Formation of the 92nd BG during a raid on September 11, 1944 minutes before they were attacked by JG 300 led by Walther Dahl.

Photo: Museum of Air Battle Over the Ore Mountains Archives

red by both sides. 8th AF lost 46 bombers and 25 fighters. RLV lost 110

out of 305 attacking fighters i.e. 36% loss ratio. 60 pilots were killed,

25 survived with injuries. On September 12 the 8th AF attacked again,

the outcome for RLV was even worse. 147 fighters entered combat, 76

were shot down, 42 pilots killed i.e. 52% loss ratio! On September 13

15th AF arrived at the scene raiding plants in Odertal (Oder valley)

and Blechhammer (Blachownia Śląska) in Silesia. It comes as a surprise that RLV still managed to throw 137 fighters into combat, 63 of

them got close enough to attack the enemy formation. In the middle

of October the German fuel supplies have reached the lowest level

since the beginning of war. On August 1 the Warsaw Uprising started.

On September 17 the operation Market Garden commenced which calmed down the situation above Germany a little bit. 8th AF operated

above the Dutch combat area and together with 15th AF conducted

the supply flights in Warsaw area and smaller scale operations above

the central Germany.

advanced and sophisticated Jagdschloss system appeared and in general the system of the search and vector radars was being developed

and expanded. The radars with short range Wurzburg A, C and D were

being developed with effective range 40 km. In the system of monitoring the combat situation, night fighter and anti-aircraft artillery

vectoring, the radio communication interception and passive monitoring of H2X airborne radars transmission played the important role.

This translated into the higher efficiency of both the night fighters

deployment and anti-aircraft artillery which, as the war progressed,

played more important role and losses it inflicted on the attacking

bombers were heavier than those caused by fighters. The single-engine fighters hanging out in the airspace without radar presented more

of the burden to the system than the benefit. The concept of such

deployment visioned by Hajo Hermann in 1944 was no longer feasible.

It did not mean though these fighters could not be useful. As opposed

to the heavy twin-engine fighters they possessed one valuable advantage - the speed.

Night operations Wilde Sau in 1944

Let‘s take advantage of the relative combat inactivity and talk about the night operations Wilde

Sau. They did not cease even though their restrictions and transfer of the Wilde Sau fighters to the

day operations were caused by different factors,

besides the arrival of USAAF arrival in the theater. Among others it was strengthening the night

fighter units equipped with twin-engine aircraft

featuring the airborne radar and improvement of

their armament and other equipment. The technical conditions of the ground radar network have

improved as well. New devices, such as Mammut,

have arrived with the effective range 300km,

Freya went through the modernization, the very

Feldwebel Konrad ‘Pitt’ Bauer and his Fw 190A-8

‘Kornjark’ with the fuselage „Red 3“ and W.Nr.

171 641 of 5.(Sturm)/JG 300. Reportedly,

he was shot down seven times, but destroyed

57 enemy aircraft, 32 of which were reported

as four engined heavy bombers. Today, some

forty of his kills have been documented.

For his success, he was awarded the Knight’s

Cross, and nominated for the Oak Leaf.

INFO Eduard - July 2021

eduard

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