I have seen a lot of misconceptions about the air war in Europe being thrown about during the last few days. I myself have had a few. Fortunately, I was recently given a book which has helped clarify the picture;
TARGET BERLIN by Jeff Ethel and Alford Price.
Want to know what the numbers were and the units involved? Want to know how many planes from each side were engaged at one area at one time? If so, read on.
However, if you prefer just saying, “Side A had X number of planes and Side B had 4X number of planes so that’s why Side B won.” and being wrong, that’s fine too.
So here goes (see if I can condense a whole book into one post
)
On Monday 6 Mar 44 the 8th AF sent over 1600 planes to Berlin.
On Monday 6 Mar 44 the 8th AF sent over 1500 planes to Berlin.
The CombatantsAt this time, the 8th AF had availible 777 B-17’s (1st & 3rd Bomb Divisions), 305 B-24’s (2nd Bomb Division), 415 P-47’s (56th, 78th, 352nd, 353rd, 355th, 356th, 359th, and 361st FG’s), 130 P-38’s (20th, 55th, and 364th FG’s) and 109 P-51’s (4th, 354th, and 357th). The order of battle and attack for the 8th was this:
1st Bomb Division – Target VKF Ball Bearing Works, Erkner
1st Combat Wing- 59 B-17’s of the 91st and 383rd BG’s
94th Combat Wing- 57 B-17’s of the 351st, 401st and 457th BG’s
41st Combat Wing- 54 B-17’s of the 303rd BG, 379th BG and 384th BG’s
40th Combat Wing- 54 B-17’s of the 92nd and 306th BG’
Composite 40th–41st Combat Wings- 35 B-17’s of the 305th BG
1st BD Escorts (Numbers and RV points)
Penetration51 P-47’s of the 359th FG – RV near Dutch Coast
45 P-47’s of the 358th FG – RV near Dutch Coast
32 P-47’s of the 56th FG – RV near Lingen
36 P-47’s of the 78th FG – RV near Dummer Lake
Target25 P-51’s of the 4th FG – RV northeast of Brunswick
31 P-38’s of the 55th FG – Never made RV
Withdrawal32 P-47’s of the 355th FG – RV northwest of Hannover
37 P-47’s of the 361st FG – RV near German border
8 P-51’s of the 361st FG – RV near German border
3rd Bomb Division – Target Robert Bosch Electrical Works, Klein Machnow
4th Combat Wing (A & B Formations)- 73 B-17’s of the 94th, 385th and 447th BG’s
13th Combat Wing (A & B Formations)- 80 B-17’s of the 95th, 100th and 390th BG’s
45th Combat Wing (A & B Formations)- 81 B-17’s of the 96th, 388th and 452nd BG’s
Escorts for the 3rd BDPenetration16 P-47’s of the 365th FG (9th AF) – RV near Dutch coast
31 P-47’s of the 353rd FG – RV near Dummer Lake
Target 34 P-51’s of the 354th FG (9th AF on loan to the 8th) – RV near Magdeburg
23 P-38’s of the 20th FG – RV northwest of Berlin
Withdrawal32 P-47’s of the 78th FG – Failed to make RV
47 P-47’s of the 352nd FG – RV near Dummer Lake
2nd Bomb Division – Target Daimler Benz Aero Engine Works, Genshagen
2nd Combat Wing- 63 B-24’s of the 389th, 445th and 453rd BG’s
Composite 14th-96th Combat Wing- 64 B-24’s of the 44th, 392nd and 458th BG’s
20th Combat Wing- 76 B-24’s of the 93rd, 446th, and 448th BG’s
Escorts for the 2nd BDPenetration50 P-47’s of the 362nd FG (9th AF) – RV over Zuider Zee
34 P-47’s of the 56th FG – RV near Meppel
Target33 P-51’s of the 357th FG – RV northeast of Madgeburg
Withdrawal 32 P-38’s of the 364th FG – RV northwest of Berlin (I believe this was my grandfather’s first trip to Berlin)
42 P-38’s of the 356th FG – RV northwest of Hannover
General Withdrawel Support44 P-47’s of the 359th FG – RV near Dummer Lake (2nd flight of day)
49 P-47’s of the 358th FG (9th AF) – RV east of Zuider Zee (2nd flight of day)
42 P-47’s of the 362nd FG (9th AF) – RV over Zuider Zee (2nd flight of day)
26 Mustang II’s of Nos 19, 65 and 122 RAF – RV north of Hannover
Total Strengh of Striking Force - 702 B-17’s and B-24’s
- 832 P-38’s, 47’s and 51’s
Opposing them were:
Luftlotte 1JG 3 - Stab, I, II, & IV Gruppes (58 Me 109’s)
JG 301 – III Gruppe (21 Me 109’s)
JG 302 - Stab, I, & II Gruppen, Sturmstaffel 1 (17 Me 109’s, 7 Fw 190’s)
ZG 26 – I & II Gruppen (66 Me 110’s)
NJG 5 - Stab, I, II, III, IV, & V Gruppen, .10 Staffel (Mixed unit of 12 Me 109’s, 110’s, Ju 88’s, He 129’s)
Luftlotte 2JG 11 - Stab, I, II, & III Gruppen, .10 & .11 Staffels (35 Me 109’s, 18 FW 109’s)
JG 54 – III Gruppe (20 Me 109)
NJG 1 - III Gruppe & .10 Staffel (9 Me 110’s)
NJG 3 - Stab, I, II, III, & IV Gruppen (29 Me 110’s, 14 Ju 88’s, 6 Do 217’s)
NJG 7 – I Gruppe (10 Ju 88’s)
Luftlotte 3JG 1 - Stab, I, II, & III Gruppen (54 FW 190’s)
JG 300 - Stab, I & II Gruppen (12 Me 109’s, FW 190’s)
