Spanish Civil War markings Among the many German aircraft designs that participated in the
Condor Legion, and as part of other
German involvement in the Spanish Civil War, a single Ju 87 A-0 (the V4 prototype) was allocated serial number 29-1 and was assigned to the VJ/88, the experimental
Staffel of the Legion's
fighter wing. The aircraft was secretly loaded onto the ship
Usaramo and departed
Hamburg harbour on the night of 1 August 1936, arriving in Cádiz five days later. The only known information pertaining to its combat career in Spain is that it was piloted by
Unteroffizier Herman Beuer, and took part in the
Nationalist offensive against Bilbao in 1937. Presumably the aircraft was then secretly returned to Germany. In January 1938, three Ju 87 As from the Legion Condor arrived. Several problems became evident—the spatted undercarriage sank into muddy airfield surfaces, and the spats were temporarily removed. The maximum bomb load could only be carried if the gunner vacated his seat, therefore the bomb load was restricted to . These aircraft supported the Nationalist forces and carried out anti-shipping missions until they returned to
Germany in October 1938. 29 Republican fighters were defending the city. There were more than 100 aircraft operating over the city and, while a Ju 87 was dive-bombing a ship, a Republican
Polikarpov I-15 pilot, Francisco Alférez Jiménez, claimed it destroyed near
El Vendrell, in
Comarruga, but the Stuka was capable of landing on the beach without crashing. That was the only time a Stuka attacked the capital of
Catalonia. On 24 January 1939, a group of Stukas prevented the destruction of a bridge near Barcelona by strafing the demolition engineers on
Molins de Rei. During the attack the Republican ground defenders, equipped with a quadruple
PM M1910 mounting, hit one pilot (Heinz Bohne) in both legs and the Stuka crashed, seriously injuring Bohne, and his machine gunner, Albert Conrad. Those two were the only Stuka casualties of the war. As with the Ju 87 A-0, the B-1s were returned discreetly to the Reich. The experience of the Spanish Civil War proved invaluable—air and ground crews perfected their skills, and equipment was evaluated under combat conditions. The Ju 87 had however not been tested against numerous and well-coordinated fighter opposition; this lesson was learned later at great cost to the Stuka crews.
Second World War All Stuka units were moved to Germany's eastern border in preparation for the invasion of Poland. On the morning of 15 August 1939, during a mass-formation dive-bombing demonstration for high-ranking commanders of the Luftwaffe at
Neuhammer training grounds near
Sagan, 13 Ju 87s and 26 crew members were lost when they crashed into the ground almost simultaneously. The planes dived through clouds, expecting to release their practice bombs and pull out of the dive once below the cloud ceiling. They were unaware that the ceiling was too low and unexpected ground mist formed, leaving them no time to pull out of the dive.
Poland On 1 September 1939, the Wehrmacht invaded Poland, beginning
World War II.
Generalquartiermeister der Luftwaffe records indicate a total force of 366 Ju 87 A and Bs were available for operations on 31 August 1939. A Ju 87 achieved the first air victory during World War II on the morning of 1 September 1939, when
Rottenführer Leutnant Frank Neubert of I./
StG 2 "Immelmann" shot down a Polish
PZL P.11c
fighter while it was taking off from
Balice airfield; its pilot, Captain Mieczysław Medwecki, was killed. In air-to-air combat, Ju 87 formations were well protected by German fighter aircraft and losses were light against the tenacious, but short lived opposition. The Ju 87s reverted to ground attack missions for the campaign after the opening air attacks. Ju 87s were involved in the controversial but effective attacks
at Wieluń. The lack of
anti-aircraft artillery in the Polish Army magnified the impact of the Ju 87. At
Piotrków Trybunalski I./StG 76 and I./StG 2 destroyed a Polish infantry division de-training there. Troop trains were also easy targets. StG 77 destroyed one such target at
Radomsko. During the
Battle of Radom six Polish divisions trapped by encircling German forces were forced to surrender after a relentless four-day bombardment by StG 51, 76 and 77. Employed in this assault were fragmentation bombs, which caused severe casualties to the Polish ground troops. Demoralised, the Poles surrendered. The Stukas also participated in the
Battle of Bzura which resulted in the breaking of Polish resistance. The dive bomber wings (
Sturzkampfgeschwader) alone dropped 388 tonnes (428 tons) of bombs during this battle. During the
Siege of Warsaw and the
Battle of Modlin, the Ju 87 wings contributed to the defeat of well-entrenched and resolute Polish forces. IV(Stuka)./
LG 1 was particularly effective in destroying the fortified
Modlin. The
Luftwaffe had a few anti-shipping naval units such as 4.(St)/TrGr 186 to deal with Polish naval forces. This unit performed effectively, sinking the 1540-ton destroyer
Wicher and the minelayer
Gryf of the
Polish Navy (both moored in a harbour). Once again, enemy air opposition was light, and the
Stukawaffe (Stuka force) lost 31 aircraft during the campaign.
