Figure 1.--Here you can see camouflage netting over a German anti-aircraft gun. Curiously a lot of children are present. FLAK batteries were around cities, but as the War priogressed they increasingky were manned by Hitler Youth boys and others rather than Luftwaffe personnel. This may be a battery near an air base and the children may be realted to the soldiers. Perhaps readers will know more.

As the Allied air offensive increased with strikes into the Reich. It became clear from an early point that the Luftwaffe alone not prevent such strikes, although it could take a heavyb toll on the raiders. Substantial resources were diverted to defending German cities and other targets. This included massive belts of FLAK guns. The German turned to another definsive measure--camouflage. There were two ways in which camouflage was used. One was to hide important facilities. The second was just the opposite, to create decoy targets that drew Allied from valuable targets. There were several different methods of camouflage depending on the target to be hit. Some were very simple such as hanging camouflage netting over gun emplacements or other potential targets. And camoflage was used both tatically on the battlefield and strateically to hide bombing targets. The German effort went so far as tgo try to hide whole cities or at least confuse the raiders trying to find their aiming points. The Germans, for example, build a massive structure on the Charlottenburger Chaussee in Berlin. This is broad avenue clearly visible from the air that led westward from the Tiergarten park into the heart of the Government area in the center of Berlin. It was like an arrow pointing to valuable targets. The Germans along the 5 mile length of Charlottenburger Chaussee built wire netting which they covered with green cloth. The Germans built a fake city outside Berlin in a forest which has been cut through with lanes so that at night, from the air with a few added lights it could pass for the Tiergarten. Fake roofs were constructed with cloth and paper and stretched between the trees. Lights on the ground gave the impression of a blacked-out city. Efforts were made in other cities with varying results. This was of little interest to the Germans when they dominated the skies, but increased in importance as they loss control. Eventually the Luftwaffe itself was reduced to Camouflaging its facilities and aircraft. They also camouflaged FLAK batteries. The Germans also developed measures to camouflage industrial facilities the Allies were attempting to destroy. The decoy targets could not be built in lightly inhabited rural areas. That was too obvious. More commonly they were built near actual targets and had the impact of sopreading out the area hit by the Allied bombers and thus decreasing the effectiveness of the raid. These measures were used to protect the vital synthetic fuel plants. The decoys commonly took the form of fake reproductions of vital installations or areas.

Created: 7:12 AM 6/2/2011
Last updated: 7:12 AM 6/2/2011