Operation Steinbock

Operation Steinbock (Unternehmen Steinbock) was the Second World War Luftwaffe nighttime bombing raid against southern England from January to May 1944, launched primarily for the sake of propaganda and as a measure of retaliation for RAF Bomber Command's attacks on German cities.

Placed under the command of Generalmajor (Major–General) Dietrich Peltz, Luftflotte 3 (Air Fleet 3), the Germans assembled 474 bomber aircraft for the offensive. The operation ran parallel to Bomber Command's campaign against Berlin. 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 operations over the British Isles in 1940–41.

The operation achieved very little, and the force suffered a loss of some 329 machines during the five months of operations—an average of 77 per month—before it was abandoned. Other senior Luftwaffe commanders, such as Hugo Sperrle, had intended to use the bomber force against the Western Allied invasion fleet, which he predicted would land in Northern France sometime in the summer of 1944.

Eventually, the revenge attacks gave way to attempts to disrupt preparations for the impending Allied invasion of France, codenamed Operation Overlord, but Steinbock had worn down the offensive power of the Luftwaffe to the extent it could not mount any significant counterattacks when the invasion began in June 1944.

The offensive marked the Luftwaffe's last large-scale bombing operation against England, and henceforth only the V-1 flying bomb cruise missiles and V-2 rocket—pioneering Short-range ballistic missiles—were used for striking at British cities.

Background
The strategic dilemma facing the Luftwaffe in the autumn 1943 was a serious one. The Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL or High Command of the Air Force) was unable to prevent serious damage to German cities and industries by the ongoing Allied Strategic Bombing offensive. Erhard Milch—responsible to the Reichsluftfahrtministerium ("Reich Aviation Ministry"—RLM) for production—recommended doubling fighter production to strengthen defences but the rise in production was slow. The British bombing of German industries during Battle of the Ruhr (March—July 1943) caused a stagnation in German aircraft production they nicknamed the Zulieferungskrise (sub-components crisis).

Worse was to follow. In July 1943 RAF Bomber Command briefly neutralised German night fighter defences, in particular the Kammhuber Line, by using tactics (such as the "bomber stream") and technology (such as "window") to overwhelm German ground and air defences. The bombing of Hamburg in July inflicted 26,000 casualties and destroyed large parts of the city and its industry. The overwhelming consensus in the Luftwaffe High Command was that German air power should concentrate its resources on defensive efforts against the Allied Air Forces. Adolf Galland—General der Jagdflieger (General of the Fighter Force)—wrote:

"Never before and never again did I witness such determination and agreement among the circle of those responsible for the leadership of the Luftwaffe. It was as though under the impact of the Hamburg catastrophe everyone put aside either personal or departmental ambitions. There was no conflict between the General Staff and the war industry, no rivalry between bombers and fighters; only the common will to do everything in this critical hour for the Defence of the Reich."

But it was Göring, not the staff, that took this proposal to Hitler. After an hour, the Reichsmarschall returned. Peltz described the scene:

"We were met with a shattering picture. Göring had completely broken down. With his head buried in his arms on the table he moaned some indistinguishable words. We stood there for some time in embarrassment until at last he pulled himself together and said we were witnessing the deepest moments of despair. The Fuhrer had lost faith in him. All the suggestions from which he had expected a radical change in the situation of war in the air had been rejected; the Fuhrer had announced that the Luftwaffe had disappointed him too often, and a change over from the offensive to defensive in the air against England was out of the question."

After a time Göring stated that the Führer was right. Göring announced that the only way to stop such destruction was to initiate heavy retaliatory strikes at the enemy so that they would not dare risk another raid like Hamburg without the fear of similar retribution. Göring gave Peltz the authorisation to pool the resources together for Operation Steinbock (Capricorn).

Resources
At the end of November 1943, Generalmajor Dietrich Peltz was summoned to a conference where Göring informed him that he was to be placed in charge of a renewed large-scale bombing operation of Britain, and London in particular. It was hoped that the operation would commence during December, and though this proved unrealistic, by the third week of January 1944 a force approaching 600 aircraft had been amassed by stripping five Kampfgruppen (bomber groups) from the Italian front and by rebuilding existing bomber units in the West. On 3 December 1943 Göring issued orders for Unternehmen Steinbock ('Operation Capricorn'), with the objective of "avenging terror attacks of the enemy". Wolfram von Richthofen was to provide Peltz with six Kampfgruppen, while Obdl would provide another three which were resting. The bombers were to carry a so-called "English mixture" ordnance load — 70% incendiaries and 30% high explosive bombs, including large 1 t bombs and mines.

Two He 177-equipped units were available for the start of the attack: I./KG 40 and 3./KG 100 operating the new heavy bomber from airfields at Rheine and Chateaudun with an initial combined strength of 46 aircraft.

