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Axis and Soviet air operations during Operation Barbarossa took place over a six-month period, 22 June – December, 1941. Aviation played a critical role in the fighting on the Eastern Front during this period, in the battles to gain and maintain air superiority or air supremacy, to offer close air support to armies on battlefield, interdicting enemy supply lines, while supplying friendly forces.
The Soviet Air Force held the numerical advantage with a total of approximately 19,533 aircraft, which made it the largest air force in the world in the summer of 1941. [169] About 7,133–9,100 of these were deployed in the five western military districts, [n] [169] [11] [12] and an additional 1,445 were under naval control. [170]
No 151 Wing Royal Air Force was a British unit which operated with the Soviet forces on the Kola Peninsula in the northern USSR during the first months of Operation Barbarossa, in the Second World War.
Only when those forces were sufficient, could they divert the remaining forces to ground support operations for Barbarossa. On 21 June 1941, it possessed a balanced fleet of 53 Squadrons; 11 bomber (five modern), 17 fighter (nine modern), 15 reconnaissance, six liaison, two flying boat , one transport and one air ambulance unit.
A very significant factor that influenced the sharp decline in the combat effectiveness of the Soviet Air Force was the loss of control in most Air Force units - aviation divisions, regiments. Things were especially bad on the Soviet Western Front, where the front air force headquarters was virtually inactive during the first three days of the war.
The retreat cost the Italian forces tens of thousands of men and ended on 31 January, when the 2nd Alpine Division Tridentina reached the first German outposts in Shebekino. The repatriating operations lasted from 6 to 15 March and ended on 24 March, putting an end to the Italian military operations in the Soviet Union. [3]
The Air Force, or VVS as it was then called, suffered particularly badly in the Purge, and Zhigarev's three predecessors (Aleksandr Loktionov, Yakov Smushkevich, and Pavel Rychagov) were all executed in 1941 by the NKVD for perceived military failures. [4] Zhigarev was the Commander of the Air Force during the entirety of Operation Barbarossa.
At the start of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, Semelka's 4. Staffel was headed by Oberleutnant Johannes Steinhoff and II. Gruppe was commanded by Hauptmann Erich Woitke. [4] The Gruppe supported the advancing 9th Army and 3rd Panzer Group in their attack on the border fortifications east and southeast of Suwałki. [5]