The Last Flight of Halifax JB837
25/26th May 1943

Nachtjagdgeschwader (Night Fighter Wing) NJG1 was the primary German Night Fighter force defending the Reich from night bombing raids by the RAF.

The mainstay of NJG1 was the Messerschmitt Bf110 night-fighter.

The original Bf110 was designed as a two seat Zestörer (destroyer) fighter for escorting bombers, but its limitations were exposed in the Battle of Britain. When converted to a night fighter, comprising Pilot, Bordfunker (Radio/radar operator) and later in 1943 a Bordschutze (Air gunner), it became a formidable opponent.

The Order of Battle at May 1943 is shown in the table below (including Pilot's name where known). Those in red were credited with shooting down at least one bomber on May 26th.

The . in German represents 'st','nd' ,'th' etc in number abbreviation, so 2. = 2nd

Roman numerals represent the Gruppe so II./NJG1 is the 2nd Group of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (Night Fighter Wing 1).
Arabic numerals represent the Staffeln, so 4./NJG1 is the 4th Staffel of NJG1 (the 4th Squadron of Night Fighter Wing 1).
The Staffeln were usually distributed evenly between Gruppen, so I Gruppe would include Staffeln 1,2 3 : II Gruppe would include Staffeln 4,5,6 etc.

In theory a Gruppe of the Nachtjagd would be made up of 40 aircraft: 4 aircraft in the Stabsschwarm with 12 aircraft in each of the 3 Staffeln making a total of 40 fighters. In reality, this was never achieved, and at times there were less than half that number of operational aircraft. As the war progressed each Gruppe was further degraded.