10th Air Corps (Germany)
|
X. Fliegerkorps German 10th Air Corps |
|
|---|---|
Flag of a commanding general of a Fliegerkorps
|
|
| Active | 2 October 1939 – 5 September 1944 |
| Country |
 Nazi Germany
|
| Branch |
 Luftwaffe
|
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Martin Fiebig |
X. Fliegerkorps (10th Air Corps) was a formation of the German Luftwaffe in World War II, which specialised in coastal operations. It was formed 2 October 1939, in Hamburg from the 10. Flieger-Division.
Generalleutnant Hans Ferdinand Geisler was put in command of the newly formed Flieger-Division on 3 September 1939, based at Blankenese. Initially its force was the Heinkel 111 bombers of Kampfgeschwader 26. Geisler's Division was allocated the new Junkers Ju 88 bombers which were still being brought into service with Kampfgeschwader 25, on 7 September this was redesignated Kampfgeschwader 30.
The Corps was stationed in north Germany in February 1940 when some of its aircraft were involved in a disastrous friendly fire incident that terminated the Kriegsmarine's Operation .
In early 1941, X. Fliegerkorps was transferred from Norway to Sicily to support the build-up of the Afrika Korps in Libya. On 12 January 1941, it had 80 Ju 88A-4 bombers of LG 1 and 12 Ju 88D-5 reconnaissance planes at Catania, 80 Ju 87R-1 ("Stuka") dive-bombers of StG 1 and StG 2 at Trapani, 27 He 111H-6 torpedo bombers of KG 26 at Comiso and 34 Bf 110C-4 fighters of ZG 26 at Palermo. It was prominent in the axis effort to suppress Royal Navy interference with the supply routes from Italy by reducing Malta's effectiveness as a forward base. On 10 and 11 January 1941 X. Fliegerkorps planes sank HMS Southampton and heavily damaged HMS Illustrious during Operation Excess.Bf 109E-7 fighters of JG 26 and JG 27 joined the offensive on Malta during February and March 1941.
...
Wikipedia