Lessons Learned and Choices Made
Lessons Learned and Choices Made
Onwards, onwards into destruction
We must live until we die
And the child says to the father
Don't you hear the thunder
That's the king of all the winds
He wants me to become his child
From the clouds falls a choir
which crawls into the little ear
Come here, stay here
We'll be good to you
Come here, stay here
We are your brothers
- Rammstein, Dalai Lama.
Now we’ve rewritten history,
The one thing we’ve found out,
Sweet taste of vindication,
It turns to ashes in your mouth!
- Megadeath, Ashes in Your Mouth.
Meanwhile in Berlin, OKW prepared for the new campaign with frequent nervous conferences. On 27th of September, a jubilant and highly exited Hitler instructed the Wehrmacht’s Commanders-in-Chiefs, that they should be prepared for an continuation of hostilities and prepare an offensive against France as soon as possible. Hitler, as he often did, fixed new dates for the invasion in rapid succession, but he bowed to the Luftwaffe’s requirement of no less than five days of guarantied fine weather so that the French air force could be destroyed, which basically meant that the invasion of France could not happen before at the earliest spring of 1940. The OKW sighed collectively in relief….
Both Wever and Milch, however, were acutely aware that time was working to Germany’s disadvantage, even with the improved and streamlined production set-up they had initiated. Intelligence put the combined British and French air strength at close to 4,000 bombers and some 1,500 fighters on the 1st of January, 1940. Out of those 5.500 aircraft about sixty percent were operational at all times (the intelligence estimate would later be proven to be grossly inacurate as the French Air Force was quite a bit larger). Of course the air forces of the Low Countries had planes as well, but neither of the two countries, or Luxembourg, really troubled the Germans at OKL. OKL knew, from both its own sources and from Abwehr – the primary German Intelignece Agency -, that both Britain and France were purchasing as many aircraft from the United States of America as they could possibly get their hands on, as well as boosting their own production (by May 1940, French manufacturers were producing 619 combat aircraft per month, American firms were adding 170 per month, and the British were producing 368 aircraft per month. By comparison the Germans produced some 700 combat aircraft pr month during most of 1940), so it would only be a matter of time before the Luftwaffe found itself confronted by a numerically equal, or more likely numerically superior, enemy. Generally speaking, the French Armee l’Air didn’t concern the Germans as much as the British Royal Airforce did. Thankfully, both nations, especially the British, seemed obsessed with building bomber, epscially heavy 4-engiend ones like the British Short Stirling or the French Farman 222. Rumours of a new British super-fighter caused a lot of worry in OKL as well as the appearance of deadly French Dewoitine-figther did. Again, thankfully, the first proved never to be built (after the war Dowding would rant on about this fighter, which apparently should have been called the Spitfire and would, according to Dowding, have been able to defeat any German fighter) and the second was never built in suffient numbers.
A Sonderstab – special unit – under OKL’s operations division soon did a study on Tactical Aims for the Luftwaffe in the Western Theatre of Operations with a separate focus on a prolonged conflict with Britain. Wolfram von Richthofen, who led the Sondersstabs work, emphasized: “the equipment, state of training and strength of the Luftwaffe cannot bring about a quick decision in any war with Britain in 1939, but it is likely that a decision can be reached by airpower somewhere in 1940 if the right circumstance should arise! As we cannot expect to achieve anything more than a disruptive effect, we must aim for the destruction of most of RAF’s combat power and that of the RN’s ability to wage a succesful naval war due to our control of the air and that this will lead to an erosion of the British will to fight. Certainly a war of annihilation against Britain appears out of the question with the means at hand!” Both Wever and Milch felt rather confident, though, as the Kriegsmarine’s KLK grew in strength and had shown its capabilities in handling its anti-shipping duties. Furthermore the Me-109’s with their drop tanks was capable of reaching deep into British air space and thus providing the more vulnerable bombers with escorts. However, the He-111 bomber was thought to be somewhat inadequate in both range and numbers, but the senior officers in the OKL and the in Milch’s Air Ministry thought that fighters would decide the outcome of any conflict with Britain anyhow. As Air General Udet was quoted at the time: “Give our boys air superiority over the British Isles and the Tea Drinking Surrender Monkeys will sue for peace in a jiffy!” In little more than 6 years, Milch and Wever had made the Luftwaffe into perhaps the finest air force ever.
