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"Gernany was involved from the Northern Cape [Norway] to Africa. By spereading [out] your forces like this you can't concentrate your defense force like what really was needed. We wre split up and we had to defend and to attack and to be the defense in the air and the attack in the air on a radius that we could really not cover at this time."
-- General Adolf Galland, Head of Lufwaffe Figter Defenses, November 1942-January 1945
Göring assured Hitler and the German people that the Luftwaffe would provide an impreganable Air Barrier in the west. He assured Germans that, "If English bombs ever fall on Germany, then you can call me Meyer!" Meyer was an obviously Jewish name. In fact the Allies at first refrained from launching an air war. Here France because her cities were vulnerable resisted British suggestions. The German Western offensive (May-June 1940) was so successful, that German cities were largely out of range from the planes available to RAF Bomber Command. Only in 1942 did Bomber Command get effective long-range planes like the Lancaster that brought German cities in range. By this time the Germans had constructed a forbiddening degensive line beginning with the Netherlands, Belgium, and Northerm France. They had also begun to develop effective night fighters. The Americans joined the British stategic bombing campaign, bombing by day while the British bombed by night, hoping to overstress the German defenses. The Americans found that only contrary to expectations that the havily armed bombers could not fight through the German defenses without havy losses. German defenses took a terrible toll on Allied bomber formations until 1944 when long-range fighter escorts became available. The Luftwaffe could in most cases carefully consider engagements. Here it was rise to resist the American bombers are allow them to pulverize their cities. The bombers essentially forced the Luftwaff to give battle to protect German cities. The bombers and especially the escorts also took a heavy toll on the Lufwaffe. Here in the skies over Germany the 8th Air Force essentially destoyed the Luftwaffe,
Reich Marshall Göring was the head of the Luftwaffe and resoinsible for civil defense. As a result he was the NAZI official most responsible for air dfense. Thecollapse of those defenses was bad enough, but he had assured both Hitler and the German people that the Luftwaffe would provide an impreganable Air Barrier in the west. He assured Germans that, "If English bombs ever fall on Germany, then you can call me Meyer!" Meyer was an obviously Jewish name and meaning 'mud' in German. Germany at the time had the world's most powerful airforce. It was, however, a tactical airforce without a strategic bombing force. The Luftwaffe fighters were a formidable obstacle to bombing Gernmany. The NAZIs thus begun the war under the illusion that they would bomb other countries, but German cities would be left unscathed.
At the onset of the War, German cities were in range ofBritish and French n=bombers. And thdy were largely unprotected because mosr of the Luftwaffe was deployed in the East to support the invasuin of Poland. This support was a major factor in the swift German victiry. The Allies who still did not want to fight another war refrained from launching an air war. Here France because her cities were vulnerable resisted British suggestions. The British, while undefended Polish cities burned under Luftwaffe attacks, mostly dropped leaflets appealing to the better nature of the German people.
Germany did not at the onset of the War have extenive anti-aircraft defenses. The Germans were relying primarily on the Luftwaffe fighters and the temerity of the Allies. The Poles did not have a strategic bombing force. Thr Allies in the West did, but hesitated yo nue it, fearing that the Luftwaffe would bomb their cities. And the success of the Western Offenxe put German cities out of range of British bombers until a new generation of bombers coukd be brought on line and the Americans were brought into the war with their long-range bombers. German cities were at first lightly defended with anti-aircraft artillery, but there were gun in place and Germany had perhaps the finest anti-aircraft gun of the war--the famed 88mm gun. It would take some time, however, to build this artillery in large numbers and install banks of these guns around important cities. Anti-aircraft or FLAK guns were initilly manned by Luftwaffe men and became an important part oif Germn air defenses. All Luftwaffe units had anti-aircraft components. Early anti-aircraft instalations were manned by Luftwaffe men. As the War progressed, greater and greater demands were placed on the Luftwaffe, especially after the invasion of the Soviet Union and the launching of the Allied Strategic Bombing Campign. Luftwaffe men continued to man gun emplcenments around air bases. The much lrger anti-aircraft component around cities, however, was gradually taken over from the Luftwaffe by the Hitler Youth and oher group. The Luftwaffe oversaw the anti-aircraft defenses, but fewer and fewer trained Luftwaffe men manned the Flak guns. The use of less skilled Flak crews would be a factor in the declinnking kill rates, especially after 1942. 【Westermann】
The Germans proceeded to conquer virtually all of Western Europe. After a few months of the "Phony War", France's turn came. The Germans struck on a wide front against the neutral Netherlands, Belgiym, and Luxemburg. The terror bombing of Rotterdam convinced the already hard-pressed Dutch Army to surrender. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) rushed north to aid the Dutch. The Germans then struck in the Belgian Ardenes which allowed them to avoid the formidable Maginot Line. The French and Belgians considered the Ardenes impassable to tanks. The Germans managed to easily penetrate the rough terraine, crossed two substantial rivers, and the XIX Panzer Corps rapidly reached the English Channel--cutting the BEF off from the French and rendering the Maginot Line uselss. The Luftwaffe played a key role in the German offensive. The German Western offensive was so successful, that German cities were largely out of range from the planes available to RAF Bomber Command.
