Category:Bau

This category is being used to list all notes on Bau Battalions.^[1]

Sources - Larry De Zeng's incomparable Luftwaffe Airfields tour de force; Luftwaffe Loss Returns and Tessin's volumes.

Without this important branch of the Luftwaffe, there would have been no serviceable airfields for the flying units, no buildings and shelters on those airfields, no fuel and ammunition dumps, no unit command bunkers, no installations and facilities for the Luftwaffe signals troops (Luftnachrichtentruppen) or a variety of other infrastructure.

Hundreds of battalions and companies were set up over the course of the war, and at approximately peak strength on the eve of the attack on Russia the Luftwaffen-Bautruppen numbered 153,000 officers and men or 10.5% of the Luftwaffe's total uniformed strength.

There were some 26 different types of Luftwaffe construction units, and these are identified in the KStN series L 6332 through L 6397.

Luftwaffenbaukp. (mot.)

KStN 6343(L)

15 Nov 1939

1. Welle (mot.) with 1 officer, 20 NCOs, 160 men, 170 rifles, 5 pistols,1 motorcycle with sidecar, 11 trucks, 1 field kitchen.

2. Welle with 1 officer, 18 NCOs, 151 men, 168 rifles, 2 pistols, 1 motorcycle with sidecar.

Luftwaffenbaubataillion

KStN unknown

Date unknown, but c. 1940-42

These had an established strength of 750 officers, NCOs and men organized in three companies, each of 230, with a Bataillionsstab of 60 more personnel. The Stab consisted of a Hauptmann plus one other officer, a Sanitäts-Offizier, 6 NCOs and 50 men. The entire battalion included 9 or 10 officers and 740 men of all ranks. Attached to the battalion were some 30 or 40 motor vehicles, mostly trucks, that carried the 160 tons of equipment allocated to each battalion.

References