Operation Bodenplatte

Operation Bodenplatte
Part of Battle of the Bulge, World War II
File:Bodenplatte.jpg Overview of the operation.
Date 1 January 1945 Location Belgium, Holland and France Result German tactical success, but Allied strategic victory.
Belligerents
United States United Kingdom	Germany
Strength
USAAF Eighth Air Force and Ninth Air Force RAF 2nd Tactical Air Force	Ca. 1035 aircraft, about 900 fighters and fighter-bombers.
Casualties and losses
465 Aircraft damaged or destroyed.	304 Aircraft lost, 238 pilots dead or captured.

Operation Bodenplatte (German:Ground Plate), launched on 1 January 1945, was a Luftwaffe attempt to cripple Allied air forces in the Low Countries of Europe. It was a last ditch effort to keep up the Wehrmacht's momentum during the stagnant stage of the Battle of the Bulge. The operation has been mistakenly been referred to as Operation Hermann.

Bodenplatte

The plan

The Luftwaffe High Command made plans for a major blow against the Allied air-power in northwestern Europe. It was originally scheduled to support Operation Wacht am Rhein, the German offensive into the Ardennes region on 16 December 1944. However, the same bad weather that prevented the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Force from supporting the ground troops, also prevented the Luftwaffe from carrying out the attack. It was therefore not launched until 1 January 1945 in an attempt to help regain the momentum of the struggling ground troops, supporting the second phase of the offensive, Operation Nordwind.

The plan called for a surprise attack against 17 Allied air bases in Belgium, Holland, and France. The object was to destroy or cripple as many Allied planes, hangars and airstrips as possible. Every fighter and fighter-bomber unit currently occupied with air defence along the Western Front were deployed, and additional units of Junkers Ju 88 and Junkers Ju 188 night-fighters acted as pathfinders. The strike planes themselves were mostly single-engined Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf 190 fighters. It was hoped the speed with which the attack could be carried out would offset the relatively small bomb load such aircraft could carry.

The units deployed and their targets

In all, around 1.035 aircraft were deployed from several Jagdgeschwadern (JG), Kampfgeschwadern (KG) and Schlachtgeschwadern (SG); approximately 900 aircraft were fighters and fighter-bombers. Facing the German aircraft were the RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2nd TAF) and the USAAF Eighth Air Force and Ninth Air Force.

The targets for the various units were:

Target	Luftwaffe unit	Allied forces	Effect
Antwerpen-Deurne (Belgium)	JG 77	mostly Typhoon-squadrons of the 2nd TAF	Light damage
Asch (Belgium)	JG 11	4 Spitfire-squadrons of the 2nd TAF, 352. US Fighter Group, 366. US Fighter Group	Medium damage
Brüssel-Evere	JG 26 and JG 54	A large number of American and British fighters and bombers	Heavy damage
Brüssel-Grimbergen	JG 26 and JG 54	Only six aircraft were present	Massive damage
Brüssel-Melsbroek	JG 27, JG 54 and JG 4	Three Recon-squadrons of the 2nd TAF and 3 Bomber-squadrons of the Eighth Air Force	Heavy damage
Eindhoven (Holland)	JG 3	8 Typhoon-squadrons and 3 Spitfire-squadrons of the 2nd TAF	Heavy damage
Gent/St. Denise-Westrem (Belgium)	JG 1	3 Polish Spitfire-squadrons (No. 302., 308. and 317.)	Heavy damage, intense dogfights
Gilze-Rijen (Holland)	JG 3 and KG 51	Unknown	Massive damage
Heesch (Holland)	JG 6	5 Spitfire-squadrons of the 2nd TAF	No effect
Le Culot (Belgium)	JG 4	Thunderbolt-squadrons of the Ninth Air Force	The airport was not found, no damage
Maldegem (Belgium)	JG 1	Spitfire-squadron of the 2nd TAF	Heavy damage
Metz-Frescaty (France)	JG 53	Ca. 40 Thunderbolts of the 365. Fighter Group, Ninth Air Force	Massive damage
Ophoven (Belgium)	JG 4	Thunderbolt-squadron of the Ninth Air Force	Light damage
St. Trond (Belgium)	JG 2, JG 4 and SG 4	Thunderbolt-squadrons of the Ninth Air Force	Massive damage
Volkel (Holland)	JG 6	At least 2 Tempest-squadrons of the 2nd TAF	Light damage
Woensdrecht (Holland)	JG 77	5 Spitfire-squadrons of the 2nd TAF, all in the air	No effect
Ursel (Belgium)	JG 1	Spitfire-squadrons of the 2nd TAF	Massive damage

