Battle of Britain

battle_name=Battle of Britain

Battle of the beams

:See Battle of the beams

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However, while the British was using radar more effectively than the Germans realized for air defense, the Luftwaffe had their own electronic means to increase their air attacks' effectiveness. One of the systems was called Knickebein ("crooked leg"), a system where carefully positioned radio transmitters in friendly territory broadcast specially targetted navigational beams that intersected over specific bombing targets in enemy territory. Bombers specially equipped with technology to detect these beams could be guided to a precise target and receive a special signal to drop their bombs when they were overhead. This allowed for pinpoint bombing at night when British air defence was at its weakest which could have crippled key industries and RAF facilities with dangerous efficiency.

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Although British intelligence had heard of proposals for this system, its actual existence was not taken seriously until a British science advisor to MI6, Reginald Victor Jones, gathered evidence of its existence and its threat. He then managed to convince high command of the menace and confirmed it with special reconaissance flights. Jones was then put in charge of developing countermeasures which often involved interfering with the beams to make attacking aircraft go widely off course. Although the Germans resorted to other navigational systems, Jones and the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) were able to neutralize each in turn. The result was markedly reduced precision bombing effectiveness for the Germans.

Related Topics:
MI6 - Reginald Victor Jones - Telecommunications Research Establishment

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