7.(H)/32
7.(H)/Aufkl.Gr. 32
Code: (M4 + )
also as: Nahaufklärungsstaffe1 7./32 (from February 1944)
Formation and Training. (Jan 41 - May 41)
Formed or ordered formed second half of December 1940 or first half of January 1941 in Poland (ex-Aufklärungsstaffel Oberost) with Heinkel He 45s and He 46s, which were exchanged for Henschel Hs 126s almost immediately after formation.[1]
Poland and Central Russia. (Jan 41 - Apr 42)
24.1.41: man struck by a He 46 propeller at Fp. Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) in NW Poland.
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 - assigned to support XXIV. Armeekorps (mot) along a line of advance via Minsk (29 June) - Smolensk (16 July) - Konotop (25 August) - Kiev Pocket (16 September) - Bryansk (6 October) and then forward toward Tula (November). However, in practice the Staffel may only have gone as far as Smolensk.
25.6.41: 2 Staffel ground personnel reported MIA at Fp. Slutsk/S of Minsk.
17.7.41: Hs 126 shot up by enemy aircraft near Krichev, 10%, 1 WIA.
17.7.41: Klemm Kl 35 shot up by a fighter near Mogilev, 10%, 1 WIA.
11.8.41: at Smolensk-South under Koluft Heeresgruppe Mitte.
9.41 – 4.42: withdrawn from operations around September or October 1941 and transferred to the Reich or the occupied West for conversion to the Focke Wulf Fw 189. On 1 March 1942 it reported 3 x Fw 189 A-1 on hand, so it was just beginning to receive the new machines at that time.
South Russia. (May 42 - Jan 44)
16.5.42: conversion completed, in transfer to Stalino for assignment to Nahaufklärungsgruppe 9.
7.6.42: Fw 189 crashed near Fp. Artemovsk/N of Stalino due to engine failure, 60%.
10.6.42: Fw 189 A-1 strafed on the ground at Fp. Artemovsk, 40%.
16.6.42: Fw 189 A-2 strafed on the ground at Fp.Artemovsk, 40%.
20.6.42: Staffel reported 7(4) Fw 189s on strength.
9.7.42: Oblt. Herbert Henfeld WIA by infantry fire near Taganovich.
8.42: supported the German advance into North Caucasia as part of NAGr. 9.
22.8.42: Fw 189 shot up by a fighter near Kholmskoye, 70%, Oblt. Hermann Finkenmöller (observer) + 1 WIA.
14.9.42: 1 air crew member KIA by ground fire near Azovskaya.
18.9.42: Fw 189 (M4+CR) failed to return from a recce mission over the Kabarkinka area, 100%, 3 MIA.
11.12.42: Fiesler Fi 156 crash landed at Gunaika, 25%.
6.1.43: Fi 156 damaged taxiing at Fp. Armavir.
27.1.43: Fw 189 shot down over Stavroiostakay, 100%, 2 KIA and 1 WIA.
1.2.43: 2 Fw 189s hit by bombs during enemy air raid on Fp. Kerch/Crimea.
15.2.43: Fw 189 shot up and damaged at Slavyanskaya/70 km WNW of Krasnodar in North Caucasia.
2.43: Staffel transferred from North Caucasia to Kerch/Crimea during second half of February.
1.3.43: Staffel reported 7 x Fw 189 A-2 and A-2 trop on strength.
28.4.43: Fw 189 A-3 (O4 or M4+BR) shot down by AA-fire in the Sviselnikov area, 100%, Staka Hptm. Lüg + 2 MIA.
30.4.43: Fw 189 A-3 shot up by a fighter west of Krymskaya on the Taman Peninsula, 10%.
30.4.43: Fw 189 A-3 shot down by a fighter over Krymskaya, 100%, Oblt. Manfred von Redecker (pilot) + 2 KIA.
25.5.43: Fw 189 A-2 damaged by bombs during enemy air raid on Fp. Kerch, 35%.
9.6.43: Fw 189 A-3 shot up by a fighter over Melkhovskiy, 15%, 2 WIA.
