German Gunfire Against Aircraft

An unusual quote by British officer in the desert on distinguishing German columns from British columns:

This same British officer, when asked if there was any difficulty in determining the nationality of columns of troops in the desert, said: "No. All columns of troops in the desert look alike from the air, and both friend and foe shoot at you; but their nationality is immediately apparent. If they are our own, the fire is disturbing, and one fires the identification signal; if they are German, the fire is terrifying, of unbelievable volume and intensity, and leaves no doubt as to the identity of the column."

From: German Gun-Fire Against Aircraft

 

how effective was german gunfire against allied planes

 

Here are a few indicators. Not a definative answer, but it may give some idea.

French AF reports from aircrew suggest it was very effective in May 1940. On 11 or 12 May 1940 LeO45 bombers attacking German motorized columns in the Ardennes region suffered serious casualties. The French attacks were made at very low level. The same day RAF Fairey Battles attempted attacks on the German held bridges north of Liege. They suffered heavy casualties from AAA fires as well as from interceptors. On the 14th May both the RAF & French AF sent some 140 bombers against the German pontoon bridges near Sedan. Losses over the target exceeded 30% & overall losses seem to have been well over 50%. French sources suggest the larger portion of their losses in the Sedan attack were from ground fires.

In the Mediterrainian & later over Europe the pilots of the artillery spotting aircraft developed a healthy respect for the light AA weapons of the Germans. Generally the Germans did not waste much large caliber ammunition of these aircraft, not wanting to give away the positions of the big guns to a artillery spotter. The common danger was from the machine guns, the MG34, MG42 on AA mounts on vehicals, and the 20mm & 37mm guns. The general rule used by the pilots of the spotting aircraft was: "1000 feet up & 1000 feet back". That is they stayed above a altitude of 1000 feet of 300+ meters and a similar horizontal distance behind the line of friendly soldiers to avoid the worst of the MG & 20mm AA fires.

When my fathers bomber group first begain operations out of the UK in early 1943 they attempted very low level attacks on German targets. Despite the above average high speed of their B26 bombers and limited exposure time to the individual gun positions the losses to the bombers were prohibitive. 100% on one mission. Techniques were changed and they seldom ventured below 5000 feet for most of the war.