“Schräge Musik!" via World War 2 Jets Instagram

 

Bomber Command attacked Berlin full force in January 1944 but Bf 110s and other night fighters equipped with SN-2 radar and using free style tactics caused havoc. In early 1944 152 Lancasters were lost only on a few raids to Berlin alone! In January 1944 Lancasters shot down actually exceeded production for the month! Flying a Bf 110G-4 Paul Zorner shot down 22 British bombers in the winter. The Schräge Musik cannons made devastating kills.

One Lancaster crewman describes such an attack as follows:
“The first indication of the nightfighters presence was a stream of tracer from below our aircraft port quarter. The target was a Lancaster flying 100ft higher than us, on the same heading as our aircraft and located approx 50 yds off our port bow. In less than two seconds both wing tanks of the Lancaster were ablaze. The night fighter was still not seen by our rear gunner.”

“A second attack was made almost simultaneously by the night fighter on a Lancaster that was some 100ft above our altitude on the same heading but at our starboard bow at a distance of approx 50yds. The fate of the second Lancaster was exactly the same-both wings ablaze. The sky was now like day!”

“The attack also originated from below and astern of our aircraft. The fighter was still not seen by either myself in the mid upper turret or our rear gunner. A silver Messerschmitt then suddenly appeared immediately below the fuselage, slightly off our starboard beam, 20ft below our altitude. I immediately took action to engage him with my own guns but he was too close and I was unable to depress my weapons sufficiently to bring his aircraft into my line of fire.”

The air battle of Berlin ended in March 1944 at a cost of 649 bombers, 489 Lancasters and 4,340 aircrew dead. The bombers dropped 33,000 tons of bombs but the German night fighters lowered the death toll to 10,305. This would not be a repeat of Hamburg.