“While the English press dubbed the raids the “Baby Blitz,” the Germans called it “Operation Steinbock.” The campaign would go down in history as the final Nazi bomber offensive of World War Two.”

BY EARLY 1944, THE DRONE OF GERMAN BOMBERS was a sound most Londoners hoped they’d heard the last of.

During the dark months of 1940 and 1941, the Luftwaffe hammered the city on a nightly basis. In the years since then, things had been comparatively quiet in the British capital. On the evening of Jan. 22, 1944, that would change.

Just after 8:40 p.m., more than 400 bombers appeared without warning over London’s rooftops. It was a massive raid — as large as any of the attacks from three years earlier.

In minutes, high explosive and incendiary bombs were raining down on the unsuspecting metropolis while the skies over the Thames sparkled with anti-aircraft artillery.

After the half-hour raid ended, Westminster was in flames. Firebombs had struck Parliament, the Embankment, New Scotland Yard and a host of other sites across the city centre.

Then just before dawn, a second wave of bombers appeared carrying yet another lethal payload to deliver onto the still-smouldering city. By sunrise, nearly 100 Londoners were dead and the hospitals were filled with casualties. It was just the beginning of a deadly four-month air onslaught against Great Britain the likes of which the country hadn’t seen since the war’s grim early days.

While the English press dubbed the raids the “Baby Blitz,” the Germans called it “Operation Steinbock.” The campaign would go down in history as the final Nazi bomber offensive of World War Two.

The Fuhrer Strikes Back

The brainchild of Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering, Steinbock was a reaction to the long-running Allied strategic bombing campaign against Germany.

Throughout late 1943, the Nazi Reichsmarschall lobbied Hitler to direct the Third Reich’s dwindling bomber force to undertake massive retaliatory strikes on London. By pounding the enemy capital to dust, he argued, the Allies would be deterred from future raids on German cities for fear of reprisals. Also, news that England was taking a beating would be pure gold for the Nazi propaganda machine.

Others within the Luftwaffe high command argued vigorously against the plan. Critics maintained that the Fatherland’s limited air power would need to be marshalled for use against a future Allied invasion of Europe. Ultimately, the thirst for vengeance trumped pragmatism and in November, Goering’s strategy was given the green light — German bombers would again fly over London.

To carry out the campaign, Berlin assigned a 30-year-old Luftwaffe general by the name of Dietrich Peltz. The veteran of more than 320 combat missions immediately set himself to the task of organizing the raids. But from the start, the shortcomings of Germany’s strategy were all too evident.

Not Up For the Job

First and foremost, the Luftwaffe was not built for strategic bombing. From its very founding in the 1930s, Hitler’s air force was organized around the concept of Blitzkrieg. Nazi bombers specialized in tactical missions and close air support, not city-busting.

Undeterred, Peltz stripped what heavy aircraft he could from all fronts for the upcoming attack on the British Isles. Eight whole bomber units or Kampfgeschwader totalling more than 500 aircraft were massed across France, Germany and the Low Countries. Dornier Do 217s, Junkers Ju 88s, Ju 188s and Messerschmitt Me 410s would make up the bulk of the force. And while purpose-built strategic bombers were in short supply, a number of new Heinkel He 188s were set aside for Steinbock. The long-range warplanes were among the only aircraft in Hitler’s arsenal capable of hauling a bomb load comparable to a Boeing B-17 or Avro Lancaster. Although in short supply, they’d be instrumental in the attacks.

London Burns

To accentuate the retaliatory nature of the campaign, target areas in the British capital were codenamed for German cities that had fallen victim to Allied bombers: Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich, etc.

While the opening attack on Jan. 22 rocked London, only about 30 of the 475 tons (about 6 per cent) of bombs dropped actually hit within the city core. Most landed harmlessly in sparsely populated outlying regions. Meanwhile, Allied fighters and flak crews claimed an estimated 25 aircraft. Another 18 bombers crashed on landing or flew off course during the mission and were lost. It was an embarrassing start.

A follow-up strike on London was mounted a week later. Nearly 280 planes inflicted only moderate damage, while 28 Luftwaffe aircraft never made it back to base.

Smaller missions were ordered on the nights of Feb. 3, 13 and 18 causing additional casualties. The last of these raids saw a terrifying 186 tons of ordnance fall on the city, killing 200 civilians.

A 200-plane mission spearheaded by 14 He-117s reached London on the night of Feb. 20. Bombs fell all over Whitehall striking famous landmarks like Horse Guards Parade, St. James Park, the Treasury and the Admiralty. Even the prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street suffered damaged. More than 600 casualties were reported in just the one night.

Feb. 23 saw still more bombings. The sorties continued unabated into March.

Home Field Advantage

Despite the destruction German bomb crews were visiting on London, the missions to southern England were costly. In 1940, British air defences withered in the face of the Luftwaffe’s offensive. Four years later, local forces were far more robust. In order to reach their targets, the Heinkels and Dorniers were forced to run a deadly gauntlet of Mosquito night fighters, radar-guided searchlights and accurate flak batteries all across southern England. London itself bristled with guns.

While Hitler’s bombers were still managing to unload their payloads onto the British capital, the Luftwaffe was paying dearly for the opportunity. More than 72 German aircraft had been destroyed in the first month of the campaign alone. And losses would continue to mount.

Counting the Dead

Germany continued the London raids into April, while committing other planes to sorties against Hull and even Bristol. But while as many as 1,500 British civilians lay dead and hospitals were choked with nearly 3,000 wounded, Operation Steinbock was clearly failing, as far as Berlin was concerned. Despite the raids, RAF and American bombers continued to pound the Reich without reprieve. Worse, the high command was squandering planes and pilots the Luftwaffe could ill-afford to lose a foolhardy gambit. Of the 524 aircraft committed to the campaign, nearly 330 (or 60 percent) had been lost. In fact, the operation probably did more harm to the German war effort than good. By May, the generals finally called off the raids.

Hitler was still determined to strike British Isles, but from that point on he would only do so with rockets and missiles like the V-1 and V-2. Both would continue to fall on the city until the final weeks of the war.

Of course, Operation Steinbock wasn’t the end for the Luftwaffe. The German air force would launch an even larger and more audacious one-time offensive in the months to come. On New Years Day, 1945, more than 1,000 fighters and bombers would take part in a last desperate bid to steal control of the skies over Western Europe from the Allies. It too failed.

SOURCES
http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/bhr/Main/ww2/1_13.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Steinbock
http://www.dorkingmuseum.org.uk/january-march-1944-operation-steinbock/
http://www.blitzwalkers.co.uk/blitz.html