Luftwaffe Transport Group - Kampfgruppe z.b.V. 9

by Henry L. deZeng IV and Jason Long

On September 1, 1939 the Gruppe moved forward to Aslau, 90 kilometers, west of Breslau in Silesia, for the attack on Poland under 7. Fliegerdivision. Operating from Aslau, G�rlitz, and Sagan over the next several weeks, the Gruppe flew numerous routine cargo flights into Poland. The first and only combat mission was flown on 13 September when air-landing troops were carried to Lodz, Poland. The rest of the campaign consisted of additional cargo flight up to the conclusion of fighting at the end of September. The rapid victory achieved by German ground forces made the large scale deployment of paratroops unnecessary. On 29 September, KGr zbV 9 was deactivated and the 53 Ju 52 aircraft and crews were returned to the schools.

It was reformed on 9 November at Jena-R�dinger, but stood down shortly there after on 22 November. The Stab remained on standby at Grossenhain.

On 12 January 1940, KGr zbV 9 was reactivated at Jena-R�dinger, but moved to Neuruppin on 31 January, to Hagenow on 3 February and finally to Lippspringe on 12 March. There was an order issued on January 19th to disband the Gruppe, but this was countermanded although up to 75% of the crews were replaced on the orders of the Chief of Training. Assigned to Lufflotte 2, troops and supplies were ferried to airfields in northern Germany during late March and early April, particularly to Westerland/Sylt off the coast of Schleswig. Operations against Denmark and Norway commenced on 9 April.

KGr zbV 9 wasn't heavily utilized during the early stages of the invasion when its only mission was to transport Luftwaffe light flak from Neum�nster to Stavanger on the first day of the cmapaign. Its next mission was not until April 18th when it flew 4./Res.FlakAbt 111 and 6./IR 355 to Stavanger. Two days later it flew the rest of Res.Flak 111 and fuel and lubricants to Stavanger. On the 21st it flew III/IR 334 to Oslo and the Stab of Luftflotte 5 to the same location a day later. Its next mission to Norway wasn't until a full week later when it flew 5./Res.Flak 325 via Oslo to Trondheim. Thereafter it flew occasional loads of fuel and spare parts to Norway until the end of the month. It returned to Lippspringe to prepare for the attack on the West.

It carried air-landing troops of the 22. Infanterie Division in coup-de-main attacks on Dutch airfields at Ypenburg, Waalhaven, Delft, and Ockenburg, all in or near the cities of Rotterdam and The Hague. Its Ju 52s landed troops on airfields, open countryside, roads, and beaches in an effort to seize the Dutch heartland before the Dutch could mount any serious resistance. Unfortunately it blundered into a hornet's nest that cost it 39 aircraft during the day's operations. A number of these were voluntary crash-landings to get the infantry where it could do some good, but others were destroyed by artillery fire after landing.

As might be imagined the Gruppe's operations were severely curtailed afterwards, but it continued to provide support to the advancing Germans. On 11 and 12 May Sonderstaffel zbV 104 and 17./Versuchsabteilung Friedrichshafen were subordinated to the Gruppe.

By early July its losses had been replaced so that it could fly routine supply missions from Germany to the Luftwaffe's forward airfields in support of the air offensive against Britain.

In December 1940, the Gruppe was reassigned to X. Fliegerkorps and ordered to Reggio in southern Italy, arriving there by 10 January 1941. Several days later two Ju 52s were destroyed on the ground at Catania by a British bombing raid launched from Malta. Moderate losses continued over the next several months, with the first of these occuring on 28 January when a Ju 52 on the island of Rhodes in the eastern Aegean, killing Major Helmut Frohne, one of the Staffelkapit�ne, and three others. Accidents were recorded at Trapani and Palermo, Sicily on 3 and 9 February, respectively, and on 17 February a Ju 52 coded 4V+EH from 1. Staffel crashed in the Straits of Messina with its crew of four listed as missing. Two months later, on 20 April, two Ju 52s, out of a formation of five, were shot down into the sea off Benghazi, Libya by a section of Fairy Fulmars from the carrier Formidable, killing all ten aircrew aboard. It did not take part in the campaign in the Balkans and was ordered back to Germany in the later part of May to rest, refit, and prepare for operations in the East.

