Bodenplatte
Bodenplatte: The Luftwaffe's Last Hope--the Attack On Allied Airfields, New Year's Day 1945 JOHN MANRHO, RON PUTZ
Publisher: Hikoki Publications
ISBN: 1902109406
Edition: Hardcover; 2004-08-31
Summary:
In the early morning of New Year's Day 1945, as the last great German
offensive in Ardennes slowly smoldered to an end and the Allies
prepared for a final year of war in northwest Europe, against all
odds, the Luftwaffe -- assumed to be starved of fuel and fighting
spirit -- launched a massive, surprise, low-level strike targeted at
Allied tactical airfields throughout France, Belgium, and Holland.
Planned under great secrecy, the raid gambled on using the bulk of
Luftwaffe fighter assets on the Western Front, with the aim of
decimating significant elements of both the British 2nd RAF and the
USAAF on the ground. As the winter skies lightened, more than 900
German aircraft, -- most of them Fw 190s and Bf 109s -- swept across
vulnerable and unsuspecting airfields, including Brussels and
Eindhoven. Altogether, more than 200 Allied aircraft were destroyed,
with a further 150 damaged. But for the Luftwaffe it was a pyrrhic
victory; 271 fighters were lost and many more damaged. Worse still,
of the 213 pilots lost, more than 20 were valuable formation leaders.
Using hundreds of eye-witness accounts and rare photographs, this is
a definitive study.
Click on a subject to see other books listed with the same
subject or to drill down into components of the subject -- such as
geographical locations, dates and so on.
We query many merchants so that you can instantly
compare prices and
availability. You can even check historic prices and subscribe
for notifications. For a manual check, clicking on a link will open a
new window with a search for this book on the merchant's site of your
choice.
