disbanded on 7 September 1940, during the Battle of Britain in Norway and re designated II. Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1—1st Night Fighter Wing). II./ZG 76 was withdrawn to the German-occupied Netherlands, Amsterdam, then to Jever to protect the Heliogland Bight from 1 January 1941 and renamed III. Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 (NJG 3—3rd Night Fighter Wing). In each case the pilots were retrained as night fighter pilots from 11 November 1941. It was the only gruppe to participate in the Balkans Campaign in April and May 1941. II./ZG 76 was attached to the Stab of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1—1st Fighter Wing) and Zerst.E-Gruppe, the latter based at Wesermünde Geest. The latter group moved to Aalborg in Denmark. III./ZG 76 moved to Bergen, Norway while Stab/ZG 76 remained in Stavanger. III./ZG 76 was exiled to Norway in October 1940 under the command of Rolf Kaldrack and disbanded on 24 April 1941 to become II/SKG 210. It began reformation in 1943 but this was never completed and personnel were sent to the reformed I./ZG 76 in 1944. ZG 76 was not recorded on Luftflotte 4's order of battle for the German invasion of Yugoslavia or the Battle of Greece on 5 April 1941. II./ZG 76 moved to Argos where one of its aircraft was damaged in a surprise attack by No. 252 Squadron on 14 May, during the build-up to the Battle of Crete. II./ZG 76 was allocated to Richthofen's Fliegerkorps VIII. On 22 May, two days into the battle, ZG 76 reported its first two losses in action over Suda Bay. A further crew was lost when the group attacked Motor Launch ML1011. The vessel was holed and one crewman killed. During the Crete operation a single staffel, 4./ZG 76, flew to Mosul, Iraq, to fight the Anglo-Iraqi War, but the venture was a failure. Among the crews that travelled was Martin Drewes who became a successful night fighter pilot. The aircraft wore Iraqi Air Force insignia. The campaign in Crete ended in a pyrrhic victory for the Germans because of the paratrooper and aircraft losses. Defence of the Reich In mid-1943 the Zerstörer wings experienced a brief revival. The Defence of the Reich (Reichsverteidigung—RLV) was now a priority theatre, despite the defeats on the Eastern Front and in North Africa. The RLM in Berlin decided there was merit in reforming the Bf 110 units for the firepower of