Hi,

I'm a bit confused by the nomenclature of German 2 seater units. What was the difference between Kagohls, Bogohls, Kastas, Schlasta, FAAs etc? Would an individual 2 seater unit perform a multitude of roles such as recon, artillery spotting, bombing etc. or were they dedicated to a particular task? Also could someone point me to a definitive order of battle of these units, either in print or online?

TIA

well, I think schlacten is something like butcher or destroy in German and then if you append the word staffel or staffeln you would have what would ammount to an attack squadron. I'm thinking that these units would be geared more towards low-altitude infantry support and attack missions... doing some contact work, but there would be much less emphasis on recon work and photography. I'm not sure what the Kagohl is but I'm guessing the Ka would be an abbreviation of Kampf which you could throw onto the Kasta as yet another variation of two-seater attack. the differences would probably be superficial in some circumstances but to my knowledge the only aircraft to populate the Bogohls and Kagohls were usually Gothas... Bo is probably just an abbreviation for bomber or some such comparable word in German. If you know any German at all, and I know precious little of it, some of these names will explain themselves. I'm pretty sure that either one of the Boghols or the Kaghols was simply dedicated to the purpose of bombing England.

Hi Paul!
Jarrod is right. Kagohl means "Kampfgeschwader der Obersten Heeresleitung" and Bogohl "Bombengeschwader der Obersten Heeresleitung". The Comander in chief of the Imperial German Army (Heer,Luftstreitkräfte, Marine)and the Generalquartiermeister (Chief of staff) constitutes the Oberste Heeresleitung OHL.This was the german High Comand during WW1. From 1916 up to the end of the war Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg and Generaloberst Erich Ludendorff were the unimpeachable Leaders of all german armed forces. The Kagohls and Bogohls were not attached to a front or army, they were placed at OHL special disposal, for example to bomb London.

Hope that helps, Immo

Schusta = protection flights 1917
changed to Schlasta = battle flights close support 1918

Kaghol =Kampfgeschwader bombing units (Kasta = Staffels withing KG units)
Boghol =bombengeschwader bombing wings (bosta =Staffels within BG units)

FA =recon
FA A = A designation was for artillery observation

Most of the above units had only 6 planes. The FA A had 9.

I wish I knew of one good source for all their unit histories as well.

In the first time of the war a difference was made between a Feld-Flieger-Abteilung (FFA, mobil on the front) and a Festungs (=fortress) -Flieger-Abteilung was made. The Festungs-Flieger were aviation units based in a fortress like Thorn. Early in the war the Festungs-Flieger-Abteilungen were changed into Feld-Flieger-Abteilungen.

Be aware of the fact that for example FFA 1 and FA 1 are different units because the names and the numbers of the German units were changed in the war. Even the Grub Street books write sometimes unjustified FA instead of FFA what can be very misleading in some cases!

In the same vein as the original message in this thread, I am looking for an order-of-battle for these units, primarily on the Western Front. Can anyone advise if there is such a list or a book with this information??