Jagdgeschwader 26 (JG 26) Schlageter was a German fighter-wing of World War II. It was named after Albert Leo Schlageter, a World War I veteran, Freikorps member, and posthumous Nazi martyr, arrested and executed by the French for sabotage in 1923. The wing fought predominantly against the Western Allies.
Formed in May 1939, JG 26 spent the Phoney War period guarding Germany's western borders following the German invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II. In May and June 1940 it served in the Battle of Belgium and Battle of France. From July 1940 it operated over England in the Battle of Britain under the command of Adolf Galland, future General der Jagdflieger. JG 26 remained in France and Belgium fighting against the RAF Fighter Command Circus offensive in 1941 and 1942, with considerable tactical success. In 1943 it faced the USAAF Eighth Air Force, and along with the rest of the Luftwaffe fighter force, was worn down over Western Europe combating the Combined Bomber Offensive in Defence of the Reich. In 1944, JG 26 resisted the Normandy landings and served as a "tactical" or frontline unit during Operation Market Garden and Battle of the Bulge. It continued to fight up to the unconditional surrender of Wehrmacht forces in Western Europe on 8 May 1945.
Elements of JG 26 served in other theatres. A single staffel (squadron) served in the North African Campaign and Battle of the Mediterranean. One gruppe (group) and a single staffel, fought on the Eastern Front from January to June 1943. A planned move in full to the Soviet Union did not materialise. JG 26 was well known by Allied air forces. The Royal Air Force (RAF) called the Joachim Müncheberg-led II. Gruppe the "Abbeville Boys" after their home base.
Organisation
A Luftwaffe Geschwader (wing formation) was the largest homogenous flying formation. It typically was made up of three groups (gruppen). Each group contained approximately 30 to 40 aircraft in three squadrons (staffeln). A Jagdgeschwader could field 90 to 120 fighter aircraft. In some cases a wing could be given a fourth gruppe. Each wing had a Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) supported by three Gruppenkommandeur (Group Commanders). Each squadron was commanded by a Staffelkapitän (squadron leader). The staffel contained approximately 12 to 15 aircraft. The identification in records was different depending on the type of formation. A gruppe was referred to in roman numerals, for example I./JG 26, while staffeln were described with their number (1./JG 26). The wing could be subordinated to a Fliegerkorps, Fliegerdivision or Jagddivision (Flying Corps, Division and Fighter Division) all of which were subordinated to Luftflotten (Air Fleets). The use of Fliegerdivision became redundant and the description Fliegerkorps supplanted it until the use of Jagddivision later in the war.
Formation Jagdgeschwader 26 was one of the earliest fighter units of the Luftwaffe. Its creation began in early 1937. A plan dated 14 March 1936 by Hermann Göring, at the time Reichsminister der Luftfahrt (Minister of Aviation) and Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe (Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe), foresaw the creation of two light fighter groups in Luftkreis IV, a territorial Luftwaffe unit with its headquarters in Münster. Göring had planned for these two groups, initially organized under the designation Jagdgeschwader 234 (JG 234–234th Fighter Wing), to become operational on 1 April 1937.
I. Gruppe of JG 234 was created from the redesignation of III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 134 on 15 March 1937 at Cologne Butzweilerhof Airfield. Its first commander was Hauptmann Walter Grabmann, who handed over command to Major Gotthard Handrick on 11 September 1938. The Gruppe was initially referred to I.(leichte Jäger) Gruppe and was equipped with the Heinkel He 51 B and started receiving the first Messerschmitt Bf 109 B series in May 1938. In parallel, II. Gruppe of JG 234 was formed in Düsseldorf. This Gruppe had numerous commanders during its creation phase, Major Werner Rentsch (15 March – May 1937), Major Werner Nielsen (May – 31 July 1937), Oberstleutnant Eduard Ritter von Schleich (1 August 1937 – 30 September 1938), Hauptmann Werner Palm (1 October 1938 – 27 June 1939) and Hauptmann Herwig Knüppel, who took command on 28 June 1939.
The Geschwaderstab (headquarters unit) was formed on 1 November 1938 in Düsseldorf and placed under the command of Oberst Eduard Ritter von Schleich. On this day, the Geschwader was renamed to Jagdgeschwader 132 (JG 132–132nd Fighter Wing) and was subordinated to Luftgaukommando IV (Air District Command). Also, on this day, I. and II. Gruppe of JG 234 were placed under the command of JG 132 and were then referred to as I. and II. Gruppe of JG 132. The Geschwaderstab was equipped with the Bf 109 D-1. On 8 December 1938, JG 132 was given the unit name "Schlageter", named after Albert Leo Schlageter. Schlageter was former member of the Freikorps who was executed by the French for sabotage and then became a martyr cultivated by the Nazi Party.
On 1 May 1939, the unit was named Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter". One practical result of being a "named" unit was that for propaganda, if not necessarily operational, reasons, the wing was always among the first to receive new equipment; by January 1939 the Jagdgeschwader had received the newer Bf 109 E-1 which was highest performing fighter aircraft in the world at the time. I. Gruppe was commanded by Gotthard Handrick. Handrick served in Jagdgruppe 88 (J/88), Condor Legion, during the Spanish Civil War. Hauptmann Werner Palm commanded II. Gruppe, while III. Gruppe, formed 23 days into the war, was placed under Major Ernst Freiherr von Berg.
