KG 200: The True Story

It was secret then and remains wrappd in mystery now.  In the Luftwaffe itself nobody admitted to knowing much about it but rumours were rife.  It was a regular formation, and yet somehow different.  Its aircrew were carefully selected and more tightlipped than others.  It seemed to have priority on all new equipment, fly the most astonishing variety of aircraft, and even operate captured enemy bombers.  It was whispered about as "Hitler's Spy Geschwader" or the Luftwaffe's Sabotage Wing.  Yet the activities and strength of KG 200 were exaggerated out of all proportion during and after the war.  KG 200 aircrew were supposed to have been do or die volunteers, equipped with poison capsules to avoid capture, all were trained saboteurs or a posting was a last chance for disgraced Luftwaffe personnel to prove themselves.

What was this remarkable formation, KG 200 was unusual, and it was involved in various clandestine activities.  But it was also much more than that.

A unique collection of special Luftwaffe formations loosely organised into a  Geschwader or combat wing, KG 200 was activated early in 1944 as a standby special transport unit at the disposal of German military and political intelligence services.  Very rapidly this role was expanded to operational testing of new weapons such as stand off glide bombs, torpedoes and composite "Mistel" aircraft, and later even a group of volunteer ram fighters were taken under KG 200's wing.

Operational activities were as diverse as its equipment, and KG 200 detachments were involved in everything from dropping and picking up agents behind enemy lines, setting up secret landing fields across the Sahara desert to sabotage Allied ports along the West African coast, to "Operation Zeppelin", an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Stalin.

And yet the KG 200 aircrew were neither volunteers nor forced into it.  They were ordinary Luftwaffe airmen selected for their special flying abilities and experience, differing from the others only in being entrusted to carry out clandestine operations.

This book is the exciting story of a KG 200 pilot and detachment commander and gives a unique and fascinating insight into the secret history of the Second World War.

PW Stahl
Hardcover with d/w 224pp with 32pp of b&w photos BCA/Jane's Publishing 1981

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