Jagdgeschwader III
JG III was formed as a follow-on of Manfred von Richthofen's highly successful Jagdgeschwader I.
[note 1] An experienced flying ace with 22 victories, Oberleutnant Bruno Loerzer, was appointed to command JG III.
Despite increasing shortages of supplies, aircraft, and pilots, along with frequent changes of airfields during withdrawals, the wing had its most successful month of the war in September.
On 2 September, JG III shot down 26 enemy aircraft, for the best day's performance of any German wing in World War I.
Incomplete records make the wing's wartime victory total uncertain, but it is conservatively estimated as a minimum of 370 French, British, and American aircraft shot down.
Hangar tents were not erected for airplanes; the machines were hidden in farm buildings to prevent observation by enemy reconnaissance craft.
[2] Fog and low clouds prevented flying until about noon on 21 March, after which the wing established air superiority over the British positions.
The next day, JG III tangled with British pilots of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) over Cambrai, claiming two victories and sustaining a casualty.
JG III was credited with nine victories that day; however, British aircraft managed for the first time to strafe the advancing German troops.
German ground support planes strafed the British while JG III flew top cover.
Their old Albatros fighters were worn out; the new Triplanes were too slow, and needed scarce castor oil for a reliable rotary engine lubricant.
Surging forward under air cover, the German infantry gained 21 kilometers to capture bridges crossing the Marne River.
An armada of 225 French bombers struck German pontoon bridges crossing the Marne River, dropping 40 tons of bombs.
[10] On 17 July, German progress on the ground stalled with the arrival of the British XXII Corps and 85,000 American as reinforcements for the French.
Pilots from JG III dove on four 148th Aero Squadron Sopwith Camels on a ground attack mission on 26 August.
By the last mission of the day, there was no aerial opposition to the wing; JG III turned to strafing enemy troops.
On 18 September, a headquarters summary from the 17th Armee noted that JG III had destroyed 250 enemy aircraft in 202 days of fighting.
[15] Jagdgeschwader III continued to fight through the end of September, but several factors began to degrade its combat capabilities.
A trio of JG III's most prolific aces dropped from the wing's ranks in late September—Rudolf Klimke, Otto Fruhner, and Friedrich Noltenius.
Mid-month, Bruno Loerzer, lately promoted to Hauptmann, took Paul Baumer with him to the new fighter testing at Adlershof, Germany.
Nevertheless, on the war's heaviest day of aerial combat, 30 October, the wing still shot down 10 enemy aircraft.
[17] On 4 November 1918, all four jadgstaffeln of Jagdgeschwader III flew into combat, scoring victories against Bristol F.2b and Sopwith Snipe fighters and an Airco DH.9 bomber.
Before surrendering their Fokker D.VIIs to the Allies, Jagdstaffel 2 pilots wrote their names and the number of their aerial victories on the aircraft fuselages.
