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''Kampfgeschwader'' 200 (KG 200) (" irCombat Squadron 200") was a German Luftwaffe special operations unit during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The unit carried out especially difficult bombing and transport operations and long-distance reconnaissance flights, tested new aircraft designs and operated captured aircraft.P. W. Stahl/Manfred Jäger: ''Geheimgeschwader KG 200'', 1984, in German,


History

The unit's history began in 1934, when the Luftwaffe formed a reconnaissance squadron under ''
Oberst ''Oberst'' () is a senior field officer rank in several German language, German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the Army, ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, a ...
'' Theodor Rowehl and attached it to the ''
Abwehr The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...
'', the German military intelligence department of the armed forces high command. As the ''Abwehr'' started to lose Hitler's goodwill during the war, a new reconnaissance unit, the "2nd Test Formation", was formed in 1942 under the command of Werner Baumbach. This unit was combined with "1st Test Formation" in March 1944 to form KG 200 on 20 February 1944. On 11 November 1944 Baumbach became ''
Geschwaderkommodore ''Geschwaderkommodore'' (short also ''Kommodore'') is a ''Luftwaffe'' position or appointment (not rank), originating during World War II. A ''Geschwaderkommodore'' is usually an OF5-rank of ''Oberst'' (colonel) or Kapitän zur See (naval captain ...
'', after which point all aerial special-ops missions were carried out by KG 200 under Baumbach's command.


Missions

The unit carried out a wide variety of missions:


Long-range reconnaissance

Before the beginning of the war, aerial reconnaissance was usually carried out by civilian
Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...
planes equipped with cameras. This practice was continued throughout the war as long as civilian airlines remained operational; later on, reconnaissance missions were most often carried out by
Junkers Ju 86 The Junkers Ju 86 is a monoplane bomber and civilian airliner designed and produced by the Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Junkers. It was designed during the mid-1930s in response to a specification for a modern twin-engined aircraft suit ...
s flying at very high altitudes or by
flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...
s. Due to the lack of German aircraft with sufficient range, some recon missions used captured American
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...
or
Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...
heavy bombers and Soviet
Tupolev Tu-2 The Tupolev Tu-2 (development names ANT-58 and 103; NATO reporting name Bat) is a twin-engined Soviet high-speed daylight and frontline bomber aircraft used during World War II. The Tu-2 was tailored to meet a requirement for a high-speed bomber ...
s. For the most part, these machines were used for re-supply roles (dropping in supplies to German forces operating behind enemy lines), or transporting important personnel.


