Reaping the Whirlwind Campaign for Target for Tonight

Digital Artwork - Piotr Forkasiewicz
https://www.behance.net/piotrforkasiewicz

 

It was back in 2001 that I started playing Target for Tonight by David Wayne Thomas after taking part in a demonstration game run by the author at the annual show run by the Plymouth wargamers and being impressed with the immersive game it produced by breaking a typical night bombing operation into phases and the different risks to aircraft and crew that could happen at any time from take off to landing.

My original 2000 copy of Target for Tonight 

Since then the rules have been reprinted in a glossy new format that seems to be the requirement in this day and age, although the rules remain as they were in their first incarnation and the renewed interest in them following that publication inspired me to get to work on a project that had been long in the gestation period with ideas written down, played with and left and then come back to now and then.

The new look 2018 copy of Target for Tonight

That idea being to use the rules as the basis for a higher level of game recreating the campaigns of Bomber Command between the period 1942-1944 and specifically under the leadership of Air Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris.

Bomber Command Main Force plus Mosquito intruder night fighters all ready for the Berlin Campaign test

With a basic idea mapped out on various bits of paper and with a collection of thirty 1:600 model planes together with another group of 1:300th models covering all four of Bomber Commands main types (Wellington, Stirling, Halifax and Lancaster) plus all the German and British night fighter types, I finally had something to try out at club in March 2019.

The 1:300th collection of bombers and night fighters

Had it not been for a global pandemic interrupting progress the eight game Berlin campaign play test would have been concluded in April or May of last year, but we were finally able to get the last two games played in August and October this year and I've now completed the final set of campaign rules, suitably entitled 'Reaping the Whirlwind' recalling Bomber Harris' speech on June 3rd 1942, putting the Nazi leadership on notice that the air bombing war was about to be turned on German cities with interest.

If you haven't seen the eight game series recreating the first large scale ops that began the Battle of Berlin in August 1943 you can follow the links below.

Op 1 - Berlin, 23rd-24th August 1943
Op 2 - Nuremberg, 27th-28th August 1943
Op 3 - Berlin, 31st August-1st September 1943
Op 4 - Mannheim, 5th-6th September 1943
Op 5 - Hannover, 22nd-23rd September 1943

Op 6 - Mannheim-Ludwigshaven, 23rd-24th September 1943

Op 7 - Hannover, 27th-28th September 1943

Op 8 - Dusseldorf, 3rd-4th November 1943

So Reaping the Whirlwind will allow players of Target for Tonight to assume the role of Harris and his Group Commanders of Main Force as the raids into German occupied Europe are planned and then executed using the game rules before returning to the campaign framework to establish the results of the bombing in comparison to the aircraft and crews lost which will yield a victory point rate and thus a verdict on the progress or not of Bomber Command's campaign.

You'll need a 'Whimpey' if you plan to take a trip to the Happy Valley in Reaping the Whirlwind.

All the stuff you would want, such as Target Marking, Weather, Bomb load outs, Fuel Consumption  and the inclusion of the Wellington, Halifax and Stirling bomber types to fly alongside the Lancasters is included together with a roster of sixty randomised crews to speed up manning the thirty models representing the five groups of Bomber Command Main Force.

All the main bomber types are included to operate alongside the Lancaster squadrons.

As well as the option to play a month of the Berlin Campaign you can easily opt to play two, three, four or five months of the campaign if you have the stamina, and there is a Rhur Valley Campaign for those ready to brave the flak in the Happy Valley and if that is not enough of a challenge you could even have a go at taking out the V Rocket plant at Peenemunde for good measure.

Operations Room Conference, Bomber Command, October 1943 - Herbert Arnould Olivier
Royal Air Force Museum

I haven't tested the Peenemunde or Rhur campaign games but they will use the same structure as the Berlin module and nothing in the rules are written in stone so if you don't like something, change it, and if it works let me know.

The Cyberboard module I used to run our campaign is also included in the download of Reaping the Whirlwind.

If you're interested in some recommended reading and resource materials that informed Reaping the Whirlwind then the following books might be of interest.

Recommended Bomber Command reading and four books that informed Reaping the Whirlwind 

As well as the rules and the maps (campaign map and five city target maps), counters and blank aircraft record sheets needed to play, I have included the Cyberboard module in the download that I used for running our campaign, for those who would like to make use of it.

As with all the resources here on JJ's, I try to ensure they are done to a good standard and will add to the enjoyment of the hobby and most of the stuff is produced in collaboration with other gamers and friends in the Devon Wargames Group or with other interested gamers such as the Target for Tonight enthusiasts on the Facebook Group and in that spirit is made freely available.

Target for Tonight - Facebook Group

That said Reaping the Whirlwind is released in time for Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, so perhaps you might like to make a donation to the Royal British Legion in honour of the 55,000 aircrew who perished on operations with Bomber Command.

https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/ways-to-give/donate

Reaping the Whirlwind - Target for Tonight Campaign Game

I have plans to come back to this project with a play through of the Rhur Valley Campaign module and a chance to run out the Wellington squadrons and the Peenemunde mission should make an interesting one off game.