Norway addressing a Ju 87
staffel on a Norwegian airfield
Operation Weserübung began on 9 April 1940 with the invasions of Norway and Denmark. Denmark capitulated within the day; Norway continued to resist with British and French help. The campaign was not a
Blitzkrieg of fast-moving armoured divisions supported by air power as the mountainous terrain ruled out close Panzer/Stuka cooperation. Instead, the Germans relied on
paratroops transported by
Junkers Ju 52s and specialised
ski troops. The Ju 87s were given the role of ground attack and anti-shipping missions; they proved to be the most effective weapon in the Luftwaffe's armoury carrying out the latter task. The Stuka wings were now equipped with the new Ju 87 R, which differed from the Ju 87 B by having increased internal fuel capacity and two 300l underwing drop tanks for more range. The same fate nearly befell the
sloop Black Swan. On 27 April, a bomb passed through the quarterdeck, a wardroom, a water tank and 4-inch (10.2 cm) ammunition magazine and out through the hull to explode in the fjord. The muffled explosion limited the damage to her hull.
Black Swan fired 1,000 rounds, but failed to shoot down any of her attackers. The sloop was sunk on 30 April. The
French large destroyer Bison was sunk along with by
Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 on 3 May 1940 during the evacuation from Namsos.
Bisons forward magazine was hit, killing 108 of the crew.
Afridi, which had taken off some of
Bisons survivors, was sunk in a later attack with the loss of 63 sailors. All ships were targeted. Armed trawlers were used under the German air umbrella in an attempt to make smaller targets. Such craft were not armoured or armed. The Ju 87s demonstrated this on 30 April when they sank the
Jardine (452 tons) and
Warwickshire (466 tons). On 15 May, the Polish troopship
Chrobry (11,442 tons) was sunk. The
Stukas also had an operational effect, even when little damage was done. On 1 May 1940,
Vice Admiral Lionel Wells commanded a
Home Fleet expedition of seven destroyers, the heavy cruiser
Berwick, the aircraft carriers
Glorious and
Ark Royal, and the battleship
Valiant. The carriers mounted fighter patrols over the ships evacuating troops from Andalsnes. The
Stuka waves (accompanied by He 111s) achieved several near misses, but were unable to obtain a hit. Nevertheless, Wells ordered that no ship was to operate within range of the Ju 87s' Norwegian airfields. The Ju 87s had, in effect, driven British sea power from the Norwegian coast. Moreover, Victor reported to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, Admiral
Charles Forbes, that carrier operations were no longer practical under the current conditions. In the following weeks, StG 1 continued their sea operations. Off Namsos on 5 May 1940, they caught and sank the
Royal Norwegian Navy transports
Aafjord (335 tons) and
Blaafjeld (1,146 tons). The Ju 87s then took to bombing the town and the airstrip to support the German forces under the command of
Eduard Dietl. The town fell in the first week of May. In the remaining four weeks of the campaign in Norway, the Ju 87s supported German forces in containing the Allied land forces in
Narvik until they withdrew in early June. When
Fall Gelb (Case Yellow) began on 10 May 1940, the
Stuka helped swiftly neutralise the fortress of
Eben Emael, Belgium. The headquarters of the commander responsible for ordering the destruction of the
Belgian Army-held bridges along the
Albert Canal was stationed in the village of
Lanaken (14 km/8.7 mi to the north). The
Stuka demonstrated its accuracy when the small building was destroyed by four direct hits. As a result, only one of the three bridges was destroyed, allowing the German Army to rapidly advance in the opening days of the
Battle of Belgium. The Ju 87s also assisted German forces in the
Battle of the Netherlands. The
Dutch Navy in concert with the British were evacuating the
Dutch royal family and Dutch gold reserves through the country's ports. Ju 87s sank the Dutch ships
Jan Van Galen (1,316 tons) and
Johan Maurits Van Nassau (1,520 tons) as they provided close-shore artillery support at
Waalhaven and the
Afsluitdijk. The British
Valentine was crippled, beached and scuttled while
Winchester,
Whitley and
Westminster were damaged.
