Luftwaffe Parachute Bombs and Cable Suspended Bombs

[Border Reiver]

Kevin A. Mahoney's "Fifteenth Air Force Against The Axis", published in 2013, gives the following details about German tactics in northern Italy during the latter part of 1943 and January 1944.

“By this time, the Luftwaffe used new defensive measures against bomber formations that included glide bombs, parachute bombs, and bombs suspended from cables to break up the formations and knock down the bombers.”

A Me 210 was supposed to have dropped a "cylindrical object" on the 384th BG formation during the 16h October 1943 raid on Stuttgart (according to a report in the 384th BG mission files). (This raid also included the infamous "silver disks" being dropped by a German aircraft - ???)

Are there other instances of Luftwaffe aircraft bombing Allied bomber formations, either with free fall or cable-suspended bombs? If so, were there any official designations for these weapons, or were they simply local modifications?

Apologies if this has been asked before.

Thanks for any replies and information.

[ROLAND1369]

My father flew as pilot in command of a lead B 24 crew during WW II over Germany. He told me of one attack from head on by an Me 109 pulling a bomb on the end of a cable through the formation. He said the attack came out as a draw. The B 24 gunners did not hit the ME and the ME driver did not hit the B 24s. I do not know if it was a common tactic but it occurred at least once.

[Edward L. Hsiao]

The German fighter ace Heinz Knoke had once got a four-engined bomber by air to air bombing in 1943.

Edward L. Hsiao

[danebrog]

confirmed here:
https://b17flyingfortress.de/b17/42-296 ... rty-belle/

[Border Reiver]

Thanks for the info. The "Knocking the Bombers" seems a tactic borne out of desperation....