SIXTY FORTRESSES LOST

Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22790, 14 January 1944, Page 5

SIXTY FORTRESSES LOST

Greatest Air Battle Of The War

Daylight Attack On Germany

Plane Assembly Plants Crippled

By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright (Rec. G. 30 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 12. Sixty United States bombers and five fighters were lost in operations over Germany in daylight yesterday, says the aviation correspondent of the "Evening News.” The German communique to-day claims that 136 raiders were shot down. A German military spokesman described the engagement as the greatest air battle of the war.

The correspondent of the “Evening Standard” with the United States Air Force states that preliminary reports from United States Army Air Force fighter stations indicate that when the total number of enemy casualties is assessed it will reach a new high record for daylight battles in the air over Europe. Several groups report that the German losses,, were four to one American. It is probable that the American losses will be high because the Germans put up the strongest opposition for several weeks. The correspondent says he understands that the heavy bombers were not escorted for part of the trip, but that swarms of Lightnings and Thunderbolts, also a new model of the Mustang, accompanied the bomber groups most of the way, and that R.A.F. and Allied fighters covered them during the withdrawal. One formation of Thunderbolts reported that, without loss to itself, it shot down 12 German planes. Whatever the American losses were, they achieved one important object—they tempted German fighter strength into the air, forcing them to fight for nearly fopr hours. The Germans had every type of plane protecting the

Fighter Umbrella The German News Agency states that a massed Allied fighter umbrella which accompanied the American bombers nailed down a considerable proportion of the German fighter strength. “We used new defence tactics,” says the Agency. “The alarm was given to a chain of defence stations after the first Americans crossed the German observation posts. The defences, thus passed from hand to hand, succeeded in breaking up the enemy attacks, thereby preventing heavy concentration against the targets.” A communique states: “Formations totalling more than 700 Flying Fortresses and Liberators, escorted oy Thunderbolts, Lightnings and longrange fighters, attacked important fighter assembly plants in Germany with excellent results. At Echersleben direct strikes were observed on machine shops and other factory Installations that are manufacturing Focke Wulf 190's. At Halderstadt a Junkers 88 component plant was heavily hit. At Brunswick two of the three main assembly buildings producing Messerschmitt 110’s were destroyed, and the third was badly damaged. Other targets were hit with good results. The opposition was strong. There were many aerial combats.” American Methods The method used in daylight bombing by Flying Fortresses of the United States Army Air Force was recently released in Britain. The success of these raids lies in the holding of formation in the face of all attacks. How formidable is the defensive . fire from the formations is shown by the losses Inflicted on German fighters. ■ There has been no standardisation of tactics, and experiments, based on battle experience, have been carried out by group commanders. The basic unit is the squadron of seven machines. There are two V formations of three aircraft each stepped down to the left. The second V flies below and behind the first. The seventh machine, whose function is to fill the gap caused by another aeroplane leaving the formation, flies below and behind the second V.

For heavy raids three squadrons are combined as a formation numbering 21 bombers. The “Lead” and the “Lo” squadrons follow the principle outlined above, but the “Hi” squadron is stepped upwards to the left. Generally the “Lo” ahd “Hi” squadrons fly on the left and right of the lead respectively, with the “Lead” slightly ahead of the others. On occasions, this system has been reversed to upset the tactics of defending fighters. There is sometimes as much as 1900 feet between , the levels, so that each gunner can direct his fire to the greatest advantage and with the least danger to other aircraft.

No Blind Spots on Fortress Waves of bombers are made up of a number of such groups with the leading aeroplane of the first squadron acting as the pivot of the whole attack. On the actions of this aircraft depend the whole success of the operation.

In one method of attack used by the Germans against such formations between 39 and '49 fighters formed up in line astern on both flanks just out of range of the gunners. Flying in the same direction as the Fortresses, the fighter pilots carefully timed their attack. They turned and attacked the bombers diagonally from the front. They opened fire at 490 yards, rolled, still firing, and broke off below the Fortresses, exposing only their armoured -undersides to the gunners. When the fighters from the left had completed their attack another- line from the right repeated the process, so that the bombers were constantly engaged. Pilots estimated that 79 per cent of the attacks were made in this fashion. ■ The Americans showed that there are no blind spots on the Fortress. In a raid, a formation of bombers carry an average of 121 .59 machine-guns an ■ aeroplane, which can be manned simultaneously by the usual crew of 19. One Fortress alone has a . total of 3609 muzzle horse-power. This figure gives an impression of the volume of fire of a formation. The actual weight of armament and ammunition represents 1 or 8 per cent of the total, weight of the machine.

Fighter Escort all the Way United States European Headquarters states that United States Army Air Force fighters escorting bombers flew farther into Germany yesterday than on any previous mission, shepherding them over targets in North-west Germany. They knocked out 28 enemy planes. One group of long-distance fighters without loss destroyed 14 enemy planes and damaged more than 29. This group has now raised its score to 32 planes destroyed without loss in three missions. The group flew more than 499 miles to the target, then engaged rocket-firing enemy planes in violent combat while the bombers were dropping explosives. The heaviest cost of a daylight attack was the loss of 60 bombers in the raid against Schweinfurt ball-bearing works on October 14. 1943. Other heavy bomber losses were 59 against Schweinfurt and Regensburg on August 17, 1943 and 45 against Stuttgart on September 6, 1943. The highest total of German fighters shot down in an American raid was 397 in the Schfeinfurt-Regensburg attack on August 17. The correspondent of the British United Press at the United States Army Air Force bomber base says yesterday’s great air battle over Germany seemed like a great naval engagement to the men engaged in it. German fighters flying in line abreast against bomber formations fired broadsides of rocket shells. The Germans even used ."destroyer" smoke screens. Some crews admitted that they never expected to return home when the German attacks were fully developed. German Pilot’s Statement A Luftwaffe pilot. Lieutenant Westmann, in a broadcast over the Berlin

radio, said: “The Allied air offensive is a veritable steamroller rolling over us day and night. Our pilots are undergoing' the same experience as the German infantry in 1917 when the first British tanks appeared. The German air defence in the last 12 months has undergone the hardest test. We have had to develop a new system of elastic defence. Our pilots have to wait to the very last minute for the leader to decide whether it will pay better to go against the enemy fighters or against the bombers."

“The huge air battle over Germany yesterday inflicted one of the hardest blows yet struck against the German air force at a cost of approximately 5 per cent of the American planes,” said General H. H. Arnold. Commander-in-Chief of the Unite?. States Army Air Force. He added that three important fighter plane factories were smashed and nroduction wiped out altogether for months.