From Alfred Price: Focke Wulf Fw190 In Combat ISBN 0 7509 2548 5
Nice book, some good details but a little thin.
In May 1944 Leutnant Werner Gail joined III/Schlachtgeschwader 3 at Pardubitz, as the unit was in the process of converting from the Junkers Ju 87 dive-bomber to the Fw 190F. The conversion process was cut short, however, as a grave crisis erupted far to the east:
In June 1944 my unit was suddenly ordered to the Eastern Front. The massive steamroller of the Russian summer offensive had just begun its move westwards. Almost immediately the enemy broke through in several places and their armoured units were thrusting into our undefended rear areas.
Our task was to do all we could to delay the thrusts, to give German ground forces time to improvise defensive positions to stop the rush. Wherever there was a hole in the front, it was our job to try to plug it. Our Focke Wulfs were armed with two 13-mm machine-guns and two 20-mm cannon, which we used for strafing attacks. The bombs we used during these operations were mainly 250 and 500 kg 550 and 1,100 Ib and also SD-2, SD-4 and SD-10 bomblets carried in large numbers in containers. When we found enemy units moving forwards unopposed, as a matter of policy we concentrated our attacks on the soft-skinned supply vehicles; these were relatively easy to knock out with machine-gun and cannon fire and we knew that without frequent replenishment of fuel the tanks spearheading the advance would not get far. If the enemy armoured units were actually in contact with our ground forces, however, then the tanks themselves were our main target.
The normal force employed during these attacks was the four aircraft Schwarm, though against the larger enemy troop concentrations sometimes as many as twelve aircraft would be sent. Usually the fighter-bombers approached their targets at altitudes of around 1,800 m [6,000 ft], above the effective reach of the enemy light flak. However, if there was a layer of cloud, the aircraft would remain beneath it in order to maintain contact with the ground.
Against the enemy tanks and armoured vehicles we usually made skip bombing attacks, running in at speeds of around 485 k.m./h. [300 m.p.h.] at between 4 and 10 m [15 and 30 ft] above the ground and releasing the bomb just as the tank disappeared beneath our engine cowling. The 250 kg bombs used during these attacks would either skip off the ground and into the tank, or else smash straight into the tank; the bombs were fused with a one second delay, to give us time to get clear before they went off. It was a very accurate form of attack and we used it often against the tanks we caught in open country. Once we had released our bombs, we would use up our cannon and machine-gun ammunition against suitable targets round about.
During the initial phase of the Russian offensive Gail's Gruppe sometimes flew as many as seven or eight sorties per day. Since the enemy troops were never far from the airfield, these sorties lasted on average only about half an hour. The Red Air Force concentrated its attention against the German rear areas, and the German fighter-bombers were allowed to conduct their operations with little interference.
Only rarely did we come into contact with Russian fighters. I personally saw them on only two occasions and on neither did we lose an aircraft. Even so, the general view of the more experienced people on the Eastern Front was that in the summer of 1944 the Russian fighters were much more active than they had been during previous years.
The sheath of armour protecting the Fw 190F pilot from rounds coming from ahead, below and from the sides, proved very effective against small calibre rounds. Nothing could stop a hit from a heavier calibre anti-aircraft weapon, however.Sometimes we caught Russian units that had outrun their flak cover and then we could do a lot of damage and suffer hardly any losses ourselves. But if the enemy units had proper flak cover, our losses were sometimes heavy.
[This message has been edited by danish (edited 02-13-2001).]
