30th November 1943. A: 64/1490 (26 aa), X: 21/711 (4 gd). Another weather-limited turn, with a good attrition ratio for Werner to close off a busier month. AS 2 IND 10 TERROR 13; so my SB score has slipped while terror has gone up by a predictable 1 point.
MTO: 15th AF to the BBFAC near Turin, doing little damage and not much fighting - 0/208f 5/96b 2e. Most of the activity centers around the supporting AF raids by fighters, with the 12th AF losing 23/144f 8e.
ETO: Another LGO raid by 3 Group to Dortmund. [:@]
Overall, a better month for me than October, with a similar effort to October (42,700 Allied sorties vs 41,900 in October) leading to an increase in allied losses from 1,400 to 2,000. However, this is repaid by an increase in Axis losses from a paltry 569 in October to a much more satisfying 1,225 in November. Even better is the increase in allied efficiency involved, as Werner's sortie total in October was 12,800, rising to 20,800 in November. Werner's loss rate in October was 4.4%, rising to 5.9% in November, while mine rose from a pathetic 3.4% to 4.7%. So Werner made a greater effort, costing me more aircraft, but costing himself more in the process. Notable features were the sudden increase in ground kills (from zero to 178) reflecting more sweeps now re-equipment has largely been achieved and a stack of expendable P-38H and Thunderbolts has built up to replace the dwindling stock of Spit Vb's, and the drop in AA casualties from a shocking 54% in October to a better 26% in November. More good news is Werner's pilot attriton rate, with October seeing a drop from 508 KIA plus 1 MIA in September to a miserable 389 KIA plus 2 MIA. November saw this rise to 747 KIA plus 25 MIA which is much better, although I really want to jack this up to 1,000 pilots lost per month to hammer him.
Werner's losses of single-engined day fighters doubled over the October figure (967 vs 485); more significantly, his Zerstorer losses more than tripled (to 181 vs 52), although this was from a minimal initial level and they cost me twice the loss in heavy day bombers to achieve this (555 vs 251).
Night bomber losses were fairly static (80 compared to 70 in October) while NJG losses rose from 24 twin-engined and 8 single-engined to 70 and 7 in November; although some of these were lost defending against daylight attacks, it indicates the level to which the intruders have claimed ascendency over the NJG with their losses against night bombers at a 1:1 ratio, at a cost of 10 NF's in October and 13 in November.
Medium bomber losses are up to 270 from 208 in October, but this is sustainable unlike September's loss rate of 370.
My fighter losses are up to 936 from 778, but this is easily sustainable now that re-equipment of the strategic forces with the P-47D, P-38L and P-51B is complete and much of the strain is still being borne by the expendible P-40's, P-47C's and P-38H's. P-47C losses rose from 32 to 105 this month, but I'm still sitting on a good reserve despite losing slightly more than new production over the month, while the P-47D can be seen to be carrying much of the load with losses rising from 77 to 192, but this is still out-stripped by new production.
The arrival of three P-39 sqns in MAC should help spread the attritional load further against my overall production. Meanwhile, Spit Vb attrition dropped from an unsustainable 212 in October to a high but bearable 162 in November; while the Spit IX losses dropped slightly from 94 to 85 which allowed a couple of new Spit Vb sqns in MAC to convert to the IX.
So much for the air losses; the bad news is the SB score, which declined from 5956 at the end of October to 5359 at the end of November. I'd like to blame this on the weather, but the score was sufficiently low to start with that I should have been able to keep it static without too much trouble. On the other hand, terror is up two points, from 116,661 to 130,979 which is pretty much what I expected given the bonus of constant 15th AF raids on Italian RR targets.
Here's the overall losses:
the weather is.
This is the kind big battle I need to get the attrition I want, even if it costs me 100 B-17's. Again, I'm too close to 10% attrition and Werner too far from it to claim a clear success though. I wish he'd go back to taking on my fighters...
