Jagdgeschwader 6

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Jagdgeschwader 6 (JG 6) Horst Wessel was a Luftwaffe fighter-wing of World War II. The first Geschwaderkommodore was Oberstleutnant Johann Kogler who became a POW during the Operation Bodenplatte when he crashed and was taken prisoner by British troops on 1 January 1945.

JG 6 was created on October 13, 1944 from the remnants of the Messerschmitt Bf 110 equipped unit Zerstörer-Geschwader 26 (ZG 26) which had suffered severe losses as a bomber-destroyer unit in the Defense of the Reich during early 1944 against the Allied bomber offensive.

[edit] Operational Service

In July 1944 the unit hastily converted at their Königsberg/Oder airfield onto the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, with an intended role as air superiority fighters and ground attack. For the latter role the aircraft were fitted with launchers for 21 cm mortar rockets. The third group was immediately renamed Kommando Nowotny and replaced by another group with 4 Staffeln, flying the Messerschmidt Bf 109-G.

With the minimum of training JG 6 then served on the Western Front up until the end of the war in May 1945.

In the months after the Normandy invasion the numerically superior Allied fighter forces had decimated most Luftwaffe fighter units sent against them over the expanding beachhead. JG 6 proved no exception, its inexperienced pilots suffering heavy casulties.

On August 25, 1944, the 367th Fighter Group, flying P-38 Lightnings, was sent to bomb three airfields at Peronne, Rosieres-en-Santerre and Clastres. The attack force at Clastres encountered over 40 FW 190's of II./JG 6, flying together as a gruppe for the first time. During the ensuing dogfight the 33 P-38's of the 367th Fighter Group lost 7 P-38 destroyed (II./JG 6 claimed 11 destroyed) while II/JG 6 lost 16 FW 190s destroyed and 14 pilots killed.(The 367th FG claimed 20 destroyed). Amongst the killed was the CO of 8th Staffel, Leutnant Rudi Dassow, one of the most successful twin-engined experten with 22 kills.

In January 1945, Gerhard Barkhorn was assigned as Geschwaderkommodore However Barkhorn did not remain in this position for long , being forced to take a medical absence because of physical and mental strain.

Late in January 1945 JG 6 was among several units switched to the Eastern Front, flying ground strafing operations against the advancing Soviet forces.

JG 6 was based in Czechoslovakia at the war's end, when those pilots left flew all serviceable Fw190D-9s remianing into US-held airfields in the west.

The third group was resolved on April 4, 1945.

[edit] Commanding Officers

[edit] Geschwaderkommodore

• Oberstleutnant Johann Kogler, July 1944 - 1 January 1945
• Major Gerhard Barkhorn, 16 January 1945 - 10 April 1945
• Major Gerhard Schöpfel, 10 April 1945 - 17 April 1945
• Major Richard Leppla, 17 April 1945 - 8 May 1945

[edit] Gruppenkommandeure

[edit] I./JG 6

• Hauptmann Willi Elstermann 1 November 1944 - 2 February 1945
• Major Otto Bertram, February 1945 - May 1945

[edit] II./JG 6

• Hauptmann Weyl ?-May 1945

[edit] III./JG 6

• Hauptmann Theodor Weissenberger, 14 October 1944 - 24 November 1944
• Major Kühle, November 1944
• Hauptmann Kurt Müller, 21 January 1945 - 4 April 1945

[edit] See also

Organization of the Luftwaffe during World War II

[edit] External links

• JG 6 @ Lexikon der Wehrmacht

v • d • e Jagdgeschwader of the Luftwaffe (Wehrmacht) Named Jagdgeschwader Jagdgeschwader 1 "Oesau" • Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" • Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" • Jagdgeschwader 5 "Eismeer" • Jagdgeschwader 6 "Horst Wessel" • Jagdgeschwader 7 "Nowotny" • Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter" • Jagdgeschwader 27 "Afrika" • Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders" • Jagdgeschwader 53 "Pik As" • Jagdgeschwader 54 "Grünherz" • Jagdgeschwader 77 "Herz As" • Jagdgeschwader 134 "Horst Wessel" • Jagdgeschwader 142 "Horst Wessel" • Jagdgeschwader 234 "Schlageter" Numbered Jagdgeschwader Jagdgeschwader 4 • Jagdgeschwader 11 • Jagdgeschwader 20 • Jagdgeschwader 21 • Jagdgeschwader 25 • Jagdgeschwader 28 • Jagdgeschwader 50 • Jagdgeschwader 52 • Jagdgeschwader 70 • Jagdgeschwader 71 • Jagdgeschwader 72 • Jagdgeschwader 76 • Jagdgeschwader 80 • Jagdgeschwader 130 • Jagdgeschwader 131 • Jagdgeschwader 132 • Jagdgeschwader 133 • Jagdgeschwader 135 • Jagdgeschwader 136 • Jagdgeschwader 137 • Jagdgeschwader 138 • Jagdgeschwader 141 • Jagdgeschwader 143 • Jagdgeschwader 144 • Jagdgeschwader 231 • Jagdgeschwader 232 • Jagdgeschwader 233 • Jagdgeschwader 300 • Jagdgeschwader 301 • Jagdgeschwader 302 • Jagdgeschwader 331 • Jagdgeschwader 333 • Jagdgeschwader 334 • Jagdgeschwader 400 • Jagdgeschwader 433 Training Jagdgeschwader Jagdgeschwader 101 • Jagdgeschwader 102 • Jagdgeschwader 103 • Jagdgeschwader 104 • Jagdgeschwader 105 • Jagdgeschwader 106 • Jagdgeschwader 107 • Jagdgeschwader 108 • Jagdgeschwader 109 • Jagdgeschwader 110 • Jagdgeschwader 111 • Jagdgeschwader 112 • Jagdgeschwader 113 • Jagdgeschwader 114 • Jagdgeschwader 115 • Jagdgeschwader 116 • Jagdgeschwader 117 Special Jagdgeschwader Jagdgeschwader z.b.V.