On 24 July 1943, the RAF escalated their night bomber offensive with the launch of a series of raids against the port city of Hamburg. The raids were significant for the first successful deployment of 'Window'-tiny strips of metal foil - which, cut to the right wavelength, successfully jammed German radar equipment. The attack and the resulting firestorm, which caused huge loss of life and damage to industrial installations, prompted the German High Command to give greater urgency to proposals then being tried out by the Nachtjagdversuchskommando Herrmann, (Night fighter Test Detachment Herrmann), led by decorated bomber pilot Oberst Hajo Herrmann. Conceived during early 1943 as a means of making up for a general shortage of night fighters, Herrmann's unit based at Bonn Hangelar deployed ex-bomber and Lufthansa pilots who were experienced in blind flying techniques, to attack the RAF bombers visually at night. Their first interception of a British heavy bomber raid had taken place on the night of 3/4 July during an attack on Cologne. Herrmann's pilots destroyed six bombers, including one brought down by Herrmann himself, for the loss of just one machine.
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