In addition another fellow member and friend in the DWG has put together a collection to run the 617 Squadron Dam Busters Operation and I look forward to bringing you pictures and updates around all these ideas in months to come.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy Reaping the Whirlwind.

Next up on JJ's: Battlefield walks with Mr Steve, Vassal games of 1805 Sea of Glory and OSG's Leipzig and we're 'All at Sea' with some new small ships added to the collection.

Target for Tonight, Op Eight- Dusseldorf (A Brutal Battle in Happy Valley)

No Turning Back - Robert Taylor

A very suitable header to start the post of our final game in our eight game Battle for Berlin Campaign with a Lancaster of 61 Squadron, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Bill Reid under attack from a Freejagd FW190 en-route to Dusseldorf on the 3rd November 1943, the very raid we were recreating in our final campaign operation and a climactic one to end our campaign on.

 https://www.aces-high.com/news/view/danger-in-the-dark---

This weekend I was at the DWG monthly club gathering and got to run the final game in an eight game campaign recreating the largest of the twelve Bomber Command operations over Germany that heralded the start of the Battle of Berlin; using the game rules Target for Tonight by David Wayne Thomas, originally intended to represent single Lancaster aircraft as part of a squadron on night operations which I have modified to include the range of British bombers used from mid 1942 and to represent the operations at a group level instead.

Of course I couldn't really know how playable my modifications were until they had been tested and so I have been very fortunate to have had a group of players in the club who have played the rules through each game to see how well they fitted with the original game system and how easy they are to get the hang of.

Flight Lieutenant William Reid, VC, 61 Squadron 

So that exercise came to an end this weekend with the playing of our Op to Dusseldorf recreating the historical attack carried out by 589 aircraft on the 3rd-4th November 1943 that would see the loss of eleven Lancasters and seven Halifaxes or 3.1% of the raiding force together with the award of the Victoria Cross to Flight Lieutenant William Reid of  61 Squadron who was attacked twice by a nightfighter on the way to the target.

Pressing on over the next 200 miles to the target with his aircraft badly damaged, most of its guns out of action, his navigator dead, a fatally injured wireless operator and with himself and his flight engineer also wounded, he obtained an 'aiming point' photograph over the target before turning for home.

The return flight was no less perilous with a shattered cockpit windscreen, no oxygen supply, and with both he and the flight engineer, Sergeant J.W. Norris, lapsing into semi-consciousness as they took turns to fly the plane but with Reid recovering enough to land it in misty conditions in Shipdham in Norfolk, even though he could not see properly with blood running into his eyes from a head wound.

The final alarm for that night concluded with the undercarriage collapsing after what turned out to be a successful landing.

Flight Lieutenant Reid was an exceptional pilot and very brave officer who would go on to serve later in the war with 617 (Dambusters) Squadron and surviving a Tallboy bomb destroying his aircraft after it had been dropped by another above him on a raid to destroy a V-Weapon storage dump at Rilly-la-Montagne, seeing him successfully bail out and end up a prisoner of war in Stalag-III west of Berlin

The list of the early raids for the Battle of Berlin period taken from the 'Bomber Command War Diaries' and used to generate the eight games we have played since March 2019, culminating in this one

If you are just joining our campaign in this the final post, you can follow all previous seven ops in the links below with Op 1 played back in March 2019 before Covid rather than bad light stopped play.

Op 1 - Berlin, 23rd-24th August 1943
Op 2 - Nuremberg, 27th-28th August 1943
Op 3 - Berlin, 31st August-1st September 1943
Op 4 - Mannheim, 5th-6th September 1943
Op 5 - Hannover, 22nd-23rd September 1943

Op 6 - Mannheim-Ludwigshaven, 23rd-24th September 1943

Op 7 - Hannover, 27th-28th September 1943

Our campaign has seen our Bomber Command force take a commanding lead in the early attacks on Berlin back in August with the Nachtjagd in disarray after the summertime firestorm attacks on Hamburg in July and with the use of Window (aluminium foil strips) dropped by bombers wrecking the previous ground radar directed intercepts; and forcing a change in German tactics with the nightfighters having to adopt a 'freejagd' intercept with their own airborne radar set to guide them after being directed as best as possible by ground radar into the suspected bomber stream.

However the Nachtjagd have clawed their way back with a mix of these improved tactics and just bad luck for Bomber Command on some of its target marking and drift consequences that have seen increased losses of bombers for poorer bombing results and the campaign hanging on a minor German victory with the following pronouncement on the result of the operations so far.

Bomber losses outweigh the damage inflicted

The raid planning map, part of the 'air-officers commanding' briefing notes sent out prior to each op with the last mission to Hannover reducing the average score per op to 7.6 VPs and the current situation

Obviously senior command could not possibly tolerate this situation with Bomber Harris keen to prove his theory that a land invasion of occupied Europe will be rendered unnecessary following a German capitulation once his 800 strong main-force of night bombers has fire-stormed its way through Berlin and the the other major German cites of the Reich.

