La Kampfgeschwader 6

The 6th Luftwaffe Bombardment Squadron remains a little-known unit due to its relatively short existence. It was indeed put together with great difficulty by an order of October 1941, this squadron having been designed to support KG 2 in its sporadic operations to harass Great Britain. Its training was slow and laborious for lack of staff. The poverty of the Luftwaffe (clearly visible at that time) explains why the entire III./LG 1 had to be recalled from the eastern front to include it in the new squadron. It was not until August 1942 that the first Ju 88 of KG 6 operated across the Channel, however, the squadron was immediately engaged in the fighting at Dieppe during the bloody landing of the Canadians. In November, the unit - shared between France and the Netherlands - served as a back-up to occupy the French Free Zone. Concomitantly, its best crews were called up in an "Einsatzgruppe" sent urgently to the Mediterranean in support of the Afrika Korps.

At the beginning of 1943, KG 6 found itself torn between Italy, Denmark and France from which some action continued to be launched on Great Britain. In June, however, in full reconversion on Ju 188, two Gruppe were withdrawn from France to return to fight in Italy. At the end of 1943, the II./KG 6 was also sent to fight in the Aegean Sea.
It was not until the beginning of 1944 that the squadron could finally be fully engaged in what had been its end: the attacks on England. KG 6 took part in Operation "Steinbock" where its losses were severe. This shortly before 'Overlord', the Normandy landings, which would also cut deep cuts in the numbers. Retreating "foot by foot", KG 6 fell back on the Reich before being dissolved in September 1944 because of its heavy losses. The squadron was to rise from its ashes, however, as KG (J) / 6, a fighter unit equipped with, among other things, Me 262 jet engines.
In the following months, KG (J) / 6 would experience the last upheavals of the Luftwaffe until the capitulation of the Third Reich, its numbers gradually shrinking. Its pilots nonetheless fought until early May 1945.

A book of more than 380 pages, embellished with 660 photos and 20 color profiles produced by Vincent Dhorne.