20th+

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Artillery

24-8-9 Artillery: Mortars vs Howitzers - gtbt > .

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Defence of the Reich - Reichsverteidigung

Operation Biting - Raid on Bruneval - tnh > .

Atlantic Wall: Nazi Defence of Europe - Mega > .

The Defence of the Reich (Reichsverteidigung) is the name given to the strategic defensive aerial campaign fought by the Luftwaffe over German-occupied Europe and Nazi Germany during World War II. Its aim was to prevent the destruction of German civilians, military and civil industries by the Western Allies. The day and night air battles over Germany during the war involved thousands of aircraft, units and aerial engagements to counter the Allied strategic bombing campaign. The campaign was one of the longest in the history of aerial warfare and with the Battle of the Atlantic and the Allied Blockade of Germany was the longest of the war. The Luftwaffe fighter force defended the airspace of German-occupied territory against attack, first by RAF Bomber Command and then against the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF).

In the early years, the Luftwaffe was able to inflict a string of defeats on Allied strategic air forces. In 1939, Bomber Command was forced to operate at night, due to the extent of losses of unescorted heavy bombers flying in daylight. In 1943, the USAAF suffered several reverses in daylight and called off the offensive over Germany in October. The British built up their bomber force and introduced navigational aids and tactics such as the bomber stream that enabled them to mount larger and larger attacks with an acceptable loss rate. However, the USAAF introduced the P-51 Mustang, a fighter capable of escorting the USAAF bombers to and from their targets in daylight. With new fighter tactics, the Eighth Air Force gained air supremacy over Nazi Germany by the spring of 1944 against the Luftwaffe.
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From January 1942 to April 1943, German arms industry grew by an average of 5.5% monthly, and by summer 1943, the systematic attack against German industry by Allied bombers, brought the overall armament production — during the period of May 1943 to March 1944 — to a complete halt. At the ministerial meeting in January 1945, Albert Speer noted that, since the intensification of the bombing began, 35 percent fewer tanks, 31 percent fewer aircraft and 42 percent fewer lorries were produced as planned and as a direct result of the bombing. The German economy had to switch vast amount of resources away from equipment for the fighting fronts and assign them instead to combat the bombing threat. The intensification of night bombing by the RAF and daylight attacks by the USAAF added to the destruction of a major part of the German's industries and cities, which caused the economy to collapse in the winter of 1944–45. By this time, the Allied armies had reached the German border and the strategic campaign became fused with the tactical battles over the front. The air campaign continued until April 1945, when the last strategic bombing missions were flown and it ended upon the capitulation of Germany on 8 May.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_of_the_Reich .
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Kammhuber Line ..
Kammbuber Line & German Radar > .

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Intruder history:

German air doctrine had seen little need for the development of an nocturnal night air defence system and the Luftwaffe concentrated on the offensive use of air power. However, the failure of the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain in 1940 ended hopes for an early victory and forced the continuance of hostilities with the British Empire. Faced with German domination of the continent, the only weapon the British could use to exert immediate military pressure on Germany was the night bombing operations of RAF Bomber Command.

Boundary map drawn up by the Luftwaffe in 1940. It remained unchanged for the duration of the war. Intruders were to patrol the areas.

Bomber Command had been forced to operate at night since December 1939 and the Battle of the Heligoland Bight when debilitating losses in daylight forced the RAF to abandon these operations. These raids, though inaccurate and wholly ineffective, were causing embarrassment to the Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe and the second most powerful man in Germany, Reichsmarschall (Imperial Marshal) Hermann Göring, who had once boasted "You may call me Meyer" if enemy bombers ever flew over Germany. He ordered the creation a new force set up on 26 June 1940, to combat the night raids.

