Target for Tonight, Op Six - Mannheim Ludwigshaven

The Target for Tonight, Berlin Campaign moves well into the second half of our series of eight games with game six, the operation to Mannheim-Ludwigshaven on the 23rd-24th September 1943.

The campaign is delicately balanced with the British victory point tally pegged back over the last two games with Bomber Command starting the series with three very successful ops leaving them looking at a Major Victory, slipping to a Victory at the halfway and now resting in that range with an average of 14 victory points but only two points away from slipping further back into a draw, defined as 'Mounting losses cancel out the effects of bombing'.

Op 1 - Berlin, 23rd-24th August 1943
Op 2 - Nuremberg, 27th-28th August 1943
Op 3 - Berlin, 31st August-1st September 1943
Op 4 - Mannheim, 5th-6th September 1943
Op 5 - Hannover, 22nd-23rd September 1943

The 'pegging back' has primarily been due to a gradual improvement in Nachtjagd tactical capability, recovering from the dismantling of their tactical set up with Bomber Command's deployment of Window in the June raids on Hamburg. This recovery most amply illustrated in Op 4 to Mannheim when severe losses especially among veteran and elite crews badly damaged the game result and the campaign situation as a whole, very much the 'Black Night' for Bomber Command in our series of games.

However with an improvement in the German defences has come the inevitable effects of poor Pathfinder marking and the difficulty in bombing deep into Germany during moonless nights in very bad or bad weather conditions and the effects on that marking if it goes astray.

Thus with three games to go the campaign is very nicely balanced and very interesting to see how things will look as we get to the stage where Bomber Harris would take stock and decide to commit his force to an all out attack on the German capital in November; with half the raids from then until March 1944 focused on the city until Bomber Command was ordered to support the build up to D-Day with Berlin left battered but certainly not destroyed.

The list of historic ops that cover the period of the Battle of Berlin, where we are selecting the first eight largest raids of that period.

The Bomber Command War Diary, describes the raid on Mannheim-Ludwigshaven on 23/24 September 1943 thus;

'The raid was intended to destroy the northern part of Mannheim, which had not been so severely hit in the successful raid earlier in the month. The Pathfinder plan worked well and concentrated bombing fell on the intended area, although later stages of the raid crept back across the northern edge of Ludwigshaven and out into open country ...'

As with our rendition of the earlier raid on Mannheim our bomber commanders achieved a similar bombing result as described above, all be it with damaging losses. Thus it would be interesting to see if a similar bombing pattern could be achieved more cost effectively and would the Pathfinder marking replicate the historical result?

The target map showing the weather over the target and home airfields and Mannheim, a deep target beyond the Rhur limiting fuel and bomb load

The weather briefing seen above together with the group rosters and individual plane load outs were issued to the players who set about deciding on the fuel/bomb lift plan for the raid that settled on a minimum fuel/maximum bomb lift arrangement seeing the Lancasters of 1 and 5 groups bombed up with a maximum lift of cookies, whilst the other groups would back up with the usual mixed load of HE/Incendiary.

The roster drawn up for the Mainforce Groups with a full turn out by 4 Group Halifaxes.

The route to the target showed a planned approach straight in and straight out but coming into the enemy airspace over Wilhelmshaven to suggest a possible approach on Berlin before turning south to run straight in to the target before running back to the coast south of Amsterdam and home.

Route plan for the Op, showing RAF and Luftwaffe Nightfighters operating in the various legs of the route. The number indicates the quality of the fighter, 2 to 5 being the number added to a D10 requiring 11 or more to cause a hit.

The forecast winds over the target were from the northwest and the broken cloud would permit the use of Newhaven target markers with less propensity to drift.

Our Group Commanders decided to mark the docks as the aiming point looking to keep their bombing well up to the marker to keep the concentration close to the centre of the city.

Target map with Newhaven target markers being used and yet to be planned, allowing for the northwest wind forecast for the raid

All the groups had a mix of experienced, novice and veteran crews with 3 Group Stirlings having one of the stronger crew line ups. However there was a high proportion of jumpy bomb aimers among all the groups which could only make things difficult when looking to bomb close up to the markers.

