Kampfgeschwader 54 "Totenkopf" (German pronunciation: [kampfɡəʃvaːdɐ fiːɐ ʊntfʏnftsɪç], KG 54) was a Luftwaffe bomber wing during World War II.

On 14 May 1940, as the Battle of the Netherlands reached a climax, KG 54 carried out the Rotterdam Blitz, which destroyed the centre of the city and killed many civilians.

It supported German forces in the night intruder role over the beachheads in June 1944 and served on the Western Front until October 1944, when the last of its bomber groups was disbanded.

Although KG 54 was used as an offensive tool supporting a war of aggression, the city was a combat zone and the bombing did not violate the then valid Hague Convention on Land Warfare, 1907.

Hermann Göring, who had factored the Netherlands into Fall Gelb because it offered airbases useful in a war against Great Britain, instructed Kesselring to bomb the city.

When the message reached KG 54's command post, the Geschwaderkommodore Walter Lackner, was already approaching Rotterdam and his aircraft had reeled in their long-range aerials.

[19] The larger formation came from the north-east, out of position to spot red flares launched from the south side of the city, and proceeded with their attack.

I./KG 54 extended its area of operations into France on 17 May when it bombed the train station at Valenciennes, and troop concentrations near Cambrai, attacking the city before transferring to Werl the same day.

[10] KG 54 was ordered to support Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist and his 1st Panzer Army as it closed on the English Channel.

By the end of the day, the wing was ordered to fly at dusk or night to avoid further losses prior to withdrawing to Cologne and Ostheim.

[27] III./KG 54 also centred bombing operations over Dunkirk claiming a destroyer damaged on 1 June before transferring to Germany Adolf Häring was replaced as group commander Kurt Leonhardy.

The British refusal to surrender or come to terms with Germany, precipitated Adolf Hitler's order for Operation Sealion, an amphibious invasion of Britain which was to take place after Luftwaffe had secured air superiority over the English Channel.

The German Air Staff, Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL), was ordered by Hermann Göring, to begin attacks on targets in southern England after the publication of his 30 June directive.

[33] ZG 2 was supposed to provide escort during one these attacks, and in a breakdown of communications, arrived over the target without their Ju 88s, which had been ordered to stand down.

[42] KG 54 was consistently bombed the British capital until May 1941, including the 20 April attack on Adolf Hitler's birthday in which 712 aircraft, the largest deployment of the month, began an enormous bombardment.

[42] KG 54 also struck at towns alongside major industrial centres: Daventry, Rugby, White Waltham (possibly to attack White Waltham Airfield), Newton Abbot, Cropredy, Peterborough, Aylesbury, Selsey Bill, Leicester, Northampton, Oxford, Bournemouth, Brighton, Eastbourne, Aldershot, Birkenhead, Avonmouth, Greenock, Minehead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Yeovil, Warrington, Honington, Andover, Blackpool, Reading, Nottingham, Warmwell, Dartmouth, Holyhead, Shoreham, Dover, Torquay, Exmouth, Mullion, Falmouth, Andover, Bicester, Harwell, Boscombe Down and Swansea.

The three German bomber units claimed the destruction of 201 Soviet tanks from 22 to 30 June from the Mechanised formation which attempted to block the 1st Panzer Army.

KG 54 focused on rail and road traffic during the month, particularly bottlenecks at Kharkov, Sumy, Belgorod, Kupyansk, Millerovo, Kolomak, Izyum, Kirilovka, Dnepropetrovsk, Debaltsevo, Sask and Rostov.

During the group's time in the East it flew 1,408 sorties, dropped 1,718 tons of bombs, lost 15 bombers destroyed, 14 damaged, 21 killed, 17 missing, nine wounded and two captured.

On 24 January it attacked the Soviet 39th Army at Mologino in the Battles of Rzhev until late March 1942, interdicting rail traffic in the Kalinin and Toropets sectors.

Between 29 July and 14 August 1942 it lost 6 bombers on missions against Bedford (targeting a car plant), Birmingham, Norwich, Southend, Hastings and Luton.

[59][60] A contingent of 14 aircraft supported the German Africa Corps in the Battle of Gazala from 25 to 31 May before reverting to attacks on Malta and convoy escort from 24 May to 22 June.

[59][67] II./KG 54 continued operating throughout the Italian Campaign, making all out efforts against Allied shipping, with LT 350 torpedoes in the Gulf of Naples over 1–10 November.

2./KG 54, code B3+EK piloted by Unteroffizier Helmut Friedrich Weihs was discovered with its crew in the Zuiderzee in the 1970s when the Dutch Air Force drained the area.

Overy suggests that the possibility that the bombing took place because Göring was attracted to the idea of displaying the ruthlessness of German military power to the World, but acknowledges that cannot, and has not, been proven.

Kesselring had admitted in a previous interrogation that the real purpose in bombing Rotterdam was to "present a firm attitude and secure an immediate peace" - in other words a war-winning attack.

When presented with evidence the negotiations had begun at 10:30 and the attack order had been given at 13:00, Kesselring replied that he was merely complying with Kurt Student's request and was unaware the Dutch intended to surrender.

[84] The German official historians Horst Boog Gerhart Krebs and Detlef Vogel argued the city was a combat zone and the bombing did not violate the then valid Hague Convention on Land Warfare, 1907.

[4] Otto Hohne, who was in command of I./KG 54 during the attack was also called on to testify and contended that because of the heavy smoke and haze which hung over the city, it had been something of a miracle that he saw the red signal flare and was able to abort the last phase of the bombing.

All flying officers involved in the actual attack noted the dense smoke and haze which hung over the city before the bombing commenced.