From Now On, No More Defeats: Crazy in the Night

(Now with brutal editorial clarity.)

Fur meine Eltern

Seventy years ago tonight, Bomber Command made its third major raid on the German capital city. 483 Lancasters (and 15 Mosquitos) were despatched. It was a brutally effective raid. The Wikipedia article reports that 1000 wagons (50 trains) bound for the Eastern Front were held up around Berlin for 6 days. It is the kind of blow to the German war effort that the USSBS did not even try to assess, but important for all that military historians do not often try to take such things into account.

On the other hand, this is the raid in which the old Prussian military archives were destroyed. That you will hear about. (Much more, for example, than someone pointing out that the Austrian military archives are fine, and just waiting for someone to use them.)

Petty chiding then falls away at the stark catastrophe so coolly summarised next. Twenty-five Lancasters were lost operationally, and another 28 in recovery due to unexpected low-level cloud over airfields in Britain. It is routine at this point to observe that, above about a 5% loss rate, only a statistically negligible number of bomber crews will survive their tour and go on to train the next generation. This constitutes the great tipping point of air warfare first discovered in WWI, where an air force bleeds experience faster than it can build it up.* Well, the losses over Berlin alone add up to 5.2%.

What is less often observed is that Bomber Command was not just suffering from a human catastrophe. Heavy bombers stand at the apex of industrial effort. The target for  the English Electric and Avro Manchester plants that delivered the Halifax and Lancaster, a target, not often achieved, was 250 planes a month. In January, only 160 would be received, winter being a slack time for industrial deliveries.(1) Bomber Command had just expended over a fifth of that total on a single night. Even given that it did not fly every night, the reason that it did not fly every night was mainly weather. Bomber Command was, in brief,  losing. And the men and women of the Reichsverteidigung were winning. High Wycomb had taken on a job that was beyond the technological capacity of the so-far mobilised work force. One that had to be done, if the Western Front were to be cracked. 

And seventy years and a little less than a month ago, with fully appreciating it, without, certainly, seeing that it had given birth to technological modernity, the Air Staff put the answer in place: 100 Group, Bomber Command.

Oh, I know. I proclaim the birth of technological modernity on a regular basis, and, at best, a bomber support group is only a partial solution to the problems highlighted on the night of 16/17 December. But still. This is a big deal, even if it did not look like one at the time, especially compared with the histrionics that attended the inauguration of the Pathfinder Force in August of 1942, but the PFF was, ultimately, a dead end.

Those who use the great official histories of World War II are used to ranked series of massive volumes with institutional bindings covering the minutiae of great campaigns. Go to a university library, and Mediterranean and the Middle East marches across the shelf. So does Grand Strategy, and even the series on Britain in the Pacific War. Webster and Franklin, The Strategic Air Offensive breaks with that pattern. Volume III, Victory, barely breaches 200 pages, and it feels, reading it, as though over half the text and well over half the effort is invested in the debate leading up to OVERLORD. Which, boring, it not being news that institutions set up departments more-or-less to have devil's advocates to fight losing battles.

At the end of this extended discussin, Charles Webster and Noble Frankland turn to operations with a wistful glance backward at Tedder fighting with Harris. In this modern age of atomical bombs and jet engines, they allow, the whole "bomber offensive thing" is but an antiquarian curiosity. We have to talk about it, they allow, but, really, you should just look at the aftermath pictures and that will be enough.

Still with us? Sigh. Okay. Here's a discussion of some raids, with a complete discussion of the marking techniques that allowed aircraft with radar and radio navigation aids to guide bombers without such equipment onto their targets. Red flare here, blue flare there, etc, etc.

I'll let Webster and Frankland have their attitude. There will never be another time when bombers that cannot guide their own bombs to the target fly in mass raids against modern industrial complexes. That shouldn't even have been happening in December of 1943!    But here 's the thing. It turns out that it is "atomic war" that proved to be the antiquarian curiosity. We shall probably use nuclear weapons in war again some day, but the Cold War context that Webster and Frankland assumed was the future is past. Whereas it turns out that raid mission planning just is technological modernity.We are all 100 Group now.