Aircraft Ops Sheet filled out for 3-Group Stirlings ready for the raid on Mannheim

Thus with all the raid preparation done, and the aircraft bombed up, the various squadrons lined up at their respective airfields and started to roll down the runway into the darkening skies over northern England.

Aircraft assemble after takeoff with two aircraft forced to abort with undercarriage failure

It was during the take-off and assembly that Op Six suffered its first casualties, although in this case all the crews involved survived the drama which saw 1 Group Lancaster, C-Charlie, with its veteran crew on its 21st op and later that evening 3 Group Stirling, F-Freddie, another veteran crew on its 21st op both abort due to undercarriage failure to retract, with both aircraft landing safely after dumping their loads.

From the assembly to the enemy coast there were no further alarms as the stream continued on gaining altitude, testing guns and preparing for the adrenaline rush of the announcement 'enemy coast ahead' as all eyes strained in the darkness for any potential threat.

Unfortunately the mark one eyeball served no help for 4 Group Halifax K-King, another veteran crew on its 25th op and looking forward to a well earned break from operations and with a pilot showing signs of that fatigue with a developing pattern of early turn backs over the enemy coast.

This time there would be no early turn back as a III/NJG3 Me110 experten equipped with Schrage Musik approached stealthily from below and delivered a raking fire from that quarter that took out the port inner engine starting an immediate fire, but then raked back to the closed bomb bay causing a massive explosion in the night sky over the German coast.

The crew had no chance to react and probably didn't know what had hit them, as the stream, disconcerted by the flash, reported enemy starshells being used as they pressed on.

The next target for the NJG3 experten was 1 Group Lancaster B-Beer another veteran crew on its 18th op who managed to spot the German fighter on its approach and start an immediate corkscrew manoeuvre suffering hits to the port wing fuel tank and tail plane during its manoeuvre and managing to keep flying and make good its escape, later suffering flak damage and limping home after bombing with four damage die, only to succumb to all the damage on the return leg over the enemy coast, with only the bomb-aimer and mid-upper gunner escaping to be captured.

This same Me110 pilot would go on to intercept 3 Group Stirling I-Ink who would manage to escape without damage and complete their 29th op.

Stirling I-Ink corkscrewing desperately to avoid the attentions of the NJG3 experten Me110 over the German coast

The next two casualties occurred close to Kassel as 5 Group Lancaster P-Popsie's veteran crew on their 23rd op spotted the I/NJG6 Me110 closing in on it and went into an immediate corkscrew, but a short burst from the German fighter saw the starboard outer engine burst into flames and the plane went into an uncontrollable dive, with just the bomb-aimer and rear gunner able to exit the aircraft before it hit the ground.

Not J-Jug, but I-Ink the one that got away!

The same Me110 pilot would go on to claim a second victim as the stream turned near Kassel for the run into the target when 4 Group Halifax L-Leather, with a novice crew, only on their fourth op whose aircraft was badly damaged whilst corkscrewing, hitting another bomber in the stream, losing the starboard inner engine and causing a fire that a very inexperienced pilot was unable to deal with, before losing control and crashing south of the city with no survivors.

3 Group Stirling I-Ink rears up us the bombs are released over Manheim

Thus with three aircraft shot down and two aborted on take-off, the stream turned in through the flak zone without any further loss and prepared to make the approach over the target.

3 Group Stirling H-Harry makes a good central approach as it begins its bomb run over Mannheim. The number of jumpy bomb-aimers was starting to make itself felt as indicated by three earlier drops close to the lower board edge.

Right from the get-go, the bombing run got off to a poor start with jumpy and even steadier bomb aimers dropping early with Jack, Queens and Kings seeming to be making up the complete deck of cards.

All aircraft completed their runs with no go-arounds and just one aircraft straffed by a lone FW190 Wild Boar fighter that caused a few holes in the fuselage, but otherwise no damage.

6 Group Halifax T-Tommy with its crew on their 30th op looking forward to a well earned leave begins its run up over Mannheim. The Group had a good night, with all aircraft bombing and with no losses.

As the bomber stream set course for home the final flash photo of the target showed a reasonable cluster of bombing around the blue target marker, but with nearly half the bomb load dropped short leaving a lot resting on the accuracy of the Pathfinders in the poor conditions coupled with any drift from the prevailing wind.