Whitley was later beached and scuttled after an air attack on 19 May. When resistance was organised, the Ju 87s could be vulnerable. For example, on 12 May, near Sedan, six French
Curtiss H-75s from Groupe de Chasse I/5 (Group Interception) attacked a formation of Ju 87s, claiming 11 out of 12 unescorted Ju 87s without loss (the Germans recorded six losses over Sedan entire). For the most part, Allied opposition was disorganised. During the battles of
Montcornet,
Arras,
Bolougne, and
Calais, Ju 87 operations broke up counterattacks and offered pin-point aerial artillery support for German infantry. The Luftwaffe benefited from excellent ground-to-air communications throughout the campaign. Radio equipped forward liaison officers could call upon the Stukas and direct them to attack enemy positions along the axis of advance. In some cases the Stukas responded in 10–20 minutes.
Hans Seidemann (Richthofen's
Chief of Staff) said that "never again was such a smoothly functioning system for discussing and planning joint operations achieved." During the
Battle of Dunkirk, many Allied ships were lost to Ju 87 attacks while
evacuating British and French troops. The French destroyer was sunk on 21 May 1940, followed by the
paddle steamer Crested Eagle on 28 May. The French Channel-steamer ''Côte d'Arzur
(3,047 tons) followed. The Ju 87s operated to maximum effectiveness when the weather allowed. RAF fighter units were held back and Allied air cover was patchy at best. On 29 May the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Grenade'' was severely damaged by a Ju 87 attack within Dunkirk's harbour, and subsequently sank. The
French destroyer Mistral was crippled by bomb damage the same day.
Jaguar and
Verity were badly damaged while the trawlers
Calvi and
Polly Johnson (363 and 290 tons) disintegrated under bombardment. The merchant ship
Fenella (2,376 tons) was sunk having taken on 600 soldiers. The attacks brought the evacuation to a halt for a time. The ferries
Lorina and
Normannia (1,564 and 1,567 tons) were sunk also. By 29 May, the Allies had lost 31 vessels sunk and 11 damaged. On 1 June the Ju 87s sank the
Halcyon-class minesweeper Skipjack while the destroyer
Keith was sunk and
Basilisk was crippled before being scuttled by
Whitehall.
Whitehall was later badly damaged and along with
Ivanhoe, staggered back to
Dover.
Havant, commissioned for just three weeks, was sunk and in the evening the
French destroyer Foudroyant sank after a mass-attack. Further victories against shipping were claimed before nightfall on 1 June. The steamer
Pavon was lost while carrying 1,500 Dutch soldiers most of whom were killed. The oil tanker
Niger was also destroyed. A flotilla of French minesweepers were also lost—
Denis Papin (264 tons), the
Le Moussaillon (380 tons) and
Venus (264 tons). In total, 89 merchantmen (of 126,518 grt) were lost, and of 40 RN destroyers used in the battle, eight were sunk (one to an E-boat and one to a submarine), and a further 23 damaged and out of service. The campaign ended after the French surrender on 25 June 1940. Allied air power had been ineffective and disorganised, and as a result,
Stuka losses were mainly due to ground fire. 120 machines, one-third of the Stuka force, were destroyed or damaged by all causes from 10 May to 25 June 1940.
Battle of Britain For the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe's
order of battle included bomber wings equipped with the Ju 87.
