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. "
1: The beginnings of night fighting in World War I; 2: Between the wars; 3: Night fighting in World War II: Evolution and operations until the end of 1940; 4: Developments during the British individual and wave raids of 1941-1942; 5: Battle against the bomber streams May 1942-July 1943; 6: Free night fighting July 1943-May 1944; 7:The hunters become the hunted; Epilogue; Appendix 1: List of abbreviations with translations; Appendix 2: Formation dates of main Luftwaffe night fighter units; Appendix 3: Commanding Officers of night fighter Geschwader and Gruppen; Appendix 4: The night fighter aces; Appendix 5: German night fighter successes 1940-1945; Appendix 6: Most successful German night fighter pilots 1940-1945; Appendix 7: Series of five or more victories in one night; Appendix 8: Monthly survey of German night fighter successes over the Reich territory and the occupied areas of Western Europe; Appendix 9: Confirmed Mosquito kills; Appendix 10: Major German airborne electronic systems; Appendix 11: Major ground control radars (situation July 1944); Appendix 12: Luftwaffe night fighters: technical data; Appendix 13: Major powerplants: technical data; Appendix 14: Night fighter guns: technical data; Appendix 15: German night fighter production 1941-1945; Appendix 16: Inventory of operational night fighters January-September 1944; Appendix 17: Radio code words and expressions used by Luftwaffe night fighter crews, with translations; Appendix 18: German night fighter camouflage and markings; Appendix 19: Code markings of night fighter Geschwader, Gruppen and independent Staffeln; Appendix 20: Identification markings; Appendix 21: Deployment of Luftwaffe night fighter formations on the Eastern Front; Archival sources; Bibliography; Acknowledgements.