The run home went surprisingly well, with the Nachtjagd drawn away by a spoof raid over Schweinfurt that explained the lack of freejagd Wild Boar fighters over the target which had been very evident on the previous two raids and a quiet run back to the coast with just Lancaster B-Beer, finally succumbing to damage sustained on the flight to the target.

The landing proved equally uneventful all bar 6 Group Halifax that had a 'sticky' landing that was recovered well by the pilot avoiding a likely tyre blow out and subsequent crash and the surviving crews were bussed off for debriefing by the intelligence teams.

The final photo-flash over Mannheim reveals a disappointing creep back from the target markers 

The raid picture was quickly assessed and showed a poor bombing result with nearly half the crews bombing short with creepback falling into the open fields south of the city, which was made worse by Pathfinder inaccuracy and wind drift to pull the on target bombing into the southern outskirts, just causing two major fires in the residential areas of Ludwigshafen.

The bombing results showing the fields south of the city getting a plastering from the creep back

When the victory point calculation for the raid was done it showed two major fires added to the value of the target city producing just 14 victory points to which was offset by the Nachtjagd scoring four victories yielding 12 victory points for the quality of crews lost, netting just two points for Bomber Command for this op.

Once the results of drift and inaccurate Pathfinder marking, actually marking the rail yards in the south east outskirts, were added to the mix, it revealed that the cluster of bombing in the north had in fact fallen in the south causing just two major fires for the amount or ordnance dropped

Thus the situation at the end of Op Six sees Bomber Command with 72 victory points after losses which equates to an average of 12 victory points which places the campaign into a drawn situation with two ops to play and the commentary on the campaign reading,

'Mounting losses cancel out the effect of the bombing'

However Bomber Command have two close range targets, Hanover and Dusseldorf coming up which will offer them the opportunity to bomb up with very heavy load outs, to get in and get out on a relatively short flight, hoping to score big points with fewer losses.

This will require scoring another possible 56 victory points in the next two ops to gain a victory, with the two city targets yielding 7 victory points for their value leaving another 49 points to chase requiring 12 major fires or 6 major fires in industrial areas, split between the two targets, or a combination of the two, before losses - by no means impossible having scored 48 points in the first two ops, but certainly challenging.

Next up - New 1:700th ships for my growing French fleet roll down the slipway for my current project 'All at Sea'

Target for Tonight, Op Five - Hannover

The amazing digital artwork by Piotr Forkasiewicz, captures dramatically the devastating impact of an attack with Schrage Musik, upward firing cannon.
https://www.behance.net/piotrforkasiewicz

The months of September and October 1943 saw Bomber Command take a two month break from its initial heavy attacks against Berlin as replicated in our first four ops of this mini-campaign using Target for Tonight.

Op 1 - Berlin
Op 2 - Nuremberg
Op 3 - Berlin
Op 4 - Mannheim

In the first half of this eight op series of games Bomber Command set up an imposing position with a Major British Victory in the offing that over the course of the last four games has seen that victory point total gradually pegged back , culminating in our last game in November last year that saw the Nachtjagd cause havoc among the veteran and elite bomber crews as a successful bombing pattern over Mannheim was marred by the loss of large number of very experienced crews.

The balance of the campaign had shifted to just two points keeping Bomber Command in the victory side of a drawn campaign and with the 711 plane attack on the relatively close target of Hannover that was attacked on the 22nd-23rd September 1943, as the next op to be played, there was a great opportunity for Bomber Command to regain its lead.

The historical raid plan for Bomber Command during the Battle of Berlin Campaign. We are playing some of the first eight largest attacks in that campaign to test our campaign system for Target for Tonight

The historical attack on Hannover is described quite succinctly in the Bomber Command War Diaries, stating;

'Visibility in the target area was good but stronger winds than forecast caused the marking and the bombing to be concentrated 2 and 5 miles south-south-east of the city centre. It had not been possible to obtain a German report but it is unlikely that serious damage was caused.'

As our game was to demonstrate Target for Tonight has an often unerring way of replicating the history book.

