My interest was first sparked by a passage from ‘German Aircraft of the Second World War’ by J.R. Smith, Antony Kay with E.J. Creek (Putnam, 1972):

Perhaps the most interesting of the Fw 190 ground attack units were NSGr. 20 and III./KG 200. NSGr. 20 … was based at Twente and was equipped with Fw 190 G-1s each carrying a single SC 1800 bomb. During the winter and early spring of 1944–45 the unit made many near suicidal attacks on bridges. III./KG 200 … was formed at Staaken from I./SG 5 late in 1944. It was equipped with the Fw 190F-8 carrying two AB 250 or one AB 500 weapon container, or a single SC 1000 bomb. The unit was later joined by an experimental anti-shipping formation known as Sonderverband Einhorn which eventually became 13./KG 200 …

I didn’t begin working on the Einhorn story myself until November 1987 when at the Public Record Office (as it then was) I found:

Newly-arrived in Freiburg in June 1989, I bought a copy of Flugzeug magazine which included a review of Günther W. Gellermann’s book about KG 200, 'Moskau Ruft Heeresgruppe Mitte'. I found a copy the same day and so learned about Einhorn’s originswhile the some of the operations it flew became apparent once I visited the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv that week. In ‘Air War Italy 1944–45’ (Airlife, 1996), Ferdinando D’Amico, Gabriele Valentini and I limited our coverage of Einhorn almost entirely to its time in Italy but during the absurdly long, never-explained wait for that book to be published I used the rest of my material as ‘Special Publication No. 7, The Mythical Unicorn’ for the US-based researchers' group, Luftwaffe Circle (November 1994). I contributed material to Geoff Thomas and Barry Ketley’s ‘KG 200, the Luftwaffe’s Most Secret Unit (Hikoki, 2003)’ then came brief references in my ‘Kampfflieger Volume Four’ (Classic, 2005) and just short of 1,500 words on the unit that I contributed to ‘Schlachtflieger’ (Midland, 2007). My fullest version prior to the present one appeared as Chapter 25 of Richard Smith and Eddie Creek’s ‘Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Volume Three’ (Classic, 2013). I've found out a lot more since then.

Choose Your Weapons (March 1944–January 1945)

Human error led to the destruction of a Klemm Kl 35 trainer of 13./KG 200 on 26 May. This not an non-operational flight.

Source: RL 2-III/857: Materialverluste.- Flugzeuge.- Einsatz alle Fronten.- Listen, Bd. 15, Schlachtverbände, Nr. 1–52 (1941–1945)

Bombentorpedo and TSA 2

A ‘Report on Main Points’ from Rechlin, dated 27 January 1945, notes that production of the TSA 2D would be competing for capacity with an order for 1,200 BZA 1B aiming devices also manufactured by Zeiss Ikon:

The constant changes of decision mean a continual ups and downs in the production of the devices with the result that none of the two sets are being delivered on time.

Source: RL 3/2573: Chef TLR Anlagen zum Kriegstagebuch, Band 6 (1944–1945)

Training in Italy (5 October–18 November 1944)

On 12 November, Einhorn had one Fw 190 damaged through human error, it was not on operations.

Source: RL 2-III/857: Materialverluste.- Flugzeuge.- Einsatz alle Fronten.- Listen, Bd. 15, Schlachtverbände, Nr. 1–52 (1941–1945)

FIGARO (16 November–17 December 1944)

On 2 December, two Einhorn Fw 190s were damaged owing to human error while on an operation. This was the night of the attack on Forlì.

Source:RL 2-III/872: Materialverluste.- Flugzeuge.- Einsatz alle Fronten.- Listen, Bd. 30, Sonstige fliegenden Einheiten (1941–1945)

11./KG 200 (November 1944–February 1945)

On its final operations in Finland, I./SG 5 suffered the following aircraft casualties:

25 August: 1 missing; 1 destroyed (not by enemy action)

27 August: 3 damaged (not by enemy action)

28 August: 1 destroyed by AA fire

Its losses and damage for the remainder of 1944 involved neither operational flying nor enemy action but were all attributed to human error:

21 September: 1 damaged

7 November: 1 destroyed

14 November: 1 destroyed

12 December: 1 damaged

15 December: 1 damaged

31 December: 3 damaged

The new III./KG 200 had an Fw 190 damaged owing to human error on 13 January 1945. It was not on operations.

Source: RL 2-III/857: Materialverluste.- Flugzeuge.- Einsatz alle Fronten.- Listen, Bd. 15, Schlachtverbände, Nr. 1–52 (1941–1945)

A clue to the Staffel's arrival for operations in the West can be found in a II. Jagddkorps memo of 4 February about the new positions planned for seven visual beacons. The last of the addressees is 'NSG 20 for 11./KG 200', the first and only mention of it that I have found on this file.

Source: Bundesarchiv RL 8/100: Generalkommando II. Jagdkorps, Anlagen zum Kriegstagebuch (Jan.–Feb. 1945)

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