The ''Mistel'' programme

Beginning in 1942, to compensate for its lack of heavy bombers, the ''Luftwaffe'' started to experiment with packing some of its war-weary
Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a twin-engined multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works. It was used extensively during the Second World War by the ''Luftwaffe'' and became one o ...
bombers with enormous shaped-charge warheads and guiding them to their targets with a fighter airplane mounted on the back of the unmanned bomber. Although not as effective as the Luftwaffe planners had hoped, the
Mistel ''Mistel'' (German language, German, 'mistletoe', a parasitic plant) was the larger, unmanned component of a composite aircraft configuration developed in Germany during the later stages of World War II. The composite comprised a small piloted ...
programme continued to be developed through 1944. However, few effective operations were flown. The unit was originally intended to attack naval installations at
Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
,
Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
or
Scapa Flow Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...
in Scotland, but the Allied
Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...
diverted efforts to Normandy. On the night of 24 June 1944, Mistels of ''Kampfgeschwader'' 101 were dispatched to bomb targets in the English Channel. Although one of the Ju 88s had to be jettisoned prematurely, the remaining four pilots had successful launches and sank several
blockship A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used as a waterway. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of at Portland ...
s. Interest in the Scapa Flow attack was maintained, and in August 1944 ''Mistel'' forces were concentrated at Grove in Schleswig-Holstein. On 11 November, 1944 RAF
Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British World War II, Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to ...
s attacked the German battleship ''Tirpitz'' and caused her to capsize. With ''Tirpitz'' out of commission there was no requirement for capital ships to be held in the Atlantic theatre, and soon those with the
Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...
at Scapa Flow were on their way to the Pacific war, leaving the Mistels no worthwhile targets in Scapa Flow. All Mistels were placed under the command of KG 200 and ''Oberst'' (colonel) Joachim Helbig. By late 1944, emphasis was placed on an all-out attack on Soviet armaments and power plants but by March 1945 the bases had been overrun by the Soviet advance. was ordered to concentrate ''Mistel'' operations against the bridges over the
Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...
and
Neisse The Lusatian Neisse (; ; ; Upper Sorbian: ''Łužiska Nysa''; Lower Sorbian: ''Łužyska Nysa''), or Western Neisse, is a river in northern Central Europe.
rivers. On 27 April, 7 Mistel aircraft under ''Leutnant'' Dittmann of II./KG 200, escorted by Fw 190s, were launched against crossings at Küstrin, but only two Mistels got to the target to launch, results were inconclusive and the bridges remained intact. By April, all available ''Mistel'' composite airframes had been expended and aircrew dispersed to nearby fighter units. On 12 April 1945,
Henschel Hs 293 The Henschel Hs 293 was a World War II Nazi Germany, German Command guidance, radio-guided glide bomb. It is the first operational anti-shipping missile, first used unsuccessfully on 25 August 1943 and then with increasing success over the next y ...
standoff missiles were also used against bridges on the
Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...
by Dornier Do 217 bombers of KG 200.


Suicide and near-suicide missions

In the last months of the war, a small number of high-ranking German officers pressed for a suicide fighter programme as a last-ditch effort to stop Allied bombing runs over the Reich. This programme, known as '' Selbstopfer'' ("self sacrifice"), was intended to use the Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg, a manned version of the
V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...
, to attack enemy bombers and ground targets. Several test flights were carried out by Leonidas Squadron KG 200, and mass production of the conversions had begun, but the programme was stopped due to intervention from Baumbach who felt that these missions would be a waste of valuable pilots. As part of the ''Aktion'' 24 operations,
Dornier Do 24 The Dornier Do 24 is a 1930s German three-engine flying boat designed by the Dornier Flugzeugwerke for maritime patrol and search and rescue. A total of 279 were built among several factories from 1937 to 1945. Design and development The Dorni ...
flying boats were modified and loaded with explosives, with the intention that they would be landed on the
Vistula River The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra ...
and exploded against river bridges used by Soviet forces. Experienced pilots were to be used to fly the aircraft to a point upstream where it would be left to a "suicide pilot" to ensure a collision with the bridge and ignite the explosives. The assumption that Soviet forces would not react and the unlikelihood of the aircrew managing to return to German-held territory after delivery made the concept highly dubious. The modified aircraft were destroyed on the ground during air raids.


Special missions

On 1 December 1943, a lone B-24 joined a bomber formation from the 44th Bomb Group. It was reported to have been a machine carrying the markings of a 392nd Bomb Group aircraft. However this unit did not become operational until 9 December. On 27 June 1944, a B-17 of KG 200, with Luftwaffe ''Geschwaderkennung'' code A3+FB, landed in Manises airport (Valencia) and was interned by the Spanish government.


Parachute troops

In July 1944 para-trained commandos of II./KG 200 carried out a parachute assault in July 1944 against French partisan forces on the
Vercors Massif The Vercors massif (; ) is a mountain range in eastern France consisting of rugged plateaus and mountains straddling the ''département in France, départements'' of Isère and Drôme in the French Prealps. It lies west of the Dauphiné Alps, ...
plateau in the French Alps where hundreds of partisans had created a stronghold from which they were mounting operations against the German occupiers. These para-trained commandos of II./KG 200 remain a little-known arm of Germany's World War II parachute forces and were listed on II./KG 200's ORBAT (Order of Battle) as the 3rd Staffel. It is possible the paratroopers were actually Waffen SS paratroopers from the 500th SS Parachute Battalion assigned to Kampfgeschwader 200 for this particular mission.