Göring appointed a respected and experienced pilot, Geschwaderkommodore (Wing Commander) Wolfgang Falck to develop a new organisation and consequently Falck founded Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (Night Fighter Wing 1 or NJG 1). Within a year four more Geschwader (Wings) were founded; Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 (NJG 2), NJG 3 (NJG 3), and NJG 4 (NJG 4). All of these units were in existence by April 1941.[13] In order to improve the management of the expanding night fighter force, the Erste Nachtjagd Division (1st Night Fighter Division) was established on 17 July 1940, commanded by Oberst (Colonel) Josef Kammhuber. An aggressive commander, Kammhuber founded the Fernnachtjagd, or long-range night fighter intruder force. The nucleus of this force was derived from I./NJG 2 which would remain the only intruder unit.

The Germans quickly developed a series of basic tactics for intercepting enemy intruders. The lack of airborne radar at this stage in the war meant finding and destroying Allied bombers at night was a difficult prospect, thus it was decided to use the Fernnachtjagd in operations over Britain. Major Kuhlmann, head of the wireless telegraphy interception service played a significant part in assisting the Luftwaffe night fighter force as did Wolfgang Martini's Luftnachrichtentruppe (Air Signal Corps). Intercepting British signal communications by monitoring the radio traffic of enemy ground stations and aircraft the Germans could determine where and at what airfields RAF night activity was occurring. With the British base identified Falck could then move against them over their own airfields. Three waves could then be deployed; one to attack the bombers as they took off, one to cover the known routes taken by the enemy over the North Sea, and the third to attack them on landing at a time when, after a long flight, enemy crews were tired and much less alert. For operational purposes, Eastern England was divided into four regions or Räume (areas). Raum A was Yorkshire, bounded by Hull, Leeds, Lancaster and Newcastle. Raum B covered the Midlands and Lincolnshire whilst Raum C encompassed East Anglia bounded by London Peterborough, Luton and The Wash. Operations began in earnest in October 1940.

While sound in theory, it proved much more difficult in practice. Inexperience told and by December 1940 NGJ 2 had lost 32 aircrew killed in action and 12 aircraft lost in exchange for 18 RAF aircraft claimed shot down. Despite the claims made by German crews, evidence showed a considerable amount of over claiming, and the difficulty in substantiating claims at night and over enemy territory became evident.

In 1941, the German night fighter intruders began achieving substantial successes. British ground defences, which had taken their toll on the German units in 1940, were now side-stepped by a decision to shift the area of operations to the North Sea, by the English coast. In June German night fighter units claimed 22 RAF aircraft; 18 over the sea. In July 19 British aircraft were claimed for four losses. By October 1941 British loss records listed 54 aircraft of all types destroyed and a further 44 damaged in these operations to all causes. German losses amounted to 27 destroyed and 31 damaged to all causes.

While the number of losses incurred against German night fighters was not significantly large the psychological damage was substantial. A high number of crashes owed much to nervous British bomber pilots who did not feel safe over their own airfields and consequently landed too hard and fast or refused to go around a second time for fear of enemy intruders. Just as it appeared night intruder sorties were showing promise Adolf Hitler ordered a cessation of operations. For propaganda purposes, he thought that the morale of the German people would be better served by seeing British bombers destroyed and wrecked over German territory. Hitler was also reticent owing the fact there had been no noticeable reduction in British air raids and the RAF had not adopted these methods during The Blitz. This order came into effect on 12 October 1941. Kammhuber would unsuccessfully lobby to have intruder operations reinstated and his efforts to expand the intruder force beyond a single unit were thwarted by an uninterested High Command which was inundated with requests for reinforcements in other theatres.

German Defense from Norway to Greece > .

Defence of the Reich - Reichsverteidigung ..

German defences ..

Atlantikwall

Atlantikwall ..
Atlantikwall - Channel Islands ..

Ostwall

Ostwall ..

Westwall

Siegfried Line (1939) - Germany's Western Defences ..

Pages

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Coastal Defence

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Defence of the Reich - Reichsverteidigung

Defending Against Sealion

Defences - structures

Defence, Emergency, Medical, Rescue

sī vīs pācem, parā bellum