In August 1943 the ban was revoked and Helbig was appointed commander of LG 1 which was then operating against the Allied forces in Italy.

[1][2][3][4] At the beginning of World War II in September 1939, Helbig held the rank of Second Lieutenant and was serving as an observer in a He 111 reconnaissance aircraft of Demonstration Wing 1 (Lehrgeschwader 1 (II./LG 1)) in 1938.

[Note 1] Following their attack on Dronning Maud, the German aircraft then dropped bombs on the nearby Gratangen Municipality, destroying several houses and killing two civilians.

On 15 August 1940, Helbig and his squadron, consisting of seven Ju 88s, took off with the primary target of the British airfield at Worthy Down together with other German units.

Helbig was forced to jettison his bombs before reaching the target and return to base, flying on a single engine with wounded crewmen aboard.

On one of these missions, they damaged the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious on 16 January while she was docked for repairs in Grand Harbour, Malta.

[23] The unit transferred to Athens on 16 May in preparation for the invasion of Crete (Operation Merkur) and continued its efforts to interdict shipping in Greek waters.

[24] II./LG 1 remained in the Mediterranean for the rest of the year, attacking targets in Palestine, Egypt and Libya, including long-range missions mining the Suez Canal and various ports at night.

The Gruppe briefly came under the command of Fliegerführer Afrika on 21 November and assisted III./LG 1 in supporting German ground forces during the British Operation Crusader offensive for five days.

He was slightly wounded during a Royal Air Force bombing raid on the airfield at Benina, Libya, on 29 November, as his unit was staging through en route back to Greece.

[21] While on patrol approximately 100 kilometers (62 mi) south of Crete on 11 May, Ju 88s from I./LG 1 detected four British destroyers, HMS Jervis, Kipling, Jackal and Lively.

[27] In June, British commandos attacked Helbig's unit at their base in Heraklion, Crete, and succeeded in blowing up seven Ju 88s.

[30] After numerous difficulties and clashes with his superiors, including Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, he returned to LG 1 as its Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) on 14 August.

[34] Helbig formed a combined ground support and reconnaissance battle group as part of the Luftwaffe's operations against the Allied bombing campaign on 10 September 1944.

[35] In the last weeks of the war in Europe, Helbig commanded a combat unit on the Eastern Front; he surrendered to the American forces on 8 May 1945.