KG 200 in the Middle East

In July 1942, and again in the winter of 1943-44, the short-lived Operations Dora and Bunny-Hop took place in the
Gulf of Sirte The Gulf of Sidra (), also known as the Gulf of Sirte (), is a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea on the northern coast of Libya, named after the oil port of Sidra or the city of Sirte. It was also historically known as the Great Sirte or G ...
,
Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
, with secret bases inland at Al Mukaram and Wadi Tamet, as well as at Shott al Jerid behind the
Mareth Line The Mareth Line was a system of fortifications built by France in southern French protectorate of Tunisia, Tunisia in the late 1930s. The line was intended to protect Tunisia against an Kingdom of Italy#Fascist regime (1922–1943), Italian invas ...
. The aim was to establish weather stations to provide local and meteorological intelligence, and to ferry agents via
French West Africa French West Africa (, ) was a federation of eight French colonial empires#Second French colonial empire, French colonial territories in West Africa: Colonial Mauritania, Mauritania, French Senegal, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guin ...
to Cairo,
Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...
and
Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...
. These used a (long range) Messerschmitt Bf 108, two Heinkel He 111s, and a captured B-17 - given the fictional designation "Dornier Do 288" (as a "confusive reuse" of the ''8-288'' RLM airframe number for the Junkers Ju 288, a Bomber B design competitor) - which despite being badly damaged during a raid on Al Mukaram by a
Sudan Defence Force The Sudan Defence Force (SDF) was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces unit raised in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1925 to assist local police in internal security duties and maintain the condominium's territorial integrity. During World War II, ...
detachment, managed to return to
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
for repair. On the night of 27 November 1944, KG 200 pilots Braun and Pohl flew a Junkers Ju 290 transport from Vienna to a position just south of
Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...
, Iraq, where they successfully air-dropped five Iraqi parachutists in bright moonlight. The Luftwaffe crew flew back to the island of Rhodes, still under German occupation. After dealing with engineering problems, they evacuated some thirty casualties from
Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...
, reaching Vienna two nights later.Stahl, P. ''KG 200 The True Story'' London Book Club edition 1981 pp. 78–88


See also

* No. 100 Group RAF, Royal Air Force special duties group, engaged in electronic warfare and countermeasures *
No. 138 Squadron RAF No. 138 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force that served in a variety of roles during its career, last disbanded in 1962. It was the first 'V-bomber' squadron of the RAF, flying the Vickers Valiant between 1955 and 1962. History ...
,
No. 161 Squadron RAF No. 161 (Special Duties) Squadron was a highly secretive unit of the Royal Air Force, performing missions as part of the Royal Air Force Special Duties Service. It was tasked with missions of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the Secre ...
, Royal Air Force squadrons responsible for dropping agents in occupied Europe * No. 1426 Flight RAF, RAF unit that flew captured German aircraft * Zirkus Rosarius, German unit that test-flew captured Allied aircraft * Ruse of war


Notes


References

* * * * Peter Wilhelm Stahl: ''KG 200: The true story'', Jane's, 1981, . German original: ''Geheimgeschwader KG 200: D. Wahrheit nach uber 30 Jahren'', Motorbuch-Verlag, 1977, (later edition co-authored by Manfred Jäger). * Saul Kelly: ''The Hunt for Zerzura'', John Murray, 2002, * * *


Further reading

*


External links


''Wolf Hound''
a 2022 movie about KG 200, via
IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
{{Subject bar , portal1=Aviation Bomber wings of the Luftwaffe 1933-1945 German World War II special forces Air force special forces units Military deception Espionage techniques Military units and formations established in 1934 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945