KG3 unit history?
 

Does anyone know if there was a published unit history for Kampfgeschwader 3 or where/if its records exist please? Thanks.

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

No such book has been written

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

KG 1, KG 3, KG 30, KG 40, KG 76? and KG 77 are the six "Traditions-" Kampfgeschwader that served during the entire war (give or take a few months at the beginning and end) for which no published unit histories exist, possibly because of insufficient surviving records and, perhaps, the lack of a postwar veteran's group or at least one strong enough to effectively lobby for a published unit history. Also, a number of "wartime" KGs that only existed for part of the war lack published unit histories, e.g., KG 28 and KG 66.

L.

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

….and KG 40 would be a big undertaking with He 111, He 177, Do 217, Ju 88, Fw 200. My 2 books only scratched the surface. KG 66 is still a possibility but lack of veterans now make others very hard to write

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

KG40 would be still very interesting nonetheless, with a great range of classic aircraft employed...

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

… leaving lots of scope for any enterprising member(s) of this forum to start work! You have nothing to lose by trying (except all your spare time for an indefinite number of years, of course).

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

How true! Plus a wad of money along the way!

L.

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

...not forgetting the most important element, being able to sprechen sie deutsch (along with 'Achtung Spitfeuer!', that's about the most German I know, unfortunately).

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

not sure if Ulf Balke posts here, but IIRC he may have already written up a KG 77 'history'..

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

Well put Nick. But what else is spare time for? :)

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

A KG 77 history was being drawn up (by the Traditionsgemeninschaft some years ago) but all I have seen is a list of bases, St Kap and RK-winners. Whether it was by Ulf I do not know

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

Working on it! ;) May take some years, but definitely worth the wait! :)

Marcel

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

Spoken like a true researcher, Marcel.

Best,
Ed

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

Thanks Ed! It will probably have the largest amount of Ju 88 S-1 and S-3 photos you have ever seen in a unit history, I think :)

Marcel

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

Well that’s a shame there is no history of KG3 - I’ve just bought a Flugbuch and document set to a 5./KG3 flieger. His FFS in Gold urkunde shows he saw a lot of action and his Flugbuch looks like it has nearly 200 Feindflug in at least.

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

Sounds like you’ve got a head start for writing a KG 3 history then!

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

:D I’d better get cracking then

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

… to hit the shops in time for Christmas!

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

...pad it out with a few extracts from this issue of Der Landser - despite the cover these are stories from II./KG 3 during the summer of 1941 (Barbarossa). With four or five 'Starts' a day it would have been 'easy' to rack up a fair few Feindflüge

https://blogger.googleusercontent.co...%20Landser.jpg

..and there are pics in that very expensive French archive

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

I have a few old issues of Der Landser but was led to believe most of it was fiction?

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

More like "popular" men's magazines found in barbershops and on newsstands of the 1950s and 1960s. NOT fiction, but far from scholarly history. The personal accounts are not checked against documents and vetted.

L. deZ.

Re: KG3 unit history?
 

I know some Luftwaffe enthusiasts turn their noses up at these 'comic-book' style booklets but I quite enjoy them - and they provide some neat accounts unavailable elsewhere - NJG 1 Bordfunker Kurt Bundrock's memoir is just one example. KG 6 Ju-88 Beobachter Dieter Wille's "...Erinnerungen.." is another....More here
http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2013/1...-kampf-am.html