So we hardly notice the birth of 100 Group. I suspect that the quiet birth reflects 100 Group's origins as a stalking horse. There was "Airborne Cigar," 80 Wing, which carried out ground-based jamming of German night fighter communications from Britain, and, above all, a wing of Mosquito (and other, less glamorous) night fighters flying "intruder" missions over Germany. Bomber Command really wanted to play with fighters. So why not combine the units under Bomber Command?

And so it was done. That was all that the airborne component of 100 Group had in the beginning. There were some loaner B-17s flying  missions in 214 Squadron, since only its deep bomb bay could support "Airborne Cigar" equipment. There was another squadron, doing SIGINT flights over Germany, but the signals intelligence community was not willing to let 100 Group do much more than repair the planes. The ground-based signals centre devoted to monitoring and  jamming the German air defences, on the other hand, was due to be hived off from the main apparatus given birth to by the Telecommunications Research Centre, inasmuch as the parent was ascending into the empyrean realms of ULTRA. But mainly, as I say, there were Mosquitos to be sent to play with the Reichsverteidegung.

By the way, here is what you get when you copy-paste from the PDF version of J. A. Wood's original transcription of the British archival document kindly put up on the web by Michael Holm. I haven't tried to fix the formatting since I'm only putting it here for those not inclined to click on the link above, which, if you're interested, you should, rather than looking at my version. 

Defence of the Reich
(Reichsverteidigung)

