Jagdgeschwader 6 (JG 6) Horst Wessel was a Luftwaffe fighter wing during World War II. Created late in the war as one of the last Jagdgeschwader, JG 6 fought on the Western and Eastern Fronts and in the Defence of the Reich over Germany. This period of the air war was characterised by few successes and heavy losses among the German fighter arm. Organisation A Luftwaffe Geschwader (wing formation) was the largest homogenous flying formation. It typically was made up of three groups (gruppen). Each group contained approximately 30 to 40 aircraft in three squadrons (staffeln). A Jagdgeschwader could field 90 to 120 fighter aircraft. In some cases a wing could be given a fourth gruppe. Each wing had a Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) supporting by three Gruppenkommandeur (Group Commanders). Each squadron was commanded by a Staffelkapitän (squadron leader). The staffel contained approximately 12 to 15 aircraft. The identification in records were different depending on the type of formation. A gruppe was referred to in roman numerals, for example I./JG 27, while staffeln were described with their number (1./JG 27). The wing could be subordinated to a Fliegerkorps, Fliegerdivision or Jagddivision (Flying Corps, Division and Fighter Division) all of which were subordinated to Luftflotten (Air Fleets). The use of Fliegerdivision became redundant and the description Fliegerkorps supplanted it until the use of Jagddivision later in the war. Formation The backdrop to JG 6 and its creation was a general deterioration of Germany's military position. In the air war, the Luftwaffe had been driven from North Africa in May 1943, and by the end of the year was largely absent from the Italian Campaign. The Combined Bomber Offensive had ground the Luftwaffe down severely in the first half of 1944. The Oberkommando der Luftwaffe had finally decided to abandon the cult of the offensive, and focus on the production of fighter aircraft. On the Eastern Front, the Luftwaffe had long since lost air superiority, from the Battle of Kursk in July 1943. Operation Bagration collapsed the front in June 1944, cleared the majority of Wehrmacht forces from the Soviet Union while on the Western Front, Operation Overlord and the Normandy landings were pushing the Germans out of France. Hugo Sperrle's Luftflotte 3 was bled white over Normandy. The Stabstaffel, I and II Gruppen were established at Königsberg, part of an effort to increase the size of the single-engine fighter force in late