From 22 June, the opening of the attack on the Soviet Union, to early February, 1942 KGr zbV 9 was assigned to VIII. Fliegerkorps for the advance through Belorussia and the drive on Moscow. Among the first missions flown by the Gruppe was the transporting of fule from the airfield at Biala Podlaska in eastern Poland to Bobruisk airfield, southeast of Minsk, on 11 July. On 17 July a Ju 52 belonging to 2. Staffel was damaged while taxiing at Demidov, northeast of Vitebsk. Another Ju 52, coded 4V+BM from 4. Staffel, was shot down by Russian flak near Mogilev on 20 July, killing Oblt. Kurt Lang and his crew. On 30 August, four men from the Gruppe were wounded by bomb fragments during a Soviet air raid on Belaya Tserkov airfield, south of Kiev.

Operating from Gomel-Nord and Seshchinskaya during October and November, the Gruppe transported fuel, ammunition and supplies for fighter, dive-bomber and tank units spearheading the attack on Moscow. On 3 November two Ju 52s from 3. Staffel were reported damaged in crash-landings at Chern, 80 kilometers northeast of Orel. The start of 1942 had the Gruppe continuing hectic air supply operations during the bitter winter as weather permitted, and, by January, it was based at Vitebsk. On 5 February two Ju 52s were shot up at Shailovka, a forward airstrip halfway between Smolensk and Moscow. It was being used to bring up supplies to the tattered remnants of the German Army and to fly in reinforcements that were being hastily assembled in the rear areas.

Around 10 February the Gruppe was ordered to move to Pskov-S�d, on the northern sector of the Eastern Front, as the first of the many transport units gathered for the Demyansk airlift, a maximum effort to supply the 95,000 beleaguered German troops surrounded in a pocket southeast of Lake Ilmen. Thousands of flights were made into the pocket over the next four months from Pskov-S�d, and later, in April and May, from Korovye Selo to the south of Pskov. Losses were considerable during this period due to the severe winter weather, poor airfields, and Russian artillery fire that attempted to interdict the primitive airfield at Demyansk.

At the conclusion of the Demyansk operation, KGr zbV 9 was transferred to southern Russia to support the advance on Stalingrad, once again coming under the command of VIII. Fliegerkorps. Minor crashes were reported at Nikolayev on 25 July, near Voroshilovsk on 24 August, Stalingrad-Pitomnik on 11 September, Tusov, near Stalingrad, on 29 September, and at Kramatorskaya, northeast of Stalino, on 9 November. By August the Gruppe was based at Konstantinovka, 85 kilometers north of Stalino, and by 7 December it had moved to Taganrog-S�d for the opening phase of the Stalingrad airlift. In late December a further move was made, this time to Sverevo, 100 kilometers northeast of Rostov and 135 kilometers closer to Stalingrad.

The start of 1943 had the Gruppe flying a maximum number of missions to try and supply the 6th Army surrounded at Stalingrad. The aerial supply flights reached their peak during January and losses quickly began to mount; one Ju 52 was shot down near Pitmonik on 16 January, another was destroyed and two damaged during Soviet air raid on Sverevo the next day. Two more crashed in bad weather and poor visibility between Sverevo and Stalingrad on 22 and 23 January, killing both crews. Another, coded 4V+AM, failed to return from a flight to the pocket on 28 January. The 6th Army surrendered on 2 February and the Gruppe was reassigned to airlift operations in the North Caucasus.

A Ju 52 was shot down by Soviet fighters on 17 February with the loss of all four crewmembers. Another was shot down near Cherny nine days later with the loss of the crew and four passengers. It's not known for certain where the Gruppe was based during this period, but Taganrog-West was possibly used in February and Sarabus in the Crimea in March where a Ju 52 crash-landed in bad weather on the 20th. By April the Gruppe had been withdrawn from operations to rest, refit, and reorganize. On May 1, 1943 it was redesignated as I./TG 3 (Transportfliegergeschwader) as part of the general restructing of the Luftwaffe's air transport branch

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