Stab/KG.z.b.V 1
Formation. (Aug 1939)
Formed (new) 26 August 1939 at Stendal/54 km NNE of Magdeburg. The Geschwader was formed and organized by consolidating and expanding the independent pre-war Kampfgruppen z.b.V. 1 and 2, which had been formed on 1 April and 1 August 1938 respectively, to full transport Geschwader strength with a Geschwaderstab and four Gruppen (I. - IV.).[1]
Poland, Balkans and Russia. (Sep 1939 - Apr 1943)
1 Sep 1939: Geschwaderstab at Liegnitz/Silesia with 3 Ju 52s.[2]
Sep 1939: Stab moved back and forth between Liegnitz and Seerappen in East Prussia during the campaign in Poland. The Geschwader's principal task was to provide airlift and supply support to Fallschirmjäger-Rgt. 2 through 12 September and then from 13 September it was mainly active in flying fuel and supplies in the Luftflotte 4 area in South Poland.[3]
14 May - 3 Jun 1941: the Stab reported 1 Ju 52 damaged during the airborne and air-landing assault on Crete. Commanded II. and IV./KG z.b.V. 1 during the campaign.[4]
20 Jun - 20 Dec 1941: Geschwaderstab directly under Ob.d.L. (Berlin) acting as Lufttransportführer for the entire Luftwaffe.[5]
Dec 1941: Stab moved in Smolensk during the second half of December to direct the rapid build-up of transport units on the central sector of the Eastern Front to support the retreat of ground forces following the Soviet counteroffensive west of Moscow.[6]
5 Jan 1942: SM 82 belonging to Stabsstaffel/KG z.b.V. 1 destroyed on the ground during an Allied bombing raid on Fp. Castel Benito/26 km SSW of Tripoli in Libya. The Geschwader's Stabskette had been increased to Staffel strength during 1940 or 191941, but exactly when is not known. Why all or part of the Stabsstaffel was in North Africa at the same time the Geschwaderstab was in Russia is also not known, but it appears it operated independent of the Geschwaderstab (see 22 July entry, below).
Feb 1942: transferred from Smolensk to Pskov on the northern sector of the front to take command of the Demyansk airlift. Nearly every available transport in the Luftwaffe, including school aircraft, were brought in to fly supplies to the 95,000 troops surrounded in a pocket southeast of Lake Ilmen and to bring out wounded on the return flight. The airlift began on 12 February and lasted until 18 May.[7]
24 May 1942: the Demyansk crisis over, the Stab moved to Dnepropetrovsk-South to command transport units that were to support the summer campaign toward Voronezh, Stalingrad and into North Caucasia.[8]
22 Jul 1942: Ju 52 from the Stabsstaffel crash landed at Fp. Tobruk during a sand storm, 60%.
15 Nov 1942: Stab still in South Russia and in control of all transport assets supporting VIII. Fliegerkorps in the Stalingrad area.[9]
25-29 Nov 1942: under VIII. Fliegerkorps/Luftflotte 4 - commanded numerous transport Gruppen brought in for the Stalingrad airlift, this continuing until the German 6. Armee finally surrendered to the Russians on 2 February 1943. Returned to Germany in the weeks following the end of the air supply operation.[10]
13 Apr 1943: Geschwaderstab at Hildesheim.[11]
1 May 1943: renamed Geschwaderstab/TG 1 effective this date.[12]
FpNs:(L 35655, L 37740)
Kommodore:[13]
Obstlt. Friedrich Morzik (R) (26 Aug 39 - May 41)
Obstlt. Henning Wilke (May 41 - 29 Jul 41)
Maj. Rudolf Trautvetter (DKS) (30 Jul 41 - 7 Dec 41)
Maj. Otto Förster (8 Dec 41 - 31 Dec 42)
Maj. Karl Drewes (1 Jan 43 - 6 Apr 43)
Obstlt. Adolf Jäckel (7 Apr 43 - 1 May 43)
© H.L. deZeng IV, 2003
Links
References
- ↑ K.Ries- Luftwaffen Story 1935-1939; Green-Warplanes:408.
- ↑ U.Balke-KG 2/Teil 1:390.
- ↑ G.Tessin-Tes.
- ↑ BA-MA Freiburg: RL 2 III Meldungen über Flugzeugunfälle....(Loss Reports - LRs).
- ↑ AFHRA Maxwell: decimal K113.309-3/v.4 Karlsruhe Collection.
- ↑ Tessin-op cit.
- ↑ Tessin-op cit; F.Morzik-German Air Force Airlift Operations.
- ↑ PRO London: AIR 40/1968; M.Kehrig - Stalingrad: Analyse und Dokumentation einer Schlacht (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1974), p.120.
- ↑ F.Morzik-op cit:185.
- ↑ F.Morzik-op cit; PRO London: AIR 40 Air Ministry intelligence documents.
- ↑ AIR 40-op cit.
- ↑ Document Lufttransportführer beim Gen.Qu. Abt. Ia Nr. 281/43 g.Kdos., dated 21.4.43, reproduced in: [Kameradschaft Ehemaliger Transportflieger], Geschichte einer Transportflieger-Gruppe im II.Weltkrieg:180; H.Boog-Die deutsche Luftwaffenführung 1935-1945: Führungsprobleme, Spitzengliederung, Generalstabsausbildung:25; K.Kössler-Transporter - wer kennt sie schon!: Die Kennzeichen der Transportfliegerverbände der Luftwaffe von 1937-1945.
- ↑ C.Zweng-Die Dienststellen, Kommandobehörden und Truppenteile der Luftwaffe 1935-1945/Bd. 1:41; unofficial documents also mention the following as Kommodore: Oberst Walter Schröder (dates unknown) and Obstlt. Josef Kögl (dates unknown).
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