and 12. Staffel. IV. Gruppe first major task was Operation Donnerkeil, an air superiority operation to support the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Operation Cerberus. The objective of this assignment was to give the German battleships and and the heavy cruiser fighter protection in the breakout from Brest to Germany. End-February to early March 1942, IV. Gruppe began relocating north to Trondheim. On 21 March, IV./JG 1 was renamed to III. Gruppe of JG 5 and placed under the command of Hauptmann (Captain) Günther Scholz. 7. Staffel (7th squadron) of JG 5 was created from the Ergänzungsjagdgruppe 3 of Jagdgeschwader 3 (JG 3—3rd Fighter Wing). On 31 December 1941, the Ergänzungsjagdgruppe 3 was detached from JG 3 and subordinated as an autonomous Staffel to Jagdfliegerführer Norwegen. On 24 April 1942, 7. Staffel arrived in Pechenga, also referred to as Petsamo, where it was subordinated to III. Gruppe. 8. Staffel had its roots in the Ergänzungsjagdgruppe of Jagdgeschwader 26 (JG 26—26th Fighter Wing) which had been created on 22 June 1941. On 27 January 1941, the Staffel became 11./JG 1 and was moved to Trondheim-Lade on 6 March. There it was renamed to 8./JG 5. 1942 Other elements came from Jagdgeschwader 1 in May. The unit had the responsibility for providing fighter-cover over occupied territories under Luftflotte 5, and also to provide fighter support for the German Army units having a war on the Arctic front in the Murmansk area. at the start of the polar summer of 1942, Luftflotte 5 had been reinforced and by July 1942 possessed a total of 250 serviceable aircraft. Due to the air superiority established by II. and III./JG 5 early in the year, Luftflotte 5 enjoyed a numerical and considerable qualitative superiority, and the Soviet opposition amounted to just 170 serviceable combat aircraft. The command also benefited from an early-warning Freya radar network. During the summer the Soviet air force brought in new units, including 20 IAP equipped with the new Yakovlev Yak-1, an effective counter to the Bf 109F. Luftflotte 5 recorded 26 combat losses in July 1942, while the VVS lost 32 of its own aircraft shot down or missing, mainly to JG 5. On 21 August, 6./JG 5 claimed 14 Soviet fighters shot down. According to Soviet records, 2 LaGG-3s and 2 I-16s were shot down over Vayenga and two aircraft made forced landings. JG 5 lost two Bf 109s, one was posted