The campaign map indicating ops completed so far and on which targets together with the victory point threshold

The campaign we are playing is all about results obtained from the area bombing brought against the various city targets our bomber groups are ordered to attack, with the players at this stage of Ops planning looking carefully at the bomb loads to be carried against the fuel load and how to set up their waves to attack in sequence to allow the right mix of bombs to be dropped in the right area; with 'cookie', 4,000lb HE block-buster bombs needed to deal with industrial and transport targets to be followed up by other attacks dropping a mix of general high explosive and incendiary bombs.

The idea is to cause as many large fires as possible with the right mix of bombs on particular target areas in the city attacked, creating the victory point total for Bomber Command, topped up with any nightfighters shot down in the process.

A near full turn out by Bomber Command with just 20% of the force stood down for this attack

The Nachtjagd's mission is to destroy as many British bombers as they can, and preferably gain the added bonus of taking down the veteran and elite crews that gain them extra bonus victory points whilst hoping that a combination of bombing error and weather complications will add to their efforts and reduce the effect of the attacks on the target.

The number of bombers selected for our game ops and the quality of their crews is randomised for each game as is the quality of nightfighters they may run into together with British intruder nightfighters operating in support of them.

Likewise the weather and wind conditions at home airfields (this can affect take-off and landings) and the target (affecting which type of marker is used and any likely drift)is also randomised, forcing the players to make decisions on bomb load out and target marking positioning in the absence of certainty, but withing a margin of error.

The target map for Hannover, with wind direction indicated from the east and, because of predicted cloud over the target,
Paramata flare markers being used to mark the target, yet to be placed. The players select where this marker will be placed
to guide their bombing attacks on the key targets within the city, with the assumption that it is roughly where they have placed it.

As the campaign has developed the players are starting to get more sophisticated with their planning, looking to bomb up their Lancasters and the other Mainforce heavies in a particular load out to suit the target and sending in the waves conscious of crew experience and getting the first drops on target for the less experienced crews to attempt to follow up on.

This is adding another decision level to the basic game of Target for Tonight without taking anything away from the original design and something I was keen to include with the idea behind the campaign module.

The route to the target and back, with enemy and friendly nightfighters set up in each of the legs of the flight in enemy territory and with their ability indicated 2 worst, five best.

Likewise the inclusion of nightfighters with their own skill set, rated one to another, adds another level of granularity to the game when the bomber stream moves through a zone covered by an 'experten' or not as the case may be.

The intelligence briefing for players showing that the Germans have started to make improvements to their capabilities since the Mannheim op.

The game flowed along very quickly and seamlessly as the majority of players are regular and, knowing how this game runs, set up and start very quickly in comparison to when we first started.

Schrage Musik attacks are becoming a common method in the campaign with the ability to spot a nightfighter before it attacks greatly reduced often leaving a surviving bomber badly damaged whilst many others are shot down in the first attack.

The takeoff leg was reasonably drama free with all aircraft getting off safely despite a near miss on the taxiway between a couple of Stirlings from 3 Group and the stream set course for Germany with no mishaps until the enemy coast hove into view as the crews tested their guns and made navigation checks to confirm the time of crossing and headings taken.

No.1 Group with a full turn out of six Lancasters and a strong core of veteran crews led the attack with their cookie load outs. The rest of the groups were not so well prepared with a lot more Novice crews taking part, with two on their very first op.

With a warning to all players that experten from I/NJG3 were operating in the area using JU88's with upfiring Schrage Musik, the crew of Lancaster R-Roger of 5 Group, only on this their fourth op, fell to their guns, unable to corkscrew due to the heavy bomb load, even had they spotted the attacker coming up under their fuselage, they survived the first pass ditching their cookie only to be shot down at the second attempt.

Only the flight engineer, navigator and mid-upper gunner managed to bail out with just the former being picked up alive and the other two recorded as missing presumed lost.

The ops planning is put together on the Cyberboard module and the results are recorded on it through the game with the players handing back their aircraft record sheets on which details of damage, losses and bail outs are recorded and used in the records of each attack posted here on the blog.

The next drama occurred immediately afterwards as the stream crossed the Khamhuber Line with Stirling K-King of 3 Group, the crew on their third op, fell to a II/NJG3, JU88 that again managed to avoid detection to deliver a devastating blast of fire into the bomb bay of the British plane causing a massive explosion and lit up the night sky around, there were of course no survivors.

All the players are getting very used to the system and have the bomb/fuel load outs and bombing plan put together very quickly so that aircraft are taking off and assembling on the route in next to no time.