Thus with Mainforce responding to the call for an all out operation and with squadrons pulling out the stops to put as many aircraft into the air the groups managed to muster a magnificent turn out for this last op in our campaign with just three novice and one experienced crew talking part and with the rest all veteran crews with no less than 14 operations to their credit and with two second tour elite crews one from Halifax (P-Popsie) from 4 Group and a Lancaster (R-Roger) from 5 Group each with 47-ops and 38-ops respectively.

This is what a maximum effort by Bomber Command can look like and giving every chance for a punishing last Op to Dusseldorf

Given the importance of this particular mission Bomber Command have insisted on a Very Heavy bomb lift at the expense of fuel given the close proximity of the target and relatively short flight time to and from and with the weather reports showing broken cloud over home airfields and clear skies over the Rhur Valley only offset by the persistent haze that covers the area all year round, much is expected from the attack.

The winds over the target were predicted as light and from the south, perfect for accurate bombing with only the haze interfering and requiring the use of 'Parramatta' target indicators rather than the ground marker 'Newhaven' flares, thus with a slight chance of drift, offset by the clear weather, the city falling under OBOE coverage and offering a good ground looking radar signature.

Dusseldorf is located at the confluence of the Rivers Rhine and Dussel and the seventh largest city in Germany and is a key oil refining centre with the Rhenania Ossag refineries located in the southern Reisholz district of the city together with the Mannesmann tubular steel works on the northern outskirts.

Our target map representing the city of Dusseldorf and with the 'Parramatta' target indicators yet to be placed by our pathfinders, ordered to mark the suburbs of Reisholz to allow for any potential drift north over the city centre and rail yards.

With our last op taking place at the end of September, a month has passed in the technological war and thus in October we find our Mainforce bombers equipped with H2S Mark II ground mapping sets for the first time, enhancing navigation and target identifying at night, but offset with the German introduction of Naxos Z radar sets, better able to pick up the downward beams emitted from the bombers and thus aid their location in the dark.

All our Mainforce bombers would be carrying H2S Mk II navigation radar sets together with Fishpond attack warning modifications.

In addition the survivability of the bombers is enhanced with Fishpond nightfighter attack warning radar and with the support of 100-Group now flying ABC Airborne Cigar frequency jamming aircraft to interfere with German ground to air direction communications which has forced the Nachtjagd to adapt, using Morse Code transmissions as a stopgap measure to overcome the interference, now being countered by 'Drumstick', seeing RAF operators filling the gaps in the Morse signals with dots and dashes of their own.

The intel sheet used to determine the latest technological developments in night bombing used to brief the players

As part of the briefing the group commanders all get a copy of the prepared group aircraft stat sheets, an example of which is shown below, showing each aircraft by call-sign and allowing them to mark off hits to any aircraft from flak or nightfighters, plus fuel used inflight and the factors indicating crew efficiency at their particular role or their gunnery skill in yellow, together with crew experience and any other particular factors that might affect their flight.

A very experienced turn out from 4-Group and their Halifax squadrons, with Bomber Command Royalty in the mix in the shape of P-Popsie ready to lead the way and prepared to press on regardless.

With the table set up and the commanders briefed, the bomb load was constructed and call-signs allocated to each model together with an extra call-sign marker used to indicate the photo flash on the bomb run.

All the models set up ready to go

Our op began as every op begins with bombed up aircraft rolling down runways in eastern England to climb into a dusk sky as the bomber stream assembled before setting course for the enemy coast.

All our aircraft assembled, save one, Halifax Y-Yoke from 6 Group, that successfully managed to abort the take-off run after problems with the landing gear were discovered.

The bomber stream assembles after take off, less Halifax Y-Yoke, which aborted with landing gear problems

The stream set its heading over the North Sea to appear to be making a track for the German coast at Wilhelmshaven before abruptly altering course midway and turning directly for the Dutch coast which seemed to have the effect of confusing German radar and seeing no interference from nightfighters enroute to the target.

The bomber stream climbs hard towards the English coast. Altitude means safety from nightfighters.

However the flight into Germany was not without its alarms and losses with Elite crew Lancaster R-Roger showing some complacency on this, their forty-eighth Op by failing to monitor their climb rate out over the coast causing alarm at the possibility of encountering ice and having to abort, only mitigated by a particularly mild October evening with normal icing conditions only occurring at a much higher altitude.

This was followed soon after as the stream crossed the Dutch coast with the loss of Lancaster B-Beer, on their thirtieth Op and looking forward to leave following it having achieved their first tour, making a navigation error that caused them to stray too close to the flak batteries near Rotterdam.

The subsequent flak barrage lit up the starboard outer engine, with all but the pilot, bomb aimer and wireless operator escaping in the bail out that followed as the aircraft went out of control.

Individual bombers in the stream would be tasked with laying 'Window' to mask to approach route to German radar.

With no other losses the stream turned on to a course for the southern approach to Dusseldorf reporting a fierce barrage in the flak zone and the German searchlight batteries ominously shining their beams on to the underside of the Rhur Valley haze to create a ground glass screen that would silhouette the enemy bombers to any nightfighters patrolling over the city.

