The British Bombing of Germany in WW2 Development of Tactics and Technologies from Both Sides
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Manus från föredraget i historiegruppen av Keevin Siegel 20161122 The British bombing of Germany in WW2 development of tactics and technologies from both sides Background o Theory bomber predominance . Gurenica . Italy Ethopia . Bomber get trough theory . Cheap way winning war . Disrupt moral . Impact on Flygvapnet British early war experience o ½ shot down o Pushed off the continent o Circuses, limited to fighter range o Only way to fight back o Night bombing only possibility Freya Freya was first successfully used on December 18, 1939 when two stations detected an approaching daytime raid on Wilhelmshaven by 22 RAF Vickers Wellingtonbombers at a range of 113 km and guided fighter planes toward them via radio.[1]Only half of the Wellingtons returned to Britain undamaged, but the German fighters only reached the bomber after they had made their bombing run on ships in harbor. The performance of Freya left the Luftwaffe so impressed that by the Spring of 1940, eleven Freya stations were installed to guard Germany's western border After the Battle of Britain, RAF Bomber Command began night attacks against German cities. Although Bomber Command had reported good results from the raids, the Butt Report of 18 August 1941 showed only one bomb in ten hit the target, half the bombs fell on open country and in some cases the bombing was seen to fall as far as 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the target. which demonstrated only 5% of the bombs sent out on a mission landed within 5 mi (8.0 km) of their target. With these sorts of statistics, any sort of strategic campaign based on attacks against factories and similar targets was hopeless. This led to Frederick Lindemann's notorious "dehousing" paper, which called for the bomber efforts to be used against the houses of the German citizens in order to break their ability to work and will to resist. This became official policy of the RAF in 1942. Kammhuber Line The first version of the Line consisted of a series of radar stations with overlapping coverage, layered three deep from Denmark to the middle of France, each covering a zone about 32 km long (north-south) and 20 km wide (east-west). The Kammhuber Line consisted of three layers of zones of about 32 km long (north–south) and 20 km wide (east–west). In each zone there were two German night fighter aircraft receiving ground-directed guidance from their own Himmelbettcontroller within each zone. While the Himmelbett control center could only handle two fighters, this was adequate for dealing with the RAF Bomber Command tactic of sending its night time bombers individually, with each bomber plotting its own route to the target, to avoid flak concentrations. Each control centre was known as a Himmelbett (canopy bed) zone, consisting of a Freya radar with a range of about 100 km, a "master searchlight" directed by the radar, and a number of manually directed searchlights spread through the cell. Each cell was also assigned one primary and one backup night fighter. Later versions of the Himmelbett added two Würzburg radars, with a range of about 30 km. Unlike the early-warning Freya, Würzburgs were accurate (and complex) tracking radars. One was locked onto the night fighter as soon as it entered the cell and as soon as the Freya picked up a target the second Würzburg locked onto it. All position reports were sent to the Himmelbett control centre thereby allowing controllers in the Himmelbett centre to get continual readings of the positions of both planes. Freya devices turned out to be vulnerable to chaff, along with other countermeasures, which meant they could still be used for early warning but no longer for guiding fighter planes. British bombing raids could also be organized such that the Kammhuber Line could be overwhelmed in massed raids. 30/31 May 1942 when the first 1,000 bomber raidattacked Cologne, losing only four aircraft to German night fighters. To counter Freya, the British used equipment called 'Moonshine'. Carried by Boulton Paul Defiant aircraft of the Special Duties Flight (later No. 515 Squadron RAF), a single set retransmitted a portion of the Freya signal amplifying the apparent return. Eight planes with 'Moonshine' could mimic a force of 100 bombers.[3] A second countermeasures system, "Mandrel" was a noise jammer carried by aircraft of No. 100 Group RAF which overwhelmed the signals from Freya. Individual aircraft were sent to orbit fixed positions 50 miles (80 km) off the enemy coast. By using nine airplanes, a 200-mile (320 km) gap could be knocked into the German's radar coverage, while further jammers were carried in the bomber stream to counter the inlandFreya network.