Kampfgeschwader 51 "Edelweiss" (KG 51) (Battle Wing 51) was a Luftwaffe bomber wing during World War II.
The unit began forming in May 1939 and completed forming in December 1939, and took no part in the invasion of Poland which started the war.
It first served in the Phoney War then the Battle of France in May and June 1940. From July to October 1940, it fought in the Battle of Britain and then in the night intruder role during the Blitz until March 1941.
It supported the Balkans Campaign in April 1941 and served on the Eastern Front from June 1941 until December 1943.
In 1944 and 1945, it served exclusively in the West; in the Defence of the Reich, Western Front and in Operation Steinbock. All Groups and squadrons of KG 51 disbanded and reformed during the course of the war. Few remained active by the German surrender in May 1945.
The wing operated the Dornier Do 17, Heinkel He 111 and Junkers Ju 88 light and medium bombers, the Messerschmitt Me 410 heavy fighter and the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.
Formation KG 51 was created on 1 May 1939. The bomber wing was formed from the redesignated KG 255. The Stabsstaffel was formed at Landsberg-Lech with the Dornier Do 17M. Oberst Dr. Johann-Volkmar Fisser was appointed Geschwaderkommodore. Fisser oversaw the creation of I./KG 51 under the command of Oberstleutnant Hans Korte on the same day. The Do 17E was given to the group and it trained throughout the summer and converted to the Heinkel He 111 just before hostilities commenced. The training and mobilisation of the group was completed on 20 August 1939 and it was redeployed Memmingen. 34 of 36 aircraft were serviceable on 1 September 1939.
II./KG 51 was ordered to begin forming on 1 December 1939 at Breslau. Perhaps for administration reasons the group began to form in Austria at Wiener Neustadt. The process began on 1 March 1940 and completed on 15 April 1940. The group's late creation enabled it to be equipped with the newer Junkers Ju 88. Major Friedrich Winkler was chosen as the group's first commanding officer. Winkler could not achieve combat readiness until May 1940. It moved from Munchen-Riem to the western border; the precise location of the base is unknown. Only 15 of the group's 38 bombers were operational.
III./KG 51 was formed on 1 May 1939. It trained through the summer and the crews switched from the Do 17E to He 111H. Oberst Alois Stoeckl was given command. It was moved to Memmingen in August. 33 of the 36 bombers were operational. The third group was placed under Luftflotte 3 along with I./KG 51. It completed the conversion on the eve of war, from 15 through to the 30 August 1939.
Stab./KG 51 was held in reserve in southern Germany and took no part in the Invasion of Poland which began World War II in Europe. Instead the nine aircraft at Fisser's disposal were used to drop propaganda leaflets over France on 6 November 1939 and flew other reconnaissance missions during the Phoney War. Korte led the first group into action in the same manner. It spent eight months in training but was known to have dropped leaflets in the Brest to Nantes area on 17 November. The group moved to Greifswald to convert to the Ju 88 in March 1940 and moved back to Memmingen on 6 May.
III./KG 51 appears to have been most active. From Landsberg-Lech it flew leaflet operations from 6 November. Bordeaux and Marseille were the destinations on 17 November. By April 1940 the group had flown 18 such sorties and suffered no losses (apparently) up to the 25 April.
War Service On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht initiated Fall Gelb, which began the Battle of the Netherlands, Belgium and France. The plan was for Army Group B to invade the Low Countries, draw in the French Army and the British Army to Belgium and allow Army Group A to advance through the Ardennes, north of the Maginot Line to the English Channel. The German Army could then destroy the Allied forces in the encirclement. KG 51 was placed under the command of Fliegerkorps V (Flying Corps 5).
Western Europe On the first day of the offensive, I./KG 51, now under the command of Major Hans Bruno Schulz-Heyn (since 19 December 1939), were mid-way through conversion to the Ju 88. The group was abnormally large, possessing some 18 operational He 111s from a total of 36, and another 7 operational Ju 88s from 23 at Lechfeld. KG 51 began operations at 03:56 that morning.
The group was ordered to bomb the French Air Force base at Dijon Air Base. 8./KG 51 set out but through navigational error bombed the German border town Freiburg causing 100 civilian casualties and killing 57, including 22 children. To cover up the mistake, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels blamed the British and French for, what became known to the Germans, as the "Freiburg massacre."
On 15 May 9./KG 51 recorded three losses; two in combat with 607 Squadron and another to the French Groupe de Chasse I/3 (GCI/3) in the Reims area. I./KG 51 was known to have been active in the Chalons-sur-Marne area on 10 May. III./KG 51 were also operating in the same area and were known to have bombed targets in the Valenciennes area on 15 May. The Stab unit and all three groups were active in the Sedan breakthrough.
I. and II./KG 51 utilised the dive-bombing capability of their Ju 88s and, with the rest of Fliegerkorps V, protected Heinz Guderian's XIX Army Corps' southern flank in Air interdiction. The attacks against rail targets were successful. German reconnaissance reported 33 trains stopped south west Verdun. The French rail network was efficient and such successes were only temporary, but it slowed reinforcements and supply.
All three groups were involved in the Battle of Dunkirk after the Panzer Divisions reached the Channel on 20 May. I. and II./KG 51 were known to have supported the Siege of Lille. 3. and 5. Staffel lost a bomber over Lille on 19 May while 4. and 6. Staffel suffered damage to one of their aircraft. Their assailants were from 1 and 73 Squadron. The Messerschmitt Bf 110s from V.(Z)./LG 1 provided escort.