3rd June 1944
Air Ministry A.H.B. 6 Translation of Enemy Documents
Copied by W.J.A.Wood in May 1963
Date Command Division Unit Location airfield Est. 'S' Main Type Notes
Single-engined Fighters
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 1 Lippspringe 2 1 FW 190 A-7
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. I./ JG 1 Lippspringe 46 34 FW 190 A-7
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. II./ JG 1 Störmede 39 26 FW 190 A-7
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. III./ JG 1 Paderborn 37 16 Bf 109 G-6/AS Höhengruppe
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 5. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 2 Creil 3 2 FW 190 A-7 & Bf 109 G-6/AS
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 5. Jagd Div. I./ JG 2 Cormeilles-en-Vexin 23 15 FW 190 A-7
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 3 Salzwedel 8 1 Bf 109 G-6/AS
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. I./ JG 3 Burg 28 17 Bf 109 G-6 Höhengruppe
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. II./ JG 3 Sachau 50 25 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. IV (Sturm)./ JG 3 Burg 28 17 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. III./ JG 3 Ansbach 67 16 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. I./ JG 5 Herzogenaurach 33 16 Bf 109 G-6/AS Höhengruppe
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. II./ JG 5 Gardelegen 41 18 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 11 Rotenburg 1 0 FW 190 A-7
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. I./ JG 11 Rotenburg 17 17 FW 190 A-7
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. II./ JG 11 Hustedt 36 21 Bf 109 G-6/AS Höhengruppe
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. III./ JG 11 Reinsehlen 23 16 FW 190 A-7
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps Jafü Danmark 10./ JG 11 Aalborg 9 7 FW 190 A-6 & Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. Stab/ JGr.z.b.V. Ansbach 5 0 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 26 Lille-Nord 2 2 FW 190 A-8
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. I./ JG 26 Lille/Vendeville & Denain 31 20 FW 190 A-8
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. III./ JG 26 Lupcourt 37 22 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Ostmark Stab/ JG 27 Wien/Seyring 5 2 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Ostmark I./ JG 27 Fels-am-Wagram 44 31 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Ostmark II./ JG 27 Götzendorf 23 19 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Hungary III./ JG 27 Szombathely (Steinamanger) 21 17 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. II./ JG 53 Öttingen 65 25 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. III./ JG 54 Unter-schlauersbach (Fürth) 21 11 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. Eins. Sta./ JG 104 Fürth 4 4 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. Eins. Sta./ JG 106 Lachen/Speyerdorf 5 3 Bf 109 G-6
03.06.44 Luftlotte 4 Jafü Ostmark Eins. Sta./ JG 108 Voslau 12 6 Bf 109 G-6
S.E. Fighter Total 789 437
Twin-engined Day Fighters (Zerstörer)
03.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Ostmark II./ ZG 1 Wels 31 15 Bf 110 G-2
03.06.44 I. Jagdkoprs 1. Jagd Div. Stab/ ZG 26 Königsberg-Neumark 5 1 Me 410 A-2 S. of Stettin
03.06.44 I. Jagdkoprs 1. Jagd Div. I./ ZG 26 Königsberg-Neumark 17 0 Me 410 A-2 S. of Stettin
03.06.44 I. Jagdkoprs 1. Jagd Div. II./ ZG 26 Königsberg-Neumark 53 34 Me 410 A-2 S. of Stettin
03.06.44 Luftlotte 4 Jafü Ostmark 7./ ZG 26 Fels-am-Wagram 10 3 Bf 110 G-2
T.E. Fighter Total 116 53
Twin- & Single-engined Nightfighters
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. Stab/ NJG 1 Arheim/Deelen & Apeldoorn 3 1 He 219 A-1 & Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 1 Venlo 34 14 He 219 A-1 & Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. II./ NJG 1 Arheim/Deelen 21 11 He 219 A-1 & Bf 110 G-403.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. III./ NJG 1 Leeuwarden 21 17 Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. IV./ NJG 1 St. Trond 24 16 Bf 110 G-4 & Ju 88 C-6b
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. Stab/ NJG 2 Arheim/Deelen 6 1 Ju 88 C-6b
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 2 Rhein-Main (Frankfurt) 34 26 Ju 88 C-6b
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. II./ NJG 2 Bützweilerhof 33 18 Ju 88 C-6b
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. III./ NJG 2 Langendiebach 28 18 Ju 88 C-6b
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. Stab/ NJG 3 Stade 5 1 Ju 88 C-6 & Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 3 Vechta 28 22 Ju 88 C-6 & Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. II./ NJG 3 Plantlünne 36 17 Ju 88 C-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. III./ NJG 3 Stade 28 22 Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. IV./ NJG 3 Sylt/Westerland & Grove 34 16 Ju 88 C-6