Several things still needed to be corrected, though. Luftwaffe’s command and control system was far from being perfect, furthermore the standard of blind-flying was not high enough and the various stockpiles – fuel as well as both spare parts and ammunition of all sorts - were dangerously low. Some steps was taken to correct this immediately, such as Lufwaffe forward observers and ground-to-air liaison officers with the avantgarde of the Heer’s units, a more streamlined system of communication with a central command and control unit for each Luftflotte and a centralized air defence for all of Germany – aka the Home Chain. The continuous improvements in RADAR by the research team working under the auspice of the Air Ministry opened up for a whole new range of opportunities, besides the Home Chain integrated air defence system. One was the concept of an airborne early warning and command and control aircraft.
The experimental FunkMessGeraet G-series of airborne RADARs were small enough to be fitted into a larger aircraft, so three Dornier Do-19 heavy bombers were fitted with the RADAR and an impressive radio suite. The Dorniers would provide airborne early warning and command and control functions for strike element of a Luftflotte. The idea was proven sound in a series of mock air battles over southeastern Germany in early 1940.
So sound actually, that Wever and Milch put Focke Wulf Flugzeugbau, the designers of the longe range FW-200 Condor, in charge of constructing a purpose built early warning and command and control aircraft. The plane, named FW-331 Eule – Owl –, would provide Luftwaffe’s Luftflotte and eventually smaller units with, of course, early warning, strike and interceptor control, search and rescue guidance and communications relay. The FW-331 Eule would be staffed with 12 men, all highly trained as they would be called upon to do on the spot threat analyses, exercise control of counteraction against air targets AND keep the rather volatile equipment running. The ungainly FW-331 Eule – it was a high-wing 4-engined aircraft with a multitude of antennaes and a huge parabolic disc containing the FMG G-11 Wotan RADAR suspended in a rotating suspension beneath the fuselage and an extremely weird looking multiple-surface tail unit - was designed and built in record time as the FW design team based it on designs already on the drawing bord. The FW-331 Eule was test flown the 23rd of March, 1941, far too late to participate in the Battle of Britain, but the lessons learned from designing the plane led to more of the older Dornier Do-19’s – in the process of being phased out by the newer Heinkel He-177 - being equiped with communication and RADAR technology to fulfill its role. The FW-331 Eule would, however, prove its worth over the Soviet Union in th eyears to come…
The usefullness of RADAR was proven beyond any doubt on the 13th of Devember, 1939, when the Seetakt-equiped pocket battleship, Graf Spee, engaged three British cruisers in the South Atlantic and due to its superior gunnery sank two of them and mauled the third quite severly. A panick striken British Admiralty vectored everything the Royal Navy had in the area in the direction of Graf Spees’ last know position, but the German warship had already moved on at full steam.
Another important issue for the Luftwaffe in late 1939 and early 1940 was that of airfields. The airfields had not been built with an eye to the size of the new generation of aircraft that was to come and was thus by far too small for its intended purpose. Albert Speer - Hitlers’ architect of all people, and a personal friend of Milch’s - and his organization had volunteered for duty immediately after the war had begun, but had been asked to concentrate on building the Reichs many new marvellous buildings, that Hitler so loved. Speer and Milch, however, knew each other from varuous social occasions and Speer suggested that his organization could be of use to the Luftwaffe. Various pre-produced concrete elements and the use of RAD-teams led by Luftwaffe’s newly created Construction Brigades – the name given for Speers organization when working for the Luftwaffe – soon constructed new and enlarged older airfields with impressive haste. During the invasion of France, Norway and to a lesser extend Denmark and the Low Countries, the Contruction Brigades would prove invaluable to Lufwaffe.
The short victorious war with Poland had shown that, while highly accurate, the dive bombing Stuka’s were not really all that effective, or safe, on a modern battlefield, so an initiative was taken to upgrade those in service and to replace them as soon as possible - which might take some time as the Luftwaffe was cronically short on resources. The first series of Ju-87’s were upgraded with two 37mm machinecannons, so they could stay on the battlefield longer instead of just making one bomb run, as well as being reduced to singler seaters and furthermore had the landing gear made retractable. The weight saved was used on armour plating around the cockpit.
Later most of the Ju-87’s would be replaced by the newer Henschel Hs-129, often referred to by it's nickname, the Panzerknacker -, close support aircraft. During and after the Battle for France, a more heavier armanment were demanded for the Hencshel. Some even suggested a 75mm anti-tank gun, but Luftwaffe kept with the tried and tested 37mm gun for anti-tank service with its planes in the name of standardization. During the merciless fighting on the Eastern Front, the Panzerknacker more than any other German plane would strike fear into the heart of the Soviet soldiers.
