Kampfgeschwader 4

Kampfgeschwader 4
Active	1939–1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Luftwaffe
Type	Bomber unit
Role	Tactical and Direct Ground Support.
Size	Air Force Wing
Nickname(s)	General Wever
Patron	Walther Wever
Engagements	Polish Campaign German invasion of Denmark (1940) Norwegian Campaign Battle of the Netherlands Battle of Belgium Battle of France Battle of Britain German invasion of Yugoslavia Battle of Greece Battle of Crete Anglo-Iraqi War Eastern Front
Decorations	reference in the Wehrmachtbericht 6 November 1940

Kampfgeschwader 4 "General Wever" (KG 4) (Battle Wing 4) was a Luftwaffe bomber unit during World War II. The unit was formed in May 1939. The unit operated the Dornier Do 17, Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 111 medium bombers, with later service on the Heinkel He 177 heavy bomber. The wing was named after General Walther Wever, the prime pre-war proponent for a strategic bombing capability for the Luftwaffe, who was killed in an aircraft accident in 1936.

Stab/KG 4 and I./KG 4 were formed on 1 May 1939 at Erfurt and was initially equipped with the He 111 Ps, borrowed from KG 253. The unit spent most of the summer training and recruiting personnel from the flight schools.

On 25 August the unit was transferred to Langenau under the Command of Luftflotte 4. It began the Polish Campaign attacking airfields and railway yards. Stab/KG 4 was withdrawn on 20 September. I./KG 4 attacked airfields at Dęblin and Krakow on 1 September and again on 2 September. From 3–6 September rail targets in Eastern Poland were attacked, and between 6–9 September bridges along the Vistula River and in Warsaw itself were bombed. From 6–14 September rail targets were again bombed. Troop concentrations became the main targets after this until the Polish surrender. II./KG 4 also supported 10.Armee over Kutno in mid September. After the campaign the unit began training in night flying and began to lay mines of the Norwegian coast in January 1940, in preparation for the Norwegian Campaign. III./KG 4 participated in the Battle of the Bzura in which the Polish Army was surrounded and destroyed (largely by the Luftwaffe).

In December 1939 III./KG4 transferred from Nordhausen to Vechta and commenced intensive training for night flying and minelaying operations, while conversion to the Junkers Ju-88 began in February-1940. On 1 February 1940 KG 4 transferred to Quakenbrück in northern Germany. II./KG 4 were part of the bomber fleet that flew a "demonstration of strength" raid over Copenhagen on 9 April 1940. The unit attacked rail and airfield targets as well as anti-shipping strikes. A Staffel of Ju 88s of III./KG 4 attacked the airfield at Sola Air Station near Stavanger and sank the Norwegian destroyer Æger near Stavanger on 9 April.

...
Wikipedia