Eagles of the Third Reich: Men of the Luftwaffe in WWII (Stackpole Military History Series) (14 page)
Authors: Samuel W. Mitcham
All totalled, the “Operational Luftwaffe” (1st and 4th Air Fleet) had 1,302 aircraft, of which 879 were bomb carriers (bombers, dive-bombers, and ground attack aircraft). The rest were fighters, reconnaissance, and transport planes. Also on the eastern front were 123 aircraft (mainly reconnaissance planes) under the direct control of OKL; 288 reconnaissance aircraft attached to the army; and 216 fighter aircraft under Luftgaue I (Koenigsberg), III (Berlin), IV (Dresden), VIII (Breslau), and XVII (Vienna).
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These were responsible for the air defense of eastern Germany.
It is interesting to note that the Luftwaffe concentrated its strength in the north, while the German Army concentrated in the south. This was because the primary mission of the Luftwaffe during the first two days of the campaign was to destroy the Polish air forces, not to support the ground units. It was to assume this mission only after air supremacy had been clearly established.
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| TABLE 3: ORDER OF BATTLE OF THE GERMAN ARMY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1939 | |
Army Group North | Col. Gen. Fedor von Bock |
Third Army | Gen. Georg von Kuechler |
Fourth Army | Gen. Gunther von Kluge |
Army Group South | Col. Gen. Gerd von Rundstedt |
Eighth Army | Gen. Johannes Blaskowitz |
Tenth Army | Gen. Walter von Reichenau |
Fourteenth Army | Gen. Wilhelm List |
Army Group C | Col. Gen. Ritter Wilhelm von Leeb |
Army Detachment A | Col. Gen. Baron Kurt von Hammerstein * |
Fifth Army | Gen. Curt Liebmann |
First Army | Gen. Erwin von Witzleben |
Seventh Army | Gen. Friedrich Dollmann |
|
*
Still in formation. Army Detachment A was not activated until September 10, 1939.
On the western front, 2nd Air Fleet deployed the 3rd Air Division (Maj. Gen. M. Putzier) and the 4th Air Division (Lieutenant General Keller), while the 3rd Air Fleet controlled the 5th Air Division (Maj. Gen. Ritter von Greim) and the 6th Air Division (Maj. Gen. Otto Dessloch). Second Air Fleet had 309 aircraft (165 bomb carriers) and 3rd Air Fleet had 264 airplanes, of which 120 were bomb carriers. Another 153 aircraft were attached to the army units on the western front, while 150 fighters under Luftgaue VI (Muenster), XI (Hamburg), VII (Munich), XIII (Nuremberg), and XII (Wies baden) provided fighter defense for western Germany. In all, there were 876 aircraft in the West of which only 285 (or 32.5 percent) were bomb carriers.
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Table
4
shows the disposition of the 2,985 first-line aircraft the Luftwaffe had on September l. Table
5
shows the Order of Battle for the 1st and 4th Air Fleets.
The Luftwaffe was opposed by three Polish air divisions, which were subordinate to the army, as Poland had no separate air force. The Polish 1st Air Division (1st, 5th, 6th Air Regiments) and 3rd Air Division (2nd, 3rd, and 4th Air Regiments) were headquartered at Warsaw, while the 2d Air Division (7th and 8th Air Regiments) was still in the process of forming in the interior. The main non-divisional unit was Naval Air Group Putzig, a mixed force of seven bomber, fighter, reconnaissance, and antiaircraft squadrons, located in the Baltic sector.
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| TABLE 4: ORDER OF BATTLE OF THE LUFTWAFFE, SEPTEMBER 1, 1939 | |||
| Unit | Aircraft | Bomb Carriers | % Bomb Carriers |
| 1st Air Fleet | 795 | 519 | 65.3 |
1st Air Division | (444) | (309) | |
Lw Cmd East Prussia | (324) | (210) | |
Air Fleet units | (27) | (0) | |
| 4th Air Fleet | 507 | 360 | 71.0 |
2d Air Division | (315) | (240) | |
Air Cmd z. b. V. | (183) | (120) | |
Air Fleet units | (9) | (0) | |
| (Total, operational LW: | 1,302 | 879 | 67.5) |
| Under OKL | 123 | 18 | |
| Attached to army | 288 | ||
| Home Air Defense, East | 216 | ||
| ______ | ______ | ||
| TOTAL, EASTERN FRONT: | 1,929 | 897 | 46.5 |
| 2d Air Fleet | 309 | 165 | 53.4 |
| 3d Air Division | |||
| 4th Air Division | |||
| 3d Air Fleet | 264 | 120 | 45.5 |
| 5th Air Division | |||
| 6th Air Division | |||
| Attached to army | 153 | ||
| Home Air Defense | 150 | ||
| ______ | ______ | ||
| TOTAL, WESTERN FRONT: | 876 | 285 | 32.5 |
| Naval Air Units | 180 | ||
| LUFTWAFFE TOTAL: | 2,985 | 1,182 | 39.6 |
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Source: Speidel MS.
The principal tactical unit of the Polish air forces was the group. Each group had two to four squadrons, which had ten to twelve aircraft each. Upon mobilization, these units came under the direct operational control of the army or the navy. The Polish air force had ten reconnaissance groups, seven fighter groups, five fighter-bomber groups, and six groups of liaison aircraft. In all, they had 935 airplanes, including 350 reconnaissance planes, 300 fighters, 150 fighter-bombers, and 135 liaison aircraft. A large number of their planes were obsolete. The main Polish fighter was the PZL P.11, which was made by the National Aviation Plant (Panstwowe Zaklady Lotnicze) in Warsaw. These high-wing monoplanes dated back to 1931. They were armed with only two light machine guns and had an operational ceiling several thousand feet below the Messerschmitts. The P.11 was also about one hundred miles per hour slower than the Me-109.
TABLE 5: ORDER OF BATTLE, 1ST AND 4TH AIR FLEETS, SEPTEMBER 1, 1939
1st Air Fleet: General of Flyers Kesselring
Chief of Staff: Col. Wilhelm Speidel
1st Air Division: Lt. Gen. Ulrich Grauert
KG 1 (-)
KG 26 (-)
KG 27
StG 2 (-)
ULG 2
ZG1(-)
Lehrdivision: Lt. Gen. Helmut Foerster
LG 1
KG 2
KG 3
UStG 1
UJG 1
Luftgau I (Koenigsberg)
Luftgau III (Berlin)
Luftgau IV (Dresden)
4th Air Fleet: Gen. of Flyers Alexander Loehr
Chief of Staff: Col. Guenter Korten
2nd Air Division: Lt. Gen. Bruno Loerzer
KG 4
KG 76
KG 77
UZG 76
Air Command z.b.V.: Maj. Gen. Baron von Richthofen
StG 77 (-)
SLG 2 (-)
*
UZG 2
Luftgau VIII (Breslau)
Luftgau XVII (Vienna)