The most dangerous part of the flight was over the next two legs as the heavily laden bombers, unable to corkscrew immediately should they be attacked, needing to first dump some of their load out, passed through the night sky with German nightfighters readily aware of their presence.

In the end it was only Lancaster T-Tommy from 5 Group, with its crew on their first op, that was intercepted just before the stream went over the Hannover flak belt by another II/NJG3 Ju88 that managed to knock out two of the Lancaster's engines and riddle the wings and tailplane with multiple hits only to be driven off, itself heavily damaged by return fire from the tail and mid-upper gunner, as the inexperienced bomber crew got away with dueling it out with the enemy fighter.

A complete bomber stream assembled over the UK with no aircraft lost on take off, prepares to head out over the North Sea bound for Hannover, carrying a very heavy bomb load and a light quantity of fuel ready to grab back Bomber Command's lead.

As the stream turned over the target, buffeted by flak all but two of the stream were ready to make their bomb runs, with 1 Group Lancaster, A-Apple and its veteran crew on their 20th Op taking flak on the approach that damaged the hydraulics that would leave the aircraft unable to close the bomb bay doors after their pass over the target.

As the groups turned to make their approach to the target the losses and dumped cookies from veteran pilots looking to gain extra altitude over Germany had reduced the bomb lift by six bomb counters as the run-ins commenced.

Interestingly this bomb run would turn out to be one of the most dramatic in the campaign so far, with several novice and jumpy bomb aimers dumping their loads wide of the target and the stream coming under multiple attacks from free-jagd single engined fighters that, in one case, caused the loss of the next casualty, Halifax U-Uncle from 6 Group, its crew also on their first op.

The Halifax took hits in the port wing causing the port outer engine to catch fire, which, with the pilot unable to extinguish it, caused the aircraft to go out of control. All but the rear gunner were lost as the aircraft crashed on the eastern suburbs of Hannover.

The Stirlings of No.3 Group followed the Lancasters of No.1 Group in over the target with a useful bombing pattern starting to develop, as the first drop markers are indicating in relation to the yellow Target Indicator, placed over Hannover city centre. The Stirling is seen over the southern row (bottom) of boxes shown on the target map above

The Nachtjagd were not having things all their own way however, as the alert veteran crew of 4 Group Halifax, P-Popsie on their 19th op spotted an FW-190 trying to make a head on pass at the bomber only to fall to the fire from the nose gunner on the run up, the position taken over by the radio operator as the bomb aimer took his position in the nose

The players were distinctly aware of the potential drift issues associated with Paramatta target marking and, attempting to take into account any likely shift of the target marker eastward, started to create their bomb pattern in a way to allow for that movement whilst trying to get bombs on important target areas.

All in all, as the last Halifax's of 6 Group left the target, the crews felt reasonably confident with the mix and concentration of bombing as they prepared to get home.

With players calling out 'left,left, steady and right a bit Skip' to another player as they guess whether the next playing card turned will be higher or lower and watching for picture cards that determine if a 'jumpy' bomb aimer has released early, or an Ace has appeared declaring the arrival of a freejagd nightfighter ready to deliver a fast raking attack on the bomber, all creates a game of real drama following all the hazards of just getting to the target in the first place and for survivors getting ready for the return flight managing any damage received on the way in.

The final casualty of the night occurred as the enemy coast came into sight, with a spoof raid by Mosquitos on Bremerhaven and the inward route of the stream having drawn the fighters from NJG2 away to the north, the Me110's of NJG1 caught up with the badly damaged Lancaster T-Tommy which losing the other two engines in the attack that followed crashed into the sea with only the rear gunner bailing out and being picked up by the Germans.

The bomber track shows the first group of Lacasters passing over the target having bombed and with the first Stirling of No.3 Group moved in behind with the waves of the other groups on the flak zone behind waiting to make their bomb runs.

We had the most freejagd attacks by single engined nightfighters of any of the ops so far, well replicating the change in over the target tactics developed by the Luftwaffe defenders in the immediate wake of Bomber Command deploying 'Window'.
Most of the attacks inflicted light damage, with one bomber shot down to them and one nightfighter destroyed in return. In this case P-Popsie, 4 Group Halifax disposes of an FW-190 head on attack.

