Kampfgeschwader 26

Hans Sieburg

Georg Teske

The combat squadron 26 was a federation of the Luftwaffe in World War II. Due to its coat of arms, it was also called Lion Squadron.

List

The combat squadron 26 was on May 1, 1939 the format established in Lüneburg on April 1, 1938 Battle Squadron 257 from the wing staff and the II. / KG 257 created on 1 May 1939 in Lüneburg, the rod and the II. / KG 26 at the same time the I. group off of I was formed. / KG 257 in Lübeck- Blankensee. Beginning of 1940, in Jesau the III. / KG 26 and in August 1940 the IV ( supplementary ) group in Lübeck- Blankensee. The squadron was initially equipped with the Heinkel He 111. In April 1942, the Group II equipped than first order on the Junkers Ju 88. By March 1944, the I. / KG 26 was equipped as the last group of the squadron, with this aircraft type. In August 1944, III. / KG 26 was the Junkers Ju 188, the squadron code was 1H.

History

The staff and the II. / 26 squadrons participated in the 1st Air Division of the Air Force 1 in the north section of the front part in the attack on Poland.

At the same time the Group I of the 4th Air Division of the Air Force 2 was subordinated to the west. After that, the entire squadron was assigned to the X Air Corps to attack British shipping in the North Sea and the English Channel.

While the western campaign and the Battle of Britain, it remained under the command of the Tenth Air Corps and attacked by southern Norwegian bases in the fighting in. In the years 1940/1941, a part was also temporarily in Aalborg, Denmark.

The group II moved in December 1940 to Sicily and took from there the British colony of Malta and objectives in Egypt ( Suez Canal, Red Sea ) to. Then it moved to Greece and took part in the Balkan campaign and especially in the conquest of Crete. In early October, she succeeded in the Red Sea south of Suez the freighters Thistlegorm ( 4898 BRT) and Rosalie Moller ( 3963 BRT) to sink and damage the Salamaua ( 6676 BRT). The group II remained until 1944, stationed in the Mediterranean and was retrained in May 1942 on air torpedo use.

With the beginning of the German - Soviet war fought the III. / KG 26 in the east. Later, from December 1941 laid the I. / KG 26 on the Eastern Front. But already in February 1942 attracted the two groups on the Eastern Front, were fully filled and moved to Grosseto. Where the training took place for air torpedo squadron. The I. / KG 26 attacked then from July 1942 by Bardufoss in Northern Norway North Sea Allied convoys to. As of September 1942 also attacked the III. / KG 26 Banak out in these battles with a.

In November 1942, after the landing of Americans on the North African coast, attacked the I. and III. Group of Grosseto from ship traffic off the North African coast at. In January 1943, all three groups of the squadron gathered in the south of Sardinia. From here, attacks in the twilight and night were performed on Allied shipping in the western Mediterranean. She sank on 20 and 21 January in front of the Algerian coast the British freighter Hampton Lodge ( 3645 BRT) and the U.S. freighter Walt Whitman ( 7176 BRT). As of May changed the I. and III. Group their original bases, as they walked in the South of France to Salon- de -Provence and Montpellier. The targets, however, remained the same. However, the Strait of Gibraltar was now within range of the squadron.

After the start of the Allied invasion of Normandy, the squadron attacked at night ships with torpedoes. When the Allied landing there followed in southern France, the squadron over Munich -Riem, Lübeck -Blankensee moved to Bardufoss and later to Trondheim.

In 1945 the squadron of Danish airfields supply and Wounded flights conducted.

Commanders

Geschwaderkommodore

Group commanders

Group I

  • Major Walter Loebel, May 1939
  • Lieutenant Colonel Hans Alefeld, September 13, 1939
  • Lieutenant Colonel Hermann Busch, April 20, 1940
  • Captain Bert Eicke ( I.V.), March 1942
  • Major Werner Klümper, July 1942
  • Captain Herbert 's father, in January 1943
  • Captain Klaus Toball ( I.V.), July 1943
  • Captain Helmut von Rabenau, August 1943
  • Captain Jochen Müller, November 12, 1943
  • Major Willi Sölter, July 1944

Group II

  • Lieutenant Colonel Bushe, May 1, 1939
  • Lieutenant Colonel Hans Hefele, October 1939
  • Major Martin 's cousin, April 6, 1940
  • Major Eckhard Christian, August 21, 1940
  • Major Helmut Bertram, January 1, 1941
  • Captain Robert Kowalewski, January 18, 1941
  • Major W. Beyling, May 15, 1941
  • Major George Teske, February 12, 1943
  • Major Otto Werner, August 11, 1944
  • Major Rudolf Schmidt, December 3, 1944

III. group

  • Major Viktor von Lossberg, November 1, 1939
  • Major Günther Wolfien, June 1, 1940
  • Major Viktor von Lossberg, February 1941
  • Major K. Kindler, September 1, 1941
  • Major S. Böhme, October 1941
  • Captain Ernst Thomsen, February 1942
  • Captain Möller, July 22, 1942
  • Major G. Hielscher, September 1942
  • Major Horst Kayser, November 1942
  • Captain Klaus Cam, December 20, 1942
  • Major Ernst Thomsen, February 1944
  • Major Wolf Harseim, October 1944

Group IV

  • Major Franz Ziemann, March 22, 1941
  • Major Fritz Gehring, October 7, 1941
  • Major Klaus cams, February 18, 1944

Known squadron members

  • Martin Harlinghausen (1902-1986), was from 1957 to 1961 as a lieutenant-general commander of the Luftwaffe Group North
Balkan Campaign (World War II) Eastern Front (World War II) Luftflotte 1 Luftflotte 2 10th Air Corps (Germany) Torpedobomber Bardufoss Airport Lakselv Airport, Banak Alexander Holle Germany and the Second World War Kampfgeschwader 2 Kampfgeschwader 6 Kampfgeschwader 40 Kampfgeschwader 54 Kampfgeschwader 76 Kampfgeschwader 77 Kampfgeschwader 100 Kampfgeschwader 200
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