Operation Steinbock
Part of World War II
Air Marshal Sir Roderic Hill inspects the wreckage of a Junkers Ju 188 E-1 belonging to 2. Staffel Kampfgeschwader 6 (Bomber Wing 6) which crashed in Shopland, Essex, 21 March 1944.
Date 21 January – 29 May 1944[1] Location Southern United Kingdom Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Roderic Hill Frederick Alfred Pile	Dietrich Peltz Hugo Sperrle
Strength
~ 25 squadrons	524 bombers[2]
Casualties and losses
Aircraft 1 destroyed in combat[3] 5 damaged in combat[3] 1 to friendly-fire[3] 22 lost to other causes[3] 1,556 civilians killed	Aircraft 329 destroyed[1]

Operation Steinbock or Operation Capricorn (German: Unternehmen Steinbock), sometimes called the Baby Blitz, was a strategic bombing campaign by the German Air Force (the Luftwaffe) during the Second World War. It targeted southern England and lasted from January to May 1944. Steinbock was the last strategic air offensive by the German bomber arm during the conflict.

In late 1943, the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive was gathering momentum against Germany. The Allied air forces were conducting a strategic bombing campaign day and night against German industrial cities. In retaliation, Adolf Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to prepare a bombing operation against the United Kingdom. The bombing offensive also served as propaganda value for the German public and domestic consumption. The operation ran parallel to Bomber Command's campaign against Berlin (November 1943 – March 1944).

The Luftwaffe assembled 474 bomber aircraft for the offensive. The attacks were mainly aimed at and around the Greater London area. In Britain, it was known as the Baby Blitz due to the much smaller scale of operations compared to The Blitz, the campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940–1941.^[2] The operation began in January and ended in May 1944. It achieved very little, and the German force suffered a loss of some 329 machines during the five months of operations before it was abandoned. Casualties were at 70% for the planes committed and were destroyed at an average rate of 77 per month.

Eventually, the revenge attacks gave way to attempts to disrupt preparations for the impending Allied invasion of France, but Steinbock had worn down the offensive power of the Luftwaffe to the extent it could not mount any significant counterattacks when the invasion began on 6 June 1944.^[4] The offensive was the last large-scale bombing campaign against England using conventional aircraft, and thenceforth only the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rockets – the pioneering examples of cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles respectively – were used to strike British cities.^[5]

Background

By the end of 1943 the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive had taken a heavy toll on Germany. Under the leadership of Generalleutnant Josef Kammhuber, the Luftwaffe night fighter force expanded and adapted to the threat. The development of and eventual widespread use of airborne radar in the Luftwaffe enabled the German air defences to inflict heavy losses on Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command, but they could not prevent widespread destruction of industrial cities.^[a] Only once did the RAF lose as many as nine percent of the attacking force over Germany—during an attack on Pilsen, Czechoslovakia on 17 May 1943. This was below the ten percent required to force the British to abandon operations, though RAF losses increased to a peak of 7.14 percent in December 1943.^[8][b]

Genesis of Steinbock

Kammhuber's efforts were damaged by the amateurish leadership style of Hermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe. Göring's poor understanding of the technicalities of air warfare was mirrored by the Chief of the General Staff, Hans Jeschonnek. Göring had neglected his command since the outbreak of war but sought to meet his responsibilities in 1943 as his prestige with Adolf Hitler waned in the aftermath of the Battle of Britain and Stalingrad on the Eastern Front. Göring's interference in air defence was disastrous. On the night of 22/23 October 1943, he took personal command of the night fighters. The British Operation Corona helped confuse the defences and Göring's mishandling of the night fighter force allowed Bomber Command to devastate Kassel. Göring deflected the blame for British attacks on his subordinates and his relations with them deteriorated.^[10][11] In August 1943 Jeschonnek killed himself after the failed defence of Peenemünde. In November 1943 Bomber Command began the Berlin campaign and Kammhuber was dismissed from command.^[12]

At the top of the German High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht—or OKW) there was little understanding or appreciation for air defence, even in the aftermath of the bombing of Hamburg which inflicted 76,600 casualties and destroyed large parts of the city and its industry.^[13] While Hitler had left the Luftwaffe to Göring earlier in the war he was now enmeshed in the decision-making process. Göring was reduced to a conduit through which Hitler's orders were channelled to senior commanders and the failure of the Luftwaffe frequently drew Hitler's ire. At one conference Göring attempted to placate Hitler by suggesting that the destruction of German cities worked in the Nazi favour, as he perceived it created a body of people with nothing to lose and who "will therefore fight on with utter fanaticism."^[14]