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. Stab./ NJG 4 Chenay 2 1 Ju 88 C-6
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 4 Florennes 19 12 Ju 88 C-6 & Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. II./ NJG 4 Coulommiers 19 10 Do 217 J-1 & Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. III./ NJG 4 Chenay 20 8 Do 217 J-1 & Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. Stab/ NJG 5 Arheim/Deelen 3 1 Bf 110 G-4 det. Lfl. 3
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 5 St. Dizier 17 11 Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. II./ NJG 5 Güterslöh 15 9 Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. III./ NJG 5 Laon/Athies 16 8 Bf 110 G-4 det. Lfl. 3
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. IV./ NJG 5 Erfurt/Bindersleben 17 13 Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. Stab/ NJG 6 Schleissheim 2 1 Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 6 Kitzingen 23 17 Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Hungary III./ NJG 6 Szombathely (Steinamanger) 6 3 Bf 110 G-4
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. NJGr. 10 Werneuchen 22 11 Bf 110 G-4, He 219 A-1, Bf 109G-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. I.(Bel.)/ NJG 7 Münster/Handorf 23 1 Ju 88 C-6
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 300 Bonn/Hangelar 2 1 FW 190 A-6 Wilde Sau
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. I./ JG 300 Bonn/Hangelar 42 14 Bf 109 G-6 Wilde Sau
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. II./ JG 300 Dortmund 25 13 FW 190 A-6 Wilde Sau
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. III./ JG 300 Wiesbaden/Erbenheim 46 25 Bf 109 G-6 Wilde Sau
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. I./ JG 301 Holzkirchen 39 29 Bf 109 G-6 Wilde Sau
03.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Ostmark I./ JG 302 Fels-am-Wagram 39 16 Bf 109 G-6 Wilde Sau
Total Nightfighters 732 404
Notes:
Gruppen, location of units, strength and serviceability and type are from A.H.B.6 documents. The Luflotten and parent commands are from my notes and
may be spurious.
Defence of the Reich
(Reichsverteidigung)
with Transfers to II. Jagdkorps
7
th June 1944
Air Ministry A.H.B. 6 Translation of Enemy Documents
Copied by W.J.A.Wood in May 1962
Date Command Division Unit Location airfield Est. 'S' Main Type Notes
Single-engine Fighters
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 1 Lippspringe® Beauvais/Tillé 0 0 FW 190 A-8
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. I./ JG 1 Lippspringe® Le Mans 25 12 FW 190 A-8
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. II./ JG 1 Störmede® Flers 25 13 FW 190 A-7
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. III./ JG 1 Paderborn ® Beauvais/Tillé 8 5 Bf 109 G-6/AS Höhengruppe
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 5. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 2 Creil 3 2 FW 190 A-8 & Bf 109 G-6/AS
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 5. Jagd Div. I./ JG 2 Cormeilles-en-Vexin 18 3 FW 190 A-8
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 5. Jagd Div. II./ JG 2 Güterslöh - - FW 190 A-8 Re-equipping
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 5. Jagd Div. III./ JG 2 Cormeilles-en-Vexin 17 6 FW 190 A-8
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 3 Salzwedel® Évreux/Fauville 0 0 Bf 109 G-6/AS
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. I./ JG 3 Burg 30 13 Bf 109 G-6 Höhengruppe
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. II./ JG 3 Sachau® Évreux/Fauville 0 0 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. III./ JG 3 Non-op: ® St. André-de-l'Eure 64 17 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. IV (Sturm)./ JG 3 Burg® Dreux 22 21 Bf 109 G-607.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. Stab/JG 4 Ansbach 0 0 Bf 109 G-6 ex-Stab/ JGr.z.b.V.
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. I./ JG 5 Herzogenaurach® Montdidier 16 15 Bf 109 G-6/AS Höhengruppe
03.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. II./ JG 5 Gardelegen -- -- Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 11 Rotenburg® Rennes 1 0 FW 190 A-8
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. I./ JG 11 Rotenburg® Rennes 14 4 FW 190 A-8
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. II./ JG 11 Hustedt® Beauvais/Tillé 17 12 Bf 109 G-6/AS Höhengruppe
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. III./ JG 11 Reinsehlen 12 3 FW 190 A-7
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps Jafü Danmark 10./ JG 11 Aalborg® Beauvais/Tillé 0 0 FW 190 A-6 & Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 26 Lille-Nord 2 2 FW 190 A-8
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. I./ JG 26 Lille/Vendeville & Denain 23 13 FW 190 A-8
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. II./ JG 26 Cambrai/Süd 11 8 FW 190 A-8
