Western Europe; Battle of Britain 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. He was awarded the
Iron Cross 2nd Class following the campaign. Helbig took part in the April 1940 invasion of Norway (
Operation Weserübung). As part of II.
Gruppe, he flew missions in support of the German ground forces, particularly in the
Åndalsnes area. During one of these missions on 2 May, his unit sank the Norwegian
hospital ship with heavy losses. Following their attack on
Dronning Maud, the German aircraft then dropped bombs on the nearby
Gratangen Municipality, destroying several houses and killing two civilians. Shortly afterwards, the unit returned to Germany. During the
Battle of France later that month, Helbig served as squadron commander of the Fourth
Squadron of LG 1, flying both He 111 and
Junkers Ju 88 bombers, a position he held until 5 November 1941. For his actions, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class. and his unit remained in France to participate in the
Battle of Britain. 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. The Germans were intercepted by British fighters and the mission was very costly for 4.
Staffel as over half the bombers were shot down by the British or were written off after landing. Helbig was forced to jettison his bombs before reaching the target and return to base, flying on a single engine with wounded crewmen aboard. During the battle, Helbig reported that his badly damaged Ju 88 was intercepted by a Spitfire over the
English Channel. The RAF pilot did not fire, but instead flew alongside the crippled bomber until the French coast was in sight, waved and flew away. Historian Christer Bergström has suggested that this might have been
Pilot Officer Richard Hardy from
No. 234 Squadron RAF. As the battle continued, LG 1 mostly switched to bombing
cities at night.
North African and Mediterranean campaign The
Gruppe flew to
Sicily in mid-January 1941 and attacked targets in Malta as well as British ships in the Mediterranean. On one of these missions, they damaged the aircraft carrier on 16 January while she was docked for repairs in
Grand Harbour, Malta. The unit was transferred to Bulgaria in early April in preparation for
Operation Marita, the German invasions of Greece and Yugoslavia, where it participated in the
bombing of Belgrade, Yugoslavia on 6 April. Shortly afterwards, it returned to Sicily and spent the rest of the campaign on anti-shipping missions near Southern Greece and Crete with occasional ground-attack missions. and unsuccessfully attacked a British convoy near Malta during
Operation Tiger on 11 May. 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. 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. On 16 January 1942, Helbig became the 64th recipient of the
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves after having completed 210 combat missions. The attack was successful despite the presence of defending
Bristol Beaufighters from
No. 272 Squadron RAF. In June, British
commandos attacked Helbig's unit at their base in
Heraklion, Crete, and succeeded in blowing up seven Ju 88s. On 28 September 1942 he was awarded the 20th
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. 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. When his
Geschwader was transferred to Italy to operate against the Allied beachheads at
Anzio and
Nettuno in Italy after the landings there (
Operation Shingle) on 22 January 1944, Helbig was appointed as the commander of all bomber units in Italy. On the night of 23/24 January, his aircraft sank the destroyer
HMS Janus with a
torpedo and damaged severely
Jervis with a
Henschel Hs 293 glider bomb at the cost of 11 aircraft. The Corsica operation was a success and these long-range operations destroyed 23 aircraft and damaged 90. In June 1944, LG 1 was ordered to transfer to Belgium for air defence during the
Allied invasion of France. 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. Visiting unit at the
Vogelsang Airfield, he was severely wounded by strafing Allied aircraft. Due to his injuries, Helbig had to surrender command of his unit. 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. After the war he returned to civilian life, becoming the director of the
Schultheiss brewery plant in Berlin. Helbing died in
Malente on 5 October 1985 following a car accident on vacation in
Spain. ==Awards==