Göring was also reluctant to allocate resources to the defence of Germany for other reasons. He argued that the German people had survived before there were cities and that the Soviet danger was the first priority of the Luftwaffe. Even at this stage of the war, in October 1943, Göring exhibited a bias toward bombers rather than fighters. He said, "All they wish to hear when a hospital or a children's home in Germany is destroyed is that we have destroyed the same in England!"^[15]

The strategic dilemma facing the Luftwaffe in the winter of 1943–1944 was a serious one. The Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL or High Command of the Air Force) sought to change the Luftwaffe procurement priorities and posture to one purely rooted in defensive air warfare. Erhard Milch—responsible to the Reichsluftfahrtministerium ("Reich Aviation Ministry"—RLM) for production—recommended doubling fighter production to strengthen defences. The overwhelming consensus in the OKL was that German air power should concentrate resources on defensive efforts against the Allied Air Forces. After a meeting with senior Luftwaffe staff officers Adolf Galland—General der Jagdflieger (General of the Fighter Force)—wrote:

Never before and never again did I witness such determination and agreement among the circle of those responsible for the leadership of the Luftwaffe. It was as though under the impact of the Hamburg catastrophe everyone put aside either personal or departmental ambitions. There was no conflict between the General Staff and the war industry, no rivalry between bombers and fighters; only the common will to do everything in this critical hour for the Defence of the Reich.^{[16][citation needed]}

Milch proposed accelerating fighter production to 2,000 per month. The defence of the Reich was to take priority and the Eastern Front air units would have to cope until the threat from Bomber Command, the American Eighth Air Force operating out of England and the Fifteenth Air Force based in North Africa and Italy, had been fully mastered. Hitler, however, maintained the Luftwaffe was an offensive weapon. For his part, Göring was also doubting the night fighter was worthy of its expenses.^[17] Göring complained bitterly to Milch that he was "placing too much emphasis on the Reich's defence and for robbing production from the bomber forces."^[15] Milch's proposals were finally agreed to but it was Göring, not the staff officers, that took this proposal to Hitler. After an hour, Göring returned. Dietrich Peltz described the scene:

We were met with a shattering picture. Göring had completely broken down. With his head buried in his arms on the table he moaned some indistinguishable words. We stood there for some time in embarrassment until at last he pulled himself together and said we were witnessing the deepest moments of despair. The Führer had lost faith in him. All the suggestions from which he had expected a radical change in the situation of war in the air had been rejected; the Führer had announced that the Luftwaffe had disappointed him too often, and a change over from the offensive to defensive in the air against England was out of the question.^{[16][citation needed]}

After a time Göring U-turned. Göring announced that the only way to stop such destruction was to initiate heavy retaliatory strikes at the enemy so that they would not dare risk another raid like Hamburg without the fear of similar retribution. Göring gave Peltz the authorisation to pool the necessary resources together for retaliatory action.^{[18][citation needed]}

On 28 November 1943, Generalmajor Peltz was summoned to a conference where Göring officially informed him that he was to be placed in command of a renewed large-scale bombing operation against Britain, and London in particular.^[19][20] As the conference ended, Göring asked Peltz if older types such as the Dornier Do 217 were still adequate for bombing operations. Peltz replied that he would be happy with anything that could carry a bomb.^[21]

It was hoped that the operation would commence during December, and though this proved unrealistic, by the third week of January 1944 a force approaching 600 aircraft had been amassed by stripping five Kampfgruppen (bomber groups) from the Italian front and by rebuilding existing bomber units in the West.^[19] On 3 December 1943 Göring issued a directive for Unternehmen Steinbock (Operation Capricorn), with the objective of "avenging terror attacks of the enemy."^[22]

German forces

Three years after the Blitz, the Luftwaffe still possessed a mix of first-generation medium bomber designs like the Junkers Ju 88. The Junkers design was upgraded and the Junkers Ju 188 was derived from it and was available in 1943. The other main medium bomber was Dornier Do 217, a larger and upgraded version of the Dornier Do 17 light bomber design. The Heinkel He 177A was the only genuine heavy bomber in the fleet,^[23] which had serious powerplant difficulties from its beginnings.

