The Luftwaffe in Iraq - Group

[WJW]

I wanted to share this Luftwaffe flying personnel group. Leo Krieg flew Me.110 with 4./ZG 76 in France and ... Iraq.



Germany sent 4./ZG 76 plus some He.111s and transport planes to Irak in May 1941. The Me.110 and other aircraft bore Iraqi markings as you can see from this photo in Krieg´s album.




The unit saw some action against the British but was withdrawn within weeks. The commander was Obert Werner Junck and the expedition was thus called Sonderkommando Junck. Despite their short time in theatre and limited action Krieg must have acquitted himself well as he was awarded the EK II in Iraq. It is dated May 1941 and signed by Oberst Junck himself. This must be fairly rare imo.

[Hank C.]

Now that's an interesting little group! Especially the Iraqi-marked 110's.

best
Hank

[HAF]

realy interesting

[Willi Z.]

Fascinating group and photos.

[Gene]

Excellent!

[Rene Chavez]

I totally agree very interesting.

Rene Chavez
www.foreignvolunteerlegion.com

[JeremyJ]

..

Nice group and very rare!

Jeremy

[Simon O.]

I also have a grouping to a bordfunker from ZG76, only it's the Stab staffel operating thousands of miles away from your guy on the Murmansk front during the summer of '41.

A great find and very rare indeed, i can't see the total number of aircrew in Iraq being more than 100 and out of those, the number being awarded anything for their service there must be small indeed.

[seekwhence]

Finally... something truly incredible and extraordinarily rare to look at in this section of the forum!
Thanks for sharing!

seekwhence

P.S. If you ever want to part with any of the photos of Iraqi Bf 110's - please let me know!

[Simon O.]

Finally... something truly incredible and extraordinarily rare to look at in this section of the forum!
Thanks for sharing!

seekwhence

P.S. If you ever want to part with any of the photos of Iraqi Bf 110's - please let me know!

Nice, you praise the group then ask him if he's interested in splitting it up.

[Ironcrown]

IMHO, historically a group worths much more that the total of the single pieces. Unless there are duplicates (but it often happens), splitting a group is a pity because many informations that can be desumed from the whole thing will be lost.
As a collector who also wants to study and preserve history, I would never ask to split a grouping like this, although of course a seller would earn much more selling it separately... This is an old problem that surfaces rather often on this forum!

[djpool]

Awesome. Certainly not a well known aspect of WWII history. Jim

[astarr]

Very nice group indeed... and a rare part of history that never gets any public attention. Thank you for sharing.

There seems to be some animosity in this thread about splitting up collections. I've been a collector for over 10 years, and have seen hundreds of collections broken up... it happens, it's a fact. And, though we hate to admit it, this collection might be chopped up. I might be a voice in the wilderness here, but I often let folks know I am interested in collection, if they wish to sell any part if it in the future. I guess I figure some history saved is better then no history saved. We can certainly respectfully disagree, but ultimately don't have to divide over our less divisive opinions.

Cheers,
Astarr

[Kevin grootaers]

Very nice grouping.

[JeremyJ]

..

Just out of curiosity does anyone know of a comprehensive list of LW flyers who were involved in the Iraq campaign? In addition to 4./ ZG 76 the Luftwaffe also had He111's and Ju52 transport involved.

Jeremy