Zerstörergeschwader 26 (ZG 26) “Horst Wessel,” a Luftwaffe heavy-fighter wing named after the SA Sturmführer Horst Wessel, was formed on 1 May 1939 in Dortmund, Werl and Lippstadt by redesignating the Stab and Gruppen of Zerstörergeschwader 142 (itself derived from Jagdgeschwader 134 “Horst Wessel”), initially flying Messerschmitt Bf 109D interceptors before converting to the twin-engined Messerschmitt Bf 110 that became its principal aircraft (later supplemented by the Me 410); carrying the Geschwaderkennung 3U and organized into a Geschwaderstab plus I., II. and III. Gruppen, the unit first saw action during the Phoney War defending the North Sea coast, then provided bomber escort and air-superiority cover throughout the 1940 Western campaign and the Battle of Britain, where it suffered severe losses to RAF single-seat fighters, before transferring to the Balkans in 1941 for the invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece and the airborne assault on Crete, while its III. Gruppe operated in the Mediterranean and North Africa supporting the Afrika Korps and anti-shipping missions until the Tunisian collapse in 1943; simultaneously the Stab, I. and II. Gruppen spearheaded airfield attacks and close-support operations on the Eastern Front from the opening of Operation Barbarossa through the battles for Leningrad and Moscow, after which parts of the Geschwader were temporarily redesignated or absorbed into night-fighter and other units in late 1941–early 1942; reformed in October 1943 for the Defense of the Reich and re-equipped largely with Me 410s armed with heavy cannon and rockets, ZG 26 engaged the US Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces in costly daylight interceptions during “Big Week” and subsequent raids over Germany until July–September 1944, when its remaining elements were redesignated as Jagdgeschwader 6 “Horst Wessel,” bringing the operational existence of the original Zerstörergeschwader to an end.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Major Wilhelm Spies (1913-1942), born in Rimpar, was a German Luftwaffe officer and Zerstörer pilot who began his military service in the Heer before transferring to the Luftwaffe in 1935, participating in the Spanish Civil War with the Legion Condor and later flying with Zerstörergeschwader 26 “Horst Wessel” through the campaigns in Poland, France, Britain, the Balkans, and the Eastern Front; as Oberleutnant and then Hauptmann he served as Staffelkapitän of the 1./Zerstörergeschwader 26, achieving ten aerial victories and destroying twenty aircraft on the ground by the early summer of 1941, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 14 June 1941 while still Staffelkapitän in the I./Zerstörergeschwader 26, after which he was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of the I./Zerstörergeschwader 26 and continued intensive ground-attack and fighter operations on the Eastern Front, accumulating a total of twenty aerial victories (ten in the West and ten in the East) together with more than three hundred Feindflüge before being shot down and killed by anti-aircraft fire during a low-level attack southwest of Suchinitschi on 27 January 1942; in recognition of those cumulative achievements he was posthumously promoted to Major and awarded the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (the 85th recipient) on 5 April 1942 while listed as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of the I./Zerstörergeschwader 26.
Major Eduard Tratt (1919-1944) was born on 24 February 1919 in Würzburg and entered the Luftwaffe in 1937 as a Fahnenjunker, rising to Leutnant by the start of the Second World War when he flew Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighters with 1./Zerstörergeschwader 1 during the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France, claiming three Hawker Hurricanes over Dunkirk on 1 June 1940 before transferring to Erprobungsgruppe 210 and later Schnellkampfgeschwader 210 for low-level attacks over England, where by the end of 1940 he had accumulated thirteen aerial victories despite being wounded on 12 August while with 2./Zerstörergeschwader 2. In June 1941 the unit moved east for Operation Barbarossa, and as part of 1./SKG 210 Tratt flew intensive ground-attack and fighter sorties over the central sector around Białystok and Minsk, destroying Soviet aircraft in the air and on the ground along with numerous tanks and vehicles; after further service with Zerstörergeschwader 26 he was appointed Staffelkapitän of 6./ZG 26, and on 12 April 1942, by then an Oberleutnant credited with twenty aerial victories plus substantial ground claims of twenty-six aircraft, twenty-four tanks, three hundred twelve vehicles and many anti-aircraft positions, he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes for these outstanding successes in both aerial combat and close-support operations on the Eastern Front. Wounded again in February and March 1942, he later commanded units including 2./ZG 2 and 1./ZG 1, suffered serious injuries in a crash-landing near Rowenki on 30 January 1943, recovered to lead Erprobungskommando 25 testing weapons against American bombers including the Me 410 with BK 5 cannon, claimed two B-17s in May and June 1943, and on 11 October 1943 as Hauptmann was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of the reformed II./Zerstörergeschwader 26 flying Me 410s in the Reichsverteidigung. Leading the Gruppe against deep-penetration USAAF raids amid growing escort fighter opposition, Tratt added further victories including a B-17 as his thirtieth on 29 November 1943 and multiple P-38s in February 1944, scoring his thirty-eighth and final victory, a B-17 of the 452nd Bomb Group, on 20 February; two days later, on 22 February 1944 near Nordhausen while single-handedly attacking B-17s of the 91st Bomb Group in a Me 410B-1/U2/R4, he and his gunner Oberfeldwebel Gillert were shot down and killed. For his total of thirty-eight aerial victories in over three hundred fifty missions, of which eighteen were on the Western Front including six four-engined bombers and five P-38s, together with extensive ground destruction, he was posthumously awarded the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 26 March 1944 as the 437th recipient while serving as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of II./ZG 26, and was further promoted posthumously to Major on 20 April 1944, remaining the highest-scoring Zerstörer pilot of the war.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zerst%C3%B6rergeschwader_26
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