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. III./ JG 26 Lupcourt® Villacoublay 29 16 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Ostmark Stab/ JG 27 Wien/Seyring® Romilly -s-Seine 4 4 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Ostmark I./ JG 27 Fels-am-Wagram® Reims 16 13 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Ostmark II./ JG 27 Götzendorf® Eisenstein (Austria) 23 19 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Hungary III./ JG 27 Szombathely® Romilly -s-Seine 21 17 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Greece IV./ JG 27 Non-op:® Champfleuy 19 12 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. II./ JG 53 Öttingen® Nantes 0 0 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. III./ JG 54 Unter-schlauersbach® Chartres 19 12 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. Eins. Sta./ JG 104 Fürth 4 4 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. Eins. Sta./ JG 106 Lachen/Speyerdorf 5 3 Bf 109 G-6
07.06.44 Luftlotte 4 Jafü Ostmark Eins. Sta./ JG 108 Voslau 12 6 Bf 109 G-6
S.E. Fighter Total - - - - - -
Twin-engined Day Fighters (Zerstörer)
07.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Ostmark II./ ZG 1 Wels 35 18 Bf 110 G-2
07.06.44 I. Jagdkoprs 1. Jagd Div. Stab/ ZG 26 Königsberg-Neumark 5 1 Me 410 A-2 S. of Stettin
07.06.44 I. Jagdkoprs 1. Jagd Div. I./ ZG 26 Königsberg-Neumark 17 10 Me 410 A-2 S. of Stettin
07.06.44 I. Jagdkoprs 1. Jagd Div. II./ ZG 26 Königsberg-Neumark 57 33 Me 410 A-2 S. of Stettin
07.06.44 Luftlotte 4 Jafü Ostmark 7./ ZG 26 Fels-am-Wagram 10 3 Bf 110 G-2
T.E. Fighter Total - - - - -
Twin- & Single-engined Nightfighters
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. Stab/ NJG 1 Arheim/Deelen 3 1 He 219 A-1 & Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 1 Venlo 28 13 He 219 A-1 & Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. II./ NJG 1 Arheim/Deelen 21 9 He 219 A-1 & Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. III./ NJG 1 Leeuwarden 24 16 Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. IV./ NJG 1 St. Trond 25 18 Bf 110 G-4 & Ju 88 C-6b
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. Stab/ NJG 2 Arheim/Deelen® Coulommiers 0 0 Ju 88 C-6b
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 2 Rhein-Main® Châteaudun 0 0 Ju 88 C-6b
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. II./ NJG 2 Bützweilerhof ® Coulommiers 16 16 Ju 88 C-6b
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. III./ NJG 2 Langendiebach 36 24 Ju 88 C-6b
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. Stab/ NJG 3 Stade 4 1 Ju 88 C-6 & Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 3 Vechta® St. Trond 25 22 Ju 88 C-6 & Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. II./ NJG 3 Plantlünne 34 12 Ju 88 C-6
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. III./ NJG 3 Stade 37 22 Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. IV./ NJG 3 Westerland® Köln/Ostheim 34 23 Ju 88 C-6
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. Stab./ NJG 4 Chenay 2 1 Ju 88 C-6
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 4 Florennes 21 14 Ju 88 C-6 & Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. II./ NJG 4 Coulommiers 19 10 Do 217 J-1 & Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. III./ NJG 4 Chenay ® Reims 20 8 Do 217 J-1 & Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. Stab/ NJG 5 Arheim/Deelen 0 0 Bf 110 G-4 det. Lfl. 3
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 5 St. Dizier 20 9 Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. II./ NJG 5 Güterslöh 15 10 Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 II. Jagdkorps 4. Jagd Div. III./ NJG 5 Laon/Athies 22 16 Bf 110 G-4 det. Lfl. 3
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. IV./ NJG 5 Erfurt/Bindersleben 18 13 Bf 110 G-407.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. Stab/ NJG 6 Schleissheim 2 1 Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. I./ NJG 6 Kitzingen® Arheim/Deelen 27 18 Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Hungary III./ NJG 6 Szombathely (Steinamanger) 20 14 Bf 110 G-4
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 1. Jagd Div. NJGr. 10 Werneuchen 22 8 Bf 110 G-4, He 219 A-1, Bf 109G-6
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 2. Jagd Div. I.(Bel.)/ NJG 7 Münster/Handorf 0 0 Ju 88 C-6
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. Stab/ JG 300 Bonn ® Frankfurt/Eschborn 2 2 FW 190 A-6 Wilde Sau
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. I./ JG 300 Bonn ® Wiesbaden/Erbenheim 44 14 Bf 109 G-6 Wilde Sau
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 3. Jagd Div. II./ JG 300 Dortmund ® Merzhausen 25 23 FW 190 A-6 Wilde Sau
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. III./ JG 300 Wiesbaden/Erbenheim 46 25 Bf 109 G-6 Wilde Sau
07.06.44 I. Jagdkorps 7. Jagd Div. I./ JG 301 Holzkirchen ® Eschborn 39 29 Bf 109 G-6 Wilde Sau
07.06.44 Luftflotte 4 Jafü Ostmark I./ JG 302 Fels-am-Wagram -- -- Bf 109 G-6 Wilde Sau
Total Nightfighters 604 371

