Here in Britain, the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal teams are still dealing with unexploded bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe. |
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The Luftwaffe, however, by its initial surprise attacks on airfields, at once greatly reduced this disparity. |
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The Luftwaffe staff drew special attention to this collateral benefit in several of its tactical memoranda. |
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For years I figured Paul had put us into that dive purposely to extinguish the flames and to hide in the clouds from the Luftwaffe. |
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Quick-moving armour, motorised infantry, the Luftwaffe flying both as artillery and as close support resulted in rapid dominance. |
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As daylight broke, fighter planes from the RAF gave cover against a possible attack by the Luftwaffe. |
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Luftwaffe history is replete with legends of indomitable German fighter pilots. |
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Stationed for a tour in West Germany, he became friends with many Luftwaffe aces. |
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Ack-ack guns were operated by women for the first time in the war, preventing many home strikes by doodlebugs and the Luftwaffe. |
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In advance of the line of attack the Luftwaffe heavily bombed all road and rail junctions, and concentrations of Polish troops. |
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Luftwaffe tactical support for ground operations during the rest of the campaign remained spotty and ineffectual. |
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It comes as something of a surprise to learn that many of the most dedicated Allied escapers respected their resourceful Luftwaffe antagonists. |
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The German Luftwaffe exercised their doctrine of joint operations in support of ground forces to great effect. |
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Her account of the siege, a condemnation of Luftwaffe bombing in Spain, is still a brilliant piece of reportage. |
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There is no doubt that these missions were exciting for there were few things more well defended than a Luftwaffe aerodrome. |
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Meanwhile the 82nd was attacking rail traffic and found two Luftwaffe airfields empty of aircraft. |
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Typical of the series, this entry provides four pages of summary information on Luftwaffe aces and their battles with Allied pilots. |
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A building on Vijzelstraat that was the headquarters of the Dutch Trading Association was taken over by the Luftwaffe. |
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That night saw a climax of air attacks by over three hundred Luftwaffe bombers dropping incendiaries and heavy explosives on London, igniting churches and public buildings. |
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The Luftwaffe had B-17s of its own, shot down and rebuilt for secret missions and training. |
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After the fall of France the Luftwaffe was in a very favourable geographical position for operations against England, but it did not have any overall tactical plan. |
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It is a fact that Luftwaffe airmen and ground personnel won their few defensive successes towards war's end with conventional or even obsolescent weapons. |
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For the moment my main concern was not Luftwaffe fighters, lights or flak. |
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Used without a German army on the ground, as it had been in mainland Europe, the Luftwaffe was incapable of securing victory. |
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At its peak in December 1944, the Luftwaffe fielded 5,000 combat aircraft, as compared to 8,300 British planes by that same point. |
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Both the RAF and Luftwaffe struggled to replace manpower losses, though the Germans had larger reserves of trained aircrew. |
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Hans Jeschonnek the Luftwaffe chief of staff refused to guarantee the success of Cerberus or to reinforce the fighter forces in the west. |
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British aircraft losses to the Luftwaffe were two Blenheims, four Whirlwinds, four Wellingtons, six Hurricanes, nine Hampdens and ten Spitfires. |
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During Operation Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe initially achieved air supremacy over the Soviet Union. |
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A Luftwaffe report presented to the OKW at a meeting on 11 July said that it would take 14 to 28 days to achieve air superiority. |
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It is argued that persisting with attacks on RAF airfields might have won air superiority for the Luftwaffe. |
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Regardless of the ability of the Luftwaffe to win air superiority, Adolf Hitler was frustrated that it was not happening quickly enough. |
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Some historians argue the change in strategy lost the Luftwaffe the opportunity of winning the air battle, or air superiority. |
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Others argue the Luftwaffe achieved little in the air battle and the RAF was not on the verge of collapse, as often claimed. |
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Others have said that it was unlikely the Luftwaffe would ever be able to destroy RAF Fighter Command. |
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During the battle, Fighter Command flew 2,500 sorties over Dieppe, and achieved a narrow victory over the Luftwaffe. |
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The Luftwaffe lost 48 aircraft, another 24 seriously damaged with 13 pilots killed and seven wounded. |
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In reality, the Luftwaffe in France was back to full strength within days of the raid. |
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The Luftwaffe refused to guarantee that the 250 fighters available could succeed in protecting the ships but Hitler accepted the plan. |
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A platoon of Luftwaffe airmen was flown that evening to Guernsey by Junkers transport planes. |
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Clydebank in particular was targeted by the Luftwaffe and sustained heavy damage. |
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Although it had equipment capable of doing serious damage, the Luftwaffe had unclear strategy and poor intelligence. |
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During the Dunkirk battle, the Luftwaffe did its best to prevent the evacuation. |
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Confidence in the device was diminished by the time the Luftwaffe was ready to conduct big raids. |
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In addition to its service in the West, the Luftwaffe operated over the Soviet Union, North Africa and Southern Europe. |
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The track record of the Luftwaffe against naval combat vessels up to that point in the war was poor. |
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In 1940, the RAF defeated the German Luftwaffe in a struggle for control of the skies in the Battle of Britain. |
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On 12 March 2008, an unexploded Second World War Luftwaffe bomb was discovered in Coventry's city centre. |
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During the blitz, the cathedral was badly damaged when Luftwaffe bombing destroyed Bishop's House next door. |
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The Luftwaffe lost 18 percent of the bombers sent on the operations that day, and failed to gain air superiority. |