Lehrgeschwader 2's IV.(St), Sturzkampfgeschwader 1's III. Gruppe and
Sturzkampfgeschwader 2's III. Gruppe, Sturzkampfgeschwader 51 and Sturzkampfgeschwader 3's I. Gruppe were committed to the battle. As an anti-shipping weapon, the Ju 87 proved a potent weapon in the
early stages of the battle. On 4 July 1940, StG 2 made a successful attack on a convoy in the
English Channel, sinking four freighters:
Britsum,
Dallas City,
Deucalion and
Kolga. Six more were damaged. That afternoon, 33 Ju 87s delivered the single most deadly air assault on British territory in history, when 33 Ju 87s of III./StG 51, avoiding
Royal Air Force (RAF) interception, sank the 5,500 ton anti-aircraft ship in
Portland Harbour, killing 176 of its 298 crew. One of ''Foylebank's'' gunners,
Leading Seaman John F. Mantle continued to fire on the Stukas as the ship sank. He was awarded a posthumous
Victoria Cross for remaining at his post despite being mortally wounded. Mantle may have been responsible for the single Ju 87 lost during the raid. During August, the Ju 87s also had some success. On 13 August the opening of the main German attacks on airfields took place; it was known to the Luftwaffe as
Adlertag ("Eagle Day"). Bf 109s of
Jagdgeschwader 26 (JG 26) were sent out in advance of the main strike and drew off RAF fighters, allowing 86 Ju 87s of StG 1 to attack
RAF Detling in Kent unhindered. The attack killed the station commander, destroyed 20 RAF aircraft on the ground and a great many of the airfield's buildings. Detling was not an
RAF Fighter Command station. The Battle of Britain proved for the first time that the Junkers Ju 87 was vulnerable in hostile skies against well-organised and determined fighter opposition. The Ju 87, like other dive bombers, was slow and possessed inadequate defences. Furthermore, it could not be effectively protected by fighters because of its low speed, and the very low altitudes at which it ended its dive bomb attacks. The Stuka depended on air superiority, the very thing being contested over Britain. It was withdrawn from attacks on Britain in August after prohibitive losses, leaving the Luftwaffe without precision ground-attack aircraft. Steady losses had occurred throughout their participation in the battle. On 18 August, known as
the Hardest Day because both sides suffered heavy losses, the Stuka was withdrawn after 16 were destroyed and many others damaged. According to the Generalquartiermeister der Luftwaffe, 59 Stukas had been destroyed and 33 damaged to varying degrees in six weeks of operations. Over 20% of the total Stuka strength had been lost between 8 and 18 August; and the myth of the Stuka shattered. The Ju 87s did succeed in sinking six warships, 14 merchant ships, badly damaging seven airfields and three
Chain Home radar stations, and destroying 49 British aircraft, mainly on the ground. On 19 August, the units of
VIII. Fliegerkorps moved up from their bases around
Cherbourg-Octeville and concentrated in the
Pas de Calais under
Luftflotte 2, closer to the area of the proposed invasion of Britain. After a lull, anti-shipping operations attacks were resumed by some Ju 87 units from 1 November 1940, as part of the new winter tactic of enforcing a blockade. Over the next 10 days, seven merchant ships were sunk or damaged, mainly in the
Thames Estuary, for the loss of four Ju 87s. On 14 November 19 Stukas from III./St.G 1 with escort drawn from
JG 26 and
JG 51 went out against another convoy; as no targets were found over the estuary, the Stukas attacked Dover, their alternative target.
