Jagdgeschwader 54

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Jagdgeschwader 54
JG 54 Grünherz
Active	1939-1945
Country	Germany
Branch	Air Force
Type	Fighter Aircraft
Role	Air superiority
Size	Air Force Wing
Nickname	Grünherz
Battles/wars	Battle of France, Battle of Britain, Operation Barbarossa
Commanders
Notable commanders	Hannes Trautloft (25.08.40-6.7.43)
Insignia
Identification symbol	The Green Heart of Thüringen

Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54) Grün herz was a Luftwaffe fighter wing during the Second World War. It was known as the Green Hearts Wing, and it was the second highest scoring wing of all time, JG 52 being the highest. JG 54 flew on the Eastern Front, racking up over 9,600 kills, with aces such as Walter Nowotny, Otto Kittel, and Hannes Trautloft being the most famous experten.

Having enjoyed initial success over the Channel and South-east England during the summer of 1940, the unit was transferred to the Eastern Front in the spring of 1941 for Operation Barbarossa - the German invasion of the Soviet Union. JG 54 would remain a Jagdwaffe stalwart in the east, flying firstly Bf 109Fs and then the Fw 190.

JG 54 was known for its non-standard camouflage schemes. For example, Bf-109F-4's on the Leningrad front 1941-2 were painted in black-green/dark-green splinter finish with yellow under cowling and under the wing tips.

1 Formation
2 Wartime History
3 Geschwaderkommodoren of JG 54
4 Pilots attached to JG 54
5 Notes
6 Sources
7 See also

[edit] Formation

I./JG 54^[1] was initially formed as I./JG 70 near Nürnberg in July 1939. As was to become tradition within the "Grunherzgeschwader", the Gruppe took the Nürnberg coat-of-arms (a vertically divided shield with a black heraldic bird on the left, and red and white diagonal stripes on the right) to represent the region the unit came from. On September 15, 1939, I./JG 70 was redesignated I./JG 54.

The initial unit designation for II./JG 54 was I./JG 138. This unit was raised in 1938 after the Austrian annexation. Thus many Austrian nationals were recruited when I./JG 138 was formed. I./JG 138 was briefly designated I./JG 76 before finally becoming II./JG 54 on April 6, 1940.

III./JG 54 has its roots in Prussia. Initially raised as I./JG 21, the members were drawn from the Jesau region in Prussia. On July 15 1939, I./JG 21 was redesignated III./JG 54. However, the bureaucratic nature of the young Luftwaffe was such that it was over a year before records would reflect the new designation. Thus III./JG 54 fought in Poland and France as I./JG 21.

[edit] Wartime History

[edit] Polish Campaign

JG 54 first saw combat in the fall of 1939 in the offensive against Poland. II/JG 54 and III/JG 54 saw combat, while I/JG 54 remained stationed in Herzogenaurach. Equipped with BF 109Ds their operations consisted of ground attack, air superiority and escorting Stukas. The pilots of JG 54 were first awarded decorations during this campaign.

[edit] Campaign in the West

After the success in Poland JG 54 was transferred back, on October 9, 1939, to Germany, occupying airfields in the west and south. Before the invasion of France, during a period known as Sitzkreig, they operated mainly in an air defence role. They would fly routine sweeps up to the French border. Contact was limited to small skirmishes with French or British recon planes. The Geschwader began to field BF 109Es at this time as well.

The Battle of France broke out on May 10, 1940. The Luftwaffe operated by advancing in front of the German army to destroy French airfields and industrial complexes. JG 54's role was to escort the bombers (Stukas and Heinkel He 111s mostly)) and to do fighter sweeps in French Airspace in order to maintain air superiority. These roles were maintained throughout the operations in Dunkirk against British Expeditionary Forces. During this time period, May 10 to June 21 until their transfer to Holland and the capitulation of France, JG 54 claimed 17 aircraft, according to citable JG54 documentation. This number is likely higher.

Before the Battle of Britain the Geschwader were again transferred, this time to Holland. The principle reasons for the transfer were the restocking of the unit as well as giving the pilot a chance to rest; however air operations continued in defence against British bombers. In a particularly devastating raid on the Soesterberg airfield, III/JG 54 suffered heavy ground crew and equipment losses. While in Holland they claimed 21 aircraft (20 Blenheim Bombers and 1 Supermarine Spitfire

[edit] The Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain began in late July/ early August, with a goal of destroying the RAF and ultimately a land invasion of Britain. The three gruppen were transferred back to airfields near Calais on August 6, 1940. As they were now stationed close together for the first time, the feelings companionship and brotherhood in the Geschwader began. Over the next several months JG 54 would experience the most hostile fighting environment they had encountered yet. In order to achieve a "rejuvenation cure" for the Geschwader, Hannes Trautloft was placed in command of JG 54, replacing Major Mettig. Serving in that capacity until July 1943, Trautloft was a natural leader. He left an indelible mark on that famous fighter unit and was regarded as a leader who cared for his men.

The Battle of Britain would prove to be costly for both the Luftwaffe and JG 54. The Geschwader lost 43 pilots, which amounts to nearly 40 percent of the pilots they entered the battle with. The III staffel itself went from 12 pilots to 2 by the end of the Battle. On the other side of the spectrum JG 54 downed 238 enemy aircraft. The first Knight's Crosses were awarded to JG 54 during the battle as well, with a total of 3 being presented. The Knight's Cross was given upon achieving 20 victories, and was first awarded to Hauptmann Dietrich Hrabak, Kommandeur of II/JG 54, on October 21.