[4] Bomber Stream A typical bomber stream of 600 to 700 aircraft was on average 8 or 10 miles broad, and 4,000 to 6,000 feet deep. The earlier RAF tactic of sending bombers on individual routes meant that it could take four hours before all its planes would have passed over their target; the bomber stream reduced this window to 90 minutes first use of the bomber stream was the first 1,000 bomber raid against Cologne on the night of 30–31 May 1942. Luftwaffe Nightfighters Lichtenstein radar It was available in at least four major revisions, designated o FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C, o FuG 212 Lichtenstein C-1, o FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 o the very rarely used FuG 228 Lichtenstein SN-3. o (FuG is short for Funk-Gerät, German "radio set"). Matratze aerial Hirschgeweih (stag's antlers) antennas FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C It was not until 1942 that the Germans first started deploying the initial B/C low UHF-band version of the Lichtenstein radar, and at that time in extremely limited numbers, using a Matratze (mattress) antenna array, consisting of thirty-two dipole elements, mounted in four groups of eight, each at the forward end of one of four forward-projecting masts.. A race developed with the Germans attempting to introduce new sets and the British attempting to jam them, with the British holding the upper hand throughout. FuG 212 Lichtenstein C-1 During 1943 the Lichtenstein B/C was improved as the FuG 212 Lichtenstein C-1, with longer range and wider angle of view, still operating at UHF Frequencies between 420 and 480 MHz and still using the complex Matratze aerial set. By this point in the war, the British had become experts on jamming German radars. The Luftwaffe flightcrew of a B/C-equippedJu 88 R-1 night fighter, Werknummer 360 043, defected in April 1943 and landed in Scotland, presenting a working example of the German radar for the first time, with the aircraft itself, still in existence as of the 21st century, currently a museum exhibit in the UK. The subsequent refinement of 'Window' (known as Düppel by the Luftwaffe, from the Berlin suburb it was first found near) rendered Lichtenstein B/C almost useless for several crucial weeks. FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 o The low VHF-band SN-2 unit that replaced the C-1 remained relatively secure until July 1944, but only at the cost of using huge, eight-dipole element Hirschgeweih (stag's antlers) antennas that slowed their fighters as much as 25 mph, making them easy prey for British night fighters who had turned to the offensive role. The capture in July 1944 of a Ju 88G-1 night fighter of NJG 2 equipped with an SN-2 Lichtenstein set, flown by mistake into RAF Woodbridge, revealed the secrets of the later, longer-wavelength replacement for the earlier B/C and C-1 sets.[21] Serrate radar detector Serrate was an Allied radar detection and homing device, used in Allied nightfighters to track German night fightersequipped with the earlier UHF- band BC and C-1 versions of the Lichtenstein radar commenced operations over Germany in support of the Bomber Offensive from 14 June to 7 September 1943 The technique developed was for the RAF nightfighters to fly slowly off the bomber stream, mimicking the characteristics of a heavy bomber, until the rearward- facing Serrate(Monica) detector picked up the emissions from a Luftwaffe night fighter approaching. Schräge Musik Schräge Musik (or Schrägwaffen, as it was also called) was first used operationally during Operation Hydra (the first instance of the Allied bombing of Peenemünde) on the night of 17/18 August 1943. Adoption of Schräge Musik began in late 1943 and by 1944, a third of all German night fighters carried upward-firing guns. Wilde Sau Wilde Sau (German for wild boar) was the term given by the Luftwaffe to the tactic used from 1943 to 1944 during World War II by which British night bombers were engaged by single-seat day-fighter aircraft flying in the Defence of the Reich. It was adopted when the Allies had the advantage over German radar controlled interception. The fighters had to engage the British bombers freely as they were illuminated by searchlight batteries while also avoiding their own anti-aircraft fire. After some initial successes, rising losses and deteriorating weather conditions led to the abandonment of the tactic. o On the night of 3/4 July 1943, 653 Bomber Command aircraft attacked Cologne and the Wilde Sau squadrons took part in the defense of the city. The Luftwaffe shot down thirty British aircraft, of which twelve were shot down by Wilde Sau units British capture of a Junkers Ju 88 R-1 night fighter (Werknummer 360043) when its crew defected and flew to Scotland.[3] The aircraft carried the initial B/C form of the UHF- band Lichtenstein radar, so its existence was revealed to the Allies; subsequently, RAF Bomber Command began to use a new form of "Window" (or chaff): aluminium strips sized to jam the Lichtenstein B/C radar when dropped.