During the
period from September to December 1943, JG 26 was involved in
a battle of attrition with the Allied raids on mainland Europe
and the deep penetration raids into Germany. Twenty-six points
of combat instructions were issued in early September, addressing
some of the problems combatting the Allies, and others the Jagdwaffe's
low rate of success against the four-engine bombers. New attack
techniques for attacking the bombers were therefor to be applied.
Frontal attacks were to be restricted in favor of attacks from
the rear. From now on the top priority was to break-up the bomber
formations. The pilots' trepidation when it came to attacking
the "viermots" was also something the leadership within
the Luftwaffe, including Generalleutnant Adolf Galland, had noticed
and now tried to resolve by threatening the pilots with court-martial
proceedings. Strangely however, not a single one of the 26 points
addressed how to deal with the growing problems posed by the
increasing numbers of Allied escort fighters. When it came to
the two Kanalgeschwaders - JG 2 and JG 26 - Galland wanted them
to make attacks on the escorts to tie them down and force them
to drop their extra fuel tanks. The inland units would be the
beneficiaries, as attacks on unescorted bomber formations were
known to be devastating. Both Geschwaders were enthusiastic supporters
of this idea, which worked well the few times it was tried. However,
this tactic was impossible to implement later when the numbers
of American fighters was able to overwhelm the defenders. During
November the Allies continued their attacks on targets in France
and the Low Countries as well as attacking German cities. By
the middle of November however, the weather over the continent
deteriorated so much that it was difficult for the 8th USAAF
to carry out its planned missions. This resulted in I./JG 26
flying a small number of missions up to 29 November. On this
day, the USAAF sent six combat wings to bomb Bremen and at the
same time 72 B-26 bombers, with an escort of 107 Spitfires, hit
the Chiévres airfield. Soon, air battles raged from Pas
de Calais to western Belgium. While III./JG 26 engaged the B-17
bombers, the rest of the Geschwader took on the B-26s and their
escorts. In this clash, I./JG 26 lost four Fw 190 A-6s, with
two pilots killed and another two wounded without claiming a
single enemy aircraft. There is not much information about Uffz.
Wilhelm Düsing, other than he must have been born under
a "lucky star" surviving close to two years of air
combat under the most difficult conditions a fighter pilot can
imagine, and to survive the ordeal. He was however able to shoot
down one enemy aircraft, a Spitfire claimed over Nijmegen on
17 September. He was also shot down twice. The first time on
14 February 1945, when he successfully bailed-out slightly injured
from his Fw 190 D-9 after a battle with a Spitfire pilot from
RAF No. 41 Sqn. The second time he was shot down was on 19 March,
flying in another Dora-9 when Düsing was hit by a P-51 pilot
from the 479th FG. This time he hit his head when landing in
his parachute, with the injury severe enough to keep in out of
service for the rest of the war.
Note that
this profile and caption is from my new book Luftwaffe Fighters,
Profile book No 10
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