North Africa and the Mediterranean After the Italian defeats in the
Italo-Greek War and
Operation Compass in North Africa, the ordered the deployment of German forces to these theatres. Amongst the Luftwaffe contingent deployed was the command unit StG 3, which touched down in
Sicily in December 1940. In the next few days, two groups—80 Stukas—were deployed under
X. Fliegerkorps. The first task of the
Korps was to attack British shipping passing between Sicily and Africa, in particular the
convoys aimed at re-supplying Malta. The Ju 87s first made their presence felt by subjecting the British aircraft carrier to heavy attack. The crews were confident that they could sink it as the flight deck had an area of about . On 10 January 1941, the Stuka crews were told that four direct hits with bombs would be enough to sink the carrier. The Ju 87s delivered six and three damaging near-misses but the ship's engines were untouched and she reached the
besieged harbour of Malta. The
Regia Aeronautica was equipped for a while with the Stukas. In 1939, the Italian government asked the RLM to supply 100 Ju 87s. Italian pilots were sent to
Graz in Austria to be trained for dive-bombing aircraft. In the spring of 1940, between 72 and 108 Ju 87 B-1s, some of them ex-Luftwaffe aircraft, were delivered to 96°
Gruppo Bombardamento a Tuffo. The Italian Stuka, renamed
Picchiatello, was in turn assigned to
Gruppi 97°, 101° and 102°. The
Picchiatelli were used against
Malta, Allied convoys in Mediterranean and in North Africa (where they took part in conquering Tobruk). They were used by the Regia Aeronautica up to 1942. Before the Luftwaffe could intervene, the Italian Ju 87s achieved some successes. 97
Gruppo (group) and its 239
Squadriglia (squadron) sinking the
Hellenic Navy freighter
Susanah off
Corfu on 4 April 1941 while the torpedo boat
Proussa was sunk later in the day. On 21 April the Greek freighter
Ioanna was sunk and they accounted for the British tanker
Hekla off Tobruk on 25 May and then the
Royal Australian Navy destroyer
Waterhen on 20 June. The British gunboat
Cricket and supply submarine
Cachalot became victims. The former was crippled and later sunk by Italian warships. In March, the
pro-German Yugoslav government was toppled. A furious Hitler ordered the attack to be expanded to include
Yugoslavia.
Operation Marita commenced on 7 April. The Luftwaffe committed StG 1, 2 and 77 to the campaign. The Stuka once again spearheaded the air assault, with a front line strength of 300 machines, against minimal Yugoslav resistance in the air, allowing the Stukas to develop a fearsome reputation in this region. Operating unmolested, they took a heavy toll of ground forces, suffering only light losses to ground fire. The effectiveness of the dive bombers helped bring about Yugoslav capitulation in ten days. The Stukas also took a peripheral part in
Operation Punishment, Hitler's retribution
bombing of Belgrade. The dive bombers were to attack airfields and anti-aircraft gun positions as the level bombers struck civilian targets. Belgrade was badly damaged, with 2,271 people killed and 12,000 injured. In Greece, despite British aid,
little air opposition was encountered. As the Allies withdrew and resistance collapsed, the Allies began evacuating to
Crete. The Stukas inflicted severe damage on Allied shipping. On 22 April, the 1,389 ton destroyers
Psara and
Ydra were sunk. In the next two days, the Greek naval base at
Piraeus lost 23 vessels to Stuka attack. During the
Battle of Crete, the Ju 87s also played a significant role. On 21–22 May 1941, the Germans attempted to send in reinforcements to Crete by sea but lost 10 vessels to "Force D" under the command of
Rear Admiral Irvine Glennie. The force, consisting of the cruisers , and , forced the remaining German ships to retreat. The Stukas were called upon to deal with the British naval threat. On 21 May, the destroyer was sunk and the next day the battleship was damaged and the cruiser was sunk, with the loss of 45 officers and 648 ratings. The Ju 87s also crippled the cruiser that morning, (she was later finished off by
Bf 109 fighter bombers) while sinking the destroyer with one hit. As the Battle of Crete drew to a close, the Allies began yet another withdrawal. On 23 May, the Royal Navy lost the destroyers and , followed by on 26 May;
Orion and
Dido were also severely damaged.
