Operation Gisella

"During the early morning darkness of 4 March 1945 a force of 450 Lancaster's, Halifax's and Mosquito raided Kamen and Ladbergen in western Germany. After completing their attacks for the loss of seven aircrafts, the bombers turned home. As they did so, a large force of German night fighters roared into the air and headed west in pursuit. This was Operation "Gisella", the long-planned intruder operation against Bomber Command bases. During previous weeks individual German night fighters had followed the bombers back to their bases, their crews with strict orders to note the enemy approach and landing procedures but on no account were they to engage. Now the constraints were lifted and more than a hundred Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 219 night fighters swept over the North Sea making for the Bomber Command airfields in Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. Twenty-seven of the bases came under attack as well as the bombers returning from Germany. The intruders caught several planes on training flights. Twenty bombers were shot down over England, bringing Bomber Commandos total loss that night to 27 - the heaviest for a long time. German losses are not known, but were probably between three and six aircrafts. From the Luftwaffe's viewpoint Operation Gisella was a success, but the operation would never be repeated on the same scale.

Trying to repeat the experience

Two weeks later, on the night of the 17 March, eighteen Junkers Ju 88's took off from Holland for a follow-up attack. But the RAF. bombers were not operating in force that night and the intruders shot down only one Lancaster that had been on a training flight. The action was of historical significance, however, for it was to be the last offensive action by the Luftwaffe over Britain.
by Alfred Price

Edelweiss variations

On 2 April of the same year, following the example of Operation Gisella, a group of about fifteen Me 410 of KG 51 Edelweiss, based at Beauvais, France, made a similar opeation. The group of Zerstörers followed during daytime the bombers of 2nd Division USAAF back to their home bases in England. Short after the bombers landed, the Me 410s attacked destroying many B24s. The only loss was Obl. Klaus Krüger, Klaus and Fw. Reichardt's plane (9K+HP, Wrk.Nr. 420458) shot down over Ashby by AA fire.

]]> Warfare http://www.baermann.biz/pauke/index.php?itemid=145 Sat, 4 Mar 2006 11:51:51 +0100 http://www.baermann.biz/pauke/index.php?itemid=144

«Vater der Nachtjagd»

Born in Pforzheim Baden in 1911. As a civilian he worked in a Bank before entering in the Wehrmacht in 1934. Later he asked to be transfered from the Heer (Army) to the Luftwaffe. When his request was accepted he began his new pilot career as an observer in a recconnaissance unit.

In 1937 Streib was transferred to the Richthofen Geschwader in Jueterbog-Damm. In 1939 was pilot in Wolfgang Falck's I./ZG 1 Zerstörergeschwader. He was known as the "father of the nigh fighters" both because he was the first to score a night victory and he was the oldest among the other night fighter pilots. His first victory over an enemy plane was on a Blenheim bomber during day operations.

When in 1940 ZG/I was to undertake the development of night fighting techniques Streib felt very pessimistic about it all. During that period in which propaganda over the victories achieved by an attacking powerful German Luftwaffe shadowed the efforts of the few defending night fighter pilots. Falck refused Streib's deceptioined request of being transferred to a day fighting unit just some days before the latter achieved his first night victory. This success of Streib was morale encouraging for his collegues. These soldiers developed the night fighting techniques that were used for the rest of the conflict. These techniques found basis in those developed during WWI.

In 20 July 1940 Streib scored the first night fighting victory over German territory over a RAF Whitley bomber. Since then his career was always raising celebrity. In october 1940 he was already Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of I./NJG1. From that time till may 1942 he reached an amazing score of 26 night victories. In June 1943 he was Major with 50 night victories. He was regarded as a technical authority and appointed to Ernst Heinkel for the development of the He 219 night fighter, which indeed was a good weapon. When the first prototypes of the He 219 were available Streib flew the V9, an A0, and was the first to combat-test the type. It happened the night of 11.6.43 when British bombers were in mission against Berlin. Helped by his radio operator Fischer, Streib shot down -with short but powerful bursts of six 30-20 mm cannons- an amazing five victories in just half an hour! One of the victims threw oil from one engine before exploding. This oil covered the aeroplane's glass and when the blind approaching Streib touched down the impact was so strong that the plane broke into four pieces. Fortunately both Streib and Fischer survived the accident with minor injuries thanks to the robust nose and cockpit section which separated entire from the rest of the aircraft. He of course continued to promote the Heinkel He 219 in spite of Milch's contrary opinion.

