Joachim Helbig

Oberst Joachim Helbig (10 September 1915 – 5 October 1985) was an officer and pilot in the German Luftwaffe bomber arm during World War II. He was credited with the destruction of 182,000 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping accomplished in 480 missions during World War II.

Joachim Helbig was born in 1915 and joined the Luftwaffe in 1936. At the outbreak of World War II he served as an observer in Lehrgeschwader 1 (LG 1) and participated in the invasion of Poland. He saw further action in the Norwegian Campaign and the Battles of the Netherlands, Belgium and France. For his contribution and military success in these campaigns Helbig received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 9 November 1940. He was then transferred to the Mediterranean theater of operations where he operated against Malta, the British Mediterranean Fleet and in support of the Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK). Helbig became the 20th recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern) on 28 September 1942 for the support of Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel's 1942 summer offensive and the sinking of 182,000 GRT of enemy shipping.

Initially Helbig was banned from further combat flying and became an inspector on the staff of the General der Kampfflieger, the senior officer responsible for the Luftwaffe's bomber force. In August 1943 he was made Geschwaderkommodore of Lehrgeschwader 1 operating against the Allied invasion forces in Italy. In the last weeks of the war in Europe, Helbig commanded a combat unit on the Eastern Front consisting of elements of Lehrgeschwader 1 and Kampfgeschwader 200 (KG 200). After the war he worked as a manager for a brewery in Berlin. Joachim Helbing died in Malente on 5 October 1985 following a car accident on vacation in Spain.