Orion had been evacuating 1,100 soldiers to North Africa; 260 of them were killed and another 280 wounded. The dive bomber wing supported
Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel's
Afrika Korps in its two-year campaign in North Africa; its other main task was attacking Allied shipping. In 1941, Ju 87 operations in North Africa were dominated by the
Siege of Tobruk, which lasted for over seven months. It served during the
Battle of Gazala and the
First Battle of El Alamein, as well as the decisive
Second Battle of El Alamein, which drove Rommel back to
Tunisia. As the tide turned and Allied air power grew in the autumn of 1942, the Ju 87 became very vulnerable and losses were heavy. The entry of the Americans into North Africa with the
Operation Torch invasion of French North Africa made the situation far worse; the Stuka was obsolete in what was now a fighter-bomber's war. The Bf 109 and Fw 190 could at least fight enemy fighters on equal terms after dropping their
ordnance but the Stuka could not. The Ju 87's vulnerability was demonstrated on 11 November 1942, when 15 Ju 87Ds were shot down by
United States Army Air Forces (USAAF)
Curtiss P-40Fs in minutes. According to Ring and Shores there were 15 Ju 87s on the mission, 2 Squadron SAAF shot down eight with four probable and three were shot down by 57th Fighter Group. Two South-African and one American lost shot down by German fighter escort. Three Stuka crews were captured, one was wounded. By 1943, the Allies enjoyed air supremacy in North Africa. The Ju 87s ventured out in
Rotte strength only, often jettisoning their bombs at the first sight of enemy aircraft. Adding to this trouble, the German fighters had only enough fuel to cover the Ju 87s on takeoff, their most vulnerable point. After that, the Stukas were on their own. The dive bombers continued operations in southern Europe; after the Italian surrender in September 1943, the Ju 87 participated in the last campaign-sized victory over the
Western Allies, the
Dodecanese Campaign. The
Dodecanese Islands had been occupied by the British; the Luftwaffe committed 75 Stukas of StG 3 based in
Megara (I./StG 3) and
Argos (II.StG 3; from 17 October on
Rhodes), to recover the islands. With the
RAF bases away, the Ju 87 helped the German landing forces rapidly conquer the islands. On 5 October the minelayer
Lagnano was sunk along with a patrol vessel, a steam ship and the auxiliary landing ship
Porto Di Roma. On 24 October Ju 87s sank the landing craft LCT-115 and cargo ship
Taganrog at
Samos. On 31 October the light cruiser
Aurora was put out of action for a year. The light cruisers
Penelope and
Carlisle were badly damaged by StG 3 and the destroyer
Panther was also sunk by Ju 87s before the capitulation of the Allied force. It proved to be the Stuka's final victory against the British.
Eastern front Barbarossa; 1941 On 22 June 1941, the Wehrmacht commenced Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Luftwaffe order of battle of 22 June 1941 contained four dive bomber wings.
VIII. Fliegerkorps was equipped with units
Stab, II. and III./StG 1. Also included were
Stab, I., II. and III. of
Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 Immelmann. Attached to
II. Fliegerkorps, under the command of
General der Flieger Bruno Loerzer, were
Stab, I., II. and III. of StG 77.
Luftflotte 5, under the command of
Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen Stumpff, operating from Norway's Arctic Circle, were allotted IV.
Gruppe (St)/
Lehrgeschwader 1 (
LG 1). The first Stuka loss on the
Soviet-German front occurred early at 03:40–03:47 in the morning of 22 June. While being escorted by Bf 109s from JG 51 to attack
Brest Fortress,
Oberleutnant Karl Führing of StG 77 was shot down by an
I-153. The dive bomber wing suffered only two losses on the opening day of Barbarossa. As a result of the Luftwaffe's attention, the Soviet Air Force in the western Soviet Union was nearly destroyed. The official report claimed 1,489 Soviet aircraft destroyed. Even Göring was unable to believe such a high total and ordered this checked. After picking their way through the wreckage across the front, Luftwaffe officers found that the tally exceeded 2,000. In the next two days, the Soviets reported the loss of another 1,922 aircraft. The Ju 87 took a huge toll on Soviet ground forces, helping to break up counterattacks of Soviet armour, eliminating strongpoints and disrupting the enemy supply lines. A demonstration of the Stukas effectiveness occurred on 5 July, when StG 77 knocked out 18
trains and 500 vehicles. As the 1st and 2nd Panzer Groups forced bridgeheads across the
Dnieper river and closed in on
Kyiv, the Ju 87s again rendered invaluable support. On 13 September, Stukas from StG 1 destroyed the rail network in the vicinity as well as inflicting heavy casualties on escaping
Red Army columns, for the loss of one Ju 87. On 23 September, Rudel (who was to become the most decorated serviceman in the Wehrmacht) of StG 2, helped sink the Soviet battleship
Marat, during an air attack on
Kronstadt harbour near
Leningrad, which was struck by two bombs. During this action,
Leutnant Egbert Jaeckel sank the destroyer
Minsk, while the destroyer
Steregushchiy and submarine
M-74 were also sunk. The Stukas also crippled the battleship
Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya and the destroyers
Silnyy and
Grozyashchiy in exchange for two Ju 87s shot down. Elsewhere on the Eastern front, the Junkers assisted
Army Group Centre in its drive toward Moscow. From 13 to 22 December 420 vehicles and 23 tanks were destroyed by StG 77, greatly improving the morale of the German infantry, who were by now on the defensive. StG 77 finished the campaign as the most effective dive bomber wing. It had destroyed 2,401 vehicles, 234 tanks, 92 artillery batteries and 21 trains for the loss of 25 Ju 87s to hostile action. At the end of Barbarossa, StG 1 had lost 60 Stukas in aerial combat and one on the ground. StG 2 lost 39 Ju 87s in the air and two on the ground, StG 77 lost 29 of their dive-bombers in the air and three on the ground (25 to enemy action). IV.(St)/LG1, operating from Norway, lost 24 Ju 87s, all in aerial combat.
