Kampfgeschwader 100 (KG 100) was a Luftwaffe medium and heavy bomber wing of World War II and the first military aviation unit to use a precision-guided munition (the Fritz X anti-ship glide bomb) in combat to sink a warship (the Italian battleship Roma) on 9 September 1943.
History KG 100 was created from Kampfgruppe 100, a specialist pathfinder unit formed on 26 August 1938 as Luftnachrichten Abteilung 100 at Köthen. On 18 November 1939 it was renamed K.Gr. 100.
It was the first unit to use Y-Verfahren (Y-Control) navigation aids. It spent the inter-war years training on high-altitude flights to North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and northern Finland. K.Gr. 100 participated in all of the continental campaigns from 1939 to 1941, in medium bomber and maritime interdiction operations.
Stab./KG 100 was formed on 29 November 1941 at Châtres, France and placed under the command of Oberst Heinz-Ludwig von Holleben. The formation process was slow and not complete until April 1942. The Stab. unit did not possess more than one aircraft at a time.
I./KG 100 was formed on 15 December 1941 at Märkisch-Friedland, equipped with the Heinkel He 111H-6.Michael Holm, "Kampfgeschwader 100" I. Gruppe was transferred to Focșani, in Romania with 28 bombers under the command of Luftflotte 4 on 12 January 1942. Major Helmut Küster was the group's first Gruppenkommandeur.
II./KG 100 was formed at Seshchinskaya near Roslavl by renaming III./KG 26. Major Horst Röbling took command at its founding on 15 December.
III./KG 100 was formed at Athens-Kalamaki and Athens-Eleusis on 20 September 1942 under the command of Major Hans Schulz.
World War II Crimea, Black Sea, Northern Caucasus I./KG 100 was dispatched to the Crimea and operated exclusively on the front of Army Group South of the Eastern Front until March 1943. On 26 December 1941, the Red Army landed at Kerch and on 30 December executed another amphibious landing near Feodosiya with the 44th and 51st Armies. The operation was to drive to Sevastopol and relieve the garrison, encircled by the German 11th Army. The ensuing Battle of the Kerch Peninsula lasted until May 1942.
I./KG 100 flew its first mission from Romanian soil on 16 January 1942. It relocated to the Crimea, at Saki on 30 January, after a brief stay at Kirovograd in Ukraine, and began operations over the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. It was placed under the command of Wolfgang von Wild's Fliegerfuhrer Ostsee (Flying Command Eastern Sea) which was responsible for all anti-shipping operations. KG 100 was expected to assist in the destruction of the powerful Black Sea Fleet supplying the Soviet beachheads. The group was in no condition for sustained operations. The chronic shortage of aircraft on the front lines left only eight He 111s serviceable. The crews were trained only in minelaying and not anti-shipping operations.
On the group's first operation it lost a bomber to a Soviet fighter attack over the Kerch Strait: the Red Air Force (VVS) was active over the sea-lanes. The exploits of one particular pilot—Staffelkapitän of 8. Staffel Hansgeorg Bätcher—prevented KG 100's presence from passing without note. Commander of Luftflotte 4 demanded all supply ships be destroyed. When a 7,500–ton ship was spotted bringing in fuel, Alexander Löhr ordered its destruction. Bätcher attempted an attack but was driven off by heavy anti-aircraft artillery. Flying out-to-sea, he returned, throttled back the engines in order not to alert the Soviets by their sound, and made an attack, releasing his bombs without the use of his bomb aimer. A SC500 bomb struck amidships and destroyed the tanker without experiencing return fire. The ship was likely Emba, destroyed at Kamysh-Burun, seven miles south of Kerch. An exact date and place of the mission is not known as the pages of Bätcher's logbook are missing.
KG 100 accomplished little else because of adverse weather conditions. The torpedo-equipped KG 26 was brought in to increase German air power. The Black Sea Fleet transported 100,000 men and hundreds of artillery pieces to Kerch between 20 January and 11 February. At Sevastopol, of fuel, of supplies were sent to the port. On 13 February, the cruiser Komintern and destroyer Shaumyan brought in 1,034 soldiers and 200 tons of supplies. The cruiser Krasny Krym and destroyer Dzerzhinskiy brought in a further 1,075 men on 14 February. The next day, the minesweeper T410 brought in 650 and evacuated 152. On 17 February, the transport Belostok brought in 871 men. The Black Sea Fleet regularly shelled German positions on the coast. The Luftwaffe increased its pressure, dispatching KG 27, KG 55, and KG 100 to bomb the ports at Anapa, Tuapse, and Novorossiysk on the Caucasian Black Sea coast. On 20 February, the transport Kommunist was sunk by Bätcher.
I./KG 100 lost one bomber with 16 damaged in air raids on Saki on 19 February. It bombed Sevastopol on 3 March and carried out mining and ship attacks off the city, and Kerch, throughout March. In February and March 1942 the German air units began to take a heavy toll on Soviet shipping. Soviet fighter resistance claimed one bomber from I./KG 100 on 16 and 17 March despite protection by III./JG 77 on both missions. The first loss was attributed to the 27 IAP regiment from the VVS Crimean Front. KG 100 moved to VIII. Fliegerkorps commanded by Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen from 7 June to 2 July. The group took part in huge bombing operations over Sevastopol, which began on 2 June, five days before Erich von Manstein, 11th Army commander, began the offensive against the city. With StG 77 and KG 76, the group dropped 570 tons of bombs and 500 SC50 bombs. The attack units of Luftflotte 4 dropped 2,264 tons of bombs and 23,800 incendiary bombs in 3,069 sorties. Some individual crews flew up to 18 missions on this day.
