Battle of the Bulge – the Hawker Tempest’s ferocious fight back

Also known as the Ardennes Offensive, the Battle of the Bulge was the final major German campaign on the Western Front during World War Two. Thomas McKelvey Cleaver details the ferocious aerial fight back Hawker Tempest crews mounted in response

The German counter-attack through the Ardennes that began on December 16 caught the Allies by surprise. Extremely poor weather conditions allowed only a few Luftwaffe aircraft to support the offensive, but the following day the weather improved such that fighters from both sides got airborne and 122 Wing experienced its best day of combat since arriving on the Continent.

At 1000hrs, eight 3 Squadron Tempests were airborne, though one turned back with mechanical problems. Flight Sgt Maurice Rose spotted six Bf -109s east of Lingen and shot down one after a short chase. Eight more were then spotted near Nijmegen, one of which was duly damaged. Rose then attacked a barge. His Tempest was badly damaged while avoiding intense flak but he managed to fly back to base unaccompanied and land successfully.

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