1.(H)/21
1.(H)/Aufkl.Gr. 21
Code: (P2 + )
Formation and Training. (Nov 38 - Aug 39)
Formed 1 November 1938 at Stargard/Pomerania (ex-1.(H)/Aufkl.Gr.12) with Heinkel He 45s and He 46s. These plans were changed before the end of the same month and the Staffel was renamed 3.(H)/21 and replaced with a new 1.(H)/21 equipped with Henschel Hs 126s.[1]
Polish Campaign. (Sep 1939)
1.9.39: transferred from Stargard on mobilization toward the end of August and by this date deployed at Mirkau with 12 Hs 126s under Koluft AOK 8. Supported the rapid advance across NW Poland toward Warsaw, but the Staffel’s subordination is unclear after 1 September. It is said to have been attached to II. Armeekorps/4th Army for most of the campaign.
10.39: returned to Stargard on completion of the campaign in Poland and still there in January 1940. Received a few Dornier Do 17Ms at the beginning of the year.
West - Attack on France and the Low Countries. (May 40 - May 41)
25.4.40: Hs 126 struck the ground near Idar-Oberstein/NW of Kaiserslautern during a ferry flight, 100%, 2 injured. This date may coincide with the date the Staffel was transferred from Stargard to a forward airfield along the German-French or German-Belgian border.
10.5.40: equipped with a mixed complement of Hs 126s and Do 17Ms, supported II Corps/ 4th Army through South Belgium and the Ardennes during the first two weeks of the attack that commenced this date, and then in a southwest direction into Central France up to the armistice on 22 June.
15.6.40: Do 17M failed to return from a mission over the Nancy area, 100%.
7.40: the Staffel turned in its small complement of Do 17Ms.
16.10.40: Hs 126 crashed at Bergen op Zoom/SW Holland while practicing laying a smoke screen, 100%. This may have been in conjunction with the planned invasion of England that was cancelled at about this time, or possibly protective smoke screens for coastal shipping or harbors.
Central Russia. (Jun 41 - Nov 41)
22.6.41: Brest-Litovsk area in eastern Poland under Koluft AOK 4/Army Group Center for the invasion of the Soviet Union that commenced this date, and assigned to support the advance of II Corps via Brest-Litovsk to Minsk (29 June) and then across Belorussia toward Smolensk (16 July).
30.7.41: Hs 126 A-1 damaged in taxiing accident at Fp. Star. Bykhov, 40%.
West. (c.Aug 41 - May 42)
8.41: all available evidence indicates the Staffel was withdrawn from operations for conversion to the Focke-Wulf Fw 189, but it is not known with certainty where this occurred, although Venlo/Holland is a good candidate.
11.11.41: Fw 189 damaged in a crash landing at Fp. Smolensk-South while on a ferry flight, 20%.
1.12.41: Staffel at Fp. Venlo in Holland still in the process of re-equipping with Fw 189s.
26.1.42: Fw 189 force landed at Laval/France due to engine failure, 90%.
1.3.42: Staffel reported 7 x Fw 189 A-1 on strength.
South Russia. (May 42 - Apr 44)
16.5.42: following conversion to the Fw 189, ordered to Stalino this date for assignment to Nahaufklärungsgruppe 9 and the forthcoming summer offensive toward Stalingrad and into North Caucasia.
20.6.42: Donets Basin area (vicinity of Stalino) with 9(9) Fw 189s on strength.
22.6.42: Fw 189 A-3 shot up by a Russian fighter near Artemovsk/c.90 km N of Stalino, 60%.
5.7.42: Oblt. Xaver Mader WIA by fire from any enemy fighter near Debaltsvo/40 km SE of Artemovsk.
6.9.42: Fw 189 damaged on take-off from Fp. Krasnodar/N Caucasia, 20%.
23.9.42: Fw 189 (P2+AH) shot down by AA-fire near Besyminoye, 100%, Staka Hptm. Wahrenburg (pilot) + 1 both MIA.
27.10.42: Fw 189 crash landed at Fp. Krasnodar, 40%.
11.11.42: Fw 189 shot up by AA-fire over Goich/North Caucasia, 25%.