With no more drama the returning groups all landed safely and crews were assembled for the debrief and summary of the raid.

The expectation was that Hannover was well and truly bombed, but, despite the drift over the target being minimal, the Pathfinders ended up placing their markers in the cloudy conditions well off target, to the point that the bulk of the bombing ended up to the south and south east in open countryside, leaving just the bomb concentrations shown on the southern half of the city that resulted in four major fires that destroyed half of the city centre and the central railway station and yards.

The target map and the results of the night's bombing shown to some rather disappointed bomber crews after a long night.
The Pathfinder target marking error captured well the historical result with a roll of six minus two resulting in the marker shifting four boxes south to just off the map in the countryside. All the bomb drops were correspondingly shifted south leaving just the concentrations shown and a vastly reduced victory point total. It looks like you will be going back to Hannover again chaps!

In the the final tally for the night Bomber Command netted 22 victory points for the target value, fires caused and nightfighters destroyed, but with four novice crews lost saw that tally reduced to just 14 points.

The result is not as damaging as it could have been, as the lost crews, all being novices, reduced the tally for the Nachtjagd and ensured the result is 70 points for the five games played thus maintaining the British victory point tally at 14 points with three games to play.

Target for Tonight , Op Four - Mannheim-Ludwigshaven

Lancaster Under Attack by Robert Taylor

This weekend, at the Devon Wargames Group monthly meeting, saw game four in our Berlin Campaign played with an Operation (op in RAF parlance) to Mannheim-Ludwigshaven.

The campaign module being developed is being tested by members of the club as we set ourselves to play out the first eight operations by Mainforce Bomber Command putting 400 plus aircraft in the air for each op, as part of the so called 'Battle of Berlin'.

The first three ops in this mini-campaign can be followed in the links below, with each of the games contributing to an overall victory point calculation to establish whether the Nazi regime is reaping the whirlwind or if the cost of the strategic bomber campaign far outweighs the benefits to the Allied war effort.

Op 1 - Berlin
Op 2 - Nuremberg
Op 3 - Berlin

Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris, charismatic and controversial leader of Bomber Command 1942-45

Historians continue to debate if Bomber Harris's Battle of Berlin commenced in August 1943 with the 727 bombers launched against the city on 23rd-24th August or if the start should really be considered as the 18th-19th November following the two month assessment by Bomber Command on the tactics needed to press the offensive following experience gained from the earlier attacks.

As Bomber Harris was very circumspect about when he considered the campaign to have started the debate is rather academic and so I have taken the view, proposed by Martin Middlebrook in his book covering the raids, that the August raids are an important part of the whole campaign, following as they did, hot on the heals of the devastating attacks on Hamburg that saw the German Nightfighter defences utterly taken apart by the deployment of Window, aluminium foil strips dropped from the air to disrupt German ground radar.

This disruption to the established deployment of guided nightfighter attacks using ground based radar and communications beacons to guide the fighters into the bomber stream allowed Harris a window, if you'll excuse the pun, of opportunity to contemplate deep raids to targets like Berlin with the full force of Bomber Command.

A list of the Mainforce Ops completed by Bomber Command during the period covered by the Battle of Berlin

The Nachtjagd, during this period, was forced to completely reevaluate its tactics with a move to deploy its twin-engined fighters in a freejagd role, attempting to get them as close to the stream as possible before Window disrupted the intercept plots from the ground and let the aircrews use airborne radar and the mark one eyeball to find the bombers.

Alongside these tactics, greater use of 'Wild Boar' fighter tactics over the target, or suspected target, came to be another change, where the Nachtjagd pilots would attempt to spot the bombers over the city and attack planes away from flak concentrations using searchlights to help them intercept.

My NF Beaufighter together with the Mosquito got a run out during the Mannheim Op replicating the growing threat from this part of Bomber Command's potential.

Needless to say these enforced changes often went against much opposition from the twin-engined crews unfamiliar with blind flying tactics and resistant to move away from the comfort of operating around a local beacon in familiar airspace, to now having to roam across much larger areas in bad weather, carefully monitoring their fuel and working out where they could land in an emergency.

