1944 Operation Steinbock

February 1944. Operation Steinbock (German: Unternehmen Steinbock) was the nocturnal Second World War Luftwaffe offensive operation to destroy British military and civilian targets in southern England, between January and May 1944. The attacks were mainly in 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 Luftwaffe's strategic bombing of the British Isles in 1940—41.

Placed under the command of Generalmajor (Major General) Dietrich Peltz, Luftflotte 3 (Air Fleet 3), the Germans assembled 474 bombers for the offensive. The operation, running parallel to RAF Bomber Command's campaign known as the Battle of Berlin, was launched more for the sake of propaganda and as a measure of retaliation. The operation achieved very little in practical terms and the force suffered a loss of some 329 machines during the five months of operations, an average of 82 per month, before it was abandoned. Luftwaffe commanders like Hugo Sperrle had intended to use them against the Western Allies' invasion fleet, which he predicted would land in Northern France in the summer, 1944. Eventually the revenge attacks gave way to the disruption of the impending Allied invasion of France (Operation Overlord). Steinbock had worn out the German bomber fleet to the extent it could not deliver any significant counter blows.

The offensive marked the Luftwaffe's Kampfgruppen last large-scale bombing operation against England, and afterwards only the V1 cruise missiles and V2 ballistic rockets were used for hitting the British Isles.

Category:

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Tags:

• Operation
• Steinbock
• 1944
• JU-88
• Luftwaffe
• Mini-Blitz
• Baby-Blitz
• Night
• Bombing
• London
• World
• War
• II

[blackoil911]

@TurkishHistorian1923

Germany were such idiots''' they invent something that wouldve gave them huge profit but blows right in front of their crocky faces hahahahahaha

[notaire2]

Sehr seltener Bericht der Luftangriffe gegen London. Danke!

[Biofishable]

Superb footage.

[TurkishHistorian1923]

Very interesting !

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