6-24.12.42: the Staffel flew many supply and medical evacuation flights with its Fw 189s, a borrowed Ju 52 and several Go 145s to Kotlovina and the Gunaika Valley in the Caucasus Mountains in support of mountain and infantry troops under 17. Armee. Nearly every Luftwaffe air unit based in North Caucasia took part in these missions, which supplemented the work of pack animal supply lines that ran from the valleys up to the higher positions in the mountains.
12.1.43: Fw 189 damaged at Fp. Maikop due to engine trouble, 15%.
1.3.43: Staffel reported 3 x Fw 189 A-2, 2 x Fw 189 A-2 trop and 3 x Fw 189 A-3 on strength.
17.3.43: Fw 189 shot up by Russian fighters over the Kuban Bridgehead.
20.3.43: Fw 189 shot up by enemy fighters over the Kuban Bridgehead.
2.4.43: Fw 189 shot up by a fighter in Planquadrat 7668 (Kuban Bridgehead area), 90%, 3 WIA.
4.43: Staffe1 based at Kerch/Crimea under NAGr. 9, and probably there since mid-Feb 1943.
3.6.43: Fw 189 A-3 returned to Kerch after being shot up by a fighter, 20%, 1 KIA + 2 WIA.
6.43 – 10.43: based at Kerch under NAGr. 9. All of the Staffe1’s losses were reported under NAGr. 9 from this date and most of them cannot be separately identified.
19.8.43: Fw 189 A-2 (P2+DH) shot down by AA-fire in Pl.Qu. 5177, Staka Hptm. Holzmann (observer) + 2 all MIA.
21 August 1943: Fw 189 A-3 (P2+LH) failed to return from a mission over the Belgorod area, 100%, Oblt. Wolfgang Lach + 2 KIA.
26 August 1943: Fi 156 (P2+NH) assigned to 1.(H)/Aufkl.Gr. 21 (NAGr. 9) stolen by two Russian civilians at Kerch airfield, 100%.
15.11.43: transferred to Apostolovo-East/42 km SE of Krivoy Rog.
12.43: South Ukraine and still under NAGr. 9.
1.3.44: Staffel reported 8 x Fw 189 A-2 and 2 x Fw 189 A-3 on strength.
4.44: Odessa under NAGr. 9.
Germany. (Apr 44 - Jun 44)
4.44: following the fall of Odessa on 10 April, the Staffel (and the rest of NAGr. 9) was ordered back to Germany for conversion to the Bf 109G single-seat reconnaissance plane.
25.5.44: at Straubing or Landau/NE of Munich converting to the Bf 109G.
1.7.44: renamed 1./NAGr .3 on or about 1 July. A few sources give 1 June as the date of the renaming.
FpN:1. (H) /21 (L 04998).
Staffelkapitän:
Hptm. Georg Warnat ( ? - ? ) 9/39
Hptm. Viktor Wahrenburg ( ? - 23 Sep 42) MIA
Oblt. Martin Körnig (acting?) ( ? - ? ) 12.42
Hptm. Heinz Holzmann ( ? - 19 Aug 43) MIA
Also see:
GASCHÜTZ, Heinz, Lt.
GRÜBER, Rudolf, Lt.
HAGEMANN, Karl-Heinrich, Lt.
HANSEN, Carlheinz, Oblt.
HECKROTT, Klaus, Lt.
HENSCHEL, Wilhelm, Maj.
HEUCKE (HEUKE?), Albrecht-Karl, Oblt.
HILBERT, Georg, Lt.
HOBE, Augustinus von, Lt.
KAMPELMÜLLER(KAMPELMÜHLER?), Anton, Lt.
KRAUSE, Hans, Oblt.
LACH, Wolfgang, Oblt.
LÜDERS, Günther, Oblt.
MADER, Xaver, Oblt.
MALUCK, Gerhard, Oblt.
MOUTHS, Walter, Oblt.d.R.
OSTERHOLD, August, Oblt.
OSTERKAMP, Heinz, Oblt.
ROHRBECK, Ewald, Hptm.
ROPNAGEL, Hans, Oblt./Hptm.
WEISS, Friedrich, 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; AFHRA Maxwell decimal Karlsruhe Collection KC-Kl13.309-3/ v.1; PRO London: AIR 40/1965, 1982; BA-MA Freiburg: Signatur RL 25/77-78; BA-MA Freiburg: RL 40/Kart; 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); U.Balke – “Luftversorgung im Kaukasus” in Jet & Prop 1/2004, p.52.