On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht launched its assault on the West. One element of the West's response was the dispatch of RAF Bomber Command 'heavy' bombers at night over German industrial centers. These raids had only limited effectiveness, but so annoyed the enemy that he decided to create a credible night fighter force. Its first few months were fairly chaotic, with constant reorganizations of units, and reassignment of aircraft, but soon enough the first Gruppe was achieving steady victories-and losing crews at a similarly steady rate. The time it took to set up further groups shows that the night fighter arm, despite the efforts of those in charge, was already short of aircraft and personnel, probably as a result of the growing importance of the Eastern Front and, for some time thereafter, the Mediterranean Front. Fully illustrated, this CI gives a full chronological account of the Night Fighters, covering major campaigns, the biographies of individual aces, and the details of their aircraft. AUTHOR: Neil Page has a degree in Modern Languages and has lived and worked in Germany. He spent eight years at London Gatwick airport in flight dispatch with a major European airline. He has translated the unit histories of JG 2, JG 4 and JG 300 and is one of the team behind the successful Luftwaffe Gallery book series. His web site FalkeEins-the Luftwaffe Blog has garnered over 4 million page views over the last decade. He is the author of Day Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe 1939?42 and 1943?45. 100 photographs and artworks