Only in 1942 did Bomber Command get effective long-range planes like the Lancaster that brought German cities in range. The difficulty of hittng specific targets forced the British to adopt an area bombing strategy. At this time planners were still unsure as to just what could be achieved by a bombing campign. Hitler's declaration of war on America meant that the United States began a military buildup in Britain. One of the major aspects of that build up was the 8th Air Force with the mission of joining the British air campaign against the Germans. The combined Allied air assault on Germany was planned and coordinated by Air Marshall Harris and the American commanders General Hap Arnold and Ira Eaker. The British would continue to bomb at night and the Americans would begin daylight raids. This would put aditional stress on the Germans defenses, forcing them to defend 24 hours a day.
By the time that the British had long-range bombers available in numbers, the Germans had constructed a forbiddening degensive line beginning with the Netherlands, Belgium, and Northerm France. They had also begun to develop effective night fighters. The initial German anti-aircraft defenses when the RAF Bomber offensive began (May 1940) was primarily anti-aircraft aryillery and searchlights for night defense organized by the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe also created the Nightfighter Command or Nachtjagd. Initially there was initially one experimental Squadron which was equipped with ME-109s. Disatisfied with their initial perfomance, the ME-109s were replaced with twin-engine ME-110s. General Josef Kammhuber took command of Nachtjagd. Kammhuber began building a defensive line of belt of searchlights and sound-locators across Northern Germany and the Low Countries (October 1940). The first efforts did not yet use radar, the Germans still not fully understand how effective the Chain Home Network had been in the Battle of Britain. German radar production was also still limited. Kammhuber saw the initial efforts as the best that could be accomplished until more sophisticated equipment was availane. Kammhuber oversaw the construction of a new and much more deadly Himmelbett system.
There were two defensive forces protecting the skies over the Reich. One was the the anti-aircraft artillery: Flugabwehrkanone (Flak). Two was the fighter force: Reichsverteidigung. Both were key elements of air defense, working together they were deadly effective. The Flak kept the bombers at high altitude, reducing their ability to hit targets and damaging the bombers. The fighters could more effectively destroy the bombers. Critical in assessing the air defense systems is that the British primarily interested in defending their cities and population creating an integrated air defense system (the Chain Home Network) BEFORE the War. The Germans primarily interested in attacking other countries created their system well AFTER the War had begun. Thus RAF Fighter Command won the all important Battle of Britain (1940) while Bomber Command at the same time lost more bombers to navigational issues than to German air defenses (1940). Not well understood is that the Germans had more effective radar at the onset of the War than the British, only the British actually used their radar. The effectiveness of the two forces varied over time. Fighter defenses were the most effective way of destroying intruding bombers, but as the British shifted to night bombing, it took some time for the Germans to develop effective night fighters. By the time the American daylight campaign began (1943), the Germans had effective fighter defenses, but hey were soon overwhelmed by long-range American escorts (1944). By the time that the night-fighters were succeeding, it was safer to bomb during the day. This left the FLAK defenses as Germany only effective air defense. The problem with this is that it meant that German industry was diverted from supporting the Ostkrieg which was the decisive campaign of the War. Even with radar guidance, it took an menses number of shells to actually hit an high a high altitude bomber and even more to bring one down. Each of those little black puffs that American bomber crews saw, was one more shell not available to the German Ostheer to destroy Red Army tanks in the East. In the end German industry was not up to the task of defending the skies over their cities. Hitler had the industry to defeat Britain or the Soviet Union. They did not have the industrial capacity to defeat Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
