Taghon, Peter La Kampfgeschwader 54. L'escadre à la tête de mort. Volume 2

Kampfgeschwader 54, the "Totenkopfgeschwader", is a unit that is well known to air war fans of the Second World War due to its skull and crossbones insignia, which was adopted from the Hussar squadrons. Above all, however, the KG 54 was one of the few Luftwaffe squadrons to fight from the first to the last day of the conflict - albeit in different forms and often with varying crew strengths. KG 54, which emerged from KG 254, began modestly with a single group that was deployed in Poland in September 1939. In April 1940, the second group, which had been formed during the war, took part in the fighting in Scandinavia. The following month, the squadron, which had grown to three groups, was sent to the western campaign, the great campaign in the west. The KG 54 fought in the Battle of Britain and continued its missions over England during the night blitz, having been badly affected by the disbanding of the third group during the May/June operations. In June 1941, the two groups that had been called into the USSR as part of "Barbarossa" fought fiercely and carried out numerous missions, but suffered such heavy losses that they were ordered back to the Reich at the end of the year. However, the military situation had worsened to such an extent that the "Totenkopfgeschwader" was already forced to disperse its forces at this point, with the I./KG 54 going to the Mediterranean, while the II./KG 54 returned to the USSR (with a short stay in France). During the fighting on Malta, I./KG 54 operated together with K.Gr. 806, which was then renamed III./KG 54. Both groups supported Field Marshal Rommel's Africa Corps and were joined in Sicily in 1943 by the II./KG 54, which took part in the last battles in Africa (Tunisia). The 54th Fighter Wing was now fully manned and fought against the Allied landings on Sicily before retreating to the Italian mainland several times. The "Totenkopfgeschwader" left the Mediterranean for good at the end of 1943 and returned to the west. However, this was in order to operate against England as part of the bloody Operation "Steinbock". The losses were so high that the II./KG 54 was disbanded in April 1944. Two months later, a squadron that had once again been reduced to two groups opposed the Allied landings in Normandy, with the operations costing just as many men and material. The KG 54 fought with all its might and returned to the German Reich, where it was converted into a fighter unit in September 1944 and equipped with the famous Me 262 jet aircraft. However, as the aircraft still suffered from serious "teething troubles", the KG (J) 54 (although reinforced by a second group) was barely able to hold its own against the numerically far superior Allied air force and was decimated. On 8 May 1945, the surviving members of the "Totenkopfgeschwader" surrendered and its personnel were now mainly scattered across Austria and Czechoslovakia.