Allied soldiers at Wunstorf in the second half of 1945 in front of a Bf 109 K-4 WNr. 332 700. The machine shows late

style camouflage and simplified crosses on the lower wing surfaces. WNr. 330 255 “Black Chevron” from Stab III./JG

27 is seen in the background with early style camouflage and black and white crosses on the lower surfaces.

communication hubs, especially large railway

stations, further aggravated this problem, and

caused interruptions in the supply of all raw

materials and semi-finished products from

scattered production enterprises to factories

and military repair centers, where equipment

was assembled. As a result, there was

a reduction in fuel supplies for non-combat units,

including training centers, which eventually had

fatal consequences for the quality of training

of new crews of any combat equipment, not

only aircraft. Logically, it also had an effect

on the operational capabilities of combat

units. Nevertheless, the German armed forces

remained fully combat-ready until the first days

of May 1945. However, it must be remembered

that this German tenacity came at the enormous

cost of life of both soldiers and civilians in the

last year of the war. It is a little known fact that

half of all loss of life on the European battlefield

between 1939 and 1945 occurred in the last year

of the war, from the Allied landings in Normandy

Chrudim airport in liberated Czechoslovakia. On the right behind the Fw 190 F

fighters are two Bf 109 K-4s from the armament of III./JG 77, which operated

from Dolní Benešov in the Hlučín region at the end of the war.

12

INFO Eduard

to the unconditional surrender of the German

armed forces on May 8, 1945. That amounted to

millions of human lives lost.

Bf 109 K-4 Combat Use

Messerschmitt Bf 109 K-4s began to be

delivered to combat units in October 1944,

and until the end of the year these aircraft

were allocated to units on the Western Front.

III./JG 27 and III./JG 77 were the first fighter

units to upgrade to the new version of the 109.

For a number of months, they were the only

Jagdgruppe that had Bf 109 K-4 machines in

large numbers. In smaller numbers, the K-4

version appeared in II./JG 2, III./JG 3, I., III.

and IV./JG 4, II./JG 11, III./JG 26, I. and II./JG 27,

II./JG 53 and I./JG 77. These units simultaneously

used the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G, often even in

several versions. However, few of these were

placed under Luftflotte Reich command for

the defense of key targets against four-engine

bomber formations. Most of them were tasked

Photo: PhDr. Miroslava Holubová, Memory of the Nation

the tailwheel differed, and three configurations

can be found. There were also problems with

the outer covers of the main wheel wells, and

they were often removed. This rendered these

aerodynamic features useless, and the Bf 109

K-4 reverted to the undercarriage configuration

identical to the older versions of the Bf 109. There

were also difficulties with the MK 108 cannon

operation, which was already an established

phenomenon. The cannon carriage, including the

mounting points in the fuselage, was therefore

designed to allow an alternative installation

of the proven MG 151/20 cannon available in

sufficient quantity.

Despite the deteriorating supply situation and

the pressure of the Allied bombing offensive on

production and logistics, the production of the Bf

109 K-4 began more or less successfully during

the autumn and winter of 1944, and continued

into early 1945, together with the production of

other types of fighter aircraft, mainly the Fw 190

of various versions and especially the Me 262.

Production continued until March 1945, when

under the pressure of Allied advances on all

fronts, relentless bombing and the intensifying

chaos that it brought with it, the disruption and

general lack of material and food, it gradually

ground to a stop. The deliveries of fighter jets to

combat units continued during April, both from

OKL warehouses and from repair companies.

It must be added that the Luftwaffe never had

a shortage of aircraft during the war, until its

final days. The big problem was the gradually

increasing shortage of well-trained pilots from

about the middle of the war and especially, in the

last year, the lack of fuel. Both of these problems

were related to the Allied bombing offensive,

which from the beginning of 1944 concentrated

on the liquidation of the fuel industry and the

elimination of communication hubs. By the

second half of 1944, this led to a sharp drop

in fuel stocks for all armed forces as well as

for industry and transport. The destruction of

Photo: SDASM

HISTORY

September 2023