KG200

KG200 was a German air force unit formed in February 1944 to undertake special operations. By November 1944 it comprised four groups: I/KG200 received its orders from the Sicherheits dienst (see RSHA) and employed a variety of aircraft, including a few captured US bombers, for special missions; II/KG200 comprised the Mistel (mistletoe) piggy-back aircraft, and some escort and pathfinder bombers; III/KG200 was equipped with specially adapted Focke-Wulf 190 fighters which never became operational; and IV/KG200, the maintenance and training group which also contained about 80 men called Totaleinsatz (total effort) who had volunteered for suicide missions.

Almost no documentary evidence remains about KG200 and its activities, but the unit's historian describes a number of hare-brained schemes which envisaged the use of the Totaleinsatz, including the attempted assassination of Stalin (ZEPPELIN) and experiments with piloted V-1s (see V-weapons), codenamed REICHENBERG, in which the test pilot Hanna Reitsch was involved. Hardly more effective, but at least proven to work, were the piggy-back aircraft: fighters clamped on top of pilotless bombers filled with explosives. These were developed to attack long-range targets with maximum destructive power. Using the bomber's engines to reach the target, the fighter's pilot had sufficient fuel to return to base after releasing the bomber on to its target. They were employed in March 1945 to attack bridges across the river Oder.

Bibliography

Stahl, P. , KG200: The True Story (London, 1981).