Aftermath

File:Airfield burning.jpg

Allied airfield after the attack.

465 Allied aircraft were damaged or destroyed, 70 of those in the air. Most of the targeted airfields remained out of action for up to two weeks following the attack. Due to Allied fighter counterattacks, and surprisingly numerous Allied flak guns (to prevent V-1 attacks), the Luftwaffe lost 304 aircraft, 277 of which were fighters or fighter-bombers. 62 of these were lost to Allied fighters, 88 to Allied flak guns and 84 to German flak guns (Due to the secrecy of the mission, the German flak gun commanders had not been briefed on the mission and the crews opened fire on their own planes, both on the way to and from the targets).

The Luftwaffe lost 238 pilots killed, missing, or captured, and 18 pilots wounded, including, three Geschwaderkommodoren (wing commanders), six Gruppekommandeuren (group commanders), and 11 Staffelkapitäne (squadron commanders) - the largest single-day loss for the Luftwaffe. Thus, Bodenplatte was a short-term success but a long-term failure, for while Allied losses were soon replaced, lost Luftwaffe aircraft and pilots were a major and irreplaceable loss to the struggling Germans, leaving the Luftwaffe "weaker than ever and incapable of mounting any major attack again".. Bodenplatte became the final major Luftwaffe offensive in World War II.

A Focke-Wulf Fw 190-D9 after a forced landing near Brussels on January 1st 1945.

Galland's alternative - the Big Blow

Adolf Galland, holding the office of General der Jagdflieger, argued strenuously against Bodenplatte. He envisioned striking a Große Schlag (Big Blow) against the Allied bombers, whom he saw as a greater threat and less replaceable to the enemy. Throughout 1944 he strived to accumulate a big reserve of men and aircraft to attack the bomber raids in massive waves. Galland argued that this plan would cause many fewer pilot casualties then the offensive sweeps of Bodenplatte, as German pilots forced to bail out or crash land would do so over Germany, and therefore be able to fly again. In late 1944, early 1945 the Luftwaffe's main concern was not a lack of aircraft, it was a lack of experienced pilots.

Following the Operation Galland and other high-ranking Luftwaffe Pilots and Commanders joined in the so-called Fighter Pilot's Revolt, where they protested the pointless sacrifices of so many invaluable men and machines. The high-ranking men who joined in this revolt were mostly removed from their positions and sent back to combat units. Galland himself was removed as General der Jagdflieger and returned to combat duty.

Operation Hermann

Following the raids, the Allies retrieved several log-books from crashed German aircraft. In several of these the entry "Auftrag Hermann 1.1. 1945, Zeit: 9.20 Uhr" was translated as "Operation Hermann to commence on 1 January 1945, at 9:20am." This led the Allied to believe that the operation itself was named Hermann, and one assumed it was named for the Luftwaffe commander, Hermann Göring. In fact the word Hermann was a standard term for the time of the attack, similar to H-Hour in allied terminology.

References

• Cajus Bekker, Angriffshöhe 4000., ISBN 3453870980
• Steven J. Zaloge, Howard Gerrard, Battle of the Bulge., ISBN 1841768103
• Werner Girbig, Start im Morgengrauen, ISBN 3-613-01292-8
• Gerhard Weinberg, A World At Arms

External link

• Operation Bodenplatte article from Flight Journal, giving two pilots view of the events.