Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 (StG 1) was a prominent Luftwaffe dive bomber wing during World War II, primarily equipped with the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka (including B, R, and D variants) and operating from May 1939 until its redesignation as Schlachtgeschwader 1 (SG 1) on 18 October 1943, after which it transitioned toward close air support and ground-attack roles. Formed with I. Gruppe at Insterburg in East Prussia on 1 May 1939 from I./StG 160 under Major Werner Rentsch, followed by the Stab at Juterbog on 18 November 1939 under Oberst Eberhard Baier (later succeeded by Oberstleutnant Walter Hagen and Gustav Pressler), and subsequent II. and III. Gruppen in 1940, StG 1 flew some of the earliest missions of the war on 1 September 1939, striking the Dirschau bridge and Polish targets to open the invasion of Poland as an independent Gruppe under Luftflotte 1. It participated extensively in Operation Weserubung in Norway with long-range Ju 87R aircraft for maritime interdiction, sinking or damaging numerous Allied warships and supply vessels; supported the Western Campaign and Battle of Britain under VIII. Fliegerkorps with anti-shipping strikes in the English Channel; took part in the Balkans Campaign; and then played a major role on the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa and subsequent campaigns, including the battles of Bialystok-Minsk, Smolensk, and Kursk, providing close air support to the Heer while suffering heavy losses (60 Ju 87s in aerial combat by the end of Barbarossa alone). Throughout its existence, StG 1 conducted precision dive-bombing for offensive counter-air, anti-tank warfare, air interdiction, and limited anti-partisan operations across multiple theaters, earning numerous Knight's Cross awards for its crews and commanders such as Paul-Werner Hozzel, Helmut Mahlke, and Anton Keil, before its reorganization reflected the Luftwaffe's shift from dedicated dive bombing to more versatile Schlacht units amid growing Allied air superiority.
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SCHWERTERTRÄGER
Oberst Alfred Druschel (1917-1945) was born on 4 February 1917 in Bindsachsen in the District of Büdingen and joined the Luftwaffe on 1 April 1936, training as a pilot and observer before being posted in August 1938 to Fliegergruppe 20, which became II.(Schl)/Lehrgeschwader 2. He flew the Henschel Hs 123 with 4.(Schl)/LG 2 during the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France, later becoming Staffelkapitän of that Staffel in September 1940 and leading Bf 109E fighter-bomber missions over England and the Channel. In April 1941 his unit operated over Yugoslavia and Greece, then from 21 June participated in the invasion of the Soviet Union. On 21 August 1941, as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of 2.(Schl)/LG 2, he received the Ritterkreuz after more than 200 sorties and seven aerial victories, notably for destroying eleven tanks south of Grodno on 24 June 1941 and for saving the Ulla bridgehead on 6 July by smashing enemy forces near Lohwsa and Gubiza. When II.(Schl)/LG 2 was redesignated I./Schlachtgeschwader 1 on 13 January 1942 he became Gruppenkommandeur, later rising to Geschwaderkommodore. As Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of I./Schl.G.1 he was awarded the Eichenlaub on 3 September 1942 for over 600 combat missions and successes at Kerch, Sevastopol and in the Caucasus, including the destruction of an ammunition train on the Kharkov-Kupyansk railway on 12 June 1942. The Schwerter followed on 19 February 1943 for more than 700 sorties and the outstanding results of his Gruppe at Voronezh, Rostov, along the Don and at Stalingrad. After further service on the Eastern Front until October 1943 he left active flying to become Inspizient der Tag-Schlachtfliegerverbände, returning in December 1944 as Geschwaderkommodore of Schlachtgeschwader 4. On 1 January 1945 during Unternehmen Bodenplatte he led SG 4, accompanied by Jagdgeschwader 2, in an attack on St Trond but became separated after heavy flak and remains missing south of Aachen; he was officially credited with seven aerial victories in over 800 missions flown mainly in Hs 123, Bf 109E and Fw 190 fighter-bombers and held the final rank of Oberst.
