The Last Year of the Luftwaffe

May 1944 to May 1945

Alfred Price

• Publisher: Frontline Books
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781848328662
• eBook ISBN: 9781848328679
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: German History
• Index: History

A historian analyzes Nazi Germany's air force during its final year before Allied forces brought an end to World War II in Europe.
The Last Year of the Luftwaffe is the story of a once all-conquering force struggling to stave off an inevitable and total defeat. This book gives a complete account of Luftwaffe operations during the last twelve months of the fighting in Europe—including the dramatic Bodenplatte (or "Baseplate") offensive over the Ardennes in December, 1944.
In this comprehensive examination of Hitler's air force, Dr. Alfred Price examines its state from May, 1944, to May, 1945, analyzing not only the forces available to it, but also the likely potential, and impact, of new aircraft and weapons systems. He also assesses the Luftwaffe's High Command's performance and the effect of Allied attacks and operations.
In doing so he rejects several long-standing myths, clarifies the impact of the jet and rocket fighters, and demonstrates that the Luftwaffe performed as well as could be expected under the harsh circumstances of fighting a losing war.

CHAPTER 1

MAY 1944

IN MAY 1944 the Empire forged by Adolf Hitler extended from the French Atlantic coast in the west to the Ukraine in the east, from the North Cape at the tip of Norway to Rome in the south. Although Germany was beset by enemies on all sides and her forces had suffered severe reverses during the previous eighteen months, militarily she was still extremely strong. Her army could field 295 combat divisions and retained a reputation for awesome fighting power. Moreover Germany’s European allies – Finland, Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Italian Socialist (Fascist) Republic – all contributed armies of varying size and effectiveness to support her war effort. At sea the German Navy’s surface fleet had suffered heavy losses, and its operations were now confined to areas close to its ports. Its U-boat arm had suffered heavily also, but was husbanding its strength to meet the longexpected Allied invasion of western Europe.

THE LUFTWAFFE

Grounds for optimism At the end of May 1944 the Luftwaffe had a total strength of about 2,800,000 men and women. The force possessed about 4,500 combat aircraft, and although it had recently taken hard knocks there were grounds for optimism for the future. Great hopes were placed on the Messerschmitt Me 163 and Me 262 jet fighters and the Arado Ar 234 jet bomber/reconnaissance aircraft, which were on the point of entering service in large numbers. After many vicissitudes the Heinkel He 177 heavy bomber was at last in large-scale production, and several Gruppen were in the process of re-equipping with the type. Mass production of the Fi 103 (V-1) flying bomb and the A4 (V-2) bombardment rocket had begun and both weapons were within a few weeks of making their operational debuts. These and other new German aircraft and weapons will be described in greater detail in the next chapter of this book.

The German aircraft industry had taken a terrible pounding from American heavy bombers during the early part of the year, but, thanks to the efforts of the Jägerstab (Fighter Committee) set up under Albert Speer’s Ministry of War Production, the industry emerged from this pummelling with fighter production higher than ever before and still rising. Production had been rationalized by reducing the number of aircraft types and subtypes being built. At the same time airframe production was being dispersed out of the 27 main complexes, into more than ten times that number of small factories distributed throughout the country. There was a similar dispersal of aero-engine production. Thus the industry was far less vulnerable to air attack than it had been earlier in the year.

Acceptances of combat aircraft by the Luftwaffe, May 1944

The table shows the new combat aircraft accepted by the Luftwaffe from the manufacturers during May 1944, excluding repaired types returned to service. Examination of the figures reveals the parlous state of the Luftwaffe’s equipment programme at that time, however. Three types in large-scale production, the Junkers Ju 87, the Messerschmitt Bf 110 and the Heinkel He 111, were obsolescent as combat aircraft but had been kept in production because of the slow development of their intended replacements.

The Heinkel He 177 four-engined bomber had at last overcome its teething troubles and was in full production. Of the new jet-propelled aircraft, the Messerschmitt Me 163 and Me 262 fighters were being prepared for large-scale production: the first production aircraft were flying, and these types were about to enter service. The Arado factory at Brandenburg was tooling up for mass production of the Ar 234 jet bomber/reconnaissance aircraft, but production aircraft had not yet flown.

Factories were tooling up to mass-produce the Dornier Do 335 heavy fighter and the Junkers Ju 388 bomber.

