Jagdgeschwader II (Fighter Wing II, or JG II) was the Imperial German Air Service's second fighter wing. Established because of the great success of Manfred von Richthofen's preceding Jagdgeschwader I wing, Jagdgeschwader II and Jagdgeschwader III were founded on 2 February 1918. JG II was assigned four squadrons nominally equipped with 14 aircraft each. The new wing was supposed to be fully operational in time for an offensive slated for 21 March 1918. Named to raise and lead it was 23-victory flying ace Hauptmann Adolf von Tutschek. However, he was killed in action on 15 March 1918.
His hasty replacement was 28-victory ace Hauptmann Rudolf Berthold. Grounded by wounds that rendered him narcotic-dependent, the Pour le Merite winner nevertheless firmly took charge. Under his leadership, JG II advanced 40 miles (64 kilometers) behind the German offensive. As the ground fighting stalled in early April, air fighting above it intensified. Then, on the night of 12/13 April 1918, a surprise artillery bombardment put 25 of the wing's aircraft—and by extension, the wing—out of action for three weeks. By 26 May, the shortage of available aircraft had grounded two squadrons, and fuel and lubricant supplies began to dwindle. On 28 May, to encourage his wing, Berthold again began flying combat missions despite his poor physical condition. Throughout June and July, shipments of aircraft arrived—new Fokker D.VIIs, unreliable Siemens-Schuckert D.IIIs, and worn Fokker Triplanes. On 14 July 1918, the wing finally standardized on Fokker D.VIIs, just in time for the final German offensive.
Intruding French and British formations became larger, more elaborate, harder for JG II to combat. Fresh new American air units began to appear. The Allies launched their final offensive on 8 August, including a huge effort by the Royal Air Force. On 10 August, Berthold scored the last of his 16 victories for the wing, and was then shot down and hospitalized. After his departure, the wing's supplies continued to decline and experienced aces were falling while replacements were scarce. By 12 September, the balance of power had so shifted that the Imperial German Air Service could only muster about 70 fighters at Saint Mihiel to oppose almost 1,500 Allied aircraft. Although the wing fought on, and sometimes had its highest scoring days during September 1918, the scale of the Allied air effort rendered these successes negligible. The wing's fighting abilities ebbed; an Allied formation of 150 bombers on 9 October took a single loss.
On 1 November 1918, Jagdgeschwader II retreated to its final base at Carignan. By the time its final victim had been shot down on 6 November, it had tallied at least 339 confirmed aerial victories. When the war ended on 11 November 1918, the wing's personnel began to straggle back to Germany. On 13 November 1918, Jagdgeschwader II was dissolved.
Operational history Foundation Jagdgeschwader II (Fighter Wing II, or JG II) was created because Manfred von Richthofen's Jagdgeschwader I demonstrated the advantages of massed fighter air power. The German General Staff decided to establish two more fighter wings. They were planning a mid-March offensive, and wanted to back each of the three attacking Armees with a fighter wing. Thus Jagdgeschwader II was founded on 2 February 1918 in the 7th Armee sector of the Western Front.Jagdgeschwader III was founded simultaneously with JG II; its founding squadrons were Jagdstaffeln 2, 26, 27, and 36.
Appointed to organize and command the new wing was Pour le Merite winner Hauptmann Adolf Ritter von Tutschek, whose aerial victory tally stood at 23 victories. Four existing fighter squadrons with a theoretical strength of 14 aircraft each were designated to form the new fighter wing—Jagdstaffeln 12, 13, 15, and 19. The new wing was placed under direct control of army headquarters and was being prepared to support a spring offensive. Its four squadrons were ordered to concentrate in the vicinity of Marle, France. This placed them opposite the seam in the Allied lines where British and French armies met. They were underequipped with Pfalz and Albatros scouts, but began to receive Fokker Dr.1 triplanes on 16 February.
Tutschek commanded Jagdstaffel 12 (Jasta 12) when JG II was founded. As he acquired staff members for his nascent wing, he assigned them to Jasta 12, making it the Stab Staffel or headquarters squadron of the wing. Tutschek flew the new wing's first combat patrol on 13 February. On 18 February, he tested one of the new triplanes. He also began to circulate among his squadrons to make himself known.
Into battle
Jagdstaffel 13 (Fighter Squadron 13, or Jasta 13) led JG II into combat, scoring the new wing's first victory on 17 February 1918. Three days later, it suffered the new wing's first casualty, as the jasta Staffelführer (Commanding Officer) was killed in a takeoff accident. Nevertheless, during the runup to the German spring offensive, JG II continued to score as its commander led from the front. On 6 March Tutschek downed his 27th foe, raising the wing's score to 18. However, on 15 March 1918, Adolf Ritter von Tutschek was killed in action.
With JG II tasked to support 18th Armee, and only six days remaining until the offensive kicked off, replacement of the JG II commander was crucial. Hauptmann Rudolf Berthold, a Pour le Merite winner credited with 28 victories was appointed to the post.Berthold had been advocating the concept of a fighter wing since January 1917, and he had been importuning the General Staff for a wing command. His appointment was problematic. The battered and narcotic-dependent hero was still recovering from his latest wound and his second near-death hospitalization; his paralyzed infected right arm was in a sling.Berthold's medical history up to March 1918: June 1915: Dysentery 10 February 1916: Wounded hand 25 April 1916: Coma. Broken leg, nose, and upper jaw; transitory blindness 24 April 1917: Bullet wound right shin 10 October 1917: Ricocheting bullet pulverized his right humerus, resulting in lingering paralysis of right hand Although he could not fly because his recuperation was incomplete, he had talked a doctor into returning him to his dual command of Jagdstaffel 18 (Jasta 18) and Jagdgruppe 7 (Hunting Group 7) on 1 March 1918. On 10 March, his best friend, Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Buddecke, was killed in action while under his command. A grieving, ill, and addicted grounded pilot was appointed to command of a wing of fliers on the eve of a huge offensive.
