In July 1941 4./JG 27 was moved to North Africa to support a German contingent, the Deutsche Afrika Korps under the command of Erwin Rommel. The Italian invasion of Egypt had created another theatre of war, the North African Campaign. Gustav Rödel's Staffel was operational by late summer 1941. On 3 October Rödel claimed a Desert Air Force Curtiss P-40 Warhawk of No. 112 Squadron RAF shot down. The pilot may have been Sergeant Stirrat. On 10 October he claimed a pair of P-40s. One of the claims may have been from 2 Squadron SAAF which lost two P-40s. Rödel claimed his 25th and 26th victory over a Bristol Blenheim near Gazala, perhaps belonging to No. 11 Squadron RAF, and a P-40 near Bir Hacheim. The British Eighth Army began Operation Crusader on 18 November and a week later, on 25 November, Rödel claimed a Hurricane and P-40 in a large air battle over Tobruk. As the German and Italian armies laid siege to the city. Rödel claimed single victories on 1st, 4th, 5 and 6 December—a Hurricane, two P-40s and a Bristol Beaufighter. The 4 December victory was the P-40 flown by Second Lieutenant Meek of 2 Squadron SAAF over Al Adm. The 6 December claim was probably a No. 274 Squadron RAF Beaufighter flown by Pilot Officer William G. Snow which crashed near Tobruk. Snow and his navigator Sergeant John K. Dutton were captured.
On a mission in January 1942 Rödel was accidentally rammed by Unteroffizier Heidel and was forced to carry out a force-landing. On 27 March 1942 1. and 4. Staffel formed 10 Bf 109s to escort 15 Ju 87s from I.Sturzkampfgeschwader 3. P-40s from 2 SAAF and 80 Squadron RAF were scrambled to intercept. Ludwig Franzisket from 1. Staffel claimed a victory and Rödel claimed two of the three by his own unit. From 2 SAAF Lieutenants Lipawski and E. Smith were shot down and survived crash-landings—the former's aircraft was strafed and burnt out on the ground. Lieutenant Bryant's P-40 was also damaged, lightly. Flight Sergeant Comfort from 80 Squadron was also hit and his Hurricane badly damaged.
On 6 April Rödel claimed one of the four claims made by JG 27. Gerhard Homuth was among the other claimants. Desert Air Force records show that No. 94 Squadron RAF and Flight Lieutenant D. F. O. Shelford was killed. 2 and 40 Squadron SAAF lost one P-40 and a Hurricane respectively—Lieutenants R. D. B. Morton and Egner survived. The next day II./JG 27 engaged 94 Sqn, 260 Sqn, 450 Sqn RAAF and 4 Squadron SAAF. 450 Sqn lost one in combat. 260 Sqn lost one P-40 and another badly damaged and one of 4 Sqn SAAF's P-40s was damaged. Rödel shot down the 260 Squadron P-40 piloted by Flying Officer E. T. Thompson. Willi Kientsch appears to have fired at and claimed the same aircraft but both were credited with victories while JG 27 claimed four victories. On 7 April, 4. Staffel intercepted 40 Squadron SAAF and Rödel made the only claim—although three P-40s were brought down. Lieutenants Gouws, J. P. Blaauw and D. N. Stott all survived. The claim was Rödel's 38th victory. On 25 April JG 27 fought a large air battle over Gazala. The Germans claimed 10. 2, 4 SAAF and 260 Squadron RAF lost 8 destroyed between then and another 5 damaged. Rödel claimed one, while Günter Steinhausen claimed one and Hans-Joachim Marseille claimed two. JG 27 lost four Bf 109s in aerial combat.
Rödel was promoted to Hauptmann (captain) on 1 May 1942. On 20 May 1942, Rödel was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (Group Commander) of II./JG 27, replacing Major Erich Gerlitz who took over III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 53. In the last week of May the desert fighting escalated in the Battle of Gazala and Battle of Bir Hakeim. On 23 May Rödel led the formation in an attack on 33 Squadron Hurricanes. He shot down its leader Flight Lieutenant P. D. Wade (not to be confused Lance Wade in the same squadron). Wade survived the ditching into the sea but died, presumably of drowning or wounds. Rödel's combat report stated that he observed the enemy pilot swimming away from his sinking fighter. Rödel claimed one other victory that day. 5. Staffel lost one Bf 109 with a wounded pilot and Lehrgeschwader 1 lost one Junkers Ju 88 in air combat and two on the ground. Italian units suffered no losses. Four Hurricanes were lost and two badly damaged. Two Martin Baltimore bombers were destroyed and two badly damaged. Two pilots from 33 and another two from 80 Squadron were killed as well as six men from the Boston-equipped No. 233 Squadron RAF. Marseille and Homuth claimed the bombers—two by the former and one by the latter. Rödel now had 41.