[edit] Aftermath of Britain and The Balkans

After the Luftwaffe's defeat, the three gruppen were all assigned to separate locations once again. I/JG 54 was assigned as a subordinate of JG 1 from [September 27], 1940 until May of 1941; II/JG 54 was given winter's R&R from December 3, 1940, until January 23, 1941 at the Delmenhorst airfield; III/JG 54 was put on a similar R&R after a short lived air defense routine in Holland. II/JG54 and III/Jg 54 served briefly in France at Le Mans and Cherbourg. They provided air protection over Normandy, but due to quiet conditions much of the unit's time was devoted to training. On March 29, 1941 Stab, II, and III/JG 54 were relocated to the Balkans. Conducting mostly ground attack operations on locomotives to destroy enemy ground movement, they also encountered Yugoslavian BF 109Ds that had been purchased from Germany prior to hostilities. After the defeat of Yugoslavia, JG 54 traded in their Emil(109E) model 109s for the more modern Franz(109F) models. Reunited with I/JG 54 the unit was transferred into Prussia to begin training and preparations for Operation Barbarossa.

[edit] The Eastern Front

Claiming 45 kills on the first day, JG 54 served on the Northern Front during the invasion of Soviet Russia on 22 June 1941 as part of the Luftwaffe's Luftflotte 1, and would remain on that part of the Eastern Front for most of its existence. The Finnish, Baltic & Leningrad Fronts were far more static in nature than other Eastern Front theatres, leading to a more stable existence for JG 54 operations, although the severe cold during the winters of 1941-44 would constantly hamper fighter operations. JG 54's operations for 1941-43 had essentially a twofold objective; to keep pressure apon the beleaguered leningrad sector, and to reduce Soviet pressure on the Lake Ilmen area at the German flank.

By 18 July the Geschwader had chalked up its 500th Soviet air claim, and on 1 August became the third Geschwader to claim 1,000 air kills.

Trautloft instituted the successful tactic of intercepting Soviet nuisance raiders on moonlit nights, and JG 54 claimed 56 kills in January-July 1942 while suffering no losses on these interceptions. In February 1942 alone JG 54 claimed 201 kills for 18 pilots killed. The 2,000 kill came on 4 April 1942.

JG 54 received its first Focke Wulf Fw 190's in February 1943, and on February 23, 1943, JG 54 claimed its 4,000 kill. On 7 March 1943 the unit claimed 59 aircraft shot down in one day. During 1943 a schwarm of 1./JG 54^[1] became the most successful formation of its type in the Luftwaffe; Hpt. Walter Nowotny (257 kills), Uzz Karl Schnörrer (46), Lt Anton Döbele (94) and Lt Rudolf Rademacher(126) amassed 500 air victories between them in 1943-1944.

Trautloft left JG 54 in July 1943 when General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland asked him to join his staff as Inspizient Ost. (He ended the war with 57 victories and the Knight's Cross.) After his departure JG 54 continued operating on the Northern Front, and their victory tally rose continuously. The 7,000 JG 54 claim was made on 23 March 1944, with the 8,000 mark passed on 15 August.

I.,II. and IV./ JG 54 ended the war fighting around the Baltic region, supporting the troops of Army Group North through Latvia and Estonia, and into the Courland Pocket of East Prussia. JG 54 could never hope to regain air superiority against the mounting number of Russian aircraft. The Russians never defeated Army Group North, which held out until the last day of the war, surrendering 210,000 Germans to the Soviets in Courland.

The remaining serviceable FW-190's were ordered fly to Flensburg on the Danish border, with the German Navy evacuating as many of the ground personnel as possible by ship. The JG 54 pilots, led by Oberst Dietrich Hrabak, ripped out all unnecessary equipment from the fighters, allowing room to take two men, one man crouching behind the seat and the other fitting into the fuselage. In this way at least 90 JG 54 personnel escaped Russian capture.

[edit] Partial regrouping to the Western Front

In February 1943 III./JG 54 was transferred back to the west for operations against the RAF and USAAF. At first they were to operate as stand alone BF 109 unit, but later were attached to JG 26. Intensive training in the more rigorous techniques of fighting on the Western Front were only partly successful, and Oberst Josef Priller, Geschwaderkommodore of JG 26 and charged with III gruppe's training, refused to declare the gruppe operational. III Gruppe transferred to North Germany as a result, supporting Jagdgeschwader 1. The gruppe would take several losses before acclimatising to the new theatre; two experienced III gruppe experten - Hpt Gunther Fink and Lt. Friedrich Rupp - would be killed in action on 15 May alone. III./JG 54 would remain in the west for the rest of the war.

On the 15 October 1944 JG 54 claimed its 8,000 air victory. During the autumn of 1944, III./JG 54 was the first Luftwaffe unit to be supplied with the new Fw 190 D-9 “Dora”. The D-9s were used in base defence missions for the Me 262 jets of Kommando Nowotny, and later over North-West Europe. 68 operational aircraft were available early in December, but such were the heavy losses sustained that the gruppe was disbanded soon after. Hpt. 'Bazi' Weiss,(121 kills), the Gruppenkommandeur, and 12 other pilots were killed by RAF fighters on 29 December 1944 alone.

At the end of 1944 Zerstorer Geschwader ZG 76 was disbanded and its pilots formed the nucleus of a new III./JG 54. Operating from Muncheberg, near Berlin, the unit's Fw 190s saw intensive action against Russian ground targets such as road and rail supply columns, flak positions, armour and the bridges across the River Oder. A few weeks before the war ended, the depleted III./JG 54 was disbanded, being absorbed into JG 26.

Although Luftwaffe documentation were destroyed at the end of the war surviving records indicate JG 54 lost 501 pilots killed in action and 242 pilots missing, with 40 aircrew POW. Total losses in aircraft were approximately 1071 Bf 109 and 746 FW 190.