The Luftwaffe installed massive batteries of anti-aircraft batteries called Fliegerabwehrkanone. The Allies began calling the resulting shells and shell fragments tearing through their planes flak. The Germans produced a range of these artillery pieces, including light, medium, and heavy artillery pieces. The artillery ranged in size from 12.7-128 mm flak guns. The light and medium guns were used to protect German field armies as well as facilities like important bridges, ports, and dams fim low-level attck. The heavy batterie were used to target the high-altitude strategic bombers. The Germans by 1942 had installed . over 15,000 88 mm flak guns in cannons Flak belts stretching across the route into the Reich's industrial heartland. They streached grom the Netherlands through Belgium and western Germany. At some points they were 20 km thick. The Flak batteries were an important part of the Kammhuber Line. The Germans had radar directed batteries and searchlights to direct the fire. There were also Flak batteries installed around major German cities and high priority tasrgets like Ploesti and U-Boat facilities. Some Luftwaffe analysts were dubious about the huge effort involved. It was very difficult to shoot diwn a bomber. One Luftwaffe study estimated it took over 3,300 88 mm shells to sucessfully shoot down a bomber. The principal German anti-aircraft weapon was the 88 mm artilery piece. These weapons were in great demand as early in the war it was discovered to be a very effective against tanks. Thus these weapons were needed on the Eastern Front to stop the steadily increasing Red rmy armor driving the Wehrmact east. The Germans also begn deploying 128 mm guns which were even more effective. The Luftwaffe deployed rectactular formations of 40 AA pieces in Grossbatterien able to deal out box bax barrages. These defenses were manned by the diverse personnel, but included many Hitler Youth boys.
The Luftwaffe gave little attention to airfese aas they prepared for the War. The idea was to win the war quickly and dcisively after which air defenses would not be needed. And the air forces of neigboring countries were not seen as threatening. Only France had a sizeable air force. The French, however, were so afraid of reprisal they refused to allow the British to bomb from French fields. The Luftwaffe assessment proved vaid. Bomber Cimmand efforts to bomb German targets resulted in more losses from operations (especially poor navigation) than German defenses. The Luftwaffe did not begin to develop real defenses until RAF Bonber Command began to reeive more advanced aircraft. Bombr command began night-time raids. The first adjustmet was night fidhters. Here Me-109s were used and then Me-110s. Regulr fighters were not useful until the American Eigth Air Force arrived in Britain (1942). Despite readily available information, Hitler and Göring ds missed the idea that the Americans were a threat, but daylight strikes into the reich bgan (1943). They were met with Me-109 and FW-190s which quickly abused the Americns that the bombers coukd fight their way into the Reich. Squdrons were brought back from the East. The Luftwaffe's fighter defensive against Allied bombers proved highly effective until long-range P=51 Mustngs arrived as escorts.
The Luftwaffe never ran out of aircraft, but they rn out of trained pilots. With the resulting destrucion of the Luftwaffe, the Germans were left with only the FLAK defeses which proved totally indaequate.
World War II histories addressing the Air War tend to focus on the fierce Luftwaffe fighter defenses. The other part of the Reich's air defenses, the Flugabwehrkanone (Flak) effort, recieves relatively little attention. Some authors undervalue the imprtance of the FLAK defenses. One estemed historian writes, "Flak damaged many aircraft and drove the bombers to fly high, but it destroyed few.’ 【Hatings】 This seems to be the general assessment of many historians, but we see liitle actual supporting data. Luftwaffe fighter, both night and day fighters, were highly effective. But the FLAK defenss were very important. Thousands of FLAK batteries and searchlights in occupied countries (mostly Belgium and the Netherlands) and around Reich cties was a formidable threat to the Allied bombers. One analyst writes, "Anti-aircraft defences cannot be looked at in isolation. An effective air defence requires both fighters and flak batteries. It has often been stated that it took 16,000 88mm shells to shoot down an Allied bomber. It was an example of how wasteful anti-aircraft fire was compared to a fighter attack on a formation of bombers. To say the flak gun was not as efficient at shooting down a bomber compared to a fighter misses the point." 【Nijboer】 The the two forces were key to the effective protection of Reich cities. The FLAK defenss may have brought down relatively few bombers, but they forced the bombers to high alditudes, impcting the accuracy of the monvers and the concention of the bomb delivered. The Flak also was used to break up bomber formations and force evasive manoeuvres. Gen Carl A. Spaatz, commander of US Strategic Air Forces in Europe, stated that flak was ‘the biggest factor’ affecting bombing accuracy. His calculation was each 5,000ft increase in altitude halved the accuracy of anti‐aircraft fire. The higher the alditude, the poorer the accuracy. Bombing errors from 15,000 feet were twice as great as from 5,000 feet. One close look at the FLAK defenses reports, "Allied heavy bomber losses due to flak would number in the thousands. Indeed, German flak accounted for close to half of all American aircraft lost in Europe, making it a lethal and deadly adversary." 【Nijboer】- Also largely ignored is the imoact on the Ostkrieg--the decisive campaign of the War. While the air war war captues huge attention, in the ground war is hugely imprtant in deciding wars. And artillery is hugely imprtant in ground wars. That was certainly the case in the Ostkrieg. German artillery was very effective, but gradually out-classe by Soviet artillery. One reason for that was the vastvdiversion of artillery pieces and amunition to support Germany's FLAK forces.
