JG 1 was posted to the Eastern Front in January 1945, near Danzig, on Army Group North's sector. The move began on 14 January which demonstrative of the dire situation the Luftwaffe faced as the German armies in the Ardennes were subjected to heavy aerial bombardment. "Major" Günter Capito relieved of command the same day, "Oberleutnant" Emil Demuth replaced him and "Major" Werner Zober succeeded him on 12 April. The Red Army East Prussian Offensive made rapid progress with the Vistula–Oder Offensive. JG 1 was evacuated from the Heiligenbeil Pocket on 2 February. The retreat had to be done so quickly, ground personnel were left behind. Some units ordered the first aid kits and radios removed from all their Fw 190s to allow them into the fuselage to escape with the airmen. The wing retreated to Danzig by mid-February 1945. Before it began to convert on the jet fighters, I "Gruppe" was mainly involved in convoy escort and ground-attack operations in support of the Kriegsmarine's Operation Hannibal.