March 1941From November to Christmas 1940 the Luftwaffe continued to bomb London and many other cities other than London, attacking Southampton, Portsmouth, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol. But still the Luftwaffe frequently visited London after hours. After the year ended the weather turned for worst. And the night blitz halted. The cancellation of Sea Lion didn’t mean an end to Luftwaffe Operations over England so the Luftwaffe planned a two-prong attack to further the success of the U-boats destruction of British Convoys. The Luftwaffe planned to strike hard at the Ports such as Plymouth, Cardiff, Hull, and Swansea to disrupt allied shipping and hit hard at the British aircraft factories. During the two month hiatus on major bombing the RAF got caught up on Night fighter technologies. One plan was “Cat Eyes” Single seat interceptors flying at certain altitudes at a likely target. GCI was most effective; by March of 1941 GCI radar stations were all along the South and east coasts. Directing the new Hurricane Mk IIC fighters to the incoming night raids. The RAF had identified some of the pathfinder units and dispatched Intruder patrols of Hurricanes and Bostons to attack and harass their airfields in France and Holland. During March the Bombers began to feel the effects of GCI and the RAF was realizing the benefits. March brought the welcome change as RAF night fighters claimed 22 kills, compared to 17 of the AAA guns. In April, RAF night fighters shot down 48 bombers with 39 falling to the guns. Adding to the aircraft being shot down over Britain, the Night Intruders were racking up kills during their Night Harassment missions over France, catching the weary bomber pilots on their return to France. During May the night defenses accounted for 138 German bombers, 96 of them claimed by RAF night fighters. By this time Hitler was planning for the Invasion of Russia. And began to withdraw Luftwaffe bomber units to Poland for the Invasion. Britain’s first ordeal by the Night bomber came to an end.
Originally posted by 68Ripper 3 PM EST ??? I thought the snapshots were scheduled in the evening, that's afternoon, noon on west coast, most of us have jobs and are at work. Doubt you'll get many at that time of day.
Originally posted by Lusche There are players in other parts of the world who are not able to stay awake till the early morning. You have your wednesday snapshot, we have the thursday one. Which runs at 9 pm in my time zone