A good grouping of bombers turns in over the target to begin their bomb runs. The key was to get in quick and leave just as quick, whilst bombing accurately to the TI's. Note the position of Lancaster E-Eddy which bombed successfully but drifted off track and failed to get back on it, running out of fuel and crashing near the Dutch coast. Just another hazard of night-time navigation! 

The first bomb drops were very accurate and grouped in and around the target markers clearly visible in the night sky above the haze below, but with the crews very aware of their feeling of nakedness standing out against the backlight below and keen to get in and get out as soon as possible.

A 3-Group Stirling over the target with previous bomb runs marked by the photoflash chits showing which aircraft have bombed and where. The TI marker helps the players gauge where they are in relation to the target map, hoping for none but allowing for drift or an error in laying by the pathfinders. 

Then it began with a series of nightfighter encounters with freejagd FW190 single seat fighters taking full advantage of the conditions conducting fast moving raking attacks against bombers lining up on their target drop.

Seven aircraft would succumb to these attacks three Lancasters, three Halifax and a Stirling, together with the loss of Lancaster T -Tommy that collided with another bomber in the mayhem causing an explosion in the bomb bay that only added to the sense of disaster with falling aircraft that was observed by the rather shattered survivors that pulled away from the burning city.

The nightfighters didn't have things all their own way and the sharp eyed gunners of Halifax N-Nanny were able to shoot down one of the attackers before their aircraft fell due to the damage it sustained in the battle.

A radar equipped single seat FW190 closes on a 3-Group Stirling from behind, likely G-George the only aircraft lost by the group, a novice crew on its sixth op and with only the bomb aimer, flight engineer, wireless operator and rear gunner able to bail out over the city.

The only compensation for the heavy losses sustained over the target was a heavy concentration of bombs delivered to the southern oil works, rail yards and city centre, with multiple fires reported by returning crews.

 

6 Group Halifaz Z-Zebra under attack from a Ju88 near Aachen on the return leg.

However before the night was over, two more aircraft would be lost with the veteran crew Halifax Z-Zebra on their twentieth Op falling to the guns of a rookie NJG3 Ju88 nightfighter north of Aachen when it lost control after the port inner engine caught fire after suffering hits in the hydraulics after the first surprise attack, only three of the crew managing to bail out.

This was followed by the loss of novice crew Lancaster V-Vick on its fourth Op limping home after taking flak hits earlier that damaged the fuselage and hydraulics and subsequently becoming uncontrollable from that earlier damage with just three of the crew baling out near the Dutch coast.

Finally the last loss of the night occurred to veteran crew Lancaster E-Eddy another thirtieth OP crew looking forward to ending their first tour and a well earned leave, succumbing to the limited fuel allowance the very heavy bomb lift incurred and with a navigation error leaving the aircraft well off track, never able to correct the error, it was forced to bail out on the Dutch coast due to empty fuel tanks with all the crew safely contacting the Dutch resistance.  

The survivors limp home having to land at different airfields due to fog. The carnage of the night is displayed in the models to the side of the airfield.

Well what an Op to end on and with a series of games that have been thrilling in their own right but now with the added consequences of the effects on the overall campaign as the context for each game.

The map below is the final analysis of the bombing results that, given myself and the players were looking forward to a well earned pint in the pub was only a top line assessment at the time, indicating that with the losses sustained and the bombing damage caused, a potential draw was in the offing but that I could only confirm things once I had sat down and totted up all the points.

The final situation over the target with the number of bombs dropped and fires
started in relation to the target indicators that proved to be dead on target.

So with the situation left at Bomber Command sitting on a tally of 53 points over seven games to produce and average score of  7.6 points per Op and needing to get that score up to 12 per Op for a draw, we see this final game produce the following score.

Bomber Command - 2VP for the target, 56VP for 14 major fires caused in Dusseldorf, 32VP added for major fires in the Industrial and Transport areas, Four additional bomb types that hit the targets but did not cause fires for 4VP = 90VP in total.

Less the score for the Nachtjagd with bombers destroyed - 2 Novice Crews 4VP, 8 Veteran Crews 32VP = 36VP in total.

Thus Op eight generated 54VP added to the 53VP scored previously brings the total to 107VP divided by eight operations delivering an average score of 13.4 VP per Op and a handsome draw to Bomber Command in this bloody final operation to Dusseldorf, thus leaving the historical record showing 

'Mounting losses cancel out the effect of the bombing'

The remarkable and pleasing aspect of this campaign playthrough is how very similar the raid results have been to their historical predecessors and that if the result in the last game had not produced the disastrous drift to the TI's that it did and also did in the historical attack, then Bomber Command would be looking at a major victory at this stage, so each series of games in any campaign should leave things all to play for right up to the end in most cases.

To emphasise my point about similarities between the game results and the historical outcome, the Bomber Command War Diary makes interesting reading with its conclusions on the result of this particular OP;

'The main weight of the raid fell in the centre and south of the city but it is difficult to obtain precise results of the outcome; like some other German cities, Dusseldorf's records start to show a deterioration under pressure of the severe raids of 1943. There was certainly extensive damage both to housing and to industrial premises but a detailed resume is not possible. The same problem exists with casualties. An early local report says that 23 people died but this appears to have been altered to 118 at a later date. The United States Bombing Survey gives a figure of 622 dead and 942 injured for the whole month of November; there were no more other attacks on Dusseldorf in that month.'

