Operation Bodenplatte: The Luftwaffe Falls

Battle plan for Operation Bodenplatte

In the morning hours of New Years Day 1945, Allied air bases in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands were attacked by a large force of German fighter planes. This was Germany's last attempt to regain air superiority in Europe, in support of their troops involved in the Battle of the Bulge. The name of the game: Operation Bodenplatte (German for 'baseplate').

The operation was originally scheduled for mid-December 1944. However, bad weather forced the plan to be postponed. Ironically, bad weather was the main reason the Germans attacked in mid-December, because the Allies wouldn't be able to get air support for their troops. The British code-breaking team intercepted intelligence reports of air assets massing in the area, but did not realize a major operation was afoot.

Indeed, there was so much secrecy placed around the operation that many German anti-aircraft units were not informed of any major Luftwaffe operation. Since by this time the Allies had virtual air supremacy, the Germans automatically assumed that any large formation of planes had to be Allied planes. Unfortunately for the Germans, this resulted in many squadrons suffering from friendly fire. Nevertheless, the attack commenced on New Years Day, since the Germans believed that the Allied pilots would've been relaxed from festivities the night before. At the first bases attacked, the Allies were taken almost completely by surprise.

One instance of the Allies being forewarned of an attack is documented in the Dogfights episode "Death of the Luftwaffe", where a patrol of American P-47 Thunderbolts spotted a large formation of German planes outside of their home base and engaged the enemy formation, startling the attackers.

It turned out that out of 34 German formations in the air, only 11 of them arrived on time and achieved any measure of surprise. When the battles were over, both sides had lost many planes. However, the key difference between the Allied losses and the German losses is that the Allied losses were replaced in a matter of weeks. The Germans, on the other hand, not only lost many valuable planes, but many more irreplaceable pilots, leaving the veteran population of the Luftwaffe virtually exhausted.

This operation would be the last major Luftwaffe operation of the war. Despite Germany's best efforts, they did not regain control of the skies and they did not hurt the Allied air forces badly enough to affect the tide of war turning against Germany. Until next time, take care, and thank you.