on 6 August 1942 having suffered grievous losses on the Eastern Front. The unit regrouped, rested and began defensive patrols over convoys, escorting transports between Greece and Sicily. A third of the Luftwaffe was engaged in these activities in the Mediterranean, indicating a shift to the defensive. The unit partially reequipped with Bf 109 E fighter bombers. The group was transferred to Africa (under Luftflotte 2) and fought in the North African Campaign. On 1 September 1942, Hauptmann Roland Borth was shot down over El Alamein and died of wounds eight days later. The gruppe lost another pilot killed on 17 September. Personnel from III./ZG 1, with fighter-bomber staffeln from JG 27 and JG 53 were used to form the nucleus of II./SG 2 on 30 September 1942. III./ZG 1 fought on as the German front at Alamein collapsed and saw action in the Battle of Tunisia. Two of the new Messerschmitt Me 210s were lost to Sptifires on 13 November. The following day one of the few victory claims for the group, a Bristol Beaufort, was claimed. On 18 November, two pilots were killed over Apollonia. A week later, one Me 210 was shot down and two damaged in combat over Tunis. The group was operating the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 at this stage; one was reported damaged over Bizerte. On 6 March III./ZG 1 managed to deliver a surprise attack on the airfield at Neffatia. One 2 Squadron SAAF P-40 was damaged. On 25 March 1943, III./ZG 1 were forced to jettison their bombs early in the face of fighter opposition. Seven Messerschmitt Me 210s, which now equipped the group, were damaged in an air raid on Sfax on 29 March 1943. The following day, 12 Me 210s escorted by 18 Bf 109s dropped their bombs over their own lines for a second time when they sighted 12 Spitfires from No. 92 Squadron RAF, covering P-40s on an armed reconnaissance. Operation Flax began in April 1943. The Allied powers sought to use large numbers of fighters to cut the air bridge from Tunisia to Sicily and prevent the Axis forces supplying their divisions in Africa. III./ZG 1, with III./ZG 26, used Sicily as their base from this time. The heavy fighter gruppen were attached to Theo Osterkamp's Jagdfliegerführer Sizilien. On 5 April, the operation's first day, eight ZG 1 Me 210s were damaged by bombs at their base near