Focke Wulf Fw 190

Operational History:
Fall Blau to Third Battle of Kharkov

The first appearance of the Fw 190 on the Eastern Front occurred in September 1942. During this time, the Battle of Stalingrad was taking place, which would eventually lead to the destruction of the German Sixth Army. The first German unit to receive the fighter in the east, was Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51). However, its I. Gruppe was assigned to the north sector, and undertook operations against the Soviets during the Siege of Leningrad in order to allow the Fw 190 to acclimatise. The unit flew free fighter sweeps (Freie Jagd). This lasted only days, and I./JG 51 moved southward to Lake Ilmen to provide air cover for the vulnerable Demyansk pocket survivors. In October 1942 the unit moved south again, this time the Rzhev-Vyazma salient. It was at this location the Fw 190 started to make an impact.

On 10 December the first loss was taken, when Hauptmann (Captain) Horst Riemann was killed in action. Others were also shot down owing to anti-aircraft fire whilst escorting German bomber and transport aircraft dropping in supplies. Pilots that had not obtained relevant results while flying the Bf 109 now increased their scores with the Fw 190. Günther Schack would score a large percentage of his 174 victories on the Fw 190, including 88 Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmoviks. Josef Jennewein scored 86 victories. His tally increased markedly only after he converted on to the Fw 190. In December 1942, Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54) also began converting on to the Fw 190. I./JG 54 would produce the fourth and fifth highest scoring aces of the war. Otto Kittel had scored just 39 victories since the start of Operation Barbarossa, in June 1941. The other was Walter Nowotny. Although he had claimed more than 50 kills on the Bf 109, his success in the Fw 190 would see his score rise to 258. Kittel would also go on to achieve 267 victories, all but 39 in the Fw 190.

The Fw 190 would also prove to be a more reliable aircraft, in some respects, than the Bf 109. It handled well on the ground, and its wide undercarriage made it more suited to the often primitive conditions on the Eastern Front. It could also sustain heavier damage than the Bf 109 and survive owing to its radial engine. On one mission in mid-1943, a Fw 190 returned to base with two cylinder heads shot off. During the first phase of the Fw 190's service on the Eastern Front, it served with two other Geschwader (Wings). Jagdgeschwader 26's I. Gruppe was deployed briefly to the front, and Jagdgeschwader 5 (JG 5) served in northern Norway with the Fw 190. The Third Battle of Kharkov prevented a collapse of the Germans' southern front. The fighting left a salient in the front line near Orel-Belgorod-Kursk.