September-October - Air Defense Artillery

At 0900 on 1 January 1945 a flash was received from the
'facticalAir Command early warning broadcast that a large
up of enemy planes was heading in the direction of the
~ea in which the airfield was located. From the plot it was
n that the hostiles were about five minutes flying time
away.
The next warning was flashed by the antiaircraft Op's
ituated in a ring around the field from three to five miles
ut. A single Ju 88 was approaching with a large number
f FW 190's and Me 109's some distance behind.
At this particular time the airfield had two of its squadronsairborne
in the area, returning from missions. These
Rightswere notified of the hostiles and directed to intercept .
~e field commander directed that the planes on the ground
scrambled as soon as posible. Some additional aircraft
rere warmed up and succeeded in taking off shortly after
theenemy reached the field.
The friendly flights already in the air attacked the Germansseveral
miles from the field and succeeded in breaking
uptheir formations. Some of the enemy turned north to atrackanother
field, but the bulk of them proceeded to come
downin groups of two and three to altitudes of 100-200
feet from the approach altitude of 2,000 feet. They came
o\'erthe field very low and fast, and strafed AA positions on
thefirst pass. But from this time on for the next thirty minutes
there were no more concerted attacks on the field, as
el'ery attempt by the enemy to bunch up was immediately
roken up by our fighters.
Most of the dogfighting took place away from the field
proper, so the air above the field was clear of large groups
ofaircraft much of the time. Enemy planes breaking away
fromour fighters and making strafing attempts at the field
lI'ereengagtd and driven off by the waiting AAA. At least
fourof the enemy were destroyed in this way.
As the action continued our fighters began to run out of
ammunition and gasoline and had to land to rearm and refuel.
On several such occasions, as a fighter came in for a
landing, several enemy would dive down to pounce on it.
The 40mm guns promptly engaged the attackers directly
behind the helpless fighter and either drove them off or
hot them down. One of our pilots, landing safely after
aving had a FW 190 driven off his tail by AA fire, leaped
out of his plane and came over to the gun responsible and
personally thanked the section chief. ~
In some cases AA fire was able to break up formations of
nemy fighters attacking our planes, while in other cases the
tracers pointed out low-flying enemy aircraft so that our
ighters could pick them off.
AAA VS. LUFf\VAFFE: 1 JANUARY 1945
\Vhen the action was over and all the enemy who could
still fly had left the area, an inventory was taken of damage
inflicted on us and damage by us to them. The airfield had
one C-47 strafed on the ground and badly shot up, and one
P-47 hit twice in the motor while parked in a dispersal bay.
No damage was reported by our AA units as a result of the
enemy strafing. Several gun revetments were struck by
13mm and 20mm projectiles, but no one was hurt.
The GAF, however, suffered the loss of a good part of the
attacking force. The Air Force units of the field claimed
thirty-five enemy shot down, two probables and seven
damaged. Our AA units claimed seven Cat. I's and four
Cat. II's. This out of a total attacking force of fifty-plus!
. A careful check revealed that in no case did our AA engage
a friendly fighter during the attack. "Cease fire" was
ordered several times by section chiefs at guns because
friendly fighters were approaching hostiles being engaged
by AA. At no time did the Air Force commander order a
"Hold fire." After the action he was asked if he considered
a "Hold fire" would have given greater freedom to his
planes. H~ replied that it was not necessary as he had complete
faith in the ability and skill of the AA defending his
field, so that his planes would not be fired on mistakenly.
To cite an example of the cooperation existing at this
field, when AA machine guns are in action against attacking
enemy aircraft, selected Air Force ordnance personnel go
. to designated machine-gun sites and augment the AA crews
by acting as ammunition men. It is certain that mutual
understanding of each other's problems was a large factor.
in the efficient defense of the field on New Year's Day.
The final figures on this greatest antiaircraft field day of
the war are now in. It has been estimated by the Air Defense
Division of SHAEF that between 790 and 870 German
aircraft took part in eight major raids over the vVestern
Front, in both American and British sectors.
Total confirmed claims of aircraft destroyed by American
AA fire are 320 Cat. I's and 102 Cat. II's. At this juncture,
it may be well to remember that while Category II claims
are not aircraft actually seen to crash, they must be so badly
damaged that they cannot reach base.
From what data we have available the score of enemy
planes shot down in the air by American fighters reached a
total of 160. British fighters and antiaircraft were active also,
and raised the score still more.
But in any case, 582 kills out of a possible 870 is, to our
mind, not at all bad. vVould it be too immodest to state that
we sort of dished it out and the Luftwaffe took it on the chin
-on 1 January 1945? .
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