Lessons Learned and Choices Made
Onwards, onwards into destruction
We must live until we die
And the child says to the father
Don't you hear the thunder
That's the king of all the winds
He wants me to become his child
From the clouds falls a choir
which crawls into the little ear
Come here, stay here
We'll be good to you
Come here, stay here
We are your brothers
- Rammstein, Dalai Lama.
Now we’ve rewritten history,
The one thing we’ve found out,
Sweet taste of vindication,
It turns to ashes in your mouth!
- Megadeath, Ashes in Your Mouth.
Meanwhile in Berlin, OKW prepared for the new campaign with frequent nervous conferences. On 27th of September, a jubilant and highly exited Hitler instructed the Wehrmacht’s Commanders-in-Chiefs, that they should be prepared for an continuation of hostilities and prepare an offensive against France as soon as possible. Hitler, as he often did, fixed new dates for the invasion in rapid succession, but he bowed to the Luftwaffe’s requirement of no less than five days of guarantied fine weather so that the French air force could be destroyed, which basically meant that the invasion of France could not happen before at the earliest spring of 1940. The OKW sighed collectively in relief….
Both Wever and Milch, however, were acutely aware that time was working to Germany’s disadvantage, even with the improved and streamlined production set-up they had initiated. Intelligence put the combined British and French air strength at close to 4,000 bombers and some 1,500 fighters on the 1st of January, 1940. Out of those 5.500 aircraft about sixty percent were operational at all times (the intelligence estimate would later be proven to be grossly inacurate as the French Air Force was quite a bit larger). Of course the air forces of the Low Countries had planes as well, but neither of the two countries, or Luxembourg, really troubled the Germans at OKL. OKL knew, from both its own sources and from Abwehr – the primary German Intelignece Agency -, that both Britain and France were purchasing as many aircraft from the United States of America as they could possibly get their hands on, as well as boosting their own production (by May 1940, French manufacturers were producing 619 combat aircraft per month, American firms were adding 170 per month, and the British were producing 368 aircraft per month. By comparison the Germans produced some 700 combat aircraft pr month during most of 1940), so it would only be a matter of time before the Luftwaffe found itself confronted by a numerically equal, or more likely numerically superior, enemy. Generally speaking, the French Armee l’Air didn’t concern the Germans as much as the British Royal Airforce did. Thankfully, both nations, especially the British, seemed obsessed with building bomber, epscially heavy 4-engiend ones like the British Short Stirling or the French Farman 222. Rumours of a new British super-fighter caused a lot of worry in OKL as well as the appearance of deadly French Dewoitine-figther did. Again, thankfully, the first proved never to be built (after the war Dowding would rant on about this fighter, which apparently should have been called the Spitfire and would, according to Dowding, have been able to defeat any German fighter) and the second was never built in suffient numbers.
A Sonderstab – special unit – under OKL’s operations division soon did a study on Tactical Aims for the Luftwaffe in the Western Theatre of Operations with a separate focus on a prolonged conflict with Britain. Wolfram von Richthofen, who led the Sondersstabs work, emphasized: “the equipment, state of training and strength of the Luftwaffe cannot bring about a quick decision in any war with Britain in 1939, but it is likely that a decision can be reached by airpower somewhere in 1940 if the right circumstance should arise! As we cannot expect to achieve anything more than a disruptive effect, we must aim for the destruction of most of RAF’s combat power and that of the RN’s ability to wage a succesful naval war due to our control of the air and that this will lead to an erosion of the British will to fight. Certainly a war of annihilation against Britain appears out of the question with the means at hand!” Both Wever and Milch felt rather confident, though, as the Kriegsmarine’s KLK grew in strength and had shown its capabilities in handling its anti-shipping duties. Furthermore the Me-109’s with their drop tanks was capable of reaching deep into British air space and thus providing the more vulnerable bombers with escorts. However, the He-111 bomber was thought to be somewhat inadequate in both range and numbers, but the senior officers in the OKL and the in Milch’s Air Ministry thought that fighters would decide the outcome of any conflict with Britain anyhow. As Air General Udet was quoted at the time: “Give our boys air superiority over the British Isles and the Tea Drinking Surrender Monkeys will sue for peace in a jiffy!” In little more than 6 years, Milch and Wever had made the Luftwaffe into perhaps the finest air force ever.