Three squadrons of Mosquitos sent to play in the dark with this are not going to change the world. We are talking about night interception with radars and radar detectors with short ranges, and aircraft flying near the compressibility limit with strictly limited time on the clock for maximum power output anyway. They're not likely to see each other, and not likely to be able to achieve an interception vector if they do. It is route planning, and route interception planning, that makes the difference, that explains how the Lancasters came to be intercepted in the first place. That was the accomplishment of the Reichsverteidigung, and it was that capability that needed to be degraded, as would not happen until the full panoply of 100 Group's jamming equipment was deployed for OVERLORD.

So, here, I am commemorating the birth of a force that will not toggle modernity ON for seven months, till at dusk, 22:12, June 5, 1944,  came the moment the one single moment at which you can reasonably say that the Age of Grass gave way to the Age of Oil.

One last thought here. The nasty service politics around the birth of the Pathfinder Force have no parallel in the formation of 100 Group. Famously, Basil Embry (1902--1977) was passed over for command in favour of Don Bennett (1910--1986). Two difficult, high-achieving, pilot's pilots were in the running, and the most difficult of the two won. I has been suggested that Bennett's difficult personality was Harris's win. He did not like Pathfinder Force, after all. 

Whatever. What I find interesting is that 100 Group was founded under Air Commodore (later Air Vice-Marshal) Edward Addison (1898-1988).  The choice is telling. Embry and Bennett were heroic fliers. Addison had to take a refresher at the Central Flying School in 1931. His career was spent in the shop. If Wikipedia's version is to be believed (the terms are rather short), his service career in the 1920s included a B. A.Sc. (as we say at UBC)  at Sidney Sussex College, a Master's at Cambridge. He certainly attended the RAF Staff College in that busy decade. A technician through and through, he came to 100 Group from the post of Director of Telecommunications, and left it to be Director-General of Signals.

Another way of looking at is to compare his age with that of Embry and Bennett. Still another is to note his terminal rank of Air Vice-Marshal, the topping out at Companion of the Order of Bath, the thin consolation of a lucrative post-service career in something vaguely electronic. They tell us one thing: Addison was a plodder.  He was the tortoise to Embry and Bennett's hare. No-one even imagined that Addison was what hindsight shows him to be: the greatest command star in the RAF's firmament, as the RAF was actually coming to be. 

If Aesop's fable happened in the real world, the ending would feature the hare's friends retroactively moving the finish line back so that the hare won, after all. The most significant historical transitions are ones that actually change things. We live in an electronic world, in which 100 Group is just the way we do things. We take our phones onto the subway to navigate, and give at least a  passing thought to jamming our signals so that Facebook can't find us. We're not quite sure when this happened. The Nineties? The Seventies? The Sixties, maybe? 

It happen to think that that's an important question, inasmuch as once we agree on when the "productivity gains from the computer revolution" actually happened, we'll be in a position to decide whether Esther Boserup was right about population increase driving technological change, in which case we are severely hooped right now. 

Anyway: my sketch of an answer: the birth of the technological modern was on 23 November, 1943.

1. In 1991, a retired British bomb damage assessment expert did a book for Airlife on POINTBLANK that, for a wonder, actually covered details like this. L. Lacey-Johnston, POINTBLANK and Beyond (Shrewsbury, U.K.: Airlife, 1991): 13.

*Welcome to the world of hiring at near-minimum wage, air warfare dudes.