Activation of new aaa units - Air Defense Artillery

19-J8 AAA DEFENSE OF WASHINGTON II
ciples of action against flak positions. The Navy in the Pacific
was strong for such coordinated action of fighters, dive
bombers and high level bombers. If the war had continued,
this concerted action would have been Standing Operating
Procedure in the Pacinc.
The effectiveness of the gun-laying radars was reduced
during Allied attacks by radar jamming, by "window," and
by "carpet," the defense usually being saturated in the
larger raids. Tight formations of bombers gave better protection
against fighters, a better bombing pattern, and
more protection by their own "window." However, the
tighter the formation the greater were the flak losses.
The over-all effectiveness of the Hamburg defenses can
be judged from two angles. These defenses accounted for
350 Allied airplanes positively destroyed, and the early
Figure 3-Flak Effectiveness and Priorities of Approach.
warning system proved extremely effective, as the defense
was never surprised.
HAMBURG VS. WASHlNGTON
For the purpose of this article it has been assumed that
the heavy gun defenses of Hamburg were removed to
Washington en toto, in order to protect the priority installations
of the National Capital against bombing operations
of an enemy. The defense has been superimposed
upon Washington regardless of the accessibility of gun positions,
except that one 128mm flak tower has been removed
from the middle of the Potomac to the more solid foundation
of Hains Point. This places the other flak tower near
Pennsylvania Ave., SE, in the Navy Yard-Sousa Bridge
area. These two flak towers, because of the fact that they
'l.70'