I hope you have enjoyed following our progress through this series of games and my intention now is to pull the campaign rules together into a more user friendly format for other to use with plans to run another similar campaign for the earlier Battle of the Rhur and with Steve Land, a fellow TfT enthusiast, putting together a Dambuster project to be worked on in the New Year.

It leaves me just to thank my fellow DWG club members Steve Land, Bob Connor and Ian Toogood, who joined me in this game and to others in the club who have played in the seven other games that preceded it. Many thanks for your enthusiastic playing, help and input into what has been a very fun time and to give an idea on how our games have progressed over the campaign you can see a short clip below of this game with the guys getting the bomber stream moved with Bob trying his best to crash R-Roger and Steve explaining the delights of dodging nightfighters on the bomb-run!

I will also end with a thank you to my fellow TfT enthusiasts on the Facebook Group who have also been following the progress of this little series of games and for the generous availability of their ideas to modify and improve on the original game, many of which can be found on the page and by simply joining the group.

Target for Tonight - Facebook

More anon 

JJ

Target for Tonight, Op Seven - Hannover (A Very Dark Night for Bomber Command!)

The amazing aviation artwork  of Piotr Forkasiewicz, https://www.peterfor.com/ captures the moment of a Lancaster under attack from a Freejagd, FW190 Nightfighter, an all to common event in our seventh Target for Tonight op to Hannover

This weekend at the Devon Wargames Group, myself, Bob and Steve L. sat down to play through the seventh and penultimate game in our Battle of Berlin Campaign game for Target for Tonight (TfT) with the state of play at the end of six ops balanced on a draw and with Bomber Command needing to restore confidence and its advantage with a devastating attack on the relatively close range target of Hannover, which was attacked historically on the 27th-28th September 1943 by 678 Mainforce aircraft.

The first eleven ops in Bomber Commands 1943 offensive against Berlin from which the eight largest were selected to test out our eight game campaign module for TfT

A lot of factors seemed to bode well for Bomber Command with this op, as 'Bomber Harris' gave his crews a much needed break from the deep, long range attacks on the 'Big City', Berlin, Nuremburg and Mannheim and returned to Hannover raided only a few nights previously and with our next op to Dusseldorf, deep in the 'Happy Valley' of the Rhur.

The situation set-up and preceding ops can be followed below:

'Mounting losses cancel out the effect of the bombing'

Op 1 - Berlin, 23rd-24th August 1943
Op 2 - Nuremberg, 27th-28th August 1943
Op 3 - Berlin, 31st August-1st September 1943
Op 4 - Mannheim, 5th-6th September 1943
Op 5 - Hannover, 22nd-23rd September 1943

Op 6 - Mannheim-Ludwigshaven, 23rd-24th September 1943

As well as being a shorter flight to Hannover, reducing the time in the air to be attacked and the strain on aircrew, the weather was forecast as 'broken cloud' over the target with light winds allowing 'Newhaven' target markers to be used, much more accurate in their placement with a small chance of drift and thus a good chance of accurate grouped bombing. Only fog over airfields on the return slightly spoilt the planned attack, but with a strong turn out of veteran crews across the groups including two second tour elite crews, the chances of a good result seemed in the offing.

The Players briefing sheet showed a solid turn out of aircraft from across the five Mainforce Groups with thirteen veteran and two second tour elite crewed aircraft out of twenty participating in the attack, with the other five being novice crews averaging three ops apiece.

Hannover was an important target being the thirteenth largest city in the Reich at that time, with 471,000 inhabitants and an important role as a major transport hub and industrial centre producing military vehicles, aircraft together with rubber parts and products at the Continental AG and Hanomag factories and with the large AFA VARTA factory producing batteries and torpedoes for U-boats. in addition, on the outskirts of the city, two large refineries were built producing gasoline and motor oils for the Luftwaffe.

The players briefing notes of Hannover included the target map with the key industrial sites of Continental AG, VARTA and the refineries indicated together with the winds expected over the target.

The intelligence briefing indicated no known changes to Luftwaffe technical capabilities, but updates on passive receivers such as Flensburg were now enabling nightfighters to home in on Bomber Command's Monica tail warning radar, somewhat reducing the effectiveness of the cloaking effects of Window.

Confident in the forecast of low winds affecting target marking by the pathfinders, our player commanders opted for target marking on the railyards to the north-west of the city to act as their reference point and, with a short range target allowing a comfortable fuel load out of 18-19 units of fuel, a very-heavy bomb lift was selected allowing for an extra 20% lift capacity for the attack.

Mainforce starts to gather in darkening skies over eastern England and already the first casualties of the night, P-Popsie and R-Roger, remain on the ground as burning wrecks at base airfields.

