German Night Fighter Force 1917-1945

The German Night Fighter force had its origins in the First World War to repel night raids and to fly long-range intruder sorties. They developed operational procedures which became largely forgotten a few years after the Armistice. The Western Allies, Britain and France, maintained and improved night-fighting tactics, but the creators of the new Luftwaffe did not at first think about night fighting at all and during the building up of the service and it received only cursory attention in the first large-scale war games held in November 1934.

This changed in 1936 and the results of some exercises were set down in a secret study prepared for the Air District school in November of that year. After the onset of War, and the British and French night attacks on the western area of the Reich, night-fighting became more of a priority. As a consequence of the urgent necessity the Luftwaffe developed sophisticated techniques including basic cooperation and coordination and the increased use of electronic systems.

Gebhard Aders’ study of the History of the German Night Fighter Force is a highly detailed analysis with numerous appendices which provides a comprehensive account of the Luftwaffe’s thoroughness right up to the end when the hunters became the hunted.