On 1 July 1941, he took command of 4./NJG 1, stationed in the Netherlands at "Fliegerhorst" (airfield) Leeuwarden, north of Arnheim, on the Friesland coast. From this position in the so-called German Bight, the squadron patrolled the North Sea coast, and could intercept Allied night-time bombing missions, what Nazi propaganda called terror attacks, which were conducted from England. By the end of the war, the 4./NJG 1 was one of the most successful "Nachtjagdstaffel"—a squadron of a night fighter wing—of the Luftwaffe. Other members included such night fighter pilots as "Oberleutnant" Helmut Woltersdorf, "Leutnant" Ludwig Becker (44 victories, KIA February 1943), "Leutnant" Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld (51 victories, killed in a flying accident in the Netherlands in March 1944), "Leutnant" Leopold Fellerer (41 victories), "Oberfeldwebel" Paul Gildner (46 victories, killed in a flying accident at Fliegerhorst Gilze-Rijen in the Netherlands in February 1943), and "Unteroffizier" Siegfried Ney (12 victories, KIA February 1943). On 30 August 1941, Lent received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () for seven daytime and 14 night victories.