Fall Blau to Stalingrad; 1942 In early 1942, the Ju 87s gave the Heer yet more valuable support. On 29 December 1941, the Soviet 44th Army landed on the
Kerch Peninsula. The Luftwaffe was only able to dispatch meager reinforcements of four bomber groups (
Kampfgruppen) and two dive bomber groups belonging to StG 77. With air superiority, the Ju 87s operated with impunity. In the first 10 days of the
Battle of the Kerch Peninsula, half the landing force was destroyed, while sea lanes were blocked by the Stukas inflicting heavy losses on Soviet shipping. The Ju 87's effectiveness against Soviet armour was not yet potent. Later versions of the
T-34 tank could withstand Stuka attacks in general, unless a direct hit was scored but the Soviet 44th Army had only obsolescent types with thin armour which were nearly all destroyed. During the
Battle of Sevastopol, the Stukas repeatedly bombed the trapped Soviet forces. Some Ju 87 pilots flew up to 300 sorties against the Soviet defenders. StG 77 (Luftflotte 4) flew 7,708 combat sorties dropping 3,537 tonnes of bombs on the city. Their efforts help secure the capitulation of Soviet forces on 4 July. For the German summer offensive,
Fall Blau, the Luftwaffe had concentrated 1,800 aircraft into
Luftflotte 4 making it the largest and most powerful air command in the world. The
Stukawaffe strength stood at 151. During the
Battle of Stalingrad, Stukas flew thousands of sorties against Soviet positions in the city. StG 1, 2 and 77 flew 320 sorties on 14 October 1942. As the German Sixth Army pushed the Soviets into a 1,000-metre enclave on the west bank of the
Volga River, 1,208 Stuka sorties were flown against this small strip of land. The intense air attack, though causing horrific losses on Soviet units, failed to destroy them. The Luftwaffe's Stuka force made a maximum effort during this phase of the war. They flew an average of 500 sorties per day and caused heavy losses among Soviet forces, losing an average of only one Stuka per day. The Battle of Stalingrad marked the high point in the fortunes of the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka. As the strength of the Soviet Air Forces grew, they gradually wrested control of the skies from the Luftwaffe. From this point onward, Stuka losses increased.
