Erganzungsgruppen / Erganzungsstaffeln

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

Gianluca Mantellini
Erg.Gr./JG54
Thu Jan 23 16:43:10 2003
62.11.6.137

I know the Erganzungsgruppe in a Geschwader was meant as a replacement group. What that did mean? Did it participate in war ops, or was held behind the lines, as a new aircraft and pilots supplier, whenever the need arose?
From Michael Holm's site I learned that Erg.Gr./JG 54 was made up from Ausbildungsstaffel (training?) and from Einsatzstaffel (operational?), until 09.03.42, when it was disbanded.
Anyone could help?

Gianluca Mantellini

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

RabeAnton
Erganzungsgruppen
Thu Jan 23 18:27:56 2003
198.26.120.13

The Erganzungsruppen were roughly the equivalent of RAF operational training units (OTUs), that is, a bridge between graduation from flying training schools and frontline combat units. The Erg.Gr. seem to have grown out of Erganzungsstaffeln loosely attached to various Geschwader from about mid-1940, at least, JG 54 had an Erg.St. before it had an Erg.Gr. Both the Erg.St. and the Erg.Gr. seem to have been a reaction to a perceived need for gentle introduction of replacement aircrew to combat that was discovered during the first six or eight months of the war. The Erg.Gr. had hand-me-down or older models of the aircraft operated by their parent Geschwader. They participated in actual combat operations on a limited (and presumably judiciously selected) basis to gain combat experience before their personnel were assigned to a frontline combat unit. Unit leaders and instructional personnel seem to have come from veterans temporarily rotated out of the "parent Geschwader." Individual Erg.Gr. for fighter units were dissolved in 1942 and were replaced by three consolidated, free-standing Erg.Gruppen: Jagd Erg.Gruppe Süd, West, and Ost. Unlike their predecessors, these Jagd Erganzungsgruppen seem to have functioned as transition and replacement pools for all frontline fighter units, and unlike their predecessors, they seem to have operated a mixed bag of obsolescent aircraft.

I expect that other readers will have more informed and more exact comments to offer than this, which is just drawn off the top without references to hand.

RA

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Gianluca Mantellini
Erg.Gr./JG54
Thu Jan 23 20:24:58 2003
62.98.201.61

Thanks a lot for all the informations you supplied me. Now I have a much clearer picture of what the Erganzungsgruppen were made for, apart the "replacement unit" definition I found in the web and in some books.

GLM