and Kupiansk. In June 1942, command positions in I. Gruppe changed. On 13 June, Leesmann was transferred passing command of the Gruppe to Hauptmann Helmut Bennemann. When Göbel, the commander of 2. Staffel, was killed in action on 25 June, command was briefly given to Leutnant Karl Rung until Hauptmann Johannes Wiese took command two days later. When on 10 May 1943, Bennemann was severely wounded by the explosion of an incendiary bomb at Charkow-Woitschenko Airfield, Wiese was tasked with leading I. Gruppe. At first, Wiese commanded both 2. Staffel and I. Gruppe until on 1 July, Dähne was given temporary leadership of the Staffel. In preparation for Operation Citadel, I. Gruppe was moved to Bessonovka, a makeshift airfield located approximately on 4 July. Three days later, an aerial victory claimed by Dähne was counted as 800th aerial victory by I. Gruppe and the 6,000th of JG 52 overall. By 5 October, the injuries sustained by Bennemann on 10 May proved so severe that Wiese was officially given command of the Gruppe. Dähne was officially appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 2. Staffel of JG 52 on 13 November 1943. On 6 April 1944, Dähne was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (). Defense of the Reich In early June 1944, 2. Staffel was withdrawn from the Eastern Front and transferred west to fight in Defense of the Reich. The Staffel was subordinated to III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 11 (JG 11—11th Fighter Wing) led by Hauptmann Horst-Günther von Fassong. There, the Staffel was then redesignated and became the 12. Staffel of JG 11. When on 22 June Soviet forces launched Operation Bagration, III. Gruppe was ordered to relocate to the Eastern Front where it was to be deployed in the combat area of Minsk and fought in the Minsk Offensive. The Gruppe flew its last combat missions on the Eastern Front on 1 September. During its ten-week tenure in the east, III. Gruppe pilots claimed approximately 125 aerial victories, including six by Dähne, for the loss of twelve pilots killed or missing and further eleven injured or wounded in combat. The Gruppe then moved to an airfield at Riesa-Leutewitz for a brief period of rest and replenishment. On 17 September 1944 Allied forces launched Operation Market Garden, the operation to cross the Rhine at Arnhem. The following day, III. Gruppe was ordered to Achmer Airfiled to support the German