The Berthold swap
Berthold wanted to trade what had been his Jagdstaffel 18 (Jasta 18) for one of the Jagdstaffeln of JG II, so that he would have command of a unit with which he was familiar. He was refused. He then immediately chose Jagdstaffel 15 (Jasta 15) as his Stab Staffel (headquarters squadron). It was customary for an incoming commander to bring along two or three staff members from his old unit to his new one. Berthold did just that, on March 19, 1918. Then, on 20 March, Berthold stretched this custom to swap a large number of pilots from Jasta 18 to Jasta 15 – this did not include Leutnant der Reserve August Raben, as his orders had him doing the reverse, as he transferred in from Jasta 15 to take command of Jasta 18 a few days before the "Berthold swap" was to occur, with Raben assuming command of Jasta 18 as an independent squadron on 14 March 1918. Berthold also added a contingent of maintenance crew from the earlier ground staff of his "old" Jasta 18 unit. The large number of transferred personnel between Jasta 15 and Jasta 18 effectively made for a unit trade, even if the jagdstaffeln numbers did not change. The day before the spring offensive, JG II was ready for battle. Berthold had moved in with his Pfalz D.III. However, his newly arrived pilots did not have time to upgrade to their new Fokker Dr.Is. They would go into battle in their old machinery.
Operation Michael
Preliminary orders for JG II charged them with gaining aerial dominance on the left flank of the scheduled attack. The German spring offensive was launched on 21 March 1918, in a heavy fog that restricted air operations. On 22 March, Berthold gave the eulogy for Buddecke in Berlin. When Berthold returned to his command on 23 March, a victory-less JG II was being ordered to "deploy all available forces immediately". For the latter part of March 1918, the wing did just that as it fought the Allied fighters and followed the advancing German assault troops. As the ground attack sputtered into a stalemate, JG II moved forward 40 miles (64 km) after eight days to occupy the former British airfield of Balâtre.
April 1918 saw an attempt by the Germans to restart their offensive, with its aim of splitting apart the French and British armies. As the ground combat churned on through the evening of the 5th, the fighting above it intensified. JG II continued to fight and down enemy aircraft and observation balloons. In turn, British bombers ineffectively struck Balâtre on several occasions. Also, on 10 April, Jasta 13 lost its commander; Leutnant Walter Göttsch was killed in action.
Bombardment Several other jagdstaffelln shared Balâtre with JG II; there were a total of about 150 German aircraft quartered on the field. However, an Allied high altitude air raid at noon on 11 April did little to discomfit the Germans.
On 12 April, just after "lights out" at 2230 hours, the first shells hit Balâtre. As a French artillery spotter circled overhead calling the shots, the men of JG II sought cover in bunkers and slit trenches. By bombardment's end at 0530 hours of 13 April, some 200 shells had raked the airfield. Although JG II suffered no fatalities, it had 25 aircraft destroyed or damaged; its hangars, barracks, and maintenance facilities were also much damaged by fire and explosion. The wing was basically out of action for the next three weeks.
Lull in air activity During this quiet spell, Berthold wrote a letter home on 25 April 1918. He stated his determination to fly again. He also confided his suspicions that three of his squadron commanders were plotting his removal from command of the wing. By the end of May, all of JG II's squadrons except Jagdstaffel 19 (Jasta 19) had new Staffelführern (squadron commanders).
Berthold also fulfilled a request from 18th Armee headquarters for an appreciation of the new wing's operations. His 28 April memorandum delineated the differences between the earlier ad hoc Jagdgruppe and the more recent Jagdgeschwader. The Jagdgruppe, consisting of several squadrons temporarily grouped together, concentrated its efforts on shielding nearby German reconnaissance and artillery direction two-seaters from Allied attacks. On the other hand, an Armee headquarters could launch a Jagdgeschwader anywhere along the Armee's front to counterattacking Allied flights, whether fighters or bombers. Berthold proposed having air defense officers trail along with the front-line infantry to report incoming enemy aircraft to JG II. He also asked for, and received, sufficient motor transport for JG II to quickly shift bases as it followed the ground fighting.
On 8 May, Berthold's aggressive leadership led to him being entrusted with deploying all of the fighter aircraft attached to 18th Armee. Indeed, by 20 May, JG II had 57 confirmed victories while in support of Operation Michael. However, on 26 May, Jasta 12 and Jasta 19 were both grounded for lack of aircraft. And, by late May, the new Siemens-Schuckert D.IIIs supplied to the wing had been returned to their factory for modification. Their departure left the already understocked wing very short of serviceable aircraft, but the Siemens-Schuckert D.IIIs were experiencing engine failures in as little as seven hours running. Their Siemens-Halske Sh.III 11 cylinder counter-rotary engines were lubricated with synthetic castor oil, and failing for lack of actual, organic-base castor oil.
Berthold's return