- Leonidas Squadron
The "Leonidas" Squadron, formally known as "5th Staffel of
Kampfgeschwader 200 " was a unit which was originally formed to fly the "Fieseler Fi 103R (Reichenberg) ", a manned version of theV-1 flying bomb that was never used in combat becauseWerner Baumbach , the commander of KG 200, and his superiors considered it an unnecessary waste of life and resources, and preferred to use theMistel bomb instead. However, from17 April until20 April 1945 (during theBattle of Berlin ) thirty-five pilots of the Leonidas Squadron flew suicide sorties against Soviet bridges over the riverOder with little noticeable effect.History
The establishment of a suicide Staffel was originally proposed by
Otto Skorzeny andHajo Herrmann , and supported by noted test pilotHanna Reitsch , the idea being that Germany would use volunteers as suicide pilots in order to overcome the Allies' technological and numerical advantages with their fanatic spirit. The idea had roots in German mythology that was glorified by Nazi propaganda. Hitler was reluctant, but eventually agreed to Reitsch's request to establish and train a suicide attack air unit, with the proviso that it would not be operated in combat without his approval. The new unit, nicknamed the "Leonidas Squadron", became part of KG 200. It was named forLeonidas I , the king ofSparta who in 480 BC stopped the invading Persian army at theBattle of Thermopylae with 300 elite warriors who fought to the last man.Reitsch's plan was to attack Allied invasion shipping using the
Messerschmitt Me 328 , armed with a convert|900|kg|lb bomb, which would dive into the sea at such an angle that it would explode beneath the target ship's hull.Heinrich Himmler approved the idea, and suggested using convicted criminals as pilots. The Luftwaffe's High Command was unenthusiastic;Erhard Milch turned the plan down as impractical, andHermann Göring showed little interest.Adolf Hitler was against the idea of self-sacrifice, believing that it was not in keeping with the German character, and furthermore did not see the war situation as being bad enough to require such extreme measures. Despite this, he allowed Reitsch to progress the project after she had shown the plan to him in February 1944.Günther Korten , the Luftwaffe's head of general staff, gave the matter to the commander of KG 200 to deal with.cite book | last = Deist | first = Wilhelm | authorlink = | coauthors = Meier, Schreiber, et al | title = Germany and the second World War | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = | location = | pages = pp. 336-337 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0198228899]Over 70 volunteers, mostly young recruits, came forward, who were required to sign a declaration which said, "I hereby voluntarily apply to be enrolled in the suicide group as part of a human glider-bomb. I fully understand that employment in this capacity will entail my own death." [cite book | last = Hyland | first = Gary | authorlink = | co-authors = Anton Gill | title = Last Talons of the Eagle | publisher = Headline | year = 1999 | pages = pp. 220-222 | doi = | isbn = 074725964X ]
Problems were experienced in converting the Me 328, and the decision was taken to use instead a manned version of the
V-1 flying bomb , theFieseler Fi 103R (Reichenberg) . However, the Reichenberg never entered operation.On
9 June 1944, Karl Koller announced that a Gruppe of KG 200 equipped with specialFocke-Wulf Fw 190 s was ready for "total operations". Each aircraft carried a heavy bomb, due to whose weight the machines could not carry enough fuel for a return flight, and the pilots were trained only using gliders. This project came to nothing, and Werner Baumbach, now the commander of KG 200, persuaded his friendAlbert Speer that it would be more productive to use the men against Russian power stations than the Allied invasion fleet, and Speer in turn passed this on to Hitler.uicide sorties
During the
Battle for Berlin the "Luftwaffe" flew "Self-sacrifice missions" ("Selbstopfereinsatz") against Soviet held bridges over theOder River . These 'total missions' were flown by pilots of the Leonidas Squadron under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Heiner Lange from17 April until20 April 1945 , using any aircraft that were available. The "Luftwaffe" claimed that the squadron destroyed seventeen bridges. However, the military historianAntony Beevor , writing about the incident, thinks that this was exaggerated and that only the railway bridge atKüstrin was definitely destroyed. Beevor comments that "thirty-five pilots and aircraft was a high price to pay for such a limited and temporary success". The missions were called off when the Soviet ground forces reached the vicinity of the squadron's airbase atJüterbog and were in a position to overrun it. [Beevor, Antony. "Berlin: The Downfall 1945", Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5. Page 238]See also
*
Selbstopfer
*kamikaze
*suicide bombings References
Further reading
* Muller, Richard R.; " [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NXL/is_4_17/ai_113563544/pg_5 Losing air superiority: a case study from the Second World War] " originally published in
Air & Space Power Journal , Winter, 2003. "Generaloberst "Günther Korten "ordered the formation of the Leonidas Squadron, which would operate aging bombers, attack gliders, and manned flying bombs in this manner. The unit ultimately disbanded after extensive training and political indoctrination (source: Gellermann, Gunther W.; "Moskau ruft Heeresgruppe Mitte" (Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe, 1988), 42--60.)."
* [http://www.2worldwar2.com/about.htm Noy, Uri] ; " [http://www.2worldwar2.com/kg200.htm Luftwaffe Bomber Wing KG 200] " (a blog site) "The new unit, nicknamed the "Leonidas" Squadron, also became part of KG 200."
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