NJG 1 - Stab, I, II, & IV Gruppen (15 Me 110’s, 6 Do 217’s, 3 He 219’s)
NJG 2 - Stab, II, & III Gruppen (15 Ju 88’s, 7 Me 110’s)
Luftlotte 4JG 2 - Stab, II, & III Gruppen (24 Me 109’s, 19 FW 190’s)
JG 26 - Stab, I, II, & III Gruppen (41 FW 190’s, 32 Me 109’s)
NJG 1 – III Gruppe (12 Me 110’s)
NJG 4 - Stab, I & II (12 Me 110’s, 3 Do 217’s, 1 Ju 88)
Luftlotte 7JG 3 – III Gruppe (20 Me 109’s)
JG 5 – I Gruppe (20 Me 109’s)
JG 27 - I, II, III, & IV Gruppen (105 Me 109’s)
JG 53 – II Gruppe (15 Me 109’s)
JG 300 – III Gruppe (4 Me 109’s)
JG 301 - I & II Gruppen (26 Me 109’s)
ZG 1 – II Gruppe (26 Me 110’s)
ZG 76 - Stab, I, II, & III Gruppen (40 Me 110’s)
NJG 6 –I & II Gruppen (28 Me 110’s)
- Note: This list does not include Industrial Fighter units, Trials Detachments, Training units or Air Observation units.
This totaled for the LW 555 single-engined day fighters (Me 109’s and FW 190’s), 92 twin-engined day fighters (Me 110’s and Me 410’s), 88 single-engined night fighters (109’s and 190’s) and 260 twin-engined night fighters (110’s, Ju 88’s, Do 217’s and HS 219’s).
On 6 Mar 44, the LW sortied 200 FW 190’s, 236 Me 109’s, 75 Me 110’s, 9 Me 410’s, and 1 Ju 88. (Note – These numbers include second sorties)
The BattlesThe battle would take far too long for me to post. So I’ll just post one of the highlights:
- On the way in, the lead plane of the 13th Combat Wing/3rd Bomb Division got off path. This created a horizontal separation between the back and front halves of the bomber stream. It was met by 2nd Luftlotte and 39 Me 109’s and 68 FW 190’s of Stab and I, II, III/JG 11, III/JG 54, and I, II/JG 1. To make matters worse, because the 13th CW was supposed to be in the middle, there were only 8 P-47’s of the 56th FG (being lead by Hub Zemke) in any position to meet the Germans. Most of the 56th was up with the front half of the 2nd BD, the 78th was up with the 1st BD and the 353rd FG was behind with the 2nd BD. It was a perfect HO attack. The battle lasted 25 minutes and ran for about 75 miles. Most of the LW had 2 or 3 passes before more escorts could arrive to help. 20 B-17’s, 3 P-47’s and 19 LW were lost
I’ll add more as I get through the book. As you can see, it was not pure numbers that decided things. When Luftlotte 2 wiped out the 13th CW, the escorts were outnumbered 10 to 1. Plus, look at the places were the escorts meet up with the bombers. There was only one, maybe 2, FG’s to cover a whole bomb division at a time.
When fully assembled, the bomber stream for a large attack could be more than 90 miles long. Because they cruised somewhat faster than the bombers and had to zig-zag to maintain station on them, individual fighter groups could not cover the bombers for much more than 30 minutes at a time before fuel began to run low and they had to break away. As a result only a small proportion of the available escort fighters would be in position to cover bombers at any one time. On 6 Mar only rarely would there be more than 150 escorts in position; if these were distributed evenly along the length of the bomber stream there would be an average of only 3 fighters for every 2 miles of airspace. Such a split force would obviously have been ineffectual and easily overwhelmed by the enemy; so it was usual to position about a third of the fighters near the head of the bomber stream – that part most vulnerable to head-on attack – and distribute the remaining fighter in 8-aircraft units along the length of the stream. It was inevitable, therefore, that from time to time some of the combat wings would have no fighters covering them.
-
Target Berlin, pg. 14
The USAAF lost
50 B-17’s
19 B-24’s
5 P-51’s
4 P-47’s
2 P-38’s
The LW and flak units claimed 108 bombers and 20 fighters as kills. Roughly 2 to 1 overclaimed.
The LW lost
31 Me 109’s
19 Me 110’s
9 FW 190’s
7 Me 410’s
1 Ju 88
1 Arado 96
The USAAF gunners claimed 97 kills and the escort fighters claimed 82. Roughly 2.7 to 1 over claimed.
- Once again, 98% of this information comes from the book, TARGET BERLIN by Jeff Ethel and Alford Price.------------------
Col Dune
C.O.
352nd Fighter Group"The Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney" "Credo quia absurdum est." (I believe it because it is unreasonable)
- The motto of the Republic of Baja Arizona
[This message has been edited by Dune (edited 03-05-2001).]
[This message has been edited by Dune (edited 03-05-2001).]
