Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939) but it produced co-operation difficulties. A solution to the problem was twofold. Fighter units defending the North Sea coast were subordinated to "Luftgaukommando" XI (Air District Command 9) in Hanover. These fighter units would function as an autonomous fighter command, or "Jagdfliegerführer" (Fighter Flyer Leaders). The command of Fighter Command unit was given to "Oberstleutnant" Carl-August Schumacher, a former commander of II./"Jagdgeschwader" 77. Schumacher had served in the "Kaiserliche Marine" (Imperial German Navy) during the First World War and as an officer cadet had seen combat at the Battle of Jutland. It was hoped with his naval background and easy
Battle of Jutland him west of the mouth of the Skagerrak off the coast of Jutland and wait for the Germans to appear or for their intentions to become clear. The planned position would give him the widest range of responses to likely German moves. The principle of concentration of force was fundamental to the fleet tactics of this time (as in earlier periods). Tactical doctrine called for a fleet approaching battle to be in a compact formation of parallel columns, allowing relatively easy manoeuvring, and giving shortened sight lines within the formation, which simplified the passing of the signals necessary for command