Where was the Luftwaffe during the D-Day Invasion?

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dive1tom
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Where was the Luftwaffe during the D-Day Invasion?

#1

Post by dive1tom » 12 Nov 2005, 21:55

I read there was only two planes that showed up and strafed the beaches then left. Did not Rommell have any planes he could have commanded to attack?

Larry D.
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#2

Post by Larry D. » 13 Nov 2005, 02:05

There are entire books on this subject that cover it in enormous detail, but the short answer is that the Luftwaffe was absent for most of 6 June due to few units and Allied air supression. Over the next several days, hundreds upon hundreds of fighters poured into France from all over Europe in response to "Urgent Danger West", the Luftwaffe's code name for the operations plan signaling the Allied invasion in the West. By the afternoon of 7 June, Luftflotte 3's sortie rate began to increase dramatically and this continued over the next several days as new units continued to arrive.

--Larry

N.B. - Here is some better information concerning the above:
Plans were made to transfer Jagd- and Kampfgruppen from the Reich the moment the code-word "Dr. Gustav Wilhelm" (for Drohende Gefahr West, or Imminent Danger, West) for the invasion was received, and dozens of airfields were prepared with supplies, communications and accomodation, some reportedly having dispersal bays up to five kilometers from the runway.
[Source: Hooton, E.R. Eagle in Flames: The Fall of the Luftwaffe. London: Brockhampton Press, 1997. p.283].
Last edited by Larry D. on 14 Nov 2005, 14:51, edited 1 time in total.


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Benoit Douville
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#3

Post by Benoit Douville » 13 Nov 2005, 05:31

What Larry mentionned is true that the Luftwaffe was absent most of June 6 1944. However, there were several planes on that day for the Luftwaffe and saying that there was only two planes, it's a myth.

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Larry D.
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#4

Post by Larry D. » 13 Nov 2005, 15:01

Benoit -

Here are the actual sortie numbers for Luftflotte 3. They even surprised me after I took the trouble to look them up. Of course by 10-12 June they were 3 or 4 times that number.

6 Jun: flew 327 day sorties, mostly in the landing area, claimed 19 enemy aircraft shot down, lost 2 planes. 6/7 Jun: flew 217 night sorties in the landing area, claimed 4 ships hit, lost 18 planes. 7 Jun: flew 139 fighter and 34 bomber day sorties in the landing area, claimed 2 enemy fighters, lost 23 planes.

[Source: [MEHNER, Kurt (ed.). Die geheimen Tagesberichte der deutschen Wehrmachtführung im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945. 12 Bände. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1984-95. Band 10: Berichtzeit 1.3.1944 – 31.8.1944. ISBN 3-7648-1460-8. 722p. 47 maps. 1986.]

Sorry for being so lazy....I hope I didn't mislead anyone!

--Larry

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Reich Ruin
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#5

Post by Reich Ruin » 13 Nov 2005, 22:47

I remember seeing a documentry about the Canadians at Juno beach a few days ago... actually on Rememberance Day. Anyway one of the veterans described how he was wounded when a FW190 flew overhead dropping it's bombs. One of them fell near his position and he got hit by the shrapnel in the leg.

So obviously some German fighters managed to get into the air over Normandy on D-Day. Most where probably shot down I bet...

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#6

Post by Benoit Douville » 14 Nov 2005, 03:15

Larry,

I really appreciated your post. I remember reading somewhere that they were a lot of Luftwaffe sorties on June 6 1944 but I was too lazy yesterday to make the research, I wanted to do it today but you were faster than me...

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JonS
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#7

Post by JonS » 14 Nov 2005, 04:26

I remember reading somewhere that they were a lot of Luftwaffe sorties on June 6 1944 ...
All the (Allied) participant accounts I've read of Normandy make at least one reference to seeing or being shot at by the LW. George Blackburn, for example, makes several references to being brassed up in the open countryside west and south of Caen. Max Hastings relates a tale about one of the Allied air commanders doing a photo recce sortie on either side of the lines, and showing the results to Eisenhower by way of explaining why the nightly LW bomb raids were able to so often score some measure of success in the crowded beachhead. But I think we need to get a handle what the LW meant by a sortie, and on what is meant by "a lot" of Luftwaffe sorties.

Larrys, total of 327 presumably includes all sorties flown out of bases in France, making the total sent to Normandy somewhat lower, which we already know from the "mostly in the landing area" comment. But what 327 total doesn't tell us is what number of planes were sortied against the landings, but which never made it due to either being shot down or turned back by the heavy fighter screen protecting the whole area.

Against the LW total of 327 for 6th June should be balanced the ?12,000? sorties flown by Allied fighters on the same day. Finally, whilst the numbers Larry posted are higher than I would have guessed, on D-Day and after they were lower than the Allies had feared, leading to LAA assets being withdrawn and disbanded as early as August. 327 may well be 'a lot', but 12,000 is a whole lot more ;)

As it happens, I'm currently reading Copp, Fields of Fire. On page 90 he relates the following numbers: on June the Allies had 52 fighter sqns providing cover over the beaches, 6 in immediate reserve, 15 covering the sea lanes, and 24 waiting in England to respond to crises or opportunities (a total of ~ 1,200 fighters, @ 12/sqn). On the next page he talks about the intercept of a dozen German bombers heading for the landing areas on June 7. Some were claimed shot down, but of real significance is that none were able to deliver their bomb loads - 12 German sorties with no tangible result.

