Luftwaffe Over Britain 1939-45

Between 1939 and 1945 there was no part of the British Isles which had not seen the unwelcome attention of the Luftwaffe. Across that period, German tactics varied widely – from sustained attacks on military installations, sorties against coastal convoys and ports as well as raids on airfields and Britain’s air defence infrastructure and aircraft factories. It also included targeting centres of population and industrial towns and cities, while ‘nuisance’ raids mercilessly struck provincial towns and villages alike. Meanwhile, coastal towns came under ‘tip-and-run’ attacks by fighter-bombers which bombed and strafed indiscriminately. And yet, for all its efforts, the Luftwaffe failed to achieve any strategic objective. Indeed, those years of assault cost the Luftwaffe dearly, and while the total of Luftwaffe aircraft lost on operations against Britain is impossible to…

Richard J Molloy The colourisation artist for this project was Richard J Molloy who specialises in the digital colourisation of historic images. His particular interest lies with military subjects and he is a regular art contributor to Iron Cross magazine, also published by Warners Group Publications Plc. Using research based on known colours, and often using period colour charts, Richard constructs accurate representations of period images. His evaluation of those images often requires forensic research to properly represent the image being coloured. This piece of work on the Luftwaffe over Britain is Richard’s third such project for Warners Group Publications Plc, his first being Battle of Britain in Colour (2020), followed by The Blitz in Colour (2021). Samples of Richard’s work may be viewed by searching: @colourbyRJM Acknowledgements The editor…

On 26 February 1935, Adolf Hitler signed a secret decree authorising the establishment of the Luftwaffe as Germany’s third military service. This was independent of the Heer (Army) and Kriegsmarine (Navy), the decree also appointing Hermann Göring as its commander-in-chief. Hermann Göring was born to a Bavarian foreign service officer and his peasant wife in 1893, later attending the Berlin Lichterfelde Military Academy before joining the Prince Wilhelm Regiment (112th Infantry) in 1912. After a severe bout of rheumatism, which supposedly resulted from exposure to dampness during trench warfare, he arranged in 1916 for his own transfer, through connections fostered with nobility, to Feldflieger Abteilung 25 (Field Flying Unit 25), initially as an observer. Drawn to the glory of becoming a fighter pilot, he completed his flying training and was…

Luftwaffe personnel jokingly referred to their commander-in-chief as ‘The Golden Pheasant’ because of his passion for decorations and colourful uniforms. And it was certainly the case that the overweight Reichsmarschall cut an increasingly ridiculous figure. In one of its intelligence summaries from 1945, the British Air Ministry noted: “There are increasingly fantastic reports of Göring’s life and indications that his passion for medals and uniforms has developed into a mania for eccentric and sumptuous dress. Red Russian boots with gold spurs, worn with a Luftwaffe uniform, were one of his lesser flights of fancy. Latterly, he has been seen in a costume ranging from a white toga with a bejewelled belt to a gold house coat and green velvet breeches with silk stockings and pumps, in which he receives his…

War with Germany had been anticipated in Britain during the years leading up to 1939, and during this period extensive defensive measures were put in place. This included preparations by the active defence of Britain’s armed forces and a well organised passive defence system through the Air Raid Precautions organisation. Against this background, the Spanish Civil War greatly influenced Britain’s defence planning and struck fear into the public. Feverish defensive preparations were, on the one hand, cause for reassurance, but those same preparations were also cause for anxiety. Feeding into those fears were the news bulletins from the war in Spain of the merciless bombing of the town of Guernica on 26 April 1937 by the Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the attack on Guernica, leading…

Although war against Germany was declared on 3 September 1939, Luftwaffe bases were then mostly too far away from Britain for any meaningful operations against Britain to start immediately. Initial raids were taking place against the northeast of the British Isles by October 1939, although by the early summer of 1940 the Luftwaffe had established bases in Northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway. From these bases, German air operations could be conducted against the entirety of the British Isles. These operations continued, to greater or lesser degrees, until March 1945. This timeline represents some of the significant events across that period insofar as they relate to German air operations against Britain. 3 September 1939 WAR DECLARED War is declared against Germany and air raid sirens sound in Britain as…