[5] That evening, the pilots and ground crews were briefed of the upcoming invasion of the Soviet Union, which opened the Eastern Front.

[8] On 29 June 1942, I. Gruppe under the command of Hauptmann Heinrich Bär relocated from the Eastern Front to the Mediterranean theatre of operations.

[9] The unit was then ordered to Sicily where it arrived at the Comiso airfield on 5 July and was subordinated to the command of Jagdgeschwader 53 Pik-As (JG 53—53rd Fighter Wing).

This was his first aerial victory during the Siege of Malta on a fighter escort mission for Junkers Ju 88 bombers attacking the RAF Luqa airfield.

[12] On 13 July, I. Gruppe flew three combat air patrol missions over Malta, during one of which Brandt claimed a further Spitfire destroyed.

[15] On 14 January 1943, Brandt was shot down in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2 trop (Werknummer 10744—factory number) 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of Buerat, Libya.

Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" (JG 3—3rd Fighter Wing), replacing Oberleutnant Walter Bohatsch in this capacity.

Due to poor visibility conditions, Haase and his wingman, Leutnant Hans Fritz, were killed in a mid-air collision near Erkelenz.

[23] On 22 January 1945, I. Gruppe relocated to the Eastern Front where they initially occupied an airfield at Stettin-Altdamm, present-day Dąbie in Poland.

On 10 February, the Gruppe was ordered to Pinnow airfield, located approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) south-southwest of Kolberg, present-day Kołobrzeg.

Here on 19 February, Brandt claimed a Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 fighter shot down over Madüsee, present day Lake Miedwie.

[24] On 3 March, Brandt claimed he had destroyed three Soviet T-34 tanks with bombs, further twenty vehicles by strafing, and shot down three aircraft in aerial combat.

[26] Following these events, Brandt was again injured when his Bf 109 G-14 (Werknummer 464278) was hit, resulting in an emergency landing near Augustwalde, present-day Rębusz in Poland.

Here, the Gruppe flew several ground attack missions against Soviet bridges crossing the lower Oder.