Amerika Bombers 1945: Look Busy and Hope the Americans Capture You
Luftwaffe Aircraft Manufacturing, 1945. The death of the Luftwaffe as a effective force is dated by historians to Operation 'Baseplate', which happened on January 1st, 1945. This was the last large coordinated action by the Luftwaffe, and not coincidentally, also its single greatest day of losses. Hitler was among other things a gambler, and the 'Watch on the Rhine' winter offensive, later known as the Battle of the Bulge, of ‘44 and early ‘45 was his last “all in” bet, taking his last reserves of men and material to try and make a comeback. While the Luftwaffe was being ground down by constant losses in the fall of ‘44, General Adolf Galland, the Inspector-General of Fighters, was husbanding what fuel he could for “the big sweep”, a moment when the Allies would send a 1000 bomber raid at Germany, and every Luftwaffe fighter extant would take off to intercept the bomber stream, hopefully overwhelming escorts and doing heavy damage to the strategic bombing force. H...