The Do 217 and Ju 88A-4 carried the burden of operations. These designs had been in use for operations over Britain from 1941/42 and had been used extensively by Luftflotte 3 (Air Fleet 3), based in France and Belgium.^[24] The Do 217 could carry a heavier bomb load than its predecessor owing to a deepened fuselage.^[25] However, the German practice of using external bomb racks meant nearly 40 percent of the 4,000 kg load was carried outside the aircraft. The Ju 88 carried nearly two-thirds of its load externally.^[24]

The two machines mounted adequate defensive firepower – four to six MG 151 cannon in the Ju 88 and six to seven in the Do 217 (the K variant possessed a twin-mount of 7.9mm MG 81Z machine guns in its nose)^[26] – the confined space and 75-round magazines made it difficult to sustain concentrated fire against night fighters.^[24] The close proximity of the crews in the cockpit, a feature of nearly all German bomber designs from the Ju 88A onwards, was also a disadvantage. Should a night fighter land an accurate burst most, if not all of the crew, could be killed or incapacitated. The layout of Allied bombers, like the B-17 Flying Fortress, spread the crew throughout the aircraft and allowed for a greater chance of survival.^[24]

The German bombers were afforded some protection in the form of the new, mid-VHF band prefixed Funk-Gerät (or FuG) FuG 216 Neptun radar system, usable both as an airborne intercept system (as a replacement for the post-July 1944 compromised Lichtenstein SN-2 system) and as a tail-warning radar, which could detect approaching RAF night fighters from the rear.^[27][28] To confuse British radars further various medium bomber types were equipped with Kettenhund radar jammers, specifically carried in the Ju 88, which had some effect in jamming the upper-VHF band, 205 MHz frequency SCR-268 gun laying radar used by anti-aircraft artillery, but was ineffective in countering microwave-frequency radars like the 3 GHz frequency, SCR-584 radar.^[29] German bombers also used Düppel (chaff) techniques to confound British ground radar as they approached the British coast. The tin foil strips swamped the radar screens and masked the true height, direction and speed of approaching bombers.^[30]

Apart from the numbers of conventional medium and heavy bombers, the Luftwaffe also employed a number of fast bomber types such as the Ju 88S-1 — a streamlined version of the Ju 88A using unitized BMW 801 radials and omitting the Bola undernose gondola — the DB 603-powered Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse Schnellbomber, and a number of single-engine fighter-bombers Messerschmitt Bf 109Gs and longer-ranged Focke-Wulf Fw 190As, known as Jabos in the Luftwaffe. These aircraft were more difficult to intercept due to their great speed, but carried limited payload and with less accuracy compared to the conventional bombers.^[29][31] The Ju 88S-1 was allotted the role of pathfinder, replacing the younger but slower and heavier Do 217.^[32]

Luftflotte 3, under the command of Generalfeldmarschall Hugo Sperrle was to carry out the bulk of the operation. Göring ordered that Luftflotte 2 transfer control of two gruppen (groups) of Kampfgeschwader 30, one from Kampfgeschwader 54, and Kampfgeschwader 76 to Luftflotte 3. II./Kampfgeschwader 6, I./Kampfgeschwader 100 and I./Kampfgeschwader 51 were also sequestered for Steinbock.^[33]

Göring ordered that operational strength was to be maintained in the event of an Allied landing in France and to maintain pressure on Britain and that bombers were to carry a mixed ordnance load, consisting of 70 percent incendiaries and 30 percent high explosive bombs—including large 1 t (1.1 short tons) bombs and mines for maximum destruction.^[22][33] German bombers were to be well-dispersed and parked in revetments. Dummy airfields were set up in accordance with Göring's orders. The Reichsmarschall was now fully aware of British night fighter intruder operations and the threat of Allied bombing attacks.^[33] From June to December 1943, German bomber losses in 17 major attacks in England amounted to 48 aircraft in 948 sorties, a loss rate of 5.06 percent. RAF defences were far stronger than in 1941 and German losses would have been higher if operations not been restricted to coastal rather than inland targets.^[34]

Order of battle

The following is a list of the German bomber units ready to participate in Steinbock on 20 January 1944:^[35]

The composition of the force was never static. Bomber units were disbanded, pulled out for refits and conversions, or redeployed to other theatres of operation as the situation demanded. By mid-March, Peltz's force had 232 serviceable aircraft, as 3./KG 2 was withdrawn for conversion to the Ju 188, while III./KG 30, along with II. and III. Gruppen, KG 6 were redeployed to support the occupation of Hungary.^[54]

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  The Ju 88 was still the mainstay of the German bomber force in 1944
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  Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Operation_Steinbock
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