To add to the woes of the Nachtjagd, British nightfighters operating in an intruder role along the flanks of the bomber stream were starting to become another worrying change and a threat to the unwary German aircrew only focused on being the hunter and now potentially becoming the prey.

The campaign map used to determine the target, the weather over it and the home airfields for takeoff and landing conditions, and a record of previous ops with the two missions to Berlin and the one to Nuremberg indicated. Note also the various NJG Groups are shown which helps determine what type of nightfighter could be encountered.

Turning back to the specifics of our campaign, Window still continues to dominate and improvements in German nightfighter airborne radar is still a month away in development. The only change established for this op is the deployment by Bomber Command of the Master Bomber, a very experienced bomber pilot, sometimes flying a modified aircraft and tasked with flying high over the target giving a running commentary to aircrews below on where they needed to concentrate their attacks.

The Counter Measures in play for our Op, with Master Bomber now deployed since the last Op to Berlin and with Window dominant cancelling out the attempts to improve detection from the airborne interception radar sets by German 'Streuwellen'

The actual raid on Mannheim-Ludwigshaven on 5th-6th September 1943 was carried out over a target clear of cloud with Pathfinder target marking described as 'working perfectly' leading it seems to severe destruction on the target.

The central and southern parts of the town were devastated with the fire department recording 986 large fires, with 139 in industrial buildings, with eight such buildings including the IG Farben works, seriously damaged.

The casualties on the ground were 127 killed and 568 injured, with the relatively low number of fatalities put down to the fact that the German authorities were now evacuating large parts of their population following the disaster of the firestorms in Hamburg.

The group roster showing aircraft available for the op by group with those left out at the bottom and in this case the losses suffered and the call sign of the aircraft lost, with 5 Group having a particularly hard night.

Our game scenario seemed to follow the circumstance of the historical raid in many aspects with a significant show of force by the five groups of bombers putting up some very experienced crews with twelve veteran and two elite crews among the twenty three taking part.

Lancaster bomb bay loaded up in 1942 with incendiaries, high explosive and a cookie block buster bomb. The players on our op opted for a heavy bomb load to a distant target reducing the fuel load carried and putting extra strain on the aircrews to avoid running out of fuel on the return leg.

The target conditions were showing to be clear with light winds from the northwest and only broken cloud over the home airfields; and the players opted for an aggressive load out of bombs with the minimum amount of fuel required, leaving little room for navigational errors and enemy activity causing extra fuel to be used too and from the target.

The preplanned route plan showing nightfighter deployments and their ability ratings should they be deployed on the intercept board

The op began well with only a Stirling from 3 Group narrowly missing colliding with another aircraft on the taxi out to the runway, seeing the whole of Mainforce gather over the east coast before setting course for Germany.

The first casualty of the night was the veteran crew of 4 Group Halifax N-Nanny on their twenty-second op failing to notice the correct fuel mixture setting on climb out over the North Sea, leading to frozen carburetors and engine failure; with just the rear gunner managing to bail out before the aircraft crashed into the sea. 

The next losses were over the enemy coast as the veteran crew of 6 Group Halifax W-William turned back after the pilot had dumped the bomb load complaining of stomach cramps, this closely followed by veteran crew, 5 Group Lancaster S-Sugar on their eighteenth op, being shot down by a novice crewed Me 110 from II/NJG1.

The Target Map used to set up the target marking by the Group Commanders, showing Newhaven ground markers, given the clear conditions over the target, together with the light wind and its direction that, in this case, caused little to no appreciable drift and led to a concentrated bombing pattern with six major fires started on the city centre, engine factory, docks and suburbs east of the river. However eight bombing clusters fell on open farmland

Pressing on into Germany the veteran crew Halifax L-Leather of 4 Group dumped its cookie as the pilot attempted to gain extra altitude knowing that there was a full turn out of Stirlings from 3 Group flying at lower altitude to tempt the nighfighters.

The clear flying conditions were not what the bomber crews would have wanted on such a long flight and before the flak zone around Mannheim was reached 5 Group Lancaster P-Popsie and 3 Group Stirling H-Harry both with novice crews and only four ops between them, fell victim to nightfighters, this despite the activity of Beaufighters in the area reporting intercepts but failing to make any claimed kills en route.