Thus with the plans and briefing complete our respective Group commanders arranged their aircraft and started the first most critical parts of flying any aircraft, taking off, with perhaps only landing being of a higher priority, particularly if you get to walk away from it!

The night's work started badly for the op and very badly for Five-Group Lancasters, in what would be a devastating night for the group, as the 38-op, Elite crew of P-Popsie veered off the runway in an attempt to abort take-off, only to loose control with a very heavy bomb load, and crash amidst a fireball explosion, this followed by a similar devastating crash by 24-op Veteran crew R-Roger with fatal results for all on board.

Three casualties before Mainforce had crossed the enemy coast!

The next casualty of the night soon followed as the bomber stream crossed the coast out over the North Sea with a warning of icing conditions to contend with, the Three-Group, 3-op Novice crew of Stirling F-Freddie were forced to bail out after the flight engineer failed to adjust the fuel mixture on climb out with an engine failure resulting from icing that put the aircraft into an uncontrollable dive despite dumping their bomb-load and seeing only the wireless operator successfully bail out, to be picked up the next morning.

The rest of the flight from the enemy coast to the Hannover flak belt proved relatively uneventful with jumpy crews having their flight unsettled by the occasional Monica false alarm.

The bomber-stream reaches the Hannover flak belt where the next casualty of the night would fall in a direct hit from flak in the bomb bay killing all aboard Halifax M-Mother.

Then the next casualty fell as Four-Group, 14-op Veteran crew, Halifax, M-Mother found itself coned by searchlights and hit by flak in the bomb bay which resulted in a massive aerial explosion and the loss of all on board, as the stream flew on with all crews in the vicinity noting the use of scarecrow shells as they concentrated on their approach to the target.

A Freejagd Wildboar attack roars into the attack over Hannover, one of six such attacks as Mainforce made its run over the target.

The lack of nightfighters to this point was intriguing and perhaps indicating the controllers aranging fighter cover in prediction of a deeper raid, but any sense of relief for our bomber crews was to be soon tested as the run over Hannover was met by no less than six Freejagd 'Wildboar' single seat attacks from staffing FW-190's two of which were using airborne radar to home in on unsuspecting bombers.

The bomb run is always a very tense and drama laden part of a game of TfT but this raid on Hannover is up there with the most dramatic of all, with multiple single-engine fighter attacks, determined grouped bombing, and acts of heroism as bombers dealt with damage received over the target, to then press on and make their attacks.

Despite the attentions of the Wildboar fighters the bomber crews went about their task methodically, with very few 'jumpy' bomb drops and very good concentrations of bombing on suspected key locations around the city, but not without loss and damage from the repeated fighter attacks, with another Five-Group Lancaster, the 29-op, Veteran crew, T-Tommy, shot down on the bomb run by a nightfighter that hit it in the bomb bay killing all aboard, a Four-Group Halifax, 29-op Veteran crew K-King, hit by a fighter in the port fuel tank, setting it on fire and causing it to crash, with three crew, the flight engineer, wireless operator and rear gunner bailing out over the city, and a One-Group Lancaster, 16-op Veteran crew, B-Beer being hit by a fighter in the port wing fuel tank that then caught fire only to see the pilot save his aircraft by extinguishing the fire in a dive, before pressing on to complete his bomb run. 

Inevitably the bombers cleared the target and turned for home with crews jubilant that they had pressed their attack accurately with a strong concentrated grouping that would leave Hannover a smoking wreck the next day, with minds now focussed on getting home with out loss on the remaining fuel.

A Ju-88 from II/NJG3 closes in on Lancaster S-Sugar, to cause the last casualty to Bomber Command on a very costly raid to Hannover, and this loss being the fourth out of five Five Group Lancasters committed to the  raid.

With throttles opened, ours crews raced back to the coast with no more losses until the crossing into the North Sea - Channel approaches as another Five-Group Lancaster, 3-op Novice Crew, S-Sugar was intercepted by a II Gruppe, NJG3 Ju88 equipped with Schrage Music upward firing guns that closed in undetected by the inexperienced crew, pouring its fire into the port inner engine and sending it crashing out of control with no survivors.

The target map revealed an exemplary bombing attack with an ample mix of HE and Incendiaries placed together on key targets together with Cookie High explosives aimed at the industrial, city centre and transport areas. A quick assessment of the results reveal twelve major fires started and if this had been in summertime good weather conditions have resulted in a 'Firestorm' in Hannover city-centre.

With all of us exhausted after a very dramatic game we gathered around the computer display to see the results of what looked like a very good bombing attack that would help to offset the high losses in veteran and elite crews.

However each raid has then to add in the components that can easily affect good accurate bombing such as actual winds versus forecast, ground looking radar city profile, additional radar navigational support for pathfinders and target markers alike, etc.

For our op there were no other factors thus leaving a roll on 2d6 requiring seven or less for the Newhaven markers to have been on target and the bombing as seen above.

That was when all the good work of the night combined with the heavy loss of aircrew was undone as the die roll came up with a score of eleven and a target marker drift of two zones showing a target presented to reconnaissance Mosquito's the next morning looking thus;

Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory as forecast light winds prove false and undo the results of a very concentrated bombing attack falling on open fields and with not one bomb hitting the city of Hannover.