Major Friedrich Lang (1915-2003) was born on 12 January 1915 in Mährisch Trübau, Austria-Hungary, and died on 29 December 2003 in Hannover; he became one of the most distinguished Stuka pilots of the Luftwaffe in the Second World War, completing a total of 1008 operational sorties from the first to nearly the last day of the conflict without ever being shot down, forced to crash-land or abandon his aircraft. After studying aeronautical engineering and joining the service in 1935, he trained on various types before transferring to Sturzkampfgeschwader units and flying the Junkers Ju 87; he took part in the campaigns in Poland, France, Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete. On the latter operation he achieved notable success by scoring heavy hits that sank one British destroyer and damaged another east of Crete, contributions that formed part of the roughly 300 sorties completed by the time he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 23 November 1941 as Oberleutnant and Flugzeugführer in 1./Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 “Immelmann”. Transferred to the Eastern Front, he continued intensive ground-attack missions, rising to Staffelkapitän of the same Staffel; after approximately 700 sorties he received the Eichenlaub on 21 November 1942 as Hauptmann. Later appointed Kommandeur of III./Schlachtgeschwader 1, he flew his 1000th combat mission in March 1944 and, having reached 1007 sorties while demonstrating outstanding leadership, was awarded the Schwerter on 2 July 1944 as Major. He briefly assumed temporary command of Schlachtgeschwader 2 in early 1945 in place of the wounded Hans-Ulrich Rudel before the war’s end, after which he served in the Bundeswehr, retiring as Oberst in 1973.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Generalmajor Walter Hagen (1897-1963) was a German Luftwaffe officer and highly decorated Stuka pilot who rose from World War I cavalry and naval aviation service to command key dive-bomber formations in the Second World War. Born in Kiel, Hagen volunteered for the Husaren-Regiment 13 in 1915, transferred to pilot training in 1917, and flew with naval aviation units before becoming a Junkers test pilot in the interwar years; he re-entered the Luftwaffe in the 1930s, establishing the carrier-based I./Trägergeschwader 186 (Stuka component) in 1938. As Major and Gruppenkommandeur of the I./186 (later redesignated III./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1), he led his unit through the Polish and French campaigns, where its precision attacks on airfields, bridges, troop concentrations, railway facilities, and an ammunition train near Beaune exemplified the devastating effectiveness of Ju 87 dive-bombers in close air support; for these achievements and the Gruppe’s overall successes, Hagen received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 21 July 1940. Promoted to Oberstleutnant and appointed Geschwaderkommodore of Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in June 1940, he directed operations over the English Channel, the Balkans, the Mediterranean from bases in Trapani (striking Malta, Tobruk, and naval targets), and then the Eastern Front after June 1941. By late 1940 his Geschwader had sunk 210,000 GRT of Allied shipping and heavily damaged another 306,500 GRT, a record that, together with sustained battlefield impact across multiple theaters, earned him the Eichenlaub (77th award) on 17 February 1942 as Oberstleutnant. Later commands included Fliegerführer roles in Tunisia, Albania, and Kroatien (redesignated Fliegerführer Nord-Balkan), culminating in leadership of the 17. Flieger-Division until war’s end; promoted to Generalmajor on 1 July 1944, he was wounded in a Fi 156 crash in Tunisia in March 1943, mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht, and ultimately released from U.S. captivity in 1947, dying in his native Kiel after a long illness.
Hauptmann Robert-Georg Freiherr von Malapert (1912-1942) was born on 7 August 1912 in Darmstadt, the second of six children of Oberstleutnant Johannes von Malapert-Neufville; after studying mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt from 1932 to 1934 he entered the Wehrmacht in autumn 1934 with Infanterie-Regiment 19, attended the Kriegsschule in Potsdam, transferred to the Luftwaffe as Oberfähnrich in autumn 1936, completed pilot training at the Flugzeugführerschule Salzwedel, and was commissioned Leutnant on 1 April 1937 while posted to I./Sturzkampfgeschwader 165 at Schweinfurt, flying the Henschel Hs 123 and Junkers Ju 87. Promoted Oberleutnant in May 1939, he joined the newly formed I./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 at Insterburg and soon became Staffelkapitän, participating in the Polish campaign (where he earned the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse), the Norwegian Campaign and the final stages of the Battle of France (receiving the Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse in May 1940); from 9 July 1940 he commanded 5./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1, whose Staffel sank approximately 100,000 GRT of Allied shipping in Channel and coastal operations (about 20,000 GRT credited personally to him) before moving to Sicily in February 1941 for attacks on Malta and the British Mediterranean Fleet, then supporting the Balkan campaign and the invasion of Crete. From June 1941 he flew with II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 on the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa, advancing from Raczki through Belorussia; for the outstanding performance of his Staffel he became the first German soldier awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 15 October 1941, and on 6 January 1942 he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of 5./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 for 315 combat sorties and the Staffel’s successes in the West and Mediterranean. Promoted Hauptmann, he assumed command of II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in March 1942; on his 510th mission on 21 May 1942, while attacking a bridge near Moscow from the airfield at Sechtschinskaja, his Ju 87 was hit by Soviet anti-aircraft fire, forcing a crash-landing in no-man’s-land; he and his Bordfunker Oberfeldwebel Otto Mees attempted to reach German lines on foot, but von Malapert was fatally shot by a Soviet sniper just short of safety, while Mees escaped—his body was later recovered by a patrol of Infanterie-Regiment 10 and buried at Sechtschinskaja. Posthumously awarded the Eichenlaub (99th recipient) on 8 June 1942 in recognition of his leadership and total of 510 combat sorties, he remains remembered as one of the early Stuka aces of the Luftwaffe.
