On 5 September 1940, Krahl succeeded
Oberleutnant Helmut Wick as
Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 3.
Staffel of JG 2. Wick had been appointed
Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I.
Gruppe of JG 2. When Wick was appointed
Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of JG 2 on 20 October, Krahl succeeded him as
Gruppenkommandeur of I.
Gruppe.
Mediterranean theater and death Krahl was transferred and appointed
Gruppenkommandeur of II.
Gruppe of
Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" (JG 3—3rd Fighter Wing) on 21 November 1941. He succeeded
Hauptmann Gordon Gollob who was transferred. Command of I.
Gruppe of JG 2 was passed to
Hauptmann Ignaz Prestele. At the time, the
Gruppe was based at
Wiesbaden-Erbenheim Airfield and preparing for deployment to
Mediterranean theater. In early January 1942, II.
Gruppe received orders to relocate to
Sicily where the
II. Fliegerkorps (2nd Air Corps) concentrated forces during the
Siege of Malta. On 18 January, the first elements of II.
Gruppe arrived at
Comiso Airfield. On 14 April 1942, he was shot down and
killed in action in his
Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4 (
Werknummber 8784—factory number) by
anti-aircraft artillery near
Luqa, Malta. The next day, he was replaced by
Major Kurt Brändle as commander of II.
Gruppe. Following World War II, Krahl was reinterred at the German War Cemetery in
Cagliari, the capital of the island of
Sardinia. ==Summary of career==