[Doug Stankey]

Re: Aufkl.Gr. 156.

This unit is very obscure!

Apparently this was the name of the temporary unit formed to transport commandos for the invasion of France. It was to go behind the lines and create disruptions to the defenses along the intended line of advance in the areas of Nives and Witry. It supposedly had 100 Fi 156 to transport 400 troops for the operation which was something of a fiasco. For a detailed account of these activities see pages 88 to 91 of Jean Paul Pallud’s. Blitzkrieg in the West, Then and Now.

Peter Cornwell’s Battle of France, Then and Now states that the unit was involved in transporting the commandos of Operation Niwi was in fact Aufkl.Gr. 156, and lists the following losses:
10.02.40 Fi 156 crashed on landing at Crailsheim.
10.05.40 lost 16 Fi 156 destroyed or abandonned around Nives and Witry.

Larry deZeng’s notes state that Maj. Otto-Lutz Förster was the Kdr. of Aufkl.Gr. 156.

The operation itself was headed by:

GARSKI, Eugen. (DOB: 08.06.97in Thorn). 19.07.40 Obstlt. Kdr. III./Inf.Rgt. Grossdeutschland (mot), awarded the Ritterkreuz for commanding a Fi 156 commando unit during Operation Niwi. 30.09.42 KIA vic Rzhev. – i.e. an Army guy.

I hope that this clears up things a bit.

Anyone out there have anything to add?

DGS