Several things still needed to be corrected, though. Luftwaffe’s command and control system was far from being perfect, furthermore the standard of blind-flying was not high enough and the various stockpiles – fuel as well as both spare parts and ammunition of all sorts - were dangerously low. Some steps was taken to correct this immediately, such as Lufwaffe forward observers and ground-to-air liaison officers with the avantgarde of the Heer’s units, a more streamlined system of communication with a central command and control unit for each Luftflotte and a centralized air defence for all of Germany – aka the Home Chain. The continuous improvements in RADAR by the research team working under the auspice of the Air Ministry opened up for a whole new range of opportunities, besides the Home Chain integrated air defence system. One was the concept of an airborne early warning and command and control aircraft.
The experimental FunkMessGeraet G-series of airborne RADARs were small enough to be fitted into a larger aircraft, so three Dornier Do-19 heavy bombers were fitted with the RADAR and an impressive radio suite. The Dorniers would provide airborne early warning and command and control functions for strike element of a Luftflotte. The idea was proven sound in a series of mock air battles over southeastern Germany in early 1940.
So sound actually, that Wever and Milch put Focke Wulf Flugzeugbau, the designers of the longe range FW-200 Condor, in charge of constructing a purpose built early warning and command and control aircraft. The plane, named FW-331 Eule – Owl –, would provide Luftwaffe’s Luftflotte and eventually smaller units with, of course, early warning, strike and interceptor control, search and rescue guidance and communications relay. The FW-331 Eule would be staffed with 12 men, all highly trained as they would be called upon to do on the spot threat analyses, exercise control of counteraction against air targets AND keep the rather volatile equipment running. The ungainly FW-331 Eule – it was a high-wing 4-engined aircraft with a multitude of antennaes and a huge parabolic disc containing the FMG G-11 Wotan RADAR suspended in a rotating suspension beneath the fuselage and an extremely weird looking multiple-surface tail unit - was designed and built in record time as the FW design team based it on designs already on the drawing bord. The FW-331 Eule was test flown the 23rd of March, 1941, far too late to participate in the Battle of Britain, but the lessons learned from designing the plane led to more of the older Dornier Do-19’s – in the process of being phased out by the newer Heinkel He-177 - being equiped with communication and RADAR technology to fulfill its role. The FW-331 Eule would, however, prove its worth over the Soviet Union in th eyears to come…
The usefullness of RADAR was proven beyond any doubt on the 13th of Devember, 1939, when the Seetakt-equiped pocket battleship, Graf Spee, engaged three British cruisers in the South Atlantic and due to its superior gunnery sank two of them and mauled the third quite severly. A panick striken British Admiralty vectored everything the Royal Navy had in the area in the direction of Graf Spees’ last know position, but the German warship had already moved on at full steam.
Another important issue for the Luftwaffe in late 1939 and early 1940 was that of airfields. The airfields had not been built with an eye to the size of the new generation of aircraft that was to come and was thus by far too small for its intended purpose. Albert Speer - Hitlers’ architect of all people, and a personal friend of Milch’s - and his organization had volunteered for duty immediately after the war had begun, but had been asked to concentrate on building the Reichs many new marvellous buildings, that Hitler so loved. Speer and Milch, however, knew each other from varuous social occasions and Speer suggested that his organization could be of use to the Luftwaffe. Various pre-produced concrete elements and the use of RAD-teams led by Luftwaffe’s newly created Construction Brigades – the name given for Speers organization when working for the Luftwaffe – soon constructed new and enlarged older airfields with impressive haste. During the invasion of France, Norway and to a lesser extend Denmark and the Low Countries, the Contruction Brigades would prove invaluable to Lufwaffe.
The short victorious war with Poland had shown that, while highly accurate, the dive bombing Stuka’s were not really all that effective, or safe, on a modern battlefield, so an initiative was taken to upgrade those in service and to replace them as soon as possible - which might take some time as the Luftwaffe was cronically short on resources. The first series of Ju-87’s were upgraded with two 37mm machinecannons, so they could stay on the battlefield longer instead of just making one bomb run, as well as being reduced to singler seaters and furthermore had the landing gear made retractable. The weight saved was used on armour plating around the cockpit.
Later most of the Ju-87’s would be replaced by the newer Henschel Hs-129, often referred to by it's nickname, the Panzerknacker -, close support aircraft. During and after the Battle for France, a more heavier armanment were demanded for the Hencshel. Some even suggested a 75mm anti-tank gun, but Luftwaffe kept with the tried and tested 37mm gun for anti-tank service with its planes in the name of standardization. During the merciless fighting on the Eastern Front, the Panzerknacker more than any other German plane would strike fear into the heart of the Soviet soldiers.
