German Rocketry

[BaglanBoy]

One thing that stands out when playing Forgotten battles in the ground attack role is that the option of air to ground rockets is only available with either the US, British, and Russian air forces, were as the Luftwaffe seems only reliant on medium and large caliber cannon.

When you consider the fact that Germany was so far advanced in rocketry it seems odd not to have included this in the air to ground role.

Perhaps they may have experimented, but I have never seen any reference or film footage on the subject ?

 

Perhaps the closest they came was the anti shipping air released Fritz X glide bomb !

 

 

[Sandmarken]

There are many German planes that can field rockets in BoX, at least. The Fw 190A8, as well as the Dora, 109G14, and K4. I think the 410 can carry them as well. And not forgetting the V1!

[AEthelraedUnraed]

IMO the Germans were right.

 

Against unarmoured ground targets, cannons are quite destructive enough while they pack much more ammo and are easier to aim. Against armoured targets, rockets are quite useless. They are relatively hard to aim and thanks to their small warhead, nothing but a direct hit will do any kind of significant damage. As a result, Allied pilots have a record of hugely overclaiming their rocket kills. Post-battle analysis of the campaign in Normandy concluded that of all the tanks claimed by Allied rocket-armed aircraft crews, only around 3% were in fact destroyed (source: https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/myth-of-combat-aircraft-destroying-tanks.27496/_). And this only considers claimed victories, not attacks in general. In other words, German tank crews didn't need to worry much about Allied rocket attacks.

 

Of course, there are other factors to consider. A near-miss might damage a tank's tracks which might temporarily put a tank out of action while its crew performs repairs. If the enemy was nearby or if the supply situation was really bad, this might not even be possible and the tank might be abandoned. Furthermore, seeing a bunch of rockets come towards you would be a horrifying experience that could cause an inexperienced crew to bail. Out in the open, they'd be vulnerable to all kinds of dangers.

 

Overall though, air-to-ground rockets were hardly worth it. There's a great YouTube video somewhere that goes into detail about the above, but I couldn't find it any more.

 

In contrast, the German air-to-air rockets were not meant to be fired with pinpoint accuracy. Instead they were meant as a solution to the problem that in order to stay outside the range of a bomber formation's defensive guns, it was necessary to engage it from beyond a practical range of the fighter's guns as well. If it's not possible to shoot accurately anyhow, you don't need your weapon to be very accurate either and other characteristics become important. For example, the Wfr.Gr.21 was explicitly meant to be used against massed bomber formations from a range of between 600 and 1200m. Although the accuracy was still low (Wikipedia gives 15%), the rockets' shrapnel would hit multiple targets even without any direct hits. Even if not lethal, it might put psychological pressure on the crew and/or force the formation apart, making it easier to attack with conventional weapons.

 

The later R4M rockets were, in contrast, designed with direct hits in mind. They would travel nearly straight ahead at supersonic speed and form sort of a disk shape centred around the attacker's crosshairs. This meant that if fired at its intended range of 1000m (well outside the bombers' defensive range), it would cover a large enough area to pretty confidently hit any bomber within the fighter's crosshairs, even if the aiming was a bit off.

 

So all in all, I think the Germans made the better use of rocket technology.

Edited April 8 by AEthelraedUnraed

[BlitzPig_EL]

In game, I will choose bombs over rockets all day every day and twice on Sunday.  Bombs and guns are FAR more effective in the sim than the unguided rockets are.

It's not even close.

[=MERCS=JenkemJunkie]

Don't sleep on the Wr.21's if the durability of the object is low enough to one-shot it. Very easy to aim and the racks leave you with very little drag afterwards. Use the first large tick mark on the revi up from the center of the sight and fire kinda close in a shallow dive. They're sniper rockets.

Edited April 8 by =MERCS=JenkemJunkie

[sevenless]

Good overview, what was possible back then in air-ground support and the myths surrounding this subject, you can find here:

 

https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/2926860/338168.pdf

 

[jollyjack]

I like the typhoon rocketry targeting German ships ... must try the FWs and 109 K4 now.

made this one using groups from others among mine: https://www.mediafire.com/file/rvmqtju30lsztuv/%2B_Hun_on_the_Run_v_2f.zip/file

[LukeFF]

The 21 cm rockets were actually used during the Normandy invasion by Fw 190s to attack soft targets like vehicle convoys. With such a big warhead, extreme accuracy wasn't needed. They were also used during Operation Bodenplatte in a few cases: https://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2021/08/siegfried-lemke-flugbuch-kommandeur.html

 

Beyond that, you have the Panzerschreck and Panzerblitz anti-tank (and antipersonnel) rockets, fitted on 190 F-8s, from the fall of 1944. They saw limited use in both the East and the West from about December 1944 to the end of the war. 

 

The R4Ms were meant to be employed against bombers exclusively, but in the last days of the war apparently, some were employed by 262s against ground targets.  

[[CPT]Crunch]

Hope the korea game will fix them and have some logic on damage with objects.  Currently you can destroy a dirt bunker with a single US rocket but it takes seven to destroy one of the large bulk petrol storage units.  

 

That's kind of backwards of what one would expect.  The bunkers are by design built to withstand minor hits, bulk tanks will collapse just from the pressure let alone burn if the contents are flammable.  You need a wingman just to take one out.

 

Damages are inconsistent and illogical for the most part. 

[Jaegermeister]

10 hours ago, LukeFF said:

The 21 cm rockets were actually used during the Normandy invasion by Fw 190s to attack soft targets like vehicle convoys. With such a big warhead, extreme accuracy wasn't needed. They were also used during Operation Bodenplatte in a few cases: https://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2021/08/siegfried-lemke-flugbuch-kommandeur.html

 

They were also used by the Germans against Allied shipping offshore of the Beachhead for a couple of days after D-Day, but there were so many allied fighters in the area, it became impossible to reach the targets during the day. They actually sank 1 or 2 ships with them.

 

Apparently in real life, they were spin stabilized and the gyroscopic effect as well as the ballistic drop made them extremely difficult to aim effectively. From the information I have found, they would impact about 80 meters off to the left from the aim point if fired from 1000 meters range. The metal mortar/launch tubes were able to be jettisoned, but they were also heavy and aerodynamically inefficient so they slowed down the aircraft carrying them.

 

After the Normandy invasion, very little priority was given to Ground Attack by the Luftwaffe as most of their resources were tied up in defending the Reich from the Allied bombers. Without air superiority, ground attack missions were mostly suicidal, and even though Hitler ordered various models to be equipped for ground attack, the realities of the situation prevented them from being practical or effective.