Der Adler mit dem fernrohr

The second Staffel of Aufklärungsgruppe 123 leads as a relay emblem the “Adler mit dem Fernrohr”. The west campaign begins for the 2.(F)/123 with reconnaissance missions over the fortress Eben Emael, in Greater Paris and Dunkerque and ends with the occupation of the British Channel Island Jersey. After the Battle of Britain, the 2.(F)/123 moved in the spring of 1941 to Sicily, to enlighten the British island fortress Malta. British naval and air forces threaten the supply of German-Italian forces to Tripoli. Aircraft of the 2.(F)/123 support General Rommel’s troops in North Africa.

This publication allow the reader to see experience from first hand the dramatic moments in the dogfight over the Libyan desert and Egypt. Special operations lead the most experienced crews over several thousand kilometers to Alexandria, the base of the British Mediterranean Fleet. The 2.(F)/123 flies in the Balkan campaign over Greece and creates for the air landing company on Crete the strategically important aerial map of the island.

From Greece, the aircraft of the 2.(F)/123 launch reconnaissance targets in Palestine, Syria and Cyprus. German and British combat reports describe the dangerous encounters with Spitfires and Hurricanes over Haifa and Beirut. Ju 86 altitude reconnaissance and the more powerful Ju 88 T machines are to bring about the turnaround in the lossy missions in the eastern Mediterranean. Nachtluftbildeinsätze, convoy search and Bf 109 hunting reconnaissance portray unsparingly the difficult situation of the crews despite opposing air superiority to survive the reconnaissance missions.

This extensively researched work combines largely unknown pictorial material with archive documents and personal records of contemporary witnesses. With 365 rare and never seen before black-and-white images, 11 maps, 9 color profiles of the types of aircraft flown and a comprehensive section complete this unique history of the 2(F)/123, the “Adler mit dem Fernrohr”.

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Srecko Bradic