Einsatzkommando KG 51: 24–31 August 1944

According to a captured Austrian mechanic, a convoy of lorries arrived at Lechfeld on 17 July 1944 and loaded up him and his comrades in 3./KG 51’s ground echelon. After seven nights on the road they reached Châteaudun, about 110 km. south west of Paris, where they were employed in repairing bomb damage and other manual labour until mid-August. They then travelled the 200 km. by road to Creil (45 km. north west of the French capital) for more such work before being transferred 120 km. eastward to Juvincourt-et-Damary on the night of the 18/19th. Next morning, five Me 262s flew in and as the prisoner related, flew 4–5 sorties daily from then on. Two aircraft were said to have been lost: the first force-landing between its base and the front line (the pilot not being seen again), the other being wrecked in a landing accident after its nose wheel tyre burst.

Here the Austrian’s memory for dates definitely goes awry for he says that on the 23rd the Kommando moved to Chièvres and that one aircraft was lost en route to unknown causes. Deciphered signals reveal that the unit was due to relocate to the Belgian airfield on 29 August but did not in fact do so; on the other hand, one of its Me 262s was shot down over Belgium on the 28th.

The Me 262’s arrival in France had been expected since the first days of the Invasion. On 9 June 1944, Luftflotte 3 asked Berlin what the type’s operational requirements were and received a reply the following evening:

– a landing area 1500 x 400 metres with 50 m. reinforced strips on either side

– permanent taxi tracks of 12 m.

– minimum obstacle clearance of 1:70 (and 1:100 if possible)

– a “supplementary fuel installation” of 300 cbm which 100 cbm should be near the take-off point

The aircraft itself was said have a span of 13 m. and to be 12 m. long and 3 m. high.

On 8 July, Châteaudun was told to prepare for a special operation which would require stocking up with a special fuel as per the arrangements given above. This led the Allies to conclude that the Me 262 was involved. However on the 29th two 5-ton lorries lorries carrying T-Stoff and Z-Stoff fuel were ordered to the same airfield under armed escort. The servicing platoon involved had previously been involved with rocket-assisted torpedoes and the Hs 293.

On the 20th, I./KG 51 with 44 men was ordered to Lechfeld, a place British Intelligence already associated with the Me 262. As early as 30 July, Einsatzkommando KG 51 reported that its wireless station was at Châteaudun but the signal did not say anything about the presence or otherwise of aircraft. By 9 August, orders were being given to the airfield command at Châteaudun that either Juvincourt or Coulommiers was to be stocked with J2, and that the latter was viewed as a rear airfield. Creil also was to receive only what was operationally necessary, and would be the new destination for a group of tanker lorries carrying 100 cbm of J2 previously intended for Montdidier and Rosières-en-Santerre.

The translated Luftflotte 3 daily reports for July (National Archives AIR20/7703) do not mention any Me 262 operations and nor do they indicate the type’s arrival in France. The reports for August are in a different format and so no conclusions can be drawn from them but by September Me 262 missions are being recorded regularly.

On 15 August, OKL corrected data given out six days earlier to Luftflotte 3 about an unspecified aircraft, which the Allies were clear was the Me 262: speed with empty bomb racks at 2500 m. was 795 km/h while its required landing area was 2000 m.

During the evening of the 19th, Luftflotte 3 ordered that Creil aerodrome to be cleared of unneeded fuel and ammunition and supplied for the Me 262 were to be sent straightaway to Coulommiers or Juvincourt, as the situation on the ground demanded (the latter was about 90 km. north east of the former, so at less immediate risk from the Allies’ progress).

On 21 August, IX. Fliegerkorps reported that an unspecified airfield was suitable for operations and stocked with sufficient J2 for 17 missions. The distances between the aircraft dispersals and personnel quarters were a drawback however and Flak protection was confined to a single battery of 2 cm. guns. Fuel bowsers and tractors had been requested from the Aerodrome Regional Command at Laon (which, taken with subsequent developments, suggests that Juvinvourt was the base in question).

Luftflotte 3’s and Jagdkorps II’s reports of their operations on 22 August (against Allied crossings of the Seine) do not mention any involvement by Me 262s.

Early on 24 August, Einsatzkommando KG 51 reported to IX. Fliegerkorps that it had four pilots (all operational) and four Me 262s, all but one serviceable, and listing them by Werk Nummer. In another report that evening their tactical codes were given too:

DL 130182

GL 170002

IL 170004

HL 170016

A report sent by IX. Fl.Kps. at 15.30 hrs. was addressed to Einsatzgruppe Schenck at Juvincourt in France. A certain flexibility over the names of ad hoc units seems to have been quite common in the Luftwaffe.

Today's strength return was again four Me 262 (their sub-type now given as A-1), one of them unserviceable. One of the pilots was unavailable for operations as well.

It is not clear whether the Me 262s operated but Jagdkorps II’s fighters flew midday and evening missions in defence of the German bridgehead west of the lower Seine but were hampered by softened airfields, fog and Allied activity over their bases and assembly areas.

The unit was directly subordinated to Luftflotte 3 which was to issue its operational orders, only for subordination to be returned to IX. Fliegerkorps two days later.

Between 09.34 and 09.42 hrs., three of the Einsatzkommando's aircraft took off from Juvincourt to attack troop concentrations on the left bank of the Seine in the loop of the river northeast of Bonnières-sur-Seine. On the map this seems a clearly defined target but instead the Messerschmitts attacked a wood southeast of Bonnières, dropping their three AB 500 canisters of SD 10 fragmentation bombs from a horizontal approach at 3–4000 metres' altitude.

By 15.30 hrs. only two Me 262s were still serviceable but the Kommando had gained a fifth pilot.

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