Luftwaffe railroad nightfighting trains
 

Hello gents,
about ten railroad night fighting trains operated on the eastern front, I´m interested if anyone of these was attacked by air or partizans?
Did the Luftwaffe use them elsewhere i.e. on the western front, when the Germans retreated in August-September 1944 or in Italy?

Regards

Re: Luftwaffe railroad nightfighting trains
 

There is a thread on the AHF that deals with these radar equipped trains. You might be able to find some information there...
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=53175

And a webpage dealing with the units...
http://www.gyges.dk/Ln%20zbV%202.htm

Re: Luftwaffe railroad nightfighting trains
 

Hi Hucks,
thank you well for the links. It seems, that the trains were well disguised and heavily armed. No hint if anyone of them was damaged or destroyed...

Re: Luftwaffe railroad nightfighting trains
 

Well, actually there is. There is a great deal of daily material about them in the signals intelligence intercepts beginning with spring 1942 when they were first being set up around Rennes, France. British intelligence was very interested in them and, lucky for them, the trains relied heavily on radio communications because they usually did not have access to landline field cable connections. Hence, buckets and buckets of intercepts. And I do recall seeing a few about derailments and attacks by partisans on the central sector of the Eastern Front. More that several Giant Wurzburg(s) and Freya(s) were damaged in these attacks and a few personnel killed or wounded.

I don't think you would have to scan your way through some 280,000 pages of intercepts because the Air Ministry Intelligence Directorate did do several special studies on these trains that were based on the intercepts. Perhaps someone here can help you locate these special studies or tell you where to find them at BNA Kew.

L.

Re: Luftwaffe railroad nightfighting trains
 

Thank you Larry,
I thought about the possibility of ULTRA, but knowing that there is material makes things much easier. Thanks for that!