Regards
JonS

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#8

Post by Larry D. » 14 Nov 2005, 15:57

I don’t want to belabor the subject, but here’s some more details that might be of interest:
Luftflotte 3 Combat Air Strength - 31 May 1944 (on strength/serviceable)
Fighters – 168/115
Night Fighters – 103/57
Zerstörer – 53/37
Ground-Attack – 73/49
Reconnaissance – 116/53
Bombers – 486/247
Seaplanes – 16/12
Totals: 1,015/570

Allied combat air strength available for direct support of the invasion area on the same date consisted of:
2d Tac and 9th USAAF - 4,029
USTAF and Air Defense of Great Britain - 5,514
Luftwaffe confirmation of the landing came from Leutnant Adalbert Bärwolf of 3./NAGr. 13, but although Normandy was covered by Major Kurt Bühlingen’s JG 2, the initial response on 6 June was a quick pass along “Sword” Beach by the Kommodore of JG 26, “Pips” Priller, and his Rottenhund, Unteroffizier Heinz Wodarczyk, who flew from Lille-North in the first of 121 Luftwaffe fighter sorties that day. In the following weeks Sperrle received 670 aircraft(**), but his airfields were constantly harassed, and the deployment of 190 Flak batteries (140 heavy) did little to relieve the situation as casualties mounted steadily and the anti-shipping forces failed completely to disrupt the build-up. During June some 1,200 anti-shipping and nearly 900 minelaying sorties were flown [by Luftflotte 3].

(**) The 670 aircraft transferred to Luftflotte 3 over the week or so following the invasion IAW Drohende Gefahr West included: (1) 14 Jagdgruppen with 475 fighters; (2) 2 Nachtjagdgruppen with 68 night fighters; (3) 4 Kampfgruppen with 108 bombers; and, (4) 2 Fernaufklärungsstaffeln with 19 long-range reconnaissance aircraft.
On D-Day, 6 June 1944, Luftflotte 3 flew 139 “strike” sorties (presumably fighter and bomber sorties over and around the invasion area), 24 reconnaissance sorties and 35 night fighter sorties. The latter two were also presumably over and around the invasion area. In contrast, the Allies flew 14,075 sorties in directly support of the invasion and lost 127 aircraft to all causes.

[Source: Hooton, E.R. Eagle in Flames: The Fall of the Luftwaffe. London: Brockhampton Press, 1997. pp.283-85 and 290].

Author Hooton's sources are all from primary documentation and are about as good as you will find. He's a meticulous statistician - that's his forté.

--Larry

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Fallschirmjäger
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TO MANY ALLIED PLANES

#9

Post by Fallschirmjäger » 15 Nov 2005, 01:01

There where just to many allied planes,they would shoot them down any that took off,or bomb there airfields all the time,so had no chance to get up,most also where defending germany which was more important to them maybe.lways like that bit in the longest day movie where those 2 luftwaffe planes straffe the beach and fly off and that pilot laughing like this is gorings or the luftwaffes only moment or something. 8)

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#10

Post by JonS » 15 Nov 2005, 01:06

Larry D. wrote:I don’t want to belabor the subject, but here’s some more details that might be of interest:
Not at all. Thanks Larry. Somewhere at home I think I have the pre-D-Day Allied estimate of expected GAF effort. If I find it I'll post it. It'll be interesting to do a compare & contrast between that and what you've just posted.

Jon

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#11

Post by Larry D. » 15 Nov 2005, 01:30

If I find it I'll post it.
Yes, that should prove interesting, Jon.

JonS
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#12

Post by JonS » 15 Nov 2005, 10:05

Bugger. It turns out I don't have it. I do know exactly where it is though: WAII - 1 - DA 491.5/3 in the NZ National Archives. I was in there looking for something else, which I did get copied, but didn't bother with the GAF stuff since it wasn't interesting to me then :roll:

There may also be a copy in PRO CAB 106/1060 at Kew, which is the British copy of the NZ archive, though it might not be a complete copy.

Sorry
JonS

Larry D.
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#13

Post by Larry D. » 15 Nov 2005, 14:57

Well, that happens, Jon. At least you have the archival citation in the event you ever get back to the NZ-NA.

Regards,

--Larry

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D-Day

#14

Post by FalkeEins » 15 Nov 2005, 19:42

There's some detail on JG 2's involvement on June 6 on my site; an article entitled 'Closest to the beachheads'


Kaczmarek- a German view of the air war

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Mark McShane
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#15

Post by Mark McShane » 16 Nov 2005, 03:23

Guys,

I've just finished eading a book on the operations of KG/40, later reformed into ZG/1. On the 6th of June, they were invovled in ground attack sorties around north of Caen. After four days of operations they had received so many casualties to air and ground attack they were effectively no longer a capable fighting formation and were soon disbanded. Allied air superiority was so complete, air units like the JU 88 were not able to effectively able to operate over the dangerous skies of Normandy.


Regards,

Mark

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