Despite this force of Heinkel He 177s, the inventory still consisted largely of twin-engined medium bombers. The Junkers Ju 188s and Dornier Do 217s were of relatively recent development, and the great majority of the Junkers Ju 88s were of the A-4 model, essentially unchanged since 1941, when the original Blitz had wound down.

Apart from the numbers of conventional medium and heavy level bombers, the Luftwaffe also employed a number of fast bomber types, such as the Ju 88S (a cleaned up and boosted version of the Ju 88A-4) or the Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse and a number of fighter-bombers, known as Jabos in the Luftwaffe. These were more difficult to intercept due to their great speed, but carried limited payload and with less accuracy compared to the conventional bombers.

The composition of the force was never static. Bomber units were disbanded, pulled out for refits and conversions, or redeployed to other theatres of operation as the situation demanded. By mid-March, Peltz's force had 232 serviceable aircraft, as 3./KG 2 was withdrawn for conversion to the Ju 188, while III./KG 30, along with II. and III. Gruppen, KG 6 were redeployed to support the occupation of Hungary.

To confuse British radars, the ventral gondolas of some Ju 88s were fitted with an active radar jammer device called Kettenhund ("chaindog"), and some bombers also sported the FuG 216 tail-warning radar, to detect the approach of British night-fighters.

Order of battle
The following Luftwaffe units particated in Operation Steinbock: and had the following establishment of operational aircraft at the start of 1944


 * KG 2 Holzhammer
 * Stab (3 Do 217)
 * I./KG 2 (35 Do 217)
 * II./KG 2 (31 Ju 188)
 * III./KG 2 (36 Do 217)
 * V./KG 2 ( 25 Me 410)


 * KG 6
 * Stab (3 Ju 88)
 * I./KG 6 (41 Ju 188)
 * II./KG 6 (39 Ju 88)
 * III./KG 6 (37 Ju 88)


 * KG 30 Adler
 * II./KG 30 (31 Ju 88)


 * KG 40
 * I./KG 40 (15 He 177)


 * KG 54 Totenkopf
 * Stab/KG 54 (3 Ju 88)
 * I./KG 54 (25 Ju 88)
 * II./KG 54 (33 Ju 88)


 * KG 66
 * I./KG 66 (23 Ju 88 and Ju 188)


 * KG 76
 * Stab/KG 76 (4 Ju 88)


 * KG 100
 * I./KG 100 (27 He 177)


 * SKG 10
 * I./SKG 10 (20 Fw 190)

Air defence
As a result of the reorganisation required for the invasion of Europe on 15 November 1943 RAF Fighter Command was split in two; many of the Spitfire and Hawker Typhoon Squadrons formed the 2nd Tactical Air Force for activities in support of the invasion of Europe, while others were now formed into the Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB) force.

The ADGB brief was the air defence of Britain by day or night. The commander of Fighter Command, Air Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory was transferred to take over the 2nd TAF, and the ADGB command given to Air Marshal Sir Roderic Hill. By January 1944 RAF Fighter Command’s 10 and 11 Groups were responsible for the defence of southern England. For night defence ADGB possessed seven Squadrons of de Havilland Mosquito Mark XII, XIII and XVII night fighters totalling around 127 operational aircraft, all of which were equipped with airborne interception aids, including the latest Mk. VIII and Mk. X centimetric wavelength radars.

For the urban defence of Greater London there were numerous heavy anti-aircraft (AA) batteries equipped with 3.7 inch and 5.25 inch guns. Many batteries were now equipped with the new gun-laying Mk. III radar, which made them highly effective in putting up a predicted AA barrage against air targets at night or in bad weather.

January
The first attack on London was mounted on the night of 21/22 January. Codenamed Unternehmen Mars, sections of the British capital were given codenames after devastated German cities — Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover, to emphasize the retaliatory nature of the operation for the air crews. The first raid targeted the area designated as 'München'—the Waterloo area of London. The attack consisted of two waves with 447 bomber sorties, primarily Ju-88s and Do-217s, carrying 475 tons of bombs, with 60 per cent of the payload incendiaries. The first wave bombed from 2040 hours until 2209 and the second wave 0419 to 0545. Many bomber crews flew double sorties on this night.

Despite the extensive use of 'duppel' ( the Luftwaffe equivalent of the RAF's window anti-radar device) and target marking with white and green flares by KG 66, the Luftwaffe's pathfinders, hardly any bombers reached London and only some 30 tons were estimated to have fallen on the capital, with bombs and incendiaries scattered throughout the Home Counties. The Houses of Parliament, Parliament Square, Westminster Hall, the Embankment, New Scotland Yard and parts of Pimlico were all hit by incendiaries. Some 14 people were killed and 74 injured.

