*26 Nov 1943 by renaming 1.(DFS)/VIII. Fliegerkorps. +12 Dec 1944).

2.(DFS) Staffel/2: (planned, but formation not completed).

3.(Go) Staffel/2: L 49 045 (*26 Nov 1943 by renaming 2.(Go)/Verb.Kdo.(S) 4. +16 Jan 1945).

4.(Go) Staffel/2: L 49 505 (*11 Mar 1944 by renaming 1.(Go)/Lw.Kdo.Don. +12 Dec 1944).

History

Following its establishment at Lvov (Lviv) in southeast Poland, the Gruppe was employed to ferry supplies to the Crimea until February 1944, using airfields at Nikolayev and Odessa in South Ukraine as forward departure bases. Crimea had been cut off from the mainland at the end of October 1943 by the rapid advance of Soviet forces under the Fourth Ukrainian Front. In March 1944, the Gruppe was called upon for the massive airlift operation arranged for the resupply of First Panzer Army (Pz.AOK 1) surrounded in the Ternopol-Proskurov area southeast of Lvov.

After First Panzer broke out of the encirclement in early April, Schleppgruppe 2 transferred to east-central Romania to continue its operations into the Crimea. On 20 April, it began flying medical evacuation missions under the tactical control of Transportgeschwader 5 to help remove the thousands of wounded that were accumulating in the bitter defence of the Crimean Peninsula. These operations continued until Crimea fell on 13 May, after which the Gruppe spent the next three months ferrying critical supplies and parts throughout Romania and Hungary. On 19 August 1944, the Red Army began its main offensive into Romania, on the 23d Romania capitulated, and on the 27th Schleppgruppe 2 was ordered to withdraw to Eastern Hungary. While passing through Grosswardein on 29 August, it had significant losses in personnel and equipment during a raid on the airfield there by U.S. aircraft based in Italy. A few weeks later it moved to the Lake Balaton area in western Hungary where it was ordered disbanded on 18 October 1944. All remaining personnel were ordered to transfer by train to Gardelegen, 125 kilometers west of Berlin, ostensibly for reassignment to infantry units.

Kommandeure (Commanding Officers)

Hptm. Horst Landwehr (10/43 - 10/43)

Hptm. Johann Fae (10/43 - 10/44?) 4/44

Stations

Lvov (Lemberg, Lviv), Mielec/Poland and Kirovograd/Ukraine (10/43 – 4/44)

Buzau and Focsani/Romania (4/44 - 8/44)

Oradea (Grosswardein)/Hungary (8/44 - 9/44)

Tapolcza/Hungary (9/44 - 10/44)

Equipment and Returns

(no details found)

Representative Losses Schleppgruppe 2

14.12.43: Go 242 glider from 4.Staffel crashed NW of Trembovla (Terebovlya)/135 km ESE of Lvov (Lviv) in W Ukraine, 80%.

[With the exception of the above entry, the destruction or disappearance of the Luftwaffe General Quartermaster (Gen.Qu./6.Abt.) Loss Reports (Verlustmeldungen d. fliegende Verbände) for all of 1944 and parts of 1945 makes a listing of losses unworkable.]

Also see:

BECHER, Heinz, Lt. Pilot.

BEHNKE, Hans-Friedrich, Lt. Pilot.

BROMUND, Erich, Hptm. Staka 4.(Go)/2.

EHRHARDT, Fridemar (or ERHARDT, G.?), Hptm. Staka 1.(DFS)/2, then Kdr. (30.10.43 - 15.10.44)

FAÉ, Johann-Anton, Hptm. Staka 1.(DFS)/2 then Kdr. (30.10.43 - 15.10.44)

HÜCKEL, ? , Oblt. Staka 1.(DFS)/2.

LANDWEHR, Horst, Hptm. Kdr. ( ? - 10/43).

MAEDGE, Herbert, Hptm. Staka 3.(Go)/2.

SCHUMACHER (SCHUHMACHER?), (Heinz? Karl?), Oblt. Pilot.

STIEFEL, Gustav, Oblt. Pilot.

Markings

See: Ketley, Barry. Luftwaffe Emblems 1939-1945. Manchester: Crécy Publishing Limited, 2012.

Distinctions and Remarks

© by Henry L. deZeng IV (Work in Progress, 2023).

(1st Draft 2023)

References

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