Over Bir Hacheim on 4 June I./JG 27 escorted Ju 87s from I./StG 3 over the front. 2 SAAF, 3 Squadron SAAF and 5 Squadron SAAF led by Major John Frost. The P-40s attacked and claimed eight of the Ju 87s before the Bf 109s could act. Rödel's Gruppe arrived as the last Ju 87s were going down and attacked the South Africans. 4 SAAF lost three P-40s and two pilots captured. The third, Lieutenant Lane was picked up by Pilot Officer George Keefer who had been seconded from 274 Squadron. Lieutenant Horne, seconded from 260 Squadron, also picked up Major Meaker from 5 SAAF when hit by a Ju 87 gunner. Rödel made one of only two claims by JG 27 in the fight. The Italian Macchi C.202-equipped 10 Gruppo claimed 13 destroyed and two damaged in the day's fighting. Rödel claimed one P-40 destroyed.
The First Battle of El Alamein began on 1 July. Rödel had his most successful day in Africa, claiming three shot down on 10 July. The three P-40s raised his total to 45. Rödel accounted for his 46th and 47th victories on 19 July. The identity of the Allied formation was probably 238 Squadron. Two days later Rödel claimed four Hurricanes from seven submitted by German pilots in combat over the El Alamein area. They were probably from 238 Squadron. July was particularly successful for Rödel and Homuth's pilots.
On 31 August he claimed a solitary victory as the Battle of Alam el Halfa began. The 1 September 1942 is remembered for Marseille's 17 claims, but for the Axis ground forces it was not such a success, their armour failing to gain success. Six Kittyhawks of 450 Squadron RAAF provided top cover to 18 Boston bombers at 07:38. Rödel led four Bf 109s shooting down one of the three claimed by his flight. On 5 September he claimed a triple victory. Rödel repeated this feat on 9 October, after 70 P-40s of 112 Sqn RAF, 250 Sqn RAF, 450 Sqn RAAF, 3 Sqn RAAF, 2 Sqn SAAF, 4 Sqn SAAF and 5 Sqn SAAF, with support from the US 66th Fighter Squadron, attacked German and Italian airfields: directly over their own airfield, the pilots of six Bf 109s of II Gruppe fought elements of this large Allied formation. against approximately. On 22 October Rödel claimed a B-25 Mitchell from the US 12th Bombardment Group. The bomber was hit by anti-aircraft artillery, fell out of formation and was then shot down by Rödel. it was the 12th Group's only loss.
On the night of the 23 October 1942 the British began the Second battle of El Alamein. The following morning JG 27 flew an all-out operation to support German and Italian forces. Rödel led II./JG 27 and they met 18 bombers and 30 P-40s. Rödel claimed three of the latter between 11:43 and 11:50. On the morning of the 26 October German and Italian forces counter-attacked Outpost Snipe and the Desert Air Force supported the defence of the position by attacking Axis armour. Rödel and eight other Bf 109s from his Gruppe took off on a frei jagd (free hunt—or combat air patrol in modern parlance). They engaged a large formation of P-40s and Rödel probably shot down the P-40 flown by Sergeant Rattle from 260 Squadron. Rödel claimed another trio of RAF fighters on 27 October—a P-39 Airacobra, P-40 and Spitfire. The Spitfire fell at 10:23 and a Curtiss at 10:42. Rödel's fought to cover the 15th and 21st Panzer Division in another assault on Outpost Snipe. Rödel claimed two more just before 11:00 on 31 October as JG 27 sought to provide determined German-Italian counter-attacks with air support. The following morning Rödel filed his last claim for a victory over Egypt. At approximately 07:00 he claimed a Spitfire south of Sidi Abdel Rahman.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_R%C3%B6del
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