Jagdgeschwader 11

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=Jagdgeschwader 11


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dates=1943-1945
country=Germany
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branch=Air Force
type=Fighter Aircraft
role=Air superiority
size=Air Force Wing
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colonel_of_the_regiment=
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notable_commanders=Hermann Graf
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Jagdgeschwader 11 (JG 11) was a Luftwaffe fighter-wing of World War II.

It was created on April 1, 1943 in Jever from I and II gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 1 and served until the end of the war in May 1945. The II group was resolved on April 4, 1945.

Reich defence

The growing daylight bomber offensive undertaken by the rapidly strengthening USAAF 8th Air Force forced forced the Luftwaffe to counter these bombing raids by expanding the number of daylight fighter units in Defense of the Reich. Thus the Bf 109's of I/JG 1 and the Fw 190s of III/JG1 became II Gruppe and I Gruppe of JG 11 respectively. With the addition of the new Bf 109-G equipped III Gruppe, the Geschwader was first commanded by Major Anton Mader.

JG 11 was initially based across the north German coast line between the Dutch and Danish borders, protecting the Northern flank of occupied Europe along with III/JG 54. With the departure of the latter unit in July 1943, for the rest of 1943 and much of early 1944 the geschwader was in the forefront of the defensive operations against the B-17's and B-24's of the USAAF, although , like its sister units engaged in Reich defence, JG 11 suffered heavy casualties in both pilots and aircraft. Many of the pilots killed were highly experienced and irreplaceable "Experten". Hauptmann Hugo Frey (32 claims, including 26 heavy bombers, killed 8 March 1944) Hauptmann Gerhardt Sommer (20 claims, 15 heavy bombers, killed 12 May 1944) and Fw Wilhelm Fest (15 claims, killed 8 May 1944) were just three of JG 11's best aces to fall.

As a means of combatting the massed bomber streams , JG 11 personnel trialled the use of bombing the formations from above with 250kg bombs. On July 28 1943 "Feldwebel" Fest of 5. JG 11 claimed three B-17's with a single bomb. However, the loss in performance of the Bf 109's thus equipped and their vulnerability to escorting fighters soon curtailed the practice.

In July 1943 elements of JG 11 were the first to employ the use of aerial rockets in the shape of converted 21 cm mortar shells, carried in underwing stovepipe launchers. While wildly inaccurate, these rockets, launched from outside the range of the bomber's defensive fire, were intended to break up the bomber formations. The launchers did however seriously reduce the performance of the fighters, making them easy prey to any Allied fighter escort.

On 29 July 1943, JG 11 claimed 8 B-17s destroyed, while suffering eight of its own aircraft destroyed or damaged.

1./JG 11 relocated to Salzwedel and 2./JG 11 to Lüneburg in April 1944. Both remained there until June 1944. III/JG 11 was despatched to Minsk in anticipation of the Soviet summer offensive, and its ten-week stay in the east did little to effect the outcome of the land battles below.

JG 11 was posted into Fliegerkorps II for operations over France soon after the Allied invasion of 6 June 1944. Given the overwhelming superiority of the Allied fighter screens over the beach heads, the Luftwaffe units suffered heavily, JG 11 being no exception.

In August 1944 each JG 11 Gruppe was increased to four staffeln, with a new 4./JG 11 formed from 10. and 11./JG 11. The old 4./JG 11 became the new 8 Staffel, and a new 7./JG 11 was formed (the old 7./JG 11 becoming 10./JG 11).

Operation Bodenplatte

On New Year’s Day 1945, as support for the last great German offensive in Ardennes, the Luftwaffe launched Operation Bodenplatte, a massed surprise low-level fighter strike targeted at Allied tactical airfields throughout France, Belgium and Holland. Elements of JG 11 were allocated the USAAF air base Y-29 at Asch, and was a disaster for the Luftwaffe unit. Led by Oberstleutnant Günther Specht, the 3 Gruppen of JG 11 took off from Darmstadt-Griesheim, Gross-Ostheim and Zellhausen. The formation, totalling some 65 FW190 and Bf 109s, formed up over Aschaffenburg, and with two Junkers Ju 188 pathfinders leading headed for Asch.

As JG 11 attacked 8 Thunderbolts of the 366th Fighter Group were circling the field while 12 Mustangs of the 352nd Fighter Group were just taking off. The ensuing battle came to be know as the "Legend of Y-29". The US fighters claimed some 30 German fighters shot down, while JG 11's total losses were between 24 and 40, including the "Geschwaderkommodore" Günther Specht. The whole attack proved costly, with around 271 fighters lost 231 pilots killed. The Luftwaffe never recovered from this blow.

Commanding officers

Geschwaderkommodore

*Major Anton Mader, 1 April 1943
*Oberstleutnant Hermann Graf, 11 November 1943
*Major Anton Hackl (acting), April 1944
*Major Herbert Ihlefeld, 1 May 1944
*Major Günther Specht, 15 May 1944
*Major Jürgen Harder, January 1945
*Major Anton Hackl, 20 February 1945

Gruppenkommandeure

I./JG 11

*Major Walter Spies, 1 April 1943
*Hauptmann Erwin Clausen, 20 June 1943
*Hauptmann Erich Woitke (acting), 4. October 1943
*Hauptmann Rolf Hermichen, 16 October 1943
*Oberleutnant Hans-Heinrich Koenig, May 1944
*Oberleutnant Fritz Engau (acting), 24 May 1944
*Hauptmann Siegfried Simsch, 1 June 1944
*Oberleutnant Fritz Engau (acting), 8 June 1944
*Hauptmann Werner Langemann, 24 June 1944
*Oberleutnant Hans Schrangl (acting), 15. July 1944
*Hauptmann Walter Matoni, 15 August 1944
*Hauptmann Bruno Stolle, November 1944
*Hauptmann Rüdiger Kirchmayr, 25 November 1944
*Hauptmann Karl Leonhard, April 1945

II./JG 11

*Hauptmann Günther Beise, 1 April 1943
*Major Adolf Dickfeld, 17 April 1943
*Hauptmann Günther Specht, May 1943
*Major Günther Rall, 19 April 1944
*Hauptmann Walter Krupinski, May 1944
*Hauptmann Karl Leonhard, 13 August 1944

III./JG 11

*Hauptmann Ernst-Günther Heinze, April 1943
*Major Anton Hackl, 1 October 1943
*Hauptmann Horst-Günther von Fassong, May 1944
*Oberleutnant Paul-Heinrich Dähne, 2 January 1945
*Hauprmann Herbert Kutscha, 23 February 1945

taffelkapitäne

10./JG 11

*Oberleutnant Heinz Sahnwaldt, July 1943
*Oberleutnant Günther Witt, 1 August 1943
*Hauptmann Siegfried Simsch, November 1943
*Oberleutnant Heinz Grosser, 1 January 1944
*Hauptmann Erich Viebahn, May 1944

11./JG 11

*Oberleutnant Herbert Christmann, December 1943

ee also

Organization of the Luftwaffe during World War II

External links

* [http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Jagdgeschwader/JG11-R.htm JG 11 @ Lexikon der Wehrmacht]