World War II
On 25 August 1939, I. Gruppe was ordered from Cologne to Bonn-Odendorf, across the Rhine in the Eifel while II. Gruppe moved from Düsseldorf to Bönninghardt. On 1 September 1939, the German Wehrmacht began the Invasion of Poland, beginning World War II. JG 26 was ordered to protect the western German border and industrial regions. Pilots spent time patrolling the airspace, in training or waiting at readiness in cockpits. The wing suffered its first fatality when an Unteroffizier pilot, Josef Schubauer, 2. Staffel, was killed in an accident. 10. Staffel became a night fighter unit under the command of Johannes Steinhoff, but was equipped with obsolete Bf 109 Ds and Arado Ar 68 fighters. 7., 8. and 9. Staffel were formed to staff the gruppe; Gerhard Schöpfel was the first leader of 9./JG 26. JG 26 claimed a first victory on 28 September, when a Curtiss P-36 Hawk from Groupe de Chasse II/5 encountered 2./JG 26 escorting a Henschel Hs 126 reconnaissance aircraft. The battle ended in the two Bf 109s being brought down with no loss to the French Air Force unit. By 30 September 1939, III. Gruppe had received its full complement of Bf 109s. The wing now had 129 day fighters, with fourteen Bf 109 Ds and six Ar 68s in the night fighter staffel. Walter Kienitz was replaced as III. Gruppe commander by Major Ernst Freiherr von Berg on 31 October, while on 7 November Joachim Müncheberg claimed the last victory during the "Phoney War" over a No. 56 Squadron RAF Bristol Blenheim bomber. The night fighter unit 10.(Nacht)/JG 26 fought in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight under Carl-Alfred Schumacher. Steinhoff was also in the battle; the German unit claimed six (three confirmed) for one pilot drowned. On New Years Day 1940, JG 26 began replacing the Bf 109 E-1 with the E-3, which had more powerful MG FF cannon armament in the wings, though not all staffeln had replaced the E-1 until autumn, 1940. On 10 February 1940 I. Gruppe was assigned to Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51—51st Fighter Wing) but remained under JG 26 administration. It did not return to JG 26 until June 1940. To maintain it as a three gruppen wing, JG 26 took operational control of gruppen from other wings. From 1 September 1939 to 9 May 1940, JG 26 lost one pilot killed in action, one interned in the Netherlands, three killed in accidents and one wounded in action. The pilots were credited with four confirmed and four unconfirmed victories.
France and the Low Countries
JG 26 was assigned to Jagdfliegerführer 2, a fighter command within Luftflotte 2. JG 26 was tasked with supporting Army Group B in the Battle of the Netherlands and Battle of Belgium, which encouraged the French Army and British Army into the Low Countries while Army Group A outflanked them through lower Belgium and Luxembourg, north of the Maginot Line. JG 51, Jagdgeschwader 27 (JG 27—27th Fighter Wing) and Zerstörergeschwader 26 (ZG 26—26th Destroyer Wing) provided air superiority support. II. and III. Gruppen operated over the Netherlands in the first days, with the attached III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 3 (JG 3—3rd Fighter Wing). I. Gruppe joined them, under the command of JG 51. Stab/JG 26 had four Bf 109s on strength (three operational), I. Gruppe 44 (35), II. Gruppe 47 (36) and III. Gruppe 42 (22), based at Dortmund, Bonninghardt, Dortmund and Essen respectively.
Fall Gelb opened on 10 May 1940. JG 26 flew cover for the invasion of the Netherlands and Battle of the Hague. JG 26 operated in the vicinity of Amsterdam. One Bf 109 was lost in combat with a Fokker D.XXI, several others were reported damaged. Eight Dutch aircraft, some from 2-1 and 1–2, Java, Royal Dutch Air Force, were claimed shot down. The Allied armies enacted their Dyle Plan into Belgium on 11 May, screened by three groups of French fighters, four Hawker Hurricane squadrons from the RAF Advanced Air Striking Force, supported by elements of No. 11 Group RAF in England. III. Gruppe claimed five P-36s from GC I/4 without loss; the French lost their commander and another killed, one captured, two wounded and several damaged fighters. JG 26 pilots were given credit for eight destroyed near Antwerp. The following day, no reported contact was made with any enemy aircraft. Stab, III. Gruppe and III./JG 3 moved near the Dutch border at Mönchengladbach and II. Gruppe to Uerdingen. RAF Fighter Command made contact with the Luftwaffe for the first time on 13 May, against JG 26. Supermarine Spitfires from No. 66 Squadron RAF and Boulton Paul Defiants from No. 264 Squadron RAF. Seven Spitfires and one Defiant were claimed; one Spitfire and five Defiants were lost. Two Dutch and two French aircraft, one from GC III/3, were also claimed in the Rotterdam and Dordrecht areas. The cost was to 1./JG 26, which suffered two pilots killed and another temporarily captured. On 14 May, JG 26 was busy supporting German advances at the Battle of Gembloux. III. Gruppe engaged in air combat destroying a section of four Hurricanes from No. 504 Squadron RAF as the decisive Battle of Sedan occurred further south. The Dutch capitulated that day, permitting I. Gruppe to join the main battle. The group moved to Eindhoven a day later. Over the 15–17 May a further eight victory claims were granted to JG 26 pilots in battles over Lille, Seclin and Tournai, Mons and Overijse. From 18 May, it supported Army Group A's drive to the English Channel. II. Gruppe was credited with 12 enemy aircraft on the day in the Cambrai Douai area. Two out of six claims were confirmed the following day but lost commanding officer Herwig Knüppel killed. Two fighters from No. 253 Squadron RAF are known to have fallen in combat with JG 26. III. Gruppe moved to Beauvechain near Brussels while the recently attached III./JG 27 moved to Sint Truiden. I. Gruppe, under JG 51, transferred to Antwerp 23 May.