7. Seenotstaffel
7. Seenotstaffel
(Unit Code: J9 + - assigned Mar 44)
Formation. (Mar 41)
Formed mid-March 1941 at Kiel-Holtenau using 5 He 59s taken from air-sea rescue assets located in North Germany. These were then flown to Amsterdam-Schellingwoude a week or so later before traveling on to Varna/Bulgaria at the end of March where they were later joined by 3 Ju 52s and 2 Fw 58s. There the Staffel stood by under VIII. Fliegerkorps for the German invasion of the Balkans on 6 April and to await further orders.[1]
Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. (Mar 41 - Aug 44)
10-14 Apr 41: Staffel transferred from Varna to Salonika-Mikra, just a day or two after the Greek city had fallen to German forces.[2]
16 Apr 41: flew its first air-sea rescue mission in search of survivors from a Ju 88 that went down north of Skiros Is. in the Aegean.[3]
7 May 41: transferred from Salonika-Mikra to Athens-Phaleron, which would be its permanent station for the next three and a half years.[4]
23 May 41: Staffel reported 4 He 59s, 2 Fw 58s and 1 Ju 52/See on strength. The latter two types were used for dropping rubber dinghies, while the He 59s were used mainly to ferry small parties of German troops to the islands in the Aegean during May, rather than for air-sea rescue work. In July 1941 the Staffel received its first Do 24 flying boats.[5]
Jun 41: established a small Kdo. (detachment) at Suda Bay shortly after German forces took Crete at the end of May and at Bomba Bay on the coast of Cyrenaica in North Africa.[6]
Jun 41 – Dec 43: the Seenotdienst (Air-Sea Rescue Service) responsibility for the Aegean, eastern Mediterranean and the southern half of the Adriatic was assigned to Seenotbereichskommando (Air-Sea Rescue Regional Command) XI located at Athens-Phaleron, which in turn came under III. Seenotgruppe/Seenotdienstführer Mittelmeer. To carry out its duties, Seenotbereichskdo. XI had available Seenotkommando 17 at Suda Bay/Crete, Seenotkommando 35 at Split on the Dalmatian coast of Yugoslavia (from October 1943), both of these being air-sea rescue district centers under the authority of the regional command, 7.Seenotstaffel at Athens- Phaleron, and Seenotflottille d.Lw. 11 (air-sea rescue boat section or detachment) at Athens-Phaleron. In other words, a small handful of flying boats and motor launches to cover a geographically enormous area. Rather than becoming a wartime backwash once Crete had been taken by German airborne, air landing and mountain troops in the latter third of May 1941, the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean were intensely active theaters until at least the end of 1943. Crete served as a giant aircraft carrier for X. Fliegerkorps air support operations during the North African campaign, for staging attacks on British naval units and convoys in the eastern and central Mediterranean, and for long-range photo reconnaissance coverage of Egypt and the Middle East. As the tempo of this activity increased, the Staffel moved temporarily to Iraklion/Crete around March 1942 and did not return to Athens-Phaleron until sometime in early 1943, after the British counteroffensive at El Alamein on 23 October 1942 and the subsequent German retreat through Cyrenaica (Libya) in November and December. On 1 May 1942 the Staffel had 5 Do 24s and 3 He 59s on strength. The Staffel’s Do 24s were frequently based for short periods during the course of the year at Derna and Bomba in Cyrenaica where provisional Seenotkommandos (sea rescue detachments) had been set up to support Rommel’s drive into Egypt. Over the three and a half years it was operational in the Mediterranean and Aegean, 7. Seenotstaffel was called upon countless times to rescue both German and Allied air crew as well as other personnel, and made a major contribution toward the 11,561 rescues effected by the Seenotdienst during the war. Only a few of these can be briefly cited as examples:
16 Jun 41: the crew of a I./KGz.b.V. 1 Ju 52 was pulled out of the water after ditching near Athens;
8 Jul 42: a Ju 52 crew from IV./KGz.b.V. 1 was rescued after ditching off Tobruk/Libya;
3 Nov 42: carried out a double rescue - a 2.(F)/123 Ju 88 crew down in the Mediterranean between Crete and Alexandria/Egypt, and a Ju 52 crew from II./KGz.b.V. 1 off the south coast of Crete;
23 Jun 43: a Ju 52 crew from I./TG 4 between Athens and Rhodes;
4 Sep 43: a Bf 109G pilot from 2.(F)/123 to the south of Crete;
6 Sep 43: a Ju 52 crew from I./TG 4 down in the Aegean NW of Kos Is.; and,
3 Oct 43: a Ju 87 crew from II./St.G.3 who had been shot down by AA-fire near Kos Is.
1944: the Staffel's activities can best be described in the words of a participant. On 7 September 1944 a Staffel pilot, Marijan J. Gorican, who was a Slovene and a former captain in the Royal Yugoslav Fleet Air Arm until April 1941, flew his Do 24 from Athens-Phaleron to Izmir on the Turkish coast and deserted to the Allies. His interrogation-statement given voluntarily to the British had the following to say about the Staffel’s activities during 1944:
“When Gorican left Athens there were 6 Do 24s and crews in the Staffel. Fairly heavy losses had been suffered during 1944 when Gorican was operating with the unit, especially during the last few weeks of August when attempts were being made to evacuate German personnel from the island of Crete and the flying boats were operating with severe overloads. Gorican himself had crashed two, a certain Feldwebel Escher three and six others had been lost in accidents since January 1944. Two more had been shot down by the Allies, one near Crete at the end of July and one near Rhodes since that date. Replacements were fetched from Travemünde where the aircraft were fitted out. Gorican had flown 4 sorties since January 1944 when he joined the unit. Two of them had been abortive air-sea rescue sorties near Naxos and Scarpanto. One of the flights had been to Crete for the evacuation of German personnel on the island and the other to Patras to fetch 2 wounded Germans back to Athens.”
