Zerstörergeschwader 1 (ZG 1—1st Destroyer Wing) (lit. destroyer wing) was a Luftwaffe zerstörer or ‘destroyer’ (heavy fighter) wing of World War II.
Formation Zerstörergeschwader 1 (ZG 1—1st Destroyer Wing) was formed with two Gruppen (groups) before the war. Initially, no Geschwaderstab (headquarters unit) nor III. Gruppe (3rd group) was formed. I. Gruppe (1st group) was formed by renaming II(s). Gruppe (2nd group) of Jagdgeschwader 132 "Richthofen" (JG 132—132nd Fighter Wing) to I. Gruppe of Zerstörergeschwader 141 (ZG 141—141st Destroyer Wing) on 1 November 1938 flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109 single engine fighter. On 1 May 1939, I. Gruppe of ZG 141 became I. Gruppe of ZG 1. During this entire time, the Gruppe was commanded by Major Joachim-Friedrich Huth. This unit was initially based at in Jüterbog until it was moved to Mackfitz, present-day Makowice in north-western Poland, on 24 August 1939.
The II. Gruppe was formed on 15 May 1939 at Fürstenwalde and was also equipped with the Bf 109. The Gruppe had originally been formed as II(l). Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 135 (JG 135—135th Fighter Wing). It was then renamed to I. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 333 (JG 333—333th Fighter Wing) on 1 November 1938 which was then briefly given the designation I. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54—54th Fighter Wing) on 1 May 1939. During this creation process, the Gruppe was commanded by Major Rudolf Stoltenhoff, who turned over command to Major Hellmut Reichard on 15 May 1939.
World War II Invasion of Poland and Phoney War On the outbreak of World War II the unit was based with 1. Fliegerdivision in Central Germany. During the German invasion of Poland ZG 1 was part of Luftflotte 3. Only the I. Gruppe was fit for action at Mühlen Eichsen. The group operated the Bf 110 C. The division and air fleet supported the 4th army on most northern part of the line as it advanced to capture Danzig and Bydgoszcz. Only three of the ten Zerstörergruppen were genuine units (I./ZG 1, I./ZG 76, I(Z)./LG 1). The rest were given Bf 109s and nominated Jagdgruppen (for example II./ZG 1 was renamed II./JGr 101). Among the operational Bf 110 units there were barely 100 aircraft available. Little is known of I./ZG 1's activities other than the fact that they were the least successful of all the fighter units in Poland. In one long-range fighter escort mission I./ZG 1 claimed two Polish fighters but lost Hauptmann von Freiherr Mullenheim.
In December 1939 II./Trägergruppe 186 (Carrier Air Group 186; TrGr 186) which was officially attached to ZG 1 but placed under Stab./JG 1 for defensive duties under Major Heinrich Seeliger. JGr 101 was attached to ZG 1 and eventually became II./ZG 1. It was commanded by Major Hellmuth Reichardt. JGr. 101 fought in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight. Only a rotte from 3. Staffel made contact with the bombers and claimed two. Dietrich Robitzsch wrote off a Bf 109. Two more pilots were wounded.
In April 1940 ZG 1 was subordinated to Fliegerkorps X for Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Denmark and Norwegian Campaign on 6 April, three days before the invasion began. I. Gruppe was commanded by Wolfgang Falck, a pioneer of night fighter operations. 3./ZG 1 escorted 28 Heinkel He 111 bombers from KG 4 on a demonstration flight over Copenhagen. Falck led I./ZG 1 to attack the Royal Danish Air Force base at Vaerlose where four Fokker D.XXI were taking off. Falck shot one down. 13 other Danish fighters, including Fokker C.Vs, were strafed and destroyed. I./ZG 1 at Aalborg experienced repeated air attacks by RAF Bomber Command. Falck arranged interception procedures with the local commanding officer to enable interceptions in dusk hours. He led three Bf 110s in an interception on 30 April, and although these did not yield a victory, Falck was invited to Berlin to discuss his ideas with Ernst Udet, Erhard Milch, and Albert Kesselring, though the senior command was preoccupied with Fall Gelb, the coming Battle of Belgium and Battle of France. Falck was sure that a Bf 110 unit could defend the airspace at night with assistance from radar operators. Falck convinced Kesselring, Milch and Udet at the RLM. Hermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, ordered Falck to create a Nachtjagdgeschwader at Düsseldorf on 22 June 1940. He formed Nachtjagdgeschwader 1. In the first week of May 1940, I./ZG 1 was seconded to Fall Gelb, and was replaced at Aalborg by I(J)./LG 2.
Battle of the Low Countries and France, operations over Switzerland ZG 1 was assigned to Luftflotte 2. I./ZG 1 was based at Kirchhellen with 22 of the 35 Bf 110s operational. II./ZG 1 had 26 of its 36 Bf 110s operational at Gelsenkirchen. Of the 145 Bf 110s in the air fleet, just 82 were combat ready on 10 May 1940. ZG 26 supported ZG 1 in heavy fighter operations. The unit fought in the Battle of the Netherlands. ZG 1 was engaged in the Offensive counter air operations against the Royal Dutch Air Force on 10 May. 4. Staffel is known to have fought in combat with the Dutch 5e JaVA (5th Fighter Unit) which cost it one aircraft. One flight of ZG 1 Bf 110s shot down five from six Bristol Blenheims from No. 600 Squadron RAF, which had taken off from RAF Manston to bomb Waalhaven.