Eight days into the air offensive, Leutnant Herbert Klein scored a direct hit on the 4,727-ton Abkhaziya which exploded and sank. The rest of the group sank the destroyer Svobodnyy. On 26 June the supply ship Tashkent evaded I./KG 100's attacks but the escorting destroyer Bezuprechnyy was sunk by StG 77. StG 77 and KG 100 proceeded to chase Tashkent for four hours. Commander Vasiliy Yeroshenko rushed around the bridge observing the dive-bomber attacks and calling out orders for evasive action. After 335 bombs had been dropped, the ship was damaged but escaped with 2,100 wounded soldiers on board. In the following days, KG 100 returned to the port and crews reported mass destruction of entire streets with the use of heavy bombs.
On 1 July I./KG 100, with StG 77 and I./KG 76, bombed ports at Anapa, Tuapse, and Novorossiysk. For one loss they sank the destroyer leader , the destroyer and the transports Ukrania, Proletariy and Elbrus. The salvage vessel Chernomor, schooner Dnestr, a patrol and two torpedo boats were also destroyed. The minelayer Komintern, the destroyers and , the patrol vessels Shkval and Shtom, a gunboat, one torpedo boat and two other transports were also damaged. Bätcher flew his 300th sortie on 2 July against the remaining pockets of Soviet resistance in Sevastopol. KG 100 dropped about 2000 tons of bombs in 1,339 sorties in support of the Sevastopol siege during June 1942.
Stalingrad, Caspian Sea, central and southern sectors After the fall of the port city, KG 100 continued Black Sea operations. With II./KG 26 it damaged Bodny in Poti harbour. The guard ship Shtorm was severely damaged also. The attack cost them two He 111s and another four destroyed; three were damaged in July in continuous attacks. At the beginning of August, I./KG 100 had developed into an experienced anti-shipping group. Richthofen, who had lost I./KG 100 to Fliegerfuhrer Ostsee after 2 July, requested the group to rejoin Fliegerkorps VIII near Stalingrad. The group was ordered to attack shipping along the Volga River and the group did do, north and south of the city as a prelude to the Battle of Stalingrad. KG 100 dropped magnetic mines and high explosive bombs. Fifteen percent of the mines detonated upon contact with the water. II./KG 26 crews released 31 mines on 27 July. The group had minor successes—they damaged two large transport barges under tow, sank a floating crane and two other barges. On 4 August they gave up mining but dropped 28 on this final day. The Volga was too shallow, and bombs were preferred in any case.
KG 100 supported the slow push into Stalingrad. On 23 August 1942 it was involved the enormous air bombardment of the city over the course of three days. On 8 September 1942 the group ran into Yakovlev Yak-1s from the 520 IAP on a transfer flight as the bombers approached their target at Kamyshin. Adolf Büsge's crew were subjected to a taran attack by Boris Gomolko. Three bombers were reported lost. For the duration of September, the group participated in daily bombing operations over the city. By the 20th it had 20 of 27 bombers combat ready. On 6 October it moved to Saky in the Crimea. From there it attacked shipping in Tuapse harbour and oil facilities at Grozny from 6–12 October. It moved to Stalino on 13 October. It transferred to Armavir in the northern Caucasus on 22 October.
In September and October KG 100 remained on anti-shipping duties. In October 1942 it began supporting the eastward-most advance. It began bombing operations against Astrakhan and bombed Soviet ships on the Caspian Sea. On 26 October Hansgeorg Bätcher sank a ship in the Caspian after six attacks against it in the same mission. A SC250 was seen to hit the forecastle and the vessel began to burn. The attack was his 400th mission. Another three freighters and tanker were claimed destroyed in the night. On 27/28 October 1942, the group bombed the city of Astrakhan at night, while two freighters were claimed destroyed and five damaged in the Caspian Sea. I./KG 100 claimed two tankers on 29/30 October four tankers and five freighters were damaged by bombs. Other bombers attacked the rail lines and claimed 13 trains destroyed. The first German loss over the Caspian Sea occurred on 31 October/1 November when Unteroffizier Hans Zebhe failed to return from a night sortie. By this time I./KG 100 had no more than seven operational He 111s. On 15 November 1942 Leutnant Herbert Kuntz's crew scored a bomb hit on a 1,300 GRT transport ship. The attack marked the end of Luftwaffe operations over the Caspian Sea.
On 19 November 1942 the Red Army began Operation Uranus, which encircled the German 6th Army in Stalingrad KG 100 began to support the defense of the Chir River on 24 November. It began flying supply operations into the Oblinskaya and Kalach the following day, and to Stalingrad through December. On 23 December they carried out heavy close air support attacks on the Soviet encirclement to assist Operation Winter Storm. The wing withdrew westward on 2 January 1943 and attacked Soviet armour on the Don River on 13 January. The last supply operation to the pocket was carried out on 26 January. Twenty-four hours later I./KG 100 moved to Saky in the Crimea to refit. The remaining aircraft were handed over to KG 55 and KG 100 moved to Lviv for conversion on to the He 111H-16.