During World War II the German Air Force faced many challenges. It was totally mismanaged even though it did have some brilliant people in it. Herman Goering, Commander of the Luftwaffe, and second in charge of Germany, was not a man to take blame for anything. He had dissipated a full 10% of the resources of the Luftwaffe by forming ground troops that were air force personnel. One of the most famous of these was the Herman Goering Panzer Division. Air force troops did nothing to help the air force and were just a drain of money, but they did make Goering feel more important. The air force was formed with its initial aim of troop support. In doing this, heavy bombers were neglected. Even jets, which first flew in 1939, were not in favor with the Luftwaffe elite and didn't really come on the scene until 1943 and in too few numbers to do any good.

Hitler at the Reichstag
Photo Source: NARA

By January 1, 1945 Germany was reeling from defeat after defeat. It had become obvious to all, maybe not Hitler, that Germany was finished and would lose the war. After all, she had suffered a huge defeat in Russia, was driven from Africa and the Allies had landed in France and were advancing across Europe. Was there any thing left that the Germans could do? Some thought that there was one desperate hope that might slow down the allies, it was called Operation Bodenplatte and was to take place during the Battle of the Budge.

It was January 1, 1945, New Year's Day. No one was expecting anything of a major consequence to happen on this day. The Germans had counted on this. They had decided that the only thing for them to do was launch a surprise attack on the allied airfields. This was designed to knock out most of the allied aircraft and ultimately help the German ground troops who were attacking.

The Luftwaffe launched 800 planes (some day the number was somewhat less), their goal was the devastation of allied air power in Europe. On the ground the Germans had thrown in twenty one divisions. It is very funny but the figures for this battle differ so much from historian to historian that it is almost impossible to know what the outcome really was. There is one thing for certain, the Germans could not replace their lost planes and pilots but the allies could. The figures I am using state that the Germans destroyed 465 allied aircraft but lost 234 of their own to fighters and antiaircraft fire. Other figures I have seen state that the Germans destroyed 122 Allied aircraft while losing 200 planes. I think that with the scope and surprise of their attack the 465 allied loss is closer to the truth, but this is just my opinion.

Flight of American Avengers
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The German Air Force never recovered from this loss. Even worse than the lost planes were the lost pilots. Many experienced pilots were lost and could never be replaced. The Germans, unlike the Americans, kept their pilots flying until they were killed. As they died more and more experienced pilots were unavailable. The American pilots were rotated to the states after a set amount of missions and used to train more pilots. This was a far superior system. The German Army eventually lost on the ground and the Luftwaffe became only a shadow of its former self.

Germany had lost its last chance to win the war in Europe and as we all know, would eventually be forced to surrender with her major cities reduces to smoldering ruins. Thank goodness that people like Goering and Hitler were micro managing the war. Better to have two incompetent commanders than someone who really knows what he is doing. Goering didn't have the dedication to winning that Hitler had. He tried to negotiate a separate peace with the allies. He was more interested in living a life of luxury and convenience than anything else, and this may have had something to do with some of his decisions since he seemed quite intelligent at the Nuremberg trials.

Field Marshall Keitel surrenders
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