Major Johann Zemsky (1909-1942) was born on 11 April 1909 in Vienna as the son of a civil servant and entered the Austrian Bundesheer in 1928 as a non-commissioned officer in the artillery, completing an officer course in 1932 and receiving promotion to Leutnant in 1936 before volunteering for the Luftwaffe after the Anschluss in 1938. By 1939 he served as an Oberleutnant and flying instructor at the Stukaschule in Insterburg, then flew combat missions with Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 against Britain in 1940, earning the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse on 24 February 1940. On 1 September 1940 he was promoted to Hauptmann and appointed Staffelkapitän of 6./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1, distinguishing himself in anti-shipping operations near Crete, Malta and the eastern Mediterranean that brought him the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse in May 1941. Transferred to the Eastern Front for Operation Barbarossa, he assumed command of II. Gruppe/Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in September 1941 after the death of Hauptmann Anton Keil and led highly successful dive-bomber attacks against ground targets around Bialystok, Minsk, Vitebsk, Gomel, Kiev and Moscow. For completing more than 300 combat sorties he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 February 1942 as Hauptmann und Gruppenkommandeur of II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1. Continuing operations on the southern sector through the battles for Kharkov and toward Stalingrad, where he marked his 500th sortie in July 1942, he was slightly wounded by anti-aircraft shrapnel in June yet remained in command. On 28 August 1942, during his 600th combat mission near Mal-Rosowka in the Battle of Stalingrad, his Ju 87 was shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft fire; although he managed to bail out, his parachute failed to open and he was killed. Posthumously promoted to Major with effect from 1 August 1942, he was awarded the 117th Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 3 September 1942 as Major und Gruppenkommandeur of II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in recognition of his 600 operational sorties.
Major Heinz Frank (1914-1944) was born on 12 December 1914 in Arnstadt in Thüringen and entered the Luftwaffe in 1934, joining the II. (Schlacht)/Lehrgeschwader 2 in 1938. He took part in the Polenfeldzug and the Westfeldzug before serving with the 5. Staffel during the Balkanfeldzug over Greece, after which he was promoted to Leutnant. In January 1942 he assumed leadership of the 3. Staffel of what became Schlachtgeschwader 1 and was appointed Staffelkapitän on 1 March 1942. With his Staffel he supported army operations around Charkow and on the Kerch Peninsula, distinguishing himself on 25 May 1942 by being among the first to identify a deep Soviet breakthrough during the Second Battle of Kharkov and immediately attacking enemy columns. He further excelled by suppressing Soviet positions with precise bombing and relentless strafing during the German Sturmboote assault across the Parpatsch ditch. After more than 500 Feindflüge and several aerial victories he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 3 September 1942 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 3./Schlachtgeschwader 1. By November 1942 he had completed 700 Einsätze and continued to shoot down enemy aircraft in air combat. For these sustained achievements the Eichenlaub was conferred on him on 8 January 1943 as the 172nd recipient, still as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the same Staffel. He was subsequently promoted to Hauptmann and later to Major, serving as Kommandeur of training and operational units including the II./Schlachtgeschwader 2 and ultimately the IV./Schlachtgeschwader 151. Credited with nine aerial victories in over 900 missions, Frank died on 7 October 1944 in a hospital in Yugoslavia after an accidental pistol shot lodged a bullet in his right hip and caused fatal circulatory collapse.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturzkampfgeschwader_1
https://www.ww2.dk/air/attack/stg1.htm
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