I./KG 1 – Summer 1942

[Henofred]

Hi,

Could one of you confirm presence of I./KG 1 at Avord, France in summer 1942 after its pullback from the East Front for a rest time period? In its book “Der Luftkrieg in Europa. Die operativen Einsäzte des KG 2 in 2.WK” Ulf Balke specifies also that some planes would have been sent to Dieppe.

Best regards,
Fred

[Doug Stankey]

Our files indicate that in November 1941 I./KG 1 transferred from the eastern front to Rheine for retraining on Do 217 then relocated to Gilze-Rijen in May 1942 to begin ops and stayed there until early November. There is no mention of Avord but frequently units would briefly use other fields for the sake of of some operation.
We do have record of the unit being used against the Dieppe landings on 19 August 1942.

We hope this helps.
LdZ
DGS

[Henofred]

Bonjour Doug,

We speak about the same unit? It seems to me that Kampfgeschwader 1 “Hindenburg” was never equipped with Do217. So, in its book Ulf Balke also points out that I./KG 1 is replaced by II./ KG 54.

Best regards,
Fred

[Doug Stankey]

How embarassing! I apparently misread you inquiry as I./KG 2! I suspect that it was the mentioning of Balke's KG 2 book that threw me.

Yes, I see from our history of I./KG 1 that this gruppe moved to St Avord on 5 August 1942 and flew missions against the Dieppe landings on 19 August.


Sorry about the confusion.

DGS

[Henofred]

Do not worry Doug, I have now my confirmation.

You would have a copy of the I./ KG 1 history covering this period? (Perhaps by PM?) I make a research work about Avord airfield during WWII and I will be very interested.

Best regards,
Fred

[Doug Stankey]

The history of KG 1 that I referred to is a section of our book ”Bomber Units of the Luftwaffe, A Reference Source” by Larry deZeng and myself, published by Midland (Ian Allan). The KG 1 part is in Volume 1. It has an extensive placename index in Volume 2 which could help you.

Our history was partly derived from an unpublished unit history:

“Kriegschronik des Kampfgeschwader 1 ‘Hindenburg’”, a 78-page manuscript c.late 1944/early 1945 written by Hptm. Spohr who belonged to Geschw.Stab/K.G. 1 and used all KTBs and Anlagen. - BA-MA Freiburg: RL 10/529

Something much more recent and potentially very valuable is a new book:

“Kampfgeschwader 1 ‘Hindenburg’ “ by Gerhard Baecker

Illustrated at
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=16615

Its one of those privately published things which are so hard to obtain. Inquiries resulted in the following response:

“Copies of the K.G. 1 books can be ordered via:

Mr. Oskar Gebert in Germany, Kingstr. 26, 77694 Kehl, Phone +49 (0) 7851 2825, Fax +49 (0) 7851 482674.
It is recommended to contact him(by fax) in order to assess possibilities and costs for international shipping.
2) Be aware that the book is written in German. It contains no photos. INMO it is more like a sort of personal memories of K.G. 1 veteran Gerhard Baeker mixed with information regarding the unit history (it includes loss list, etc). Interesting reading though.

Apart from fragmentary references in many other books that’s all there is published on this subject.

I hope you find this helpful.

DGS

[Henofred]

Thanks a lot for all these references. I speak and read German so I will contact Mr. Oskar Gebert because I live close to Strasbourg and Kehl is just opposite, on the other side of the Rhine.

Best regards,
Fred

[Steve49]

Are you sure about I./KG1 taking part in operations against Operation Jubilee? I've got IV./KG4 launching strikes from St Avord, but haven't identified any other units flying from there. Do you know how many missions/sorties they flew?

Regards

Steve

[Doug Stankey]

Larry's notes indicate that they flew only a 'few' sorties against the Dieppe landings, then a couple of weeks later it went to M ünster-Handorf for overhauls. Apparently the unit's serviceability rates were low.
Larry gets most of his information from original documents so I expect that these notes are a close reflection of reality.

Doug