On 3 June Operation Paula, the massed attacks on airfields and factories in the Paris area, began. The operation was to support the final stage (Fall Rot) of the offensive. KG 51 does not appear to have taken part. At least one source does not place KG 51 on the order of battle for Paula. Stab./KG 51 was certainly operating on this date, for Geschwaderkommodore Josef Kammhuber, was shot down and became a temporary prisoner of war. Kammhuber was released after the French surrender but did not return to KG 51. Fisser, whom Kammhuber had replaced on 27 March 1940 to allow him operational experience, assumed the commanding officer role again later that day.
KG 51 supported Fall Rot, the second part of the invasion. KG 51 lost four in the first five days as the Luftwaffe lost 101 aircraft but claimed 221 aircraft destroyed.
II./KG 51 appears to have supported the advance in eastern France to the Switzerland border from 1 June, completing the encirclement of the Maginot Line. The transit and movement of KG 51 during the campaign is not known owing to sparse records. Second group did move to Étampes-Mondésir south-west of Paris on 20 June after stops in Munich and Stuttgart. I./KG 51 was based at Paris-Orly on the same date, but their movements from 10 May are largely unknown. III./KG 51 joined the second group at Étampes on 20 June, days before the Armistice of 22 June 1940. The bases were badly damaged and bore the scared of German air attacks. Prisoners of war were used to repair facilities.
KG 51 is believed to have been engaged in harassing attacks over Britain at night from 28/29 June. The very small-scale raids targets ports in Wales and factories in the Bristol area.
Battle of Britain
In July 1940, the Luftwaffe began the Kanalkampf phase of the Battle of Britain bombing convoys in the English Channel. In August, the air offensives extended to the United Kingdom mainland. The objective was to destroy RAF Fighter Command over southern England, at the least, in preparation for Operation Sea Lion. KG 51 played a large role in the air operations over the summer and autumn, 1940. remained with Fliegerkorps V, a component Luftflotte 3.
Fisser led various groups in action over England. The Stab unit's only aircraft belonged to Fisser and he paid the price of leading from the front on 12 August 1940 when his Ju 88 was shot down. Group Commander Hans Bruno Schulz-Heyn replaced him until 31 August when Oberst Paul Koester took command from 1 September 1940. Fisser's death occurred attacking Ventnor radar station on the Isle of Wight. Fisser had become a victim of Hawker Hurricane fighters from No. 213 Squadron RAF.
I./KG 51 recorded its first (a Ju 88) loss on the battle on 1 July 1940, near Dunbar, Scotland. It attacked Royal Navy destroyers off St Catherine's Head and Start Point on 11 and 12 July. The Start Point attack cost the group one Ju 88; downed by No. 236 Squadron RAF operating Bristol Blenheims. The Catherine's Head operation cost it one aircraft shot down by No. 145 Squadron RAF. The group flew bombing raids against Bristol on 17 July and lost a Ju 88 off Land's End on 27 July. 5. Staffel flew on operation near Stroud in Gloucestershire on 25 July; one of their number became the first to fall on British soil.
II. and III./KG 51 suffered one loss; the former was lost in action against No. 43 Squadron RAF and the latter was damaged by ground-fire. First group suffered another loss on 17 July over Bristol to No. 92 Squadron RAF. Losses were sporadic as the intensity of the air offensive increased. Second group lost another Ju 88 on 25 July followed by a I./KG 51 Ju 88 two days later at the hands of No. 234 Squadron RAF. Two Ju 88s from the second group and one from the third were damaged on 2 August.
On 12 August first group raided the Portsmouth and Isle of Wight area during which KG 51's commanding officer Fisser was killed. Fisser led 68 Ju 88s into action protected by 150 Bf 109s and Bf 110s. It met with heavy resistance, and some 58 RAF fighters engaged the bombers. and KG 51 lost 10 bombers with another two damaged. Along with Fisser, 28 men were posted missing and 11 were confirmed killed. I./KG 51 lost two Ju 88s each to No. 266 Squadron RAF and 213 Squadron; one damaged by 213 made it back to France. 145 and 43 Squadron accounted for one II./KG 51 each and III./KG 51 lost one destroyed and two damaged by No. 152 Squadron RAF and another destroyed by ground-fire.
By Adlertag (13 August) I./KG 51 had 21 operational Ju 88s from a total of 30. On 13 August, the Germans made an all-out effort to destroy Fighter Command. KG 51 struck at RAF Bibury Spithead harbour and Ventnor radar station. No known losses were sustained by KG 51 but German losses overall were substantial and the attacks failed. The wing's groups bombing operations are largely unknown until 19 August when Bibury was attacked by third group and they lost one bomber to No. 602 Squadron RAF and another damaged in first group as the attacked coastal targets off St Catherine's Point. Third group lost one bomber off the Kent coast on 24 August, but the target is unknown.
On 24 August, KG 51 executed a speedy attack on the Home Fleet base at Portsmouth and in less than four minutes 50 tons of bombs were dropped. The town was also hit and 83 people were killed, 191 wounded and 700 made homeless. An oil installation was hit and burned for 36 hours. One bomber was lost.
On 25 August II./KG 51 was in action in the Hastings area. With II./KG 54 and escorted by 103 Bf 110s from ZG 2, ZG 76 and V.(Z)/LG 1, KG 51 were intercepted by 17, 87 and No. 609 Squadron RAF. 1./ZG 2 lost four Bf 110s, II./KG 51 reported two losses; one to 87 and 615 Squadron. 87 Squadron damaged a third machine. The target was probably in the Portsmouth area. Hugo Sperrle ordered the raid as earlier patrols by German fighters over Kent had failed to tempt Fighter Command into combat.