On 1.7.43 Streib became Kommodore of NJG1. He formed part in 29.7.43 of the commission wich studied and approved the immediate use of Hajo Herrmanns "wilde Sau". By the end of war 65 was his final score of victories.

Flown a/c

This is by no means a complete list of aircraft flown by W.Streib but a little help for those interested in the subject is always welcomed!;

• Messerschmitt Bf 110C coded G9+HL. At the time, July 1940, Staffelkapitän 2./NJG 1, based at Gütersloh. The a/c was 70/71/65 splinter pattern black lettered, yellow "H" w/black outline. Englandblitz badge on the
• Heinkel He 219-V9 /A0 coded G9+FB with FuG 202. At the time, 11/12.06.1943, Streib was Gruppenkommandeur of I./NJG1.
• Arado Ar 234B-2/N V15 WrkNr.140146 SM+FF flown with Ofw. Marchetti for Kommando Bonow, Oranienburg - Berlin 1945.

After the War

In 1947 he married and handled a successful food store till 1956. When the new Luftwaffe was formed he was called to put his experience in service for the Federal Republic.

Streib re-entered the Federal Luftwaffe (Bundesluftwaffe) as Kommandeur in a flying school in Landsberg. In 1966 he ended with a peaceful pension his very long military professional career. He passed away on June 15th, 1986 and is buried in Munich, Germany.  

That was Brigadegeneral Streib of the new Bundesluftwaffe.

Lorenz

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Wichtiger Hinweis:

Die auf diesen Seiten gezeigten Abbildungen dienen ausschließlich zu Zwecken der staatsbürgerlichen Aufklärung, der Abwehr verfassungswidriger und verfassungsfeindlicher Bestrebungen, der Aufklärung oder Berichterstattung über die Vorgänge des Zeitgeschehens oder der militärhistorischen und wissenschaftlichen Forschung (§86 und §86a StGB).

Wer diese Abbildungen herunterlädt oder kopiert, verpflichtet sich hiermit, dieselben nur für o.a. Zwecke zu erwerben und in keiner Weise propagandistisch im Sinne des §86 und §86a StGB zu benutzen!

... working for the Luftwaffe Inspector of Jet A/c with a total score of 37 kills.
† January 1992

He managed the difficult task both to survive the war in the very difficult Luftwaffe conditions of the last years and scored 58 night victories during War, among them six in a single night! (14/15.03.1945).

Respectfully we remember his memory and thankfully will take care most of the learning his experience transmits to us.

LB

By the time this happened NJG2 was the only Luftwaffe unit capable of long-range night fighting operations.

On 09.08.1941 Becker and Staub, again controled from Leeuwarden, achieved the first air victory in history guided with airborne radar system. It was used the Lichtenstein B/C with dipole aerials. For this operation, Lt. Jauck was at ground control. It is a general opinion that the promotor of such a chase system was Herman Diehl.

Since these victories Becker was considered the technical reference expert in NJG2 and, by extend, on the rest of the n.f. wing. He flew operations like all the rest of his comrades during the night; in the day he gave lessons to the new pilots and formed the training of less expert pilots transmitting his personal experience. One of his personal techniques was to attack climbing from below and rear of the bomber target to submit it to the whole lenght of his cannon field of fire. With this technique he achieved 32 out of a total of 44 victories together with his companioin Staub. Many of these British bombers didn't even realize the dynamic of their own fate due to this particular technique which "ghosted" the attacker.

Becker died in his first day-light operation over Helgoland Bight against B-17 American formations. This last mission was totally foreign to his training and level of specific expertise, costing his life.

This episode is evidence of many sensless losses the OKL was responsible for.