Hptm Gerlach St Kap 9./KG 26

[Chris Goss]

The above appears to have been St Kap 1942-43 but I can find nothing on him. Any ideas-he could have been with KGr 506 prior to this

[leonventer]

Hi Chris,

Yes, information on Hptm. Gerlach (and 9./KG 26 in general) is apparently hard to come by.

Gerlach's sparse entry in the Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries list says that he was appointed Staka of 9./KG 26 from Feb 42 to Jul 43.

However, this seems unlikely because:

1. According to Michael Holm's info on www.lw.dk: On 8 Jun 42, the existing III./KG 26 was renamed as I./KG 1, and a new incarnation of III./KG 26 was formed from Kü.Fl.Gr. 506.
2. There is another entry in the LOCS list which states that Ewald-Günther Trost was appointed Staka of 9./KG 26 in the Summer of 1942. (This would be more consistent with the organizational change mentioned above.)

I checked various other sources:

• Steenbeck's "Die Spur des Löwen"
• Schmidt's "Achtung - Torpedos Los!"
• the Aero Journal special on KG 26 (Hors Serie #50)
• Thiele's "Luftwaffe Aerial Torpedo Aircraft and Operations"

but to no avail. It seems there is precious little on 9./KG 26 (or 8./KG 26, for that matter), but 7./KG 26 does feature quite prominently in Steenbeck.

Hopefully, someone will come up with additional details from primary sources.

Regards,
Leon Venter

[Chris Goss]

Thanks Leon - you can understand why I asked this. Another one of those unit redesignations which causes confusion. As to Trost, he is in the RK book. It would appear he was 7 Staffel but then moved to command 9 Staffel after it moved to Banak and was with 9 Staffel when wounded 18 Sep 42. He gets no mention in either KG 26 book!