The Casablanca Directive instructed RAF Bomber Command and the American 8th Air Forces to begin Around-the Clock bombing of the Reich. The combined Allied air assault on Germany was planned and coordinated by Air Marshall Harris and the American commanders General Hap Arnold and Ira Eaker. The British would continue to bomb at night and the Americans would begin daylight raids. This would put additional stress on the Germans defenses, forcing them to defend 24 hours a day. The fires from the American bombs could be used as navigational guides by the British at night. The American 8th Air Force began initial operations against the Germans in 1943. The Americans opened their full-scale daylight bombing campaign on January 27, 1943 with an attack on Wilhelmshaven. Throughout 1943, German cities were exposed to "round the clock bombing" inflict serious civilian casualties. The Americans bombing by day, attempting to hit specific targets using their Nordon bomb sites. The British bombed by night and at best could hit specific cities. There was agreement on the major targets: 1) the Ruhr in western Germany, 2) major cities in the interior of Germany, and finally 3) Berlin. Actual results in terms of impairing German war production was limited. The Ruhr was heavily hit, but production increased. Allied bombers attempting deep penetration raids were savaged. Although closer targets like Hamburg were devastated. Attacks on Berlin were largely unsuccessful and costly. Large numbers of German civilians were killed, injured, or rendered homeless. While the main objectives of the campaign were not being achieved. The Luftwaffe was being driven out of its forward bases along the Channel and back to the Reich. In addition, it was being stretched to an extent that it could not provided needed support to the Ostheer on the titanic battles on the Eastern Front. The American and British air crews suffered very heavy casualties against German fighters and increasingly effective anti -aircraft guns. At times it was unclear if the bombing campaign could be sustained. Long range fighters were not available in 1942-43 to escort the bombers to their targets in Germany. The Americans found that only contrary to expectations that the heavily armed bombers could not fight through the German defenses without heavy losses. And German night fighters were becoming increasingly successful. These defenses took a terrible toll on Allied bomber formations. The United States by the end of the year had begun to introduce the long-range P-51 Mustang which had the capability to accompany the bombers all the way,
Hitler at first would not allow the Luftwaffe to draw back from the Eastern Front to defend German cities. The Luftwaffe did adapt tactics and weaponry with the existing air defense system.Freya long-range radar was able to give ample waring to the fighters. About 300 fighters were available to oppose the American daylight raids. The Me-109s and FW-190s were armed with 30 mm cannons. Slower ME-110s stood off from the bombers and fired time-fused rockets. Fighters flying over the bombers droped bombs into the frmations. The idea was to breakup the tight American formations so the bombers could be attacked in isolation. There also were new tactics. Damaged American bombers were repaired and tested to determine their weak points. A special unit, the Reavelong Circus, went to fighter units and flew training missions with the fighters. German pilots coordinated their attacks more and often focused on the "coffin corner, the weakest point in the combat box. he Germans also worked on night tactics against the British. The number of night fighters equipped with radar and directional equipment was increased. A new group given more independence, the Wilde Sau (Wild Bohrs) was formed. To defeat Window, the Germans began holding back until the raids on the cities had actully begun. The search lights and fires would then help the fighters find the night raiders.
