Fighter Doctrine

[AngrySwan]

Fighters are the branch that conquers air superiority. That, apart from battlefield intel, is their main task.

In 1941 the main fighter on the Eastern front is Bf 109F. The new Fw190 are produced but will not show until a year later. the older Bf 109E are replaced as soon as they are produced. Bf 110 is a heavy fighter/bomber and is quite good in both roles, although not as good as specialized fighters or bombers.

A typical operation starts with either taking out the main enemy airfield if its location is known or waiting for soviet planes. In a couple of days the enemy air force has been destroyed - unless the Soviets have really many of them. After that fighters fly recon missions or, in some cases, support ground troops, mostly by hunting down defeated enemy units.

The organisational structure is a brigade as one unit. This structure is soon replaced by 3 regiments. This structure ensures 3 to 1 superiority and is important in encircling battles like Uman where tanks and aircraft are the main strike force and some infantry can be kept in reserve. In the central sector, where enemy is stronger and gets even more planes as the campaign goes on, the sky will see brigades of four regiments - for example, JG 53 ''Ace os Spades/Pik As'' and the Soviets will encounter structures like ''3 regiments fighting as one, and a separate regiment from the same brigade''.

The ''ordinary'' regiments as well as Bf 110 focus on air recon while the large brigades recruit aggressive attackers.

Some examples how this looks on the battlefield.

Battle of Uman. On day 1 the 1st and 2nd regiments of JG 3 take out the closest Soviet airfield while 3rd regiment escorts bombers elsewhere.
The Soviets launch 2 fighter units from the airfield near Uman and try to attack but the Germans fly in a large formation - both regiments together - and the Soviets do not engage. As Regiment 3 arrives, JG 3 attacks the Soviets and they retreat to their airfield.
If the weather permits, JG 3 can now finish them off.

Battle of Riga. Since JG 54 was reinforced with another regiment just before the battle, it can attack Kaunas airfield at once. With Ju 88s providing air recon, the airfield is taken out on day 1.
After that fighters recon the road to Kaunas and help the 4th panzer group to reach the city.
Since the operation is a fast one, the fighter force then split into groups and recon the roads to Schaulen, Libau/liepaja and Riga. With those Soviet monster tanks out there, you do not want to run into them unprepared...

[AngrySwan]

Some changes in the initial fighter doctrine have been made.

The Soviets use large fighter formations (up to brigade) so that fighter regiments of the Luftwaffe cannot win air superiority as quickly as needed (but they need it on day 1) and there are unjustified casualties, which require replacements and are bad for the morale (it is the enemy's duty to die like heroes, our duty is to win).

The initial doctrine ''3 regiments per army group'' has been revised. There is at least one fighter brigade (Geschwader) operating as one formation in the sector of each army group, supplemented by separate regiments of Bf 109 or 110 or Bf 110 fighters.

The 3 separate regiments of JG 54 ''Grünherz'' (Green Heart) have been merged into a brigade. They are supprrted by 2 separate regiments of Bf 110 (SKG 210).
Also, if Grünherz appears as one formation, it is possible to give the name JG 54 ''Grünherz'' in the HQ - a regiment III/JG 54 ''Grünherz'' is too long.

AG Center features JG 53 ''Pik As'' as one brigade (Minsk and Smolensk) that later, starting from Wjasma, gets an extra regiment (test group of Erprobungsgruppe - Moscow is ahead and tests can wait for a while). In Op Typhoon this force is also supported by fighter brigade JG 51 and its extra regiment IV./JG 51 (initially operating near Staraya Russa), as well as a separate fighter regiment II./JG 52 (from Wjasma and on).

AG South has JG 3 ''Udet'' as its fighter brigade, initially (Uman - Kiev - Melitopol) supported by 2 separate Bf 110 regiments of ZG 26 (they go to AGC before Wjasma).

JG 7 ''Herz As'' supports AG Antonescu, with supprt of the Romanian air force. II./JG 77 takes part in the battle of Odessa. III./JG 52 and and III./JG 77 support JG 3 fas needed.

The mission of the fighters is to quickly gain air superiority and then operate as direct support units for the ground forces, against weakened Soviet ground units on the run or transport columns.

The usual attachments are specialized offensive staff + recon unit + 2 extra squadrons (or 3 extra squadrons without recon) for a fighter brigade or recon unit + 2 extra squadrons for a regiment.

There should be enough separate squadrons (Staffel) of JG 77 to support the force attacking Murmansk. (Elements of JG 77, like JG 52, are scattered around the Eastern Front and used where needed).

The initial deployment of Luftwaffe is based on the original AA campaign and the site www.niehorster.org (to locate units not shown in the original game) and the assumption that units can later be transferred between army groups as needed.