From the Mediterranean to Germany
Text: Jan Bobek
Illustration: Antonis Karydis
By April 1943, no part of Jagdgeschwader 27 (JG 27) fighter unit remained in Africa. Its I. Gruppe, which had gained fame due to fighter ace Hans-Joachim Marseille, had been withdrawn to Germany in November 1942 and was engaged in combat operations in France from January 1943. The JG 27 headquarters and its II./JG 27 were operating from Sicily, while the III. and IV. Gruppe were based in occupied Greece or on its islands. The burden of intense aerial combat in Tunisia was now borne by JG 53, JG 77, and II./JG 51. All these units were equipped with Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters, primarily the G-6 variant.
A change in command of JG 27 occurred on April 22, 1943. Until then, it had been led by 32-year-old Oberstleutnant Eduard Neumann, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, where he had achieved two aerial victories. During World War II, he added another eleven to his record. After the war, Neumann became a key figure in the unit’s veterans’ organization. At the helm of JG 27, he was succeeded by Major Gustav Rödel, who had previously commanded II./JG 27 and had over 70 confirmed kills. With his promotion, a new commander was needed for II. Gruppe. The choice fell on Hauptmann Werner Schroer, at this time the commander of 8./JG 27, stationed on Crete. Schroer had 63 victories to his name and was already a recipient of the Knight’s Cross.
In April 1943, Schroer’s new unit II./JG 27 was based in Trapani, Sicily, primarily escorting convoys and transport aircraft on routes to Tunisia. Losses of Ju 52 and Me 323 transports were so severe that even Bf 110 crews were tasked with fuel supply missions for German forces in Tunisia. During March and April, II./JG 27 lost 21 aircraft in combat, while another 39 were written off due to accidents.
Schroer achieved his first victories with his new unit on April 29, shooting down two Lightning fighters near Marettimo, west of Sicily. On May 5, in the same area, he downed a B-24 bomber, though given the combat conditions, there may be a typo in the victory records and his victim was possibly B-25 Mitchell.
On May 9, II./JG 27 engaged a formation of 26 Liberators with a fighter escort of Lightnings between Capo San Vito and Capo Gallo. Schroer’s unit claimed three B-17s, likely a misidentification, and two P-38s. Schroer himself claimed one B-24, but Allied records do not confirm these losses.
After the Tunisian campaign ended, II./JG 27 increasingly engaged four-engine bombers while defending Sicily. The American fighter escorts, provided by three P-38 Fighter Groups, were still refining their tactics. On the German side at Sicily, both fighter vectoring and air combat strategies were in an improvised state against four engine bombers operating in high altitudes. Luftwaffe command exerted immense pressure on the pilots, threatening court-martial for unsatisfactory performance.
Between April and July 1943, Schroer scored 20 victories, half of them four-engine bombers. Under his command, II./JG 27 claimed nearly 100 victories, but at a steep cost, 41 pilots were killed, missing, captured, or wounded, representing nearly 100% losses in its personnel strength. Additionally, between May and July 1943, the unit lost 74 fighters in combat and another 47 due to other causes.
In early August 1943, Schroer’s unit transferred its 17 remaining Bf 109s to other units in Italy and withdrew to Germany, relocating to the Wiesbaden-Erbenheim airbase. By late August, II./JG 27 had moved to Eschborn, equipped with new aircraft, and prepared to defend Vaterland against American bomber raids. Their first engagement in this theatre occurred on September 6, during an attack targeting the Stuttgart area. This was the first deep penetration raid into Germany since the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission, with over 300 bombers participating, the largest force deployed by the U.S. Army Air Forces at that time.
The mission was later officially labeled a “Costly Fiasco” by the American command, as 45 B-17s were lost due to various reasons and 10 more were written off after landing due to damage. Schroer’s unit claimed nine victories over B-17s. Schroer himself was credited with one confirmed kill and forced two other bombers out of formation, marking his 86th to 88th victories. This air battle is the subject of Antonis Karydis’ box art illustration.