On 11 May RAF Bomber Command sent No. 18 and No. 53 to bomb the Albert Canal near Maastricht. Four Bristol Blenheims failed to return; one was a victim of JG 1, two to ground-fire, but the other fell to Bf 110s from II./ZG 1. ZG 1 continued counter-air operations by strafing airfields. I. and II. Gruppe attacked Haamstede, Flushing, and Oostvoorne. I./ZG 1 claimed 26 Dutch aircraft on the ground. True Dutch losses are unstated. The command flight of II./ZG 1 encountered No. 615 Squadron RAF and the British unit lost one pilot killed near Courrière. ZG 1 conducted patrols during the Battle of Gembloux, a major engagement in the Battle of Belgium, and accounted for a No. 87 Squadron RAF pilot killed near the town on 14 May. No. 87 and ZG 1 clashed again later in the day. Along with No. 79 Squadron RAF, they attempted to attack He 111s from II./LG 1 near Brussels. Three German bombers were shot down but it cost No. 79 Squadron one pilot killed. No. 87 Squadron lost one Hawker Hurricane and its pilot was wounded in action with 1./ZG 1. The air battles were costly; over the 10 to 13 May, ZG 1 and ZG 26 lost five Bf 110s between them [breakdown unknown]. On 14 May 5./ZG 1 lost its Staffelkapitän Hauptmann Kiippers during a full-scale strafing of Vlissingen airfield. On 16 May, over Brussels, five 1./ZG 1 Bf 110s fought No. 85 and No. 87 Squadrons; the British claimed three though no losses were sustained; one German pilot was wounded. The German unit claimed one, though any RAF casualties in the dogfight are unstated. Later in the day, No. 3 Squadron RAF fighters killed one of ZG 1's crews in combat. In return, Squadron Leader P Gifford DFC was killed in action with 1./ZG 1. ZG 1 are known to have fought in the Battle of Dunkirk; on 1 June 1940 I. Gruppe claimed three Hurricanes over the port.
ZG 1 remained active during Fall Rot, the second phase of the Battle of France. The Luftwaffe had proven successful in the Air interdiction role, but became a victim of its own success when German logistics began to strain because of the infrastructure damage caused by bombing. An effort was made to repair French and Belgian road, bridges and railway lines. Fuel shortages occurred, but I./ZG 1 at Norrent-Fontes, for example, reported of aviation fuel on 7 June just days into the beginning of the second offensive. II./ZG 1 was based at Trier-Euren and both served under Jagdfliegerführer 3. German bomber wings were ordered to attack rail traffic in the Rhône and shipping in Marseille. They overflew Switzerland for convenience and as a mark of arrogance in their perceived superiority. The Swiss Air Force intercepted on one occasion, and with some units equipped with German-built Bf 109s, shot down six He 111s. Göring was furious and ordered missions to continue with Bf 110 escort. The second mission resulted in the destruction of one Swiss fighter. The Nazi leaderships obsession with saving face, resulted in II./ZG 1 being ordered to fly missions over Swiss air space. This cost the unit five Bf 110s, and the commanding officer of 6. Staffel on 8 June. Thereafter, operations over Switzerland were stopped.
Battle of Britain and Channel Front The Battle of Britain began in July 1940, but ZG 1 was already being broken up to form new units. On 22 June I./ZG 1 became I./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, a night fighter wing and returned to Germany. On 26 June 1940 II./ZG 1 was renamed III. Gruppe of Zerstörergeschwader 76 (ZG 76—76th Destroyer Wing). ZG 1 had formally ceased to exist for the next 18 months. I. Gruppe retained its Zerstörer status into July 1940 for it is listed on the Quartermaster of the Luftwaffe as I(Nacht)/ZG 1. Two aircraft belonging to this unit were reported destroyed on 25 July; one in action with an RAF bomber and another in an accident. Two crewmen were killed and two wounded.
Eastern Front In June 1941 the Wehrmacht and its Allies began Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, initiating the war on the Eastern Front. The failure of Barbarossa and the requirement for heavy fighter groups which could act with versatility in a variety of support roles was realised. ZG 1 was to reform, this time with a Stab and three gruppen, common in most Luftwaffe wings. ZG 1 began operations in the Soviet Union in the winter 1941/42, though combat operations did not occur until after 1 January 1942. I./ZG 1 was reformed from I./SKG 210 in January 1942. Stab and I./ZG 1 was assigned to support Army Group South, under Luftflotte 4. The combat units were to support the German defence on the Mius River after their defeat in the Battle of Rostov in December 1941. The Bf 110, which had not succeeded as a fighter aircraft, had been converted to the fighter-bomber role in the Battle of Britain. The type was a success in the night fighter role, neccessating the withdrawal of the Bf 110 from the Eastern Front in late 1941. The need to counter Red Army advances in early 1942 saw a number of night fighter units reconverted back to ground attack units—I. and II./NJG 4 became ZG 26 and their deployment to the Eastern Front weakened the night fighter force. II./ZG 1 was transferred to Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen's Fliegerkorps VIII to support Army Group Centre and help it defend against the enormous Soviet counter-offensive following the Battle of Moscow.
The Bf 110 Zerstörer pilots were hated by Soviet soldiers for their destructive effect. In the winter battles the roads had been cleared, often leaving huge mountains of snow on either side. Congested columns of men and vehicles proved vulnerable to strafing attacks. German pilots described the appalling effects; Oberleutnant Johannes Kiel remarked they "saw the snow becoming stained red by all the blood." The operations were not without cost to the Germans. II./ZG 1's commanding officer, Hauptmann Rolf Kaldrick killed on 3 February 1942 along with another crew when Soviet MiG-3 fighters intercepted them. The Bf 110 units lost two of their Knight's Cross holders within a week. Kaldrack became the first Zerstörer pilot to receive the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. In the last five days of February 1942 five II./ZG 1 aircraft were shot down. The 120 IAP (Independent Fighter Regiment) were responsible for the majority of these losses. In late March, early April 1942, I./ZG 1 was pulled off the frontlines to rest and recuperate.