The delay in the attack by just a few minutes allowed the German night fighters to get in among the bombers, resulting in heavy casualties. At 11.6%, the loss rate was prohibitive. Such losses were as bad as those suffered in the hardest raids flown against such heavily defended targets as Berlin or the Ruhr. However, the losses were suffered in a much shorter period of time. The majority of the air combat occurred at the assembly point, and was over in 30 minutes. A number of experten who were able to slip in among the bombers were able to make multiple kills close together. Dietrich Schmidt of &lt;a href="Nachtjagdgeschwader%201"&gt;8/NJG-1&lt;/a&gt; scored 3 victories in 30 minutes before damage to his aircraft from defensive fire required he and his crew to bail out. Martin Drewes of &lt;a href="Nachtjagdgeschwader%201"&gt;III/NJG-1&lt;/a&gt; achieved 5 victories in 45 minutes. Helmut Bergman of &lt;a href="Nachtjagdgeschwader%204"&gt;8/NJG-4&lt;/a&gt; scored 6 victories in 30 minutes. Fw 190s of &lt;a href="Schnellkampfgeschwader%2010"&gt;I/SKG-10&lt;/a&gt; accounted for six victories. The intensity of the combat was the most notable feature of the air battle.