15 Apr 44: Staffel sent two Do 24s to Constanta-Mamaia to help evacuate Crimea.[7]
Aug 44: the entire Seenotdienst underwent a major reorganization, and on 19 August 7. Seenotstaffel was renamed Seenotstaffel 70 of Seenotgruppe 70 d.Lw.
FpN:(L 40022)
Staffelkapitän:
Oblt. Kurt Wachsmuth (Mar 41 - Feb 42 )
Oblt. Hans Tretter (Feb 42 - May 43)
Hptm. Hans Lösch (May 43 - Mar 44)
Oblt. Hans Glinkemann (Mar 44 - Aug 44) MIA
Losses (from BA-MA Freiburg: RL 2 III Meldungen über Flugzeugunfälle…..(Loss Reports – LRs). (Incomplete):
17 Jan 42: Do 24 T-1 (CH+EY) crashed in the Bodensee (Lake Constance) in S Germany while on a ferry flight for delivery to the Staffel, Lt. Willi Arndt + 5 crew KIA.
11 Apr 42: Do 24 T-1 (CH+IF) shot up and crashed near Athens-Phaleron, 100%, 1 KIA.
7 Oct 42: Do 24 T-1 (VH+SA) strafed and destroyed at Suda Bay/Crete, 100%, crew safe.
6 Nov 42: Do 24 T-1 (CH+EV) destroyed approximately this date at Mersa Matruh to prevent capture by advancing British troops, 100%.
24 May 43: Do 24 T-1 (CM+IX) crashed into the Aegean near Antikythera Is. off the NW tip of Crete, 100%, 4 killed, 2 rescued.
17 Sep 43: Do 24T (KO+KA) struck obstacle while landing at Athens-Phaleron, 70%, Hptm. Hans Lösch + 5 all injured.
16 Oct 43: Do 24 T-3 (VH+SK) crashed on take-off W of Armogos due to engine failure after picking up survivors from the cargo vessel Karl, 100%, 2 injured.
19 Oct 43: Do 24 T-3 (KO+KD) shot up and destroyed by RAF Beaufighters of 603 Sqdn. while picking up survivors from the transport Sinfra north of Canea/Crete, 100%, 2 WIA.
29 Oct 43: Do 24 T-2 (CH+EX) failed to return from the Naxos Is. area while on a mission in the eastern Aegean, 100%, 5 KIA.
13 Nov 43: Do 24 T-3 (KO+JC) crashed on take-off at Athens-Phaleron and sank, 100%.
27 Nov 43: Do 24 T-3 (KO+IF) damaged taxiing and sank after attempting to pick up wounded troops on Samos Is. in eastern Aegean, 100%, 3 killed.
27 Nov 43: Do 24 T-3 (CM+RA) crashed and burned near Aalen in Germany, this probably being a replacement aircraft en-route to Greece, 100%, 6 killed.
21 Dec 43: Do 24 T-3 (KK+LC) FTR - no details, 100%, Lt. Walter Kempf + 4 crew + 3 passengers all MIA.
23 Dec 43: Do 24 T-3 (DJ+ZM) crashed while landing near Kythira Is. off the SE tip of the Peloponnese Peninsula, 100%, 3 killed and 3 injured.
13 Apr 44: Do 24 T-3 (CM+RD) FTR near Leros Is. in the eastern Aegean, 100%, crew MIA.
01 Jul 44: Do 24T (J9+AA) strafed while moored at Portolago Bay/Leros Is. in the eastern Aegean and probably destroyed, at least 1 WIA.
28 Jul 44: Do 24 T-3 (J9+BA) struck some rocks while landing in Rhodes harbor, flipped and burned, 3 injured.
© H.L. deZeng IV, 2024
References
- ↑ K.Born-Rettung zwischen den Fronten: Seenotdienst der deutschen Luftwaffe 1939-1945:92-93; Dierich-VdL:283-97; Thürling, Horst, Die 7. Seenotstaffel 1941-1944. Berlin, 1997; J-L.Roba/C.Crãciunoiu-Seaplanes Over the Black Sea: German-Romanian Operations 1941-1944; BA-MA Freiburg: Flugzeug-Bereitstellungen (Aircraft Availability Status Reports – FzB) in: M.Holm-website (ww2.dk); AFHRA Maxwell: decimal K113 Karlsruhe Collection, unpublished manuscript “Geschichte d. Seenotdienst 1939-45”; PRO London: AIR 40 Air Ministry intelligence documents, A.I.3.(E) intelligence study “Organisation of the Air/Sea Rescue Service in the G.A.F.” dated 31.1.1944 with later supplements.
- ↑ J-L.Roba article-Luftwaffe Verband Journal No.6:3-6.
- ↑ J-L.Roba-op cit.
- ↑ H.Thürling-op cit.
- ↑ J-L.Roba-op cit.
- ↑ H.Thürling-op cit.
- ↑ J-L.Roba-op cit.
Return to Seenotdienstverbände