the luftwaffe had to compensate for the axis artillery limitations. a powerful air armada was brought together. under the 8th air corps, von richthofen assembled six "kampfgruppen" (bomber groups) originating from six different "kampfgeschwader" (bomber wings): kg 51 "edelweiß", kg 76, kg 100, and iii."gruppe"/lg 1 specialist training wing. dive-bomber support from stg 77 was also given to richthofen. he could call upon three "gruppen" of ju 87s. "jagdgeschwader" (fighter wings) jg 3 "udet" and jg 77 "herz as" were available for air superiority operations. ii."gruppe"/kg 26 "löwe" was also available for anti-shipping operations, in addition to the air-land effort carried out by the 8th air corps.