1942

Kommando Philipp

During the summer and autumn 1942 German Luftwaffe naval detachment Einsatzstab Fähre Ost (Commander Oberstleutnant F. Siebel) equipped with about 20 armed "Siebel artillery barges" and supported by four light German mine layer boats under the command of Luftflotte 1 operated on Lake Ladoga for interfering Soviet supply shipping to Leningrad together with a rather weak Finnish naval detachment and a squadron of four Italian motor MAS torpedo boats. Their bases were at Sortanlahti and near Käkisalmi.

To protect these vessels German flying detachment called Kommando Philipp or Kommando 1./JG 54 (1.Staffel / Jagdgeschwader 54, also planes from III./JG 54) (Staffelkapitän Oberleutnant Götz) was moved to Petäjärvi airbase. In September detachment was reinforced with two Heinkel He 60 and one Heinkel He 59 maritime rescue planes located at river Vuoksi near Käkisalmi. About 15 Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4 fighters operated from Petäjärvi and Mensuvaara airbases between 28.6. - 29.10.1942.

FMP - Luftflotte 1 in Central and Southern Finland 1941 - 1944

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