Kursk and decline; 1943 The Stuka was also heavily involved in Operation Citadel, the Kursk offensive. The Luftwaffe committed I, II, III./St.G 1 and III./StG 3 under the command of
Luftflotte 6. I., II, III. of StGs 2 and 3 were committed under the command of
Fliegerkorps VIII. Rudel's cannon-equipped Ju 87 Gs had a devastating effect on Soviet armour at
Orel and
Belgorod. The Ju 87s participated in a huge aerial counter-offensive lasting from 16 to 31 July against a Soviet offensive at Khotynets and saved two German armies from encirclement, reducing the attacking Soviet 11th Guards Army to 33 tanks by 20 July. The Soviet offensive had been completely halted from the air although losses were considerable. Fliegerkorps VIII lost eight Ju 87s on 8 July, six on 9 July, six on 10 July and another eight on 11 July. The Stuka arm also lost eight of their
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross holders. StG 77 lost 24 Ju 87s in the period 5–31 July (StG had lost 23 in July–December 1942), while StG 2 lost another 30 aircraft in the same period. In September 1943, three of the Stuka units were re-equipped with the
Fw 190F and G (ground attack versions) and began to be renamed
Schlachtgeschwader (attack wings). In the face of overwhelming air opposition, the dive-bomber required heavy protection from German fighters to counter Soviet fighters. Some units like SG 2
Immelmann continued to operate with great success throughout 1943–45, operating the Ju 87 G variants equipped with 37 mm cannons, which became tank killers, although in increasingly small numbers. In the wake of the defeat at Kursk, Ju 87s played a vital defensive role on the southern wing of the Eastern Front. To combat the Luftwaffe, the Soviets could deploy 3,000 fighter aircraft. As a result, the Stukas suffered heavily. SG 77 lost 30 Ju 87s in August 1943 as did SG 2
Immelmann, which also reported the loss of 30 aircraft in combat operations. Despite these losses, Ju 87s helped the
XXIX Army Corps break out of an encirclement near the
Sea of Azov. The
Battle of Kiev also included substantial use of the Ju 87 units, although again, unsuccessful in stemming the advances. Stuka units were with the loss of air superiority, becoming vulnerable on the ground as well. Some Stuka aces were lost this way. In the aftermath of Kursk, Stuka strength fell to 184 aircraft in total. This was well below 50 per cent of the required strength. On 18 October 1943, StG 1, 2, 3, 5 and 77 were renamed
Schlachtgeschwader (SG) wings, reflecting their ground-attack role, as these combat wings were now also using ground-attack aircraft, such as the Fw 190F-series aircraft. The Luftwaffe's dive-bomber units had ceased to exist. A few Ju 87s were also retained for anti-shipping operations in the
Black Sea, a role it had proved successful in when operating in the Mediterranean. In October 1943, this became evident again when StG 3 carried out several attacks against the Soviet
Black Sea Fleet. On 6 October 1943 the most powerful flotilla in the fleet comprising the
destroyer leader , and the destroyers and were sunk. After the disaster,
Josef Stalin decreed that no more ships were to pass within range of German aircraft without his personal permission.
Operation Bagration to Berlin 1944–1945 Towards the end of the war, as the Allies gained air supremacy, the Stuka was being replaced by ground-attack versions of the
Fw 190.
Gefechtsverband Kuhlmey, a mixed aircraft unit, which included large numbers of Stuka dive bombers, was rushed to the Finnish front in the summer of 1944 and was instrumental in halting the Soviet
fourth strategic offensive. The unit claimed 200 Soviet tanks and 150 Soviet aircraft destroyed for 41 losses. By 31 January 1945, only 104 Ju 87s remained operational with their units. The other mixed
Schlacht units contained a further 70 Ju 87s and Fw 190s between them. Chronic fuel shortages kept the Stukas grounded and sorties decreased until the end of the war in May 1945. In the final months of the war the ground attack groups were still able to impose operational constraints upon the enemy. Most notably the aircraft participated in the defence of
Berlin. On 12 January 1945 the
1st Belorussian Front initiated the
Vistula–Oder Offensive. The offensive made rapid progress. The Soviets eventually outran their air support, which was unable to use forward, quagmire-filled, airfields. The Germans, who had fallen back on airbases with good facilities and concrete runways, were able to mount uninterrupted attacks against Soviet army columns. Reminiscent of the early years, the
Luftwaffe was able to inflict high losses largely unopposed. Over 800 vehicles were destroyed within two weeks. In the first three days of February 1945, 2,000 vehicles and 51 tanks were claimed to be lost to German air attacks. The Ju 87 participated in these intense battles in small numbers. It was the largest concentration of German air power since 1940 and even in February 1945 the Germans were able to achieve and challenge for air superiority on the Eastern Front. The air offensive was instrumental in saving Berlin, albeit only for three months. The effort exhausted German fuel reserves. The contribution of the Ju 87 was exemplified by Rudel, who claimed 13 enemy tanks on 8 February 1945. Post-war research revealed that generally, bombing pilots were far less effective than they claimed. The German Luftwaffe, in particular, did not do a scientific analysis of the Ju 87 pilot claims in 1939–1945 but instead relied on pre-war tests and assumptions, contrary to the Allies who did such research during the war, which showed that pilots, for a number of reasons, misjudged most of their tank kills and revealed the ineffectiveness of dive-bombers as an anti-tank weapon, except for the suppression effect of the bombing. ==Operators==