 Complete the following phrase:  In early June I. and III.JG 77 were deployed to Romania and subordinated to IV. Fliegerkorps under the command of Kurt Pflugbeil. The battle group was designated as close air support to Army Group South. On 22 June 1941 the German Wehrmacht commenced Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Freytag achieved steady success. He reported his 10th claim on 12 August 1941 and his 20th victory on 31 October 1941. This day he downed a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 in the morning during a combat air patrol to support German forces in the Battle of Rostov. Aleksandr Grosul and Ivan Voytenko of the 55 IAP were reported missing in action. On 23 March 1942, Freytag engaged and shot down a Yakovlev Yak-1. The Staffel engaged three Yak-1s from the 247 IAP this day, piloted by Major Mikhail Fedoseyev, the unit commander, Stepan Karnach, Vasiliy Shevchuk and Viktor Golovko. Fedoseyev was killed while Shevchuk was shot down and force-landed. One of the Yak fighters became Freytags 26th victory. II.JG 77 also took a heavy toll of Soviet air forces in the Siege of Odessa, before Freytags group was withdrawn to Kherson. In the autumn, 1941, JG 77 was heavily involved in operations over the Crimea. In December the Red Army made an 