Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 was a prominent Luftwaffe night fighter-wing during World War II that was officially formed on 30 September 1942 at Döberitz. As the strategic air war over Europe intensified, the wing played an integral role in the aerial defense of the Third Reich against Allied bomber offensives, operating across multiple theaters under the command of distinguished leaders. The establishment of Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 began taking shape when units such as 3./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 were redesignated to form 1./Nachtjagdgeschwader 5, while other component groups like I., II., III., and IV. Gruppe were subsequently organized or reassigned from existing formations including Zerstörergeschwader 2 and various other operational pools. Throughout its operational history, the wing was led by several notable Geschwaderkommodoren, starting with Major Fritz Schaffer, followed by Oberst Günther Radusch, Major Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld, Oberstleutnant Walter Borchers, and finally Major Rudolf Schoenert who guided the unit through its concluding months. The organizational structure relied heavily on specialized aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Bf 110 and the Junkers Ju 88, equipped with advanced radar and tracking systems to intercept nighttime intrusions. While the primary focus of Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 remained the defense of the homeland against Royal Air Force Bomber Command raids, elements of the wing were also dispatched to the Eastern Front to counter Soviet aviation. For instance, elements like IV. Gruppe under the leadership of Hauptmann Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein deployed to regions such as Bryansk and Orel in early 1943 to confront Soviet harassment sorties, including night raids conducted by Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes known colloquially as sewing machines, and later participated in operations during Operation Citadel under Luftflotte 6 and Luftflotte 4. Concurrently, elements were occasionally detached to Western Europe, such as operations near Rennes in France to safeguard German U-boat installations before being redirected or redesignated. Back on the home front, the pilots of Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 engaged in fierce nocturnal combat over Germany and occupied territories, intercepting heavy bomber streams targeting industrial centers and cities. As the war drew to a close in the spring of 1945, the remaining structure of Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 consolidated its forces, with the bulk of the surviving personnel and aircraft ultimately basing themselves at Lübeck-Blankensee where they faced the termination of hostilities and subsequent dissolution. Throughout its active existence, the wing produced numerous high-scoring night fighter aces and experienced substantial attrition, reflecting the perilous nature of the nocturnal air war where men and machines were tested to their absolute limits under extreme combat conditions.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Oberst Günther Radusch (1912-1988) was born on 11 November 1912 in Schwetz, Westpreußen, and after early glider flying and secret pilot training at the Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule and in Lipetsk he joined the Reichswehr, was promoted to Leutnant on 1 October 1934, transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1935, and flew with the Legion Condor in Spain where he scored one daytime victory on 22 April 1937 and received the Spanienkreuz in Gold mit Schwertern. During the Second World War he moved from Zerstörergeschwader 1 into night fighting, becoming Gruppenkommandeur of I./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 and later of I. and then II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 3; he claimed his first nocturnal victory on 10 April 1941 and steadily increased his score while receiving the Ehrenpokal on 19 October 1942 and the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 13 February 1943. On the night of 17/18 August 1943, during the RAF attack on Peenemünde known as Operation Hydra, Radusch, then Major and Gruppenkommandeur of II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 3, shot down three bombers near the target, thereby reaching his twenty-fifth night victory; for this cumulative achievement he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 29 August 1943. Appointed Geschwaderkommodore of Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 in August 1943 and promoted to Oberstleutnant on 1 February 1944, he assumed command of Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 shortly afterwards and continued to score heavily, once destroying seven enemy aircraft in a single night; by early April 1944 his total stood at fifty-eight nocturnal victories, prompting the award of the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (the 444th bestowed) on 6 April 1944, formally presented by Adolf Hitler at the Berghof on 5 May. On 1 November 1944 he took over Nachtjagdgeschwader 3, was promoted to Oberst on 30 January 1945, and led the Geschwader until the end of the war, finishing with sixty-four night victories (plus the Spanish success) in roughly one hundred and forty combat sorties, most of them four-engined bombers. After release from captivity he rejoined the Bundeswehr as Oberst in 1958, commanded the Flugzeugführerschule A until 1964, and retired in 1971; he died on 29 July 1988 in Nordstrand.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachtjagdgeschwader_5
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