Kampfgeschwader 77
The combat squadron 77 was a federation of the Luftwaffe in World War II.
List
The combat squadron 77 was on May 1, 1939 the format established in Merseburg on April 1, 1936 Battle Squadron 153 from the wing staff and the I. / KG 153 created on 1 May 1939 in Prague ( Lage50.12166714.545278 ) of the rod and the I. / KG 77 from group II of the KG 158, which was on May 1, 1939 in Brno ( Lage49.15126916.694433 ) the II. / KG 77 the III. / KG 77 was also produced on 1 May 1939 in Hradec Kralove ( Lage50.2508815.8451 ) from the II. / KG 255 in October 1940, the IV ( supplementary ) group in Laon - Couvron ( Lage49.6343.5485 ) was born. The squadron was equipped from 1939 to 1941 with the Dornier Do 17 In February 1941, the squadron staff and the group I was preparing as a last resort to the Junkers Ju 88. The squadron identifier was 3Z.
Geschwaderkommodore
History
The staff that I, II and III. / Fighting Squadron 77 participated in the southern sector of the front in the attack on Poland in part at the 2nd Air Division of the Air Force 4. The squadron remained stationed on his Czech bases. On September 25, the entire squadron flew an air attack on Warsaw.
While the Western campaign, the entire squadron was under the command of VIII Air Corps Air Fleet 2 The rod, the II and III. Group flew from Dusseldorf ( Lage51.2809256.757311 ) and the I. group of Werl ( Lage51.568677.916131 ) from air attacks on airfields for air supremacy and tactical missions to Army support. In June, then switched the rod, the I. and III. Group to Laon - Couvron and II to Asch ( Lage51.01465.524526 ).
In the ensuing Battle of Britain, the entire squadron moved to I. Air Corps, the Air Force 2 It remained stationed on the French base Laon - Couvron and the Belgian base Asch and flew air raids against England.
In the attack on the Soviet Union, the squadron participated from June 22, 1941. There was subordinate to the I. Air Corps Air Force 1 in the northern section of the Eastern Front. The group I was in Jesau ( Lage54.561620.5978 ), the II in Wormditt ( Lage54.1266420.08825 ) and the III. in Heiligenbeil ( Lage54.4731519.966635 ). In July / August 1941, the entire squadron moved to the air base of Dno ( Lage57.78492229.970939 ). In many purely tactical operations support to Army, it was often used to focus on the north of the Eastern Front.
At the turn of 1941/42, laid the rod, the II and III. / KG 77 in the Mediterranean for the Air Force 2 By May 1942, the Italian Comiso ( Lage36.99503714.607453 ) was the base for air attacks on Malta. The I. / KG 77, however, remained on the Eastern Front between February and May Orsha ( Lage54.44034230.301378 ) and in May / June 1942 in Kharkov ( Lage49.92478636.289986 ) and Kursk ( Lage51.7518336.292179 ). In May, the staff changed, the II and III. Group to the 3rd Air Fleet to France. From Creil ( Lage49.2533332.519167 ) / Rennes ( Lage48.071944 - 1.732222 ) and Beauvais ( Lage49.4544742.113203 ) / Vannes ( Lage47.719444 - 2.723333 ) from it led air attacks on England. As of July, the I. / KG 77 came from the eastern front after Creil / Rennes. This was renamed on August 31 in Group I / 6 squadrons Meanwhile laid the wing staff and the Group II to the Greek Iraklion ( Lage35.339525.1704 ) and the III. Group in the Italian Comiso. On September 10, emerged from the coast Fliegergruppe 606 new I. / KG 77 In October, the entire squadron in Sicily Gerbini ( Lage37.46454414.872778 ) and Catania was ( Lage37.466715.0664 ) under the command of the Second Air Corps 2nd Air Fleet merged.
After the squadron was used against the landed in Northwest Africa in November 1942 Allied troops withdrew at the end of the II and III. Group for rebuilding back to Piacenca. As of February 1943, the group I came to. Until the second half of the year into Piacenca was the starting point for all operations of the squadron. From July / August trained all three groups in the home to run on air torpedo.
In early 1944, the training was not completed. The groups were in Königsberg - Devau, Prowehren and Barth. On March 10 the staff changed, the I. and III. Group to the 2nd Air Division of the 3rd Air Fleet to France, where they lay until June exclusively in Orange. Staff and Group I then laid the end of June according to Salon. The group II remained in the East.
On 20 July, broke the rod, the II and III. Group, while the group was renamed I. I. Group / Combat Squadron 26
Known squadron members
- Carl -Heinz Anthony Greve (1920-1998), 1957 was the first Commodore of the Fighter Bomber Wing 34, 1970-1974 commander of the 1st Air Division and from 1974 as a lieutenant-general commander of the 4th Allied Tactical Air Force ( ATAF )
- Arved Crüger, (1911-1942), fell in 1942 as Wing Commander in the Mediterranean and was the husband of actress Carola Höhn