Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 (NJG 2) was a Luftwaffe night-fighter and night-intruder wing active from 1 September 1940 until 5 May 1945, formed initially when I./NJG 2 was created at Gilze-Rijen from elements of II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 and other Zerstörer units, with Stab/NJG 2 established only on 1 November 1941 under Oberstleutnant Karl Hülshoff; uniquely among early night-fighter formations, I./NJG 2 specialised in long-range Fernnachtjagd intruder missions over Britain, operating modified Junkers Ju 88C and Dornier Do 17Z/Do 215 aircraft that could carry bombs as well as forward-firing armament, flying from bases in the Netherlands to intercept RAF bombers taking off or returning to their airfields in eastern England, claiming around 143 victories (with roughly 90 confirmed RAF losses) between October 1940 and October 1941 before Hitler ordered the cessation of such operations on 12 October 1941 in favour of destroying bombers over German territory. Thereafter the Geschwader expanded with II. and III. Gruppen (subject to several redesignations, including temporary absorption into NJG 1 and later re-formations from NJG 6 and NJG 7 elements), shifting to conventional Himmelbett and later free-lance night-fighting under the Kammhuber Line while also deploying detachments to the Mediterranean—Sicily, North Africa and Crete—from late 1941 onward for defence of Axis shipping and airfields; equipped primarily with Ju 88C/G variants (later also Bf 110, Do 217 and briefly the Ju 388J), NJG 2 claimed approximately 800 aerial victories overall, producing notable aces such as Paul Semrau, Heinz Strüning and Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, and in July 1944 one of its Ju 88G-1s accidentally landed intact at RAF Woodbridge, giving the Allies their first detailed examination of the Lichtenstein SN-2 radar and Flensburg detector. In the final months the wing defended the Ruhr and other industrial regions from bases in western Germany, receiving limited numbers of the advanced Ju 388 before fuel shortages and overwhelming Allied air superiority ended operations in May 1945.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Oberst Helmut Lent (1918-1944) was born on 13 June 1918 in Pyrehne, Landsberg an der Warthe, into a devoutly Lutheran family as the fifth child of a minister; after primary schooling and private tutoring he passed his Abitur in December 1935, completed Reichsarbeitsdienst, and against his father’s wishes entered the Luftwaffe as a Fahnenjunker on 1 April 1936, training at Luftkriegsschule 2 Gatow where he earned his wings and was commissioned Leutnant on 1 March 1938 before converting to the Messerschmitt Bf 110 with I./Zerstörergeschwader 76. He claimed his first victories during the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and further successes over the North Sea, including two confirmed Wellingtons in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight on 18 December 1939, then flew ground-support missions during the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940, force-landing at Fornebu after engine damage while helping secure the airfield. Transferred to the newly formed Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, he scored his first nocturnal victory on 12 May 1941 and, as Staffelkapitän of 6./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 with 8 day and 14 night victories, received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 30 August 1941. Promoted Hauptmann and appointed Kommandeur of II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 2, he continued to accumulate night victories against RAF bombers and was awarded the Eichenlaub on 6 June 1942 after 35 nocturnal kills; later as Kommandeur of IV./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 he received the Schwerter on 2 August 1943 after 66 night victories. On the night of 15–16 June 1944, by then Oberstleutnant and Geschwaderkommodore of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3, he became the first night-fighter pilot to claim his 100th nocturnal victory, for which he was awarded the Brillanten on 31 July 1944; overall he was credited with 110 aerial victories (102 at night, including 61 four-engined bombers) in 507 sorties. On 5 October 1944, while flying a Junkers Ju 88 on a routine transit flight from Stade to Nordborchen near Paderborn, an engine failed on approach and the aircraft struck power lines; Lent succumbed to his injuries two days later on 7 October 1944 and was posthumously promoted to Oberst.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachtjagdgeschwader_2
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