Bernhard Woldenga

Career

Woldenga's career started as a captain in the merchant marine. He started his flight training in 1928 and worked as chief pilot for the FVK Warnemünde. He transferred to the newly emerging Luftwaffe, taking command as Gruppenkommandeur of the I./Jagdgeschwader 131 (JG 131) — later renamed to I./Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1) — on 1 April 1937. With this unit he participated in the invasion of Poland in 1939. He surrender command of the Gruppe on 1 February 1940 and was transferred to the Reichsluftfahrtministerium. He briefly led Jagdgeschwader 27 (JG 27) on the Channel Front from 11 October to 22 October 1940 before he was made Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77). JG 77 distinguished itself under his leadership in the Balkans Campaign and invasion of Crete. JG 77 claimed 50 aerial victories, 114 ground victories, sank 5 fast attack crafts and 81,000 gross register tons (GRT) of merchant shipping. Woldenga himself flew numerous ground support missions. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) for these accomplishments. He again took command of JG 27 on 21 June 1941 on the Russian front during Operation Barbarossa and claimed 4 aerial victories. He relocated the Geschwaderstab to North Africa in December 1941. He was appointed Fliegerführer Balkan on 10 June 1942. His last service position of the war was commander of the Luftkriegschule 10 in Fürstenwalde near Berlin.

He is credited with three aerial victories of which two were claimed on the Eastern Front.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 5 July 1941 as Major and Geschwaderkommodore of JG 77