An example of the aircraft rosters drawn up on Cyberboard and printed out for the players prior to each op, in this case 3 Group Stirlings run by Bob leading a charmed life and only losing one aircraft H-Harry

Turning towards the target over the flak zone, the night claimed another victim when the luck of elite crew Halifax from 4 Group O-Orange on their second tour with thirty-eight ops completed, took a flak hit amidships, detonating the bomb load and lighting up the night sky, with all the crew lost.

The players discuss their fuel and bomb load out prior to takeoff

The run into the target proved problematic for some with three aircraft forced to go around again and jumpy bomb aimers guilty of dropping early despite the best efforts of the Master Bomber calling out course corrections and directing extra target making from follow up pathfinders, but in the main those that bombed seemed to achieve good concentrations with multiple fires observed on leaving the target.

The first groups takeoff and assemble over the east coast prior to heading out over the North Sea

In the three previous ops, the return flight has often been the most problematic part of the flight, and despite the best efforts of Mosquito intruders, missing out on claiming a kill close to the turn for home point, the Nachtjagd picked up the course of the stream.

1 Group novice crew Lancaster A-Apple had a torrid time, hunted by a I/NJG4 Me110 that they failed to spot, but survived the raking fire from its cannon, for its tail gunner to score hits on the enemy aircraft.

The Cyberboard module allows easy access to prepared game stats and allows a similarly easy way of recording events throughout the game

However the German pilot seemed unwilling to take the hint from the tail gunner's obvious skill and set about dueling with the Lancaster scoring multiple hits but taking them in return.

In the end A-Apple staggered away from the encounter the victor after shooting down their tormentor, but taking nine D10's worth of damage that finally caused the Lancaster to lose control later in the flight with only the flight engineer managing to bail out in time.

The players are getting very familiar with TFT which allows a fast turn round of each game

The final victim of the night was the experienced crew of 5 Group Lancaster R-Roger finally succumbing to flak damage from earlier in the flight and crashing into the North Sea on the return leg having nursed the aircraft back over enemy territory with just the mid upper gunner and wireless operator managing to bail out before the aircraft crashed into the sea, both later being picked up by Coastal Command together with the rear gunner from N-Nanny lost earlier in the flight.

With the first bombs dropped by 1 Group Lancasters, planting their Cookies, in come 3 Group Stirlings with their mix of HE and Incendiaries.

The rest of the flight was uneventful with the remaining aircraft safely returning to their airfields and crews transported back for an early morning debrief.

The post op photos revealed a punishing attack on the target which produced six major fires in the industrial and city centres, rail yards, and the eastern suburbs which together with the target value and the enemy nightfighter shot down netted 34.5 victory points for the night.

However the planes lost together with their veteran and elite crews, five of them falling to the Nachtjagd saw the victory point tally reduced to just 6.5 victory points and easily a German major victory for the night.

The final photo-flash  reveals a heavy concentration of bombing, but will it be enough to offset the losses suffered?

More importantly from a campaign perspective at the halfway point, sees the British tally reduced to 14 points from the 16 they had achieved, just two points from a drawn campaign and a serious blow to Bomber Command ambitions. leaving all to play for in the next four ops.

As the umpire and controller of Luftwaffe night defences I came away suitably impressed with the defences put up by the Nachtjaged after three very effective raids before this one.

As with the previous games, I was keen for the players to immerse themselves in the period and took time out at the start and after the game raid to play the Pathe recording of a similar op to Mannheim-Ludwigshafen that gives a vivid impression of the war Bomber Command was fighting at this time and to take time to appreciate what was at stake for all the combatants and civilians alike.

You can watch the clip in the link below.

If you are interested in getting into Target for Tonight which we are thoroughly enjoying playing then you might like to join a similar group of like minds who share ideas on the Facebook Group in the link below.

Target for Tonight - Facebook Page

We will now be taking a slight break from Bomber Command Ops with our next game planned for January 2020 with a raid on Augsburg planned, standing in for the actual target of Munich, attacked on the 6th - 7th September 1943.

Next up, I am planning to complete my post on my visit to Bailen in the Summer as part of the Peninsular War Tour series of posts, and I have Butlers Rangers and Indians to show after adding them to the AWI collection, and later this month I'm off to Berlin to visit Will who is starting a masters degree there and where I hope to visit some of the historic sites in a city I have never visited before.