Hitler was reportedly outraged that the Luftwaffe failed to find London though it was only 150 - 200 km from German ground control stations while the British were hitting German towns, not just city targets, from 1000 km away in bad weather. Peltz responded that the failures owed as much to the Luftwaffe's lack of interference-free radio and navigational aids as to untrained crews, and that the British with their H2S and Gee systems were technologically ahead of the Germans. The lack of dedicated pathfinder units also caused navigational problems, as the few aircraft employed in this role were more at risk from electronic counter-measures and fighter interception. The heavy British defences forced the Luftwaffe to fly meandering 'dog-leg' courses and inexperienced German crews quickly got lost. Reconnaissance flights over England had also stopped, which prevented the Luftwaffe from gathering intelligence on British radar and radio frequency bands.

Approximately 40 bombers were lost to all causes. Luftwaffe records indicate 25 aircraft fell to enemy action, RAF Mosquitos claimed 16 bombers destroyed or probably destroyed, and the other nine probably fell to anti-aircraft fire. Just as worrying for the Luftwaffe was a further 18 bombers which were lost to non-combat causes, including pilot error, navigation error leading to running out of fuel or landing crashes at base.

The first operation coincided with the Allied landings at Anzio in Italy, and immediately three of the Kampfgruppen were returned to Italy. Bad weather also intervened, and the next raid on London was delayed until 28 January, with only Me 410 fast bombers and Fw 190 fighter-bombers taking part. On the following night a 285-strong bomber force, of mostly Ju-188s and Ju-88s attacked, and started a major fire in the Surrey Commercial Docks.

The bomber force lost 28 aircraft shot down. Following this operation I./KG 40 was withdrawn.

The two January attacks on London caused the deaths of about 100 people, with some 200 injured.

February
240 sorties were flown on 3/4 February, with only 26 tons of bombs falling on London and scattered bombing across South east England. Fires were started in Hackney and Tilbury with 17 killed and 12 injured in the capital.

On 13/14 February 161 tonnes were dropped over England, with 4 tonnes on the capital.

A series of far more accurate raids now ensued, as on the 18/19 February, with 200 sorties dropping 185 tons of bombs on Whitehall, Queen's Gate and in Pimlico in a short sharp 30 minute raid. Civilian casualties were 180 killed and 463 seriously injured.

On 20/21 February some 200 aircraft were committed, with I./KG 100 contributing 14 He 177s. Whitehall was hit again as was Horse Guards Parade, St. James's Park, the Treasury, the Admiralty, the War Office and the Scottish Office. Windows were also blown out in 10 Downing Street. 216 were killed on the ground and 417 badly injured. On the night of the 23rd 32 London boroughs recorded incidents, with 72 people killed in Chelsea following a direct hit on a block of flats near the King's Road. In total there were 160 fatalities and 348 serious injuries that night. Targets on the night of February 24 were government buildings around the Westminster area, with over 170 aircraft targeting London.

The 1,300 operational sorties carried out in February had produced mixed results. However, bomber losses for the month, at 72 aircraft, remained prohibitively high.

March
In March there were four attacks on London, followed by raids on Hull and Bristol. On 14/15 March, 100 German aircraft dropped incendiaries and high explosives across Westminster, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, Rochester Row, Monck Street, Cliveden Place and two churches in Medway Street and Flask Lane were hit, set alight or damaged. On 21 March Paddington Railway Station was also hit.

April
Attacks on the capital continued until the night of 20/21 April 1944. By this time 31 major raids had been flown since January, 14 against the British capital. Peltz's force had dropped a total of some 2,000 tons of bombs at a cost of 329 bombers lost.

From late April German attacks switched to the channel ports on the south coast of England, where shipping for the forthcoming Allied invasion of Europe was massing. However, the offensive yielded little tangible results for the Luftwaffe, at a high cost in aircrew and aircraft.

May
Some small-scale attacks were made on Weymouth, Torquay and Falmouth.

Aftermath
Although the "Baby Blitz" attacks had involved more Luftwaffe aircraft than any other raids on the UK since 1941, the effectiveness of air and ground defences, the relative inexperience of the German bomber crews, and the sheer lack of bomber numbers meant relatively minor damage and few casualties were inflicted. The initial bomber strength was built up at great expense from the operational requirements of the Luftwaffe. Most bombs failed to reach their targets, and those that did represented only a fraction of what was hitting Germany. Failure to properly target the assembly areas for Operation Overlord meant that there was no significant impact on the allied time table for the invasion. The raids were ironically to prove more costly regarding German military capability than for the British, draining the Luftwaffe of irreplaceable aircrew and aircraft and thus reducing the potential defensive air response to oppose Operation Overlord. After the failure of this conventional bombing campaign, the Nazi leadership, still bent on revenge, sought unconventional ways to attack Britain. This desire was to manifest itself in the V1 and V2 campaigns late that year.

From late December 1943 to May 1944 Luftwaffe bomber strength in northern Europe fell from 695 to just 133 aircraft. In contrast on 6 June 1944, ADGB had 45 squadrons available to support the invasion, totalling some 809 serviceable aircraft.

Air raid casualties in Britain during the first five months of 1944 totalled some 1,556 killed, with 2,916 seriously injured.