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Operation Steinbock, (known as "the Baby Blitz") was a 'late war' German operation carried out by the Luftwaffe between January and May 1944 against targets in southern England, mainly in and around the London area during the night. Placed under the command of Oberst Dietrich Peltz the Luftflotte 3 assembled 474 bombers for the offensive. Luftwaffe commanders like Hugo Sperrle had intended to use them against the Allied invasion fleet, which he predicted would land in Northern France in the summer. However the force suffered heavy losses of some 329 machines[1]. The remainder were used in the Normandy campaign but were largely ineffective. After the offensive the Luftwaffe's Kampfgruppen was largely a spent force. Only the V1 and V2 rockets were capable of hitting English territory from this point onwards.
[edit] References
- ^ Caldwell & Richard Muller
- The Luftwaffe over Germany - Defense of the Reich; Donald Caldwell & Richard Muller; Greenhill books, MBI Publishing; 2007; ISBN 978-1-85367-712-0
United Kingdom
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