Jagdgeschwader 6 (JG 6) Horst Wessel was a Luftwaffe fighter wing during World War II.

Created late in the war as one of the last Jagdgeschwader, JG 6 fought on the Western and Eastern Fronts and in the Defence of the Reich over Germany.

This period of the air war was characterised by few successes and heavy losses among the German fighter arm.

In the air war, the Luftwaffe had been driven from North Africa in May 1943, and by the end of the year was largely absent from the Italian Campaign.

The Oberkommando der Luftwaffe had finally decided to abandon the cult of the offensive, and focus on the production of fighter aircraft.

[6] On the Eastern Front, the Luftwaffe had long since lost air superiority, from the Battle of Kursk in July 1943.

[7] The Stabstaffel, I and II Gruppen were established at Königsberg, part of an effort to increase the size of the single-engine fighter force in late July 1944.

The gruppe used nearby cattle to roam the airfield while no flights were ongoing to obscure the tracks made by the landing gear and deceive Allied reconnaissance aircraft.

Hauptmann Willi Elstermann led the gruppe in action towards the battle zone near St Quentin that day, 25 August.

During the disastrous action, which cost the Gruppe half its strength, Leutnant Rudi Dassow, a 22-victory ace on the Bf 110 and Me 410, was killed.

[11] On 26 September 1944 III/ZG 26, which provided most of its personnel to Messerschmitt Me 262 unit ErprKdo 262, was renamed III Gruppe JG 6.

[12] The gruppe was committed to battle on 26 November as the US Eighth Air Force made a maximum effort in the Hannover area.

[14] In December 1944, JG 6 was allocated to the Ardennes Offensive, Adolf Hitler's last gamble on the Western Front, designed to split the British Commonwealth and American armies by capturing Antwerp.

Kogler attended and was surprised to hear that a bomber pilot and commander was to control fighter operations and the ambitious nature of the plans.

[8] Kogler briefed his Staffelkapitän and Gruppenkommandeure immediately, and provided detailed maps and plans for the Offensive counter air operation at Volkel airfield.

This all-out air superiority attack was to be carried out by 1,100 German fighters before the Waffen SS and Wehrmacht forces advanced.

[15] The Luftwaffe commanders present were more hopeful for a German success than they had been in months; but the attack did not take place immediately.

[16] On 16 December 1944, the German offensive began under bad weather, holding off most of the Allied tactical air forces.

[18] On Christmas Day, 1944, III/JG 6 and four other gruppen opposed the 9th Bombardment Division, which committed 629 medium bombers against roads and rail targets in Germany and Belgium including St. Vith.

[19] Later, III Gruppe took off from Oldenburg in a bid to stop the US Ninth Air Force; the Bf 109G-14s were intercepted by Allied fighters between Cologne and Düren.

126 Wing RCAF was based there and had dispatched its 411 and 442 Squadrons on recce missions early that morning so the majority of its units were airborne.

[23] Most of the German pilots had failed to notice the airfield, concentrating on keeping formation at low altitude.