Aircraft	No	Remarks
Fighters
Messerschmitt Bf 109	1,065	Includes tactical reconnaissance version
Focke Wulf Fw 190	841	Includes tactical reconnaissance and ground-attack versions
Messerschmitt Bf 110	158	Night fighter version
Messerschmitt Me 410	89	Includes reconnaissance version
Messerschmitt Me 163	1	First production aircraft
Messerschmitt Me 262	7	Early production aircraft
Heinkel He 217	17	Night fighter
Bombers
Heinkel He 177	71
Junkers Ju 88	268	Includes night fighter version
Junkers Ju 188	47	Includes reconnaissance version
Dornier Do 217	2	End of production
Heinkel He 111	100
Junkers Ju 87	129
Transports
Junkers Ju 52	57
Junkers Ju 352	6
Gotha Go 242	20	Transport glider
DFS 230	1	Transport glider; end of production
Miscellaneous types
Fieseler Fi 156	49	Liaison aircraft
Junkers Ju 290	2	Maritime reconnaissance aircraft
Henschel He 129	35	Ground-attack aircraft
Dornier Do 24	14	Reconnaissance/rescue flying boat
Arado Ar 196	8	Reconnaissance floatplane
Total	2,987

Simultaneously, other important production facilities sought safety from the bombs by moving underground. The largest such underground factory was at Kohnstein near Nordhausen in the Harz Mountains. Originally constructed as a storage depot for oil and other strategic materials, its seven miles of tunnels gave a floor area of 1.27 million square feet. Protected from above by 140ft or more of solid rock, the complex was proof against the heaviest bombs. Speer’s Ministry requisitioned the tunnels and allocated them to armament firms. The Mittelwerk GmbH was turning out V-l flying bombs (less wings) and V-2 bombardment rockets (less warheads). The rest of the complex was given over to the Junkers aero-engine company, which was setting up production lines for Jumo 004 jet engines and Jumo 213 piston engines. Furthermore, to provide the workforce necessary to secure the increased levels of production, large numbers of foreign workers and slave labourers had been drafted into the aircraft industry.

As a result of these moves, during May 1944 deliveries of fighters of all types were 50 per cent greater than in the preceding January – 2,213 aircraft compared with 1,550. Goring was in a bullish mood when he discussed the new programme with senior officers and officials during a conference in Berlin on 23 May:

I must have two thousand fighters in the shortest possible time, even if the battle fronts get nothing at all… The schools will have to make do with repaired aircraft. And then I shall want the two thousand to be increased to two thousand five hundred. I must be in a position to meet any incursion into the Reich with two thousand fighters. Then heaven help you if you don’t send the enemy to blazes! …

If we can stop these enemy incursions it will help the battle fronts. If the enemy is still contemplating invasion, we’ll give him something to think about when he suddenly finds himself confronted with a thousand fighters within the next fortnight, just when he thinks he has settled accounts with our fighter force!

OTTO SAUR (in charge of the new fighter production programme): We shall be turning out a thousand aircraft during the next eight days alone.

GÖRING: Every one shall go to defend the Reich.

Hindsight has shrivelled the Reichsmarschall’s jaunty predictions, but it is important to note that at the time they appeared to point the way to the future.

The Luftwaffe had other grounds for satisfaction. The production of aviation fuel, which had imposed a brake on air operations from time to time, had reached an all-time high during March 1944 at just under 200,000 tons. Since then it had fallen back slightly but, coupled with the seasonal fall in air operations, this enabled stocks to rise to 580,000 tons – greater than at any time since the summer of 1941.

Elements of weakness Although there were some grounds for optimism for the future of the Luftwaffe, that service also suffered from several deep-seated weaknesses. Every German city or industrial complex wrecked by an Alli...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of maps
• Preface
• Author’s note
• Chapter 1: May 1944
• Chapter 2: The White Hopes (1)
• Chapter 3: In Defence of the Reich
• Chapter 4: The Second Battle of France
• Chapter 5: Disaster in the East
• Chapter 6: The Robot Bombardment
• Chapter 7: Attack on the Oil Industry
• Chapter 8: Pause in the Autumn
• Chapter 9: The White Hopes (2)
• Chapter 10: Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
• Chapter 11: Fighting a Losing Battle
• Chapter 12: The White Hopes (3)
• Chapter 13: The Final Collapse
• Chapter 14: With Hindsight
• Appendices
• Bibliography