Sonderkommando Blaich was a German unit consisting of a Heinkel He 111H medium bomber supported by an Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.82 transport aircraft and a Messerschmitt Bf 108B. In January 1942 the Heinkel raided the Free French–controlled Fort Lamy 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.