You might think this result bizarre and unrealistic if you knew nothing of the difficulty of hitting a target as large as a major city from some 20-25,000 feet in pitch darkness, under fire from Flak and nightfighters with the technology available in 1943, that is until you read the report of the results of the historical attack made by those 678 aircraft losing 38 of their number, some 5.6% of the force with the summary of the attack from the Bomber Command War Diary, blandly stating;

Bomber Command War Diary - Hannover 27/28 September 1943

678 aircraft - 312 Lancasters, 231 Halifaxes, 111 Stirlings, 24 Wellingtons. 5 B17s also took part. 38 Bomber Command aircraft - 17 Halifaxes, 10 Lancasters, 10 Stirlings, 1 Wellington - lost, 5.6% of the force and 1 B17 also lost.

'The use by the Pathfinders of faulty forecast winds again saved the centre of Hannover. The bombing was very concentrated, but fell on an area 5 miles north of the city centre. No details are available from Germany but R.A.F. photographic evidence showed that most bombs fell in open country or villages north of the city.'

I hadn't realised this was the historical outcome before writing up this AAR and it is uncanny when a game manages to replicate the result of an actual air-battle in this way and perhaps helps underline what an enthralling game TfT is in its ability to put you in the hot seat of those involved without all the risks to life and limb they endured doing it for real.

However this was a tough night for our bomber crews that leaves the campaign looking thus, with victory points in value of the target attacked less the crews of seven aircraft lost, four Lancasters, two Halifax and one Stirling resulted in 19 victory points to the Nachtjagd, thus reducing Bomber Commands tally of 72 points over six ops to 53 points over seven, leaving it averaging 7.6 points per op and placing the campaign firmly into a German Victory, with Nazi newspapers and Signal Magazine proclaiming,

Bomber losses outweigh the damage inflicted. It's a good night for the Nachtjagd!

Thank you to Bob and Steve L for once again braving the flak and pressing home their attack regardless of losses. 

Will Bomber Command's efforts be rewarded in the final op of this campaign? All will be revealed in the night skies over Dusseldorf.

Target for Tonight - Battle of Berlin Campaign

Next month at the DWG I will be picking up where we left off in our Target for Tonight (TfT), Battle of Berlin Campaign, last reported here on the blog back in February 2020 with our sixth of eight planned linked games recreating the early attacks made by Bomber Command in late 1943, heralding what historians would refer to later as the Battle of Berlin. 

Right, the original rules I purchased back in 2000, next to the new rendition, not as glossy but unchanged in content, published a few years ago by John Curry. Our early games from 2017 run at the DWG can be followed here.
https://devonwargames.blogspot.com/search/label/Target%20for%20Tonight

I had been playing TfT for a number of years prior to the launch of the new look rules from John Curry and had been dabbling with the idea of putting together a group level campaign game back then, whilst expanding my collection of model aircraft to enable the larger game over that of the individual squadron, outlined in the original game.

A section of my 'Aircrew Selection' spreadsheet from which I can randomly draw a prepared crew roster for each aircraft selected for any given op, just with a couple of die rolls and helps speed up the Pre-Planning part of the game that I do prior to club, sending out an Ops Briefing for players to look at prior to our game and including all the record sheets they will need for individual aircraft.

The idea behind the campaign is to provide a framework around a very neat set of rules that models the crew experience of flying a night bombing operation over occupied Europe, that includes ops planning at the group level of Bomber Command, rather than just individual squadrons, together with the inclusion of target planning, target marker selection by weather conditions and placement over the target, bomb lift and fuel load out arrangements, for a series of linked games that measures bombing effectiveness against planes lost and aircrew casualties, and to test the rules before putting them out there for others to have a go with.

Our games are run at the Group level with the number of aircraft each group is able to put up (maximum six) for each op, rolled for in the pre-planning stage of the game by me, here showing the aircraft available at the top for each group in our next op, Op Seven to Hannover, showing five veteran Halifax crews from 4 Group alongside a similarly veteran turn out of Lancasters from 5 Group, which includes an Elite crew on their second tour. 

As well as the Battle of Berlin, the campaign game system should allow us to look at the earlier Battle of the Rhur Valley Campaign, with the focus very much on Bomber Harris' period in command from the early one-thousand bomber raid on Cologne and the inclusion of the twin-engine Wellington bomber, still very much a key part of Bomber Command's Mainforce, until replaced by more four-engine types, and retired from the long range raids into Germany that included Berlin.

The bomber stream musters over eastern England before heading out over the North Sea on the last op to Mannheim.

The first six games, covered in the links below, have seen Bomber Command's victory point lead gradually clawed back by the Nachtjagd through a combination of casualties inflicted and some indifferent bombing caused by the bad weather that helps to mask the bombers at night but can make accurate target marking difficult. 