6.43: from this date on, all Staffel losses were reported under the NAGr. to which it was assigned, in this case, NAGr. 9 and then NAGr. 6.
8.43: Staffel reassigned from NAGr. 9 to NAGr. 6 in August or early September and transferred from Crimea to South Ukraine.
15.11.43: transferred to Kalinovka/23 km N of Vinnitsa - still under NAGr. 6.
12.43: western Ukraine under NAGr. 6.
1.44: Kolomyya (Kolomea) area/SW Ukraine under NAGr. 6.
Poland, Hungary and Germany. (Feb 44 - c.Apr 45)
22.2.44: transferred to Radziwillow/9 km NE of Brody in SE Poland (unconfirmed).
1.3.44: on 1 March the Staffel reported 8 x Fw 189 A-2 and 1 x Fw 189 A-2 trop on strength.
20.3.44: transferred from Radziwillow to Poloniczna/38 km west of Brody in SE Poland (unconfirmed).
24.3.44: pulled back to Zamość-Dub/81 km SE of Lublin in east-central Poland (unconfirmed).
26.6.44: at Fp. Zamość-Łabunie in east-central Poland with Fw 189s and a few Bf 109Gs attached to the Hungarian 102d Aviation Brigade.
11.7.44: moved to Stryj/67 km SSW of Lvov, then to Moderóvka/SE Poland on 20 July, then to Balice/13 km west of Kraków on 31 July, and finally to Ungvár/NE Hungary in August. These moves were all made as the Red Army drove relentlessly westward during the powerful Soviet summer offensive that began in Belorussia on 22 June.
3.10.44: at Ungvár/NE Hungary with 8(7) aircraft and still attached to the Hungarian 102d Aviation Brigade. Later in the month the Staffel moved to Felsősabrany (unconfirmed).
1.11.44: Staffel reported 4 x Fw 189 A-2 and 1 x Fw 189 A-3 on strength.
11.44: returned to Germany (Bayreuth-Bindlach?) to re-equip or convert during November. All trace of the Staffel disappears after this date. Its Feldpost number was never deleted, and Dierich claims it was at Münster under NAGr. 6 on 26 March 1945. But this seems highly unlikely, since a great deal of Luftwaffe documentation for the last two or three months of the war survived and there is no mention of this Staffel, nor is there any mention of it in the Allied ULTRA intercepts. Instead, the Staffel’s personnel may have been absorbed into NAGr. 6 while others ended up in the infantry at Lauenburg on the Elbe in April 1945.
FpN:7.(H)/32 (L 00288).
Staffelkapitän:
Hptm. Klaus Tschirner ( ? - 3 Apr 43)
Hptm. Albrecht Lüg ( ? - 28 Apr 43)
Hptm. Kurt Ribbe ( ? - 23 Aug 44)
Also see:
AMESMEIER (AMERMAIER?), Otto, Oblt.
ANDERS, Richard, Oblt.
ANGEBRAND, Franz, Lt.
BISCHOFF, Dietrich, Lt.
FINKENMÖLLER, Hermann, Oblt.
GAHRMANN, Paul, Lt.
HEDTMANN, Hans, Oblt.d.R.
HENSOLT, Herbert Wilhelm, Oblt.
KEPPELER, Rudolf, Oblt.d.R.
KLEEMANN, Otto, Lt.
KLEMENZ, Otto-Karl, Lt.
KOCHBERGER, Johann, Hptm.
KOHLSCHMIDT, Karlheinz, Lt.
KÜLBEL, Jobst, Lt.
LEHNEKE, Walter, Lt.
NOACK, Kurt, Oblt.
REDECKER, Manfred von, Oblt.
SCHMIDT, Erhardt, Oblt.
SPIEGEL, Karl, Lt.
WIEGERT, Paul Friedrich, Lt./Oblt.
ZICKHARDT, Hellmuth Julius Ernst, 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?); 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; NARA WashDC: RG 242 (T-313 roll 85/898); PRO London: AIR 40/1975, 1982; BA-MA Freiburg: Signatur RL 40/Kart; BA-MA Signatur 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); Jet & Prop magazine 3/1996, p.21.