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Re: Wilde Sau with twin engined fighters.
I don't know how detailed your KTB of the XII Flieger Korps is, SES, but the I JK diary (translated to English) for the period 15 -30 Sept 43, noted the following:
"During the dark nights the enemy conducted large-scale raids on Hannover, Darmstadt, and Mannheim, as well as on Bochum and Recklinghausen. The tinfoil strips the enemy dropped during these raids interfered considerably with the spotting and recognition service as well as with the Himmelbett tactics. The approach route of the bomber stream could generally be determined only after observation a/c were scrambled. The increasing numbers of enemy long-range night fighter escorts caused losses among our twin-engined night fighters. Success was achieved by single- and twin-engined night fighters employing objective pursuit tactics. Because few night fighters were equipped with on-board radar the hunt or pursuit night fighting tactics could be employed only to a limited extent."
IJK commitment on the various nights:
2. Night actions between 15 Sept. and 23 Sept. 1943.
1JD: against single a/c, using Himmelbett tactics: 10 2-engined a/c.
2JD: against courier a/c to Sweden, with radar-equipped a/c: 2 1-engined a/c.
3JD: defence against Mosquito attacks on Berlin, with Himmelbett tactics in the area north of Berlin: 28 2-engined a/c
3. RAF raid on Hannover, 22/23 Sept. 43
1JD: Himmelbett between 20:39 and 20:54: 6 2-engined a/c. Pursuit ops from Holland between 21:32 and 00:37: 11 2-engined a/c.
2JD: Himmelbett between 21:01 and 01:10: 7 2-engined a/c.
1JD, 2JD, and 3JD: Objective pursuit in Hannover/Braunschweig area: 197 2-engined a/c.
4. RAF raid on Mannheim and Darmstadt, 23/24 Sept. 43.
1JD: Himmelbett between 21:25 and 01:10: 28 2-engined a/c. Pursuit ops from Holland between 21:24 and 00:30: 7 2-engined a/c.
1JD, 2JD, and 3JD: Objective night fighter tactics in Mannheim/Darmstadt area: 21:16 and 03:25: 186 2-engined a/c.
5. Night actions between 24 Sept. and 1 Oct. 43.
1JD: Himmelbett against Mosquitos in Ruhr area: 1 2-engined a/c.
2JD: Himmelbett against mining in Schlesweig-Holstein area: 7 2-engined a/c.
In these ca. 2 weeks, a total of 18 sorties were shown as being Tame sow, while all the others were either Wild sow or Himmelbett. So, yes, it would appear that a massive effort was made in the Wild sow area because, as I said in my initial note, the Luftwaffe had no other choice.
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