On 11 January the Eighth conducted a full-strength mission against Oschersleben, Halberstadt and Brunswick. I. "Gruppe", now equipped with the Fw 190 A-6, practiced the new "sturmtaktik" (assault tactics). It attacked as a unit, from dead astern the bomber stream, at close range and downed three bombers without loss. It also conducted the standard head-on attack. II. "Gruppe" used tactics unique to commander Walter Hoeckner "snakebite" tactic—a wave attack from the low-rear. The "gruppe" claimed 10 bombers and another separated for the loss of two Fw 190s and one pilot. The mission was considered an unqualified success. Overall, the RLVs committal to forward areas covered by US escorts offset the 60 bombers destroyed and five scrapped due to damage. 53 German fighters were destroyed and 31 damaged; 38 pilots were killed and 22 wounded. Heinrich Bär joined II./JG 1 in mid-January 1944 as an ordinary pilot after being relieved of command of JG 77 because of insubordination. Morale appeared to be a concern to the OKL. On 11 February ULTRA intercepted a message to JG 1, JG 3 and ZG 26 congratulating them on their performance in defence of Frankfurt that day, even though they collectively shot down a single bomber with 10 fighters. "Jagddivision" 3 now had I. and II. "Gruppe" with IV./JG 3 and "Sturmstaffel" 1 as "heavy" units while I./JG 3 and III./JG 1 flew "light" fighters as cover. JG 1 was among those units that tried to attack American escorts early, to force them to jettison their drop tanks.