Kampfgeschwader 200 (KG 200)
KG 200 was the special operations battle wing (“Kampfgeschwader”) which operated captured allied bombers, worked as path finders and flew missions to bring secret agents behind enemy lines etc.
The first group of KG 200, I./KG 200, flew a total of 3-4 He 115’s and were responsible of dropping Abwehr agents behind enemy lines. The largest number of agents dropped by I./KG 200 was in July 1944, where a total of 260 men and women were dropped, mainly using automatic parachutes. The total number of agents dropped between June 1944 to March 1945 were 600. Out of these, 5-10 were women. [Gellermann 1]
Between July 1st and October 1st 1944, I./KG 200 dropped 157 agents in 11 major operations on the western theatre. In the same period, 114 minor operations were flown by I./KG 200 through its Frontaufklärungskommandos in combination with the responsible Ic-Abt. [Gellermann 2]
The I./KG 200 was divided into three squadrons (“Staffeln”):
1st squadron: missions in distant areas (“Ferneinsätze”)
2nd squadron: missions in near areas (“Naheinsätze”)
3rd squadron: navy pilots (“Seeflieger”)
[Gellermann 3]
The 3rd squadron of KG 200 had one He 115, located in Rissala/Finland. [Gellermann 4]
The second group of KG 200, II./KG 200, had one Staffel for commando raids, the 3rd Staffel. They were located and trained in Dedelstorf, Germany. In September 1944, this Staffel was no longer under the command of KG 200, but under the Army Paratroopers command as “Bataillon Schäfer”. [Gellermann 6]
Noch [Noch 1] states: “The abbreviation for Küstenfliegergruppe was Kü.Fl.Gr. or St. for Staffel. All these units [KG 200 and KüFlGr] were under command of Gen. D. Lw b. Ob. d. M [General der Luftwaffe beim Oberkommande der Marine und Befehlshaber der Marinefliegerverbände und zugleich Inspekteur der Marineflieger (L.In. 8)] in Berlin until 7.9.1944, then this command-position was stricken.”
This is an archived page and no updates have been made to it in many years, never the less, it is copyright (C) 1999, 2019 by Bo Stahlbrandt