Sonderkommando Blaich
| The Western Desert campaign | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of North African Campaign | |||||||
Example of a Heinkel He 111H dropping bombs during the Battle of Britain in 1940 | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Germany Italy | Free French Forces | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Theo Blaich | Philippe Leclerc | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Fliegerführer Afrika | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 3 aircraft | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | 80,000 imp gal (360,000 L; 96,000 US gal) fuel destroyed | ||||||
Sonderkommando Blaich (Special Command Blaich) was a German unit consisting of a Heinkel He 111H medium bomber supported by an Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.82 (Marsupiale) transport aircraft and a Messerschmitt Bf 108B (Taifun). In January 1942 the Heinkel raided the Free French–controlled Fort Lamy (now N'Djamena) in the Chad region of French Equatorial Africa. The raid against a target 1,250 mi (2,010 km) from Axis bases in North Africa was a success but on its return flight the Heinkel ran out of fuel and had to make an emergency landing; the crew and aircraft were rescued a week later.