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Old 13th February 2010, 02:36
Larry deZeng Larry deZeng is online now
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Re: Using Ultra to research the Luftwaffe

Quote:
I also find it amusing that a run of decrypts for some units occur when they are having little operational success (like not flying on operations or not meeting the enemy), but abruptly end, sometimes on the very day, when they see major combat!
Now that's spooky, Rod! The common thread that I usually found was ULTRA's silence when the front was quiet in an established area. As soon as the front in that area was disrupted by heavy Allied bombing or by a ground offensive, ULTRA would come alive due to the interruption or destruction of landline connections that forced units to fall back on their radios. ULTRA was always at its best during theater-scale offensives and retreats and in areas without landline infrastructure.

Re your Nachtjagd conundrum, part of the explanation lies with the comprehensive establishment of RV (Richtverbindungs-; not recreation vehicle ) networks throughout Germany by summer 1944. This gave the Germans a fallback communications system so they didn't have to resort to their radios. For example, just in the Frankfurt-Darmstadt area in October 1944 there were RV-Stellen at Erbenkopf, Feldberg, Montabauer, Hohe Wurzel, Bierstadt, Darmstadt, Limburg and Dulag Oberursel. These were operated by 3- and 4-man crews from Ln.-RV-Abt. z.b.V. 11 (mot). Perhaps those two Gruppen from NJG 4 were in an area not yet covered by the RV net or maybe they did not have the equipment yet to plug into it.

You are doing some great analysis there, Rod, keep it up! Your comments have been very interesting.

Larry
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