Germany was the most heavily bombed country in Erope. The hear of virtually every major German city was level. Photographs after the War show mounds of rubble where thriving, modern cities had once stood. This could have meant millions of civilian deaths. Actual deaths will never be known with any accuracy, but historians generally estimate anout 0.3 million Germans were killed. The relatively limited casualties were the result of an effective civil defense effort. Many children were evacuated to the country side. The program was called the Kinder Land Verschickung (KLV) which operated during World War II (1939-45). The children had to go to rural areas on "holiday" but really they should be out of the cities and towns that had difficulties feeding them and were being bombed by the Allies. Both schools and the Hitler Jugend (HJ) were involved in organizing thd KLV. Air raid shelters were improvised or built.
It became clear in 1943 that raids on targets in the Reich were unsustainable without fighter esort. The American bombers were acompanied to the borders of the Reich where they had to turn back because of limited range. The principal American fighter in 1942 was the P-47 Thunderboldt. The pilots reported seeing the Luftwaffe fighters forming up to attack the bombers just as they had to turn back. Some German cities, especially Hamburg suffered devestating attcks, but the Luftwaffe in 1943 proved that American bombers could not sustain unescoted attacks deep into Germany and by the end of the year was also taking terriblr toles on British bombers during night raids. Göring assured Hitler that the Allied fighters did not have the range to escort the bombers. That was the case in 1943, but it was also what the Allies were were working hard to rectify. Hitler's failure to give priority to the Luftwaffe and the Allied emphasis on air power was to radically change the course of the War in 1944.
The air war changed dramatically in 1944.
The Luftwaffe had bled Blomber Command and the 8th Air Force in 1943. Neither force had achieved the results expected by Round-the-Clock bombing. Considerable damage had been done but the Luftwaffe had not been broken and the German war effort had not been severely impaired. In fact German war production was increasing. A series of devlopments in lte 1943 radically changed the situation in the skies over Germmany. First and most importantly, the Allies had solved the fighter escort problem. P-51s by December 1943 were beginning to reach the 8th Air Force in numbers. Second, the Allies had invaded southern Italy (September 1943). The new 15th Air Force was established at Foggia. This brought outhern Germany within in range, complicating the Luftwaffe's problems in defending the Reich. Third was the scale of the Allied build up in England. The 8th Air Force was beginning to reach parity with Bomber Command. The 8th Air Firce by the end of the year had the capability of staging raids composed of over 700 bombers on a sustained basis.
The Luftwaffe could in most cases carefully consider engagements, striking at places and times where they could achieve the most favoravle results. Waves of American and British bombers, however, forced the issue, presentuing the Luftwaffe a stark choice. The Germans had either to resist the American bombers or allow them to pulverize their cities. The bombers essentially forced the Luftwaff to give battle to protect German cities. And when the Luftwaffe fighters came up, the bombers and especially the escorts took a heavy toll on the Lufwaffe. Thus in the skies over Germany the 8th Air Force essentially destroyed the Luftwaffe. The actual impact of the campaign was, hiswver, somewhat disappointing. German civilian morale did not crack under the British area bombing and the Americans found it much more difficult to hit specific industrial targets than anticipated. Even so, the air campaign forced the Luftwaffe to deploy major assetts defending German cities rather than on the critically important Eastern Front. And as they did come up they were destroyed in lasrge nimbers. The Luftwaffe after Spruing 1944 was no longer a potent fiorce. Large numbers of Luftwaffe fighters weere ddestroyed, but much more importantly trained pilots were being shot down in large numbers. And they unlike the aircrsft weee irreplceable. . In addition huge numbers of artillery pieces, which could have been used against Russian tanks, had to be diverted to anti-aircraft defenses.
The full extent of the change was not completely apparent in 1944 because the Allies shifted priorities from Germany to France in preparation for the cross-Channel invasion. Gen. Eisenhower was give operrational control of the bombers (March 1944). This was the begginning of the Transportation Plan. Srrikes int the Reich duid not end, but were restricted. Here the Luftwaffe was so devestated that they were becoming a non-factor abd were basically a No Show on D-Day. But also imoportantly, the Allied bombers got off the Atlantic Wall and Germasn forces in France from supply abd replascements, destriying bridges and the rail net wirk between Gerrmany abnd france. Once the invasion had succeeded and the liberation of France in Progress, the Allied renewed the strategic bombing campaign with a unimaginable ferocity.
Hastings, Max. Bomber Command.
Nijboer, Donald. German Flak Defences vs Allied Heavy Bombers (Osprey).
Westermann, Edward B. Flak: German Anti-Aircraft Defenses, 1914-1945 Modern War Studies. This is the definitive study of the Germn FLAK defeb=nses.
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