The situation, as we prepare to play Op-7 to Hannover recreating the attack by 678 Bomber Command aircraft on the night of 27th-28th September 1943, sees the current state of play standing at a drawn campaign with the headline report,

'Mounting losses cancel out the effect of the bombing'

Op 1 - Berlin, 23rd-24th August 1943
Op 2 - Nuremberg, 27th-28th August 1943
Op 3 - Berlin, 31st August-1st September 1943
Op 4 - Mannheim, 5th-6th September 1943
Op 5 - Hannover, 22nd-23rd September 1943

Op 6 - Mannheim-Ludwigshaven, 23rd-24th September 1943

The narrative captured in the game reports comes from that generated in the games we play, with the players carefully noting the details of losses sustained in their respective groups, combined with heroic fights, bringing badly damaged aircraft back having sustained damage early into the flight, still continued on to the target and then limped home, dealing with navigation errors, flak and the hazards of landing after a long tiring flight in freezing temperatures.

Nachtjaged intercept and, if the bomber spots the fighter in time, a Corkscrew combat ensues as the bomber attempts to escape into the dark by evasion off the opposite end of the board and/or by shooting down the fighter - a very tense stage of the game.

In addition to managing their respective aircraft through each leg of the flight too and from the target, combatting intercepts, when possible, by enemy nightfighters, the players also assume the role of Group Commanders and higher command, deciding on the bomb lift and fuel load out combination for the groups and the mix of bomb load.

Pre-game planning as the players make decisions on the bomb and fuel load outs for their respective groups, the placement of TI's Target Indicators, before lining their models up ready for take off.

Before the squadrons set off into the night the players have to decide on the numbers of 4,000lb 'Cookie' High explosive bombs to take, designed to take the roofs off large areas of residential, military, transport and industrial zones alike, accompanied with more small high explosive bombs and incendiaries better suited to starting mass fires to further extend the damage caused to homes, factories, rail yards and dock yards, with the Halifax, Stirling and Lancaster better able to carry different loads and thus compliment one another.

The 'bomb lift' is simulated by a number of bomb type tokens being put into a cup, based on the decision to take a particular load and mix. These tokens are then drawn blind by the players as their bomber model completes its bomb run over the target, and placed on the target board and recorded on the target map along with those of other aircraft, with any drift of the TI's calculated at the end of the game to see where particular bomb types had actually fallen and the outcome, with multiple and specific bomb types liable to generate fires adding to the destructive effects and which will generate a victory point calculation at game end.

Of course planes shot down or who turn back prior to the target reduce that bomb lift, with tokens taken out of the cup in the required numbers according to the bomber type lost from the op.

A city map from the Mannheim op, used to plan and record bombs dropped on the target by type and specific location in relation to target markers that can, and often do, drift, causing bombs, as seen here, to fall in open fields, mixed in with inevitable 'creep-back'. Here example locations include Residential, Rail, Factory and Town Centre Commercial, together with a potentially important Oil production facility, indicated by the 'oil drop' factory location to the north of the city limits, and the Newhaven Target Indicators position, used when the target is clear skies or covered with broken cloud.

Once the plan is decided on and the aircraft are off, all that planning can be for nought as the nightfighters, the weather and simple good or bad luck takes a hand in deciding the outcome of each game and with the return of surviving bombers, the gathering around for crew debriefs at the game end to assess the results of the bombing, offset by the losses in crews and aircraft and the overall effect on the outcome of the campaign.

I have put together a Cyberboard module that helps me pre-plan each op and record the detail as we go along, for reporting in my post game AAR's as well as giving the players a quick reference point on the screen as they make their bombing runs over the target.

I should add that, rather like the crews themselves, the players have no idea of the efficacy of their attacks until the accuracy of their bombing with that of the target marking, aligned with the map of the target, reveals the result, all adding to the final piece of drama to all the decision making that preceded, and adds a little more effect to the overall game that Target for Tonight creates and I think explains why this air-game is so different from the normal whirling-turning-shooting air games that seem to be the norm and why it is a game I have kept coming back to since its publication. 

A broad and suitably painted collection of models helps bring the game alive 

So next month we will pick up where we left off and resume our campaign, never forgetting while we play the sobering thought that the game simulates Bomber Command's huge contribution to ridding the world of Hitler and his evil regime, and paying a terrible price while doing so in young men's lives; with the loss in aircrew amounting to some 55,500 men, killed in the air or as prisoners of war, in flying or ground accidents and in ground-battle action, with 8,325 aircraft lost in action, and of course the German civilian casualties that will probably never be known accurately, but with numbers ranging from 350-500,000 and as much innocent victims of the Nazi's as other civilian casualties caused during five years of total war.

Lest we Forget

In the lead up to planning our next game I happened to come across a very interesting recent presentation by the Imperial War Museums which looks at the development of the Avro Lancaster bomber and includes a detailed look at the example held by the museum at Duxford and is well worth a watch to get a feel for the conditions a Lancaster crew could face flying in the dark skies over wartime Europe.

As usual a full AAR of our next game will follow on the Devon Wargames Group blog with a linked posting here on JJ's.

For those interested in learning more about Target for Tonight, the Facebook Group focussed on the rules would be a good place to start.

Target for Tonight - Facebook Group

More Anon

JJ