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The city was bombed many times during the Second World War by the Luftwaffe. |
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During the war Brockworth and the surrounding area were bombed by the Luftwaffe in an attempt to halt the production of aircraft. |
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However, the German Luftwaffe failed to defeat the Royal Air Force in what became known as the Battle of Britain. |
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In the Norwegian Campaign, despite eight weeks of continuous air supremacy, the Luftwaffe sank only two British warships. |
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In January and February 1941, Luftwaffe serviceability rates declined, until just 551 of 1,214 bombers were combat worthy. |
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The Luftwaffe made 21 deliberate attacks on small torpedo boats during the Battle of Britain, sinking none. |
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The Luftwaffe flew 4,000 sorties that month, including 12 major and three heavy attacks. |
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The electronic war intensified but the Luftwaffe flew major inland missions only on moonlit nights. |
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By now, the imminent threat of invasion had all but passed as the Luftwaffe had failed to gain the prerequisite air superiority. |
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In November and December 1940, the Luftwaffe flew 9,000 sorties against British targets and RAF night fighters claimed only six shot down. |
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In the bad weather of February 1941, Fighter Command flew 568 sorties to counter the Luftwaffe which flew 1,644 sorties. |
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At least 3,363 Luftwaffe aircrew were killed, 2,641 missing and 2,117 wounded. |
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Despite lengthy delays in their own programme, the Luftwaffe beat the British efforts into the air by nine months. |
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The industrial concentration in Northern England also made it a major target for Luftwaffe attacks during the Second World War. |
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During the Second World War, the city, particularly the port, was bombed extensively by the Luftwaffe in the Portsmouth Blitz. |
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In December 1934, Chief of the Luftwaffe General Staff Walther Wever sought to mould the Luftwaffe's battle doctrine into a strategic plan. |
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The Luftwaffe was to be an organization capable of carrying out broad and general support tasks rather than any specific mission. |
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The failure of the Luftwaffe to progress further towards attaining a strategic bombing force was attributable to several reasons. |
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Furthermore, the increase of fighters on the assembly lines gave the British people hope that the war against the Luftwaffe would be won. |
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Germany imported most of its essential materials for rebuilding the Luftwaffe, in particular rubber and aluminium. |
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Felmy concluded it was not possible until bases in Belgium and the Netherlands were obtained and the Luftwaffe had heavy bombers. |
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The Luftwaffe also quickly realized the days of the biplane fighter were finished, the Heinkel He 51 being switched to service as a trainer. |
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However, even by the spring of 1940, the Luftwaffe still had not mobilized fully. |
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The peacetime strength of the Luftwaffe in the spring of 1939 was 370,000 men. |
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Over 20,000 German airmen gained combat experience that would give the Luftwaffe an important advantage going into the Second World War. |
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When World War II began, the Luftwaffe was one of the most technologically advanced air forces in the world. |
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The Luftwaffe rendered invaluable support to the army, mopping up pockets of resistance. |
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The touch-and-go showdown with the Luftwaffe is well chronicled in big-brush terms. |
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In the spring of 1940, the Luftwaffe assisted the Kriegsmarine and Heer in the daring invasion of Norway. |
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Flying in reinforcements and winning air superiority, the Luftwaffe contributed decisively to the German conquest. |
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In the spring of 1940, the Luftwaffe contributed to the unexpected success in the Battle of France. |
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The Luftwaffe ravaged British cities during The Blitz, but failed to break British morale. |
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The Luftwaffe destroyed thousands of Soviet aircraft, yet it failed to destroy the Red Air Force altogether. |
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After the Bodenplatte effort, the Luftwaffe ceased to be an effective fighting force. |
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The failure of the Luftwaffe in the Defence of the Reich campaign was a result of a number of factors. |
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The Luftwaffe was forced to improvise and construct its defences during the war. |
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This lack of understanding between the flak and flying branches of the defence would plague the Luftwaffe throughout the war. |
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By the end of 1940 the Luftwaffe had suffered heavy losses and needed to regroup. |
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However, by the time this was achieved the Luftwaffe lacked the fuel and trained pilots to make this achievement worth while. |
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As with the late shift to fighter production, the Luftwaffe pilot schools did not give the fighter pilot schools preference soon enough. |
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The Luftwaffe, OKW argued, was still an offensive weapon, and its primary focus was on producing bomber pilots. |
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Training of formation leaders was not systematic until 1943, which was far too late, with the Luftwaffe already stretched. |
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The Luftwaffe thus lacked a cadre of staff officers to set up, man, and pass on experience. |
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Following the Yugoslav capitulation, Luftwaffe engineers conducted a bomb damage assessment in Belgrade. |
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Throughout the war civilians or prisoners were used as human guinea pigs in testing Luftwaffe equipment. |
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On 1 March 1935 the Luftwaffe was formally announced, with Walther Wever as Chief of Staff. |
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In the Spanish Civil War, the Luftwaffe in the Condor Legion tried out air fighting tactics and their new aeroplanes. |
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The Luftwaffe reported that it would be ready to launch its major attack early in August. |
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Instead of the Wehrmacht attacking the French, the Luftwaffe with naval assistance was to block imports to Britain and attack seaports. |
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Operators mixed up the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe officers, provided stool pigeons and even set up an undercover interpreter. |
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The high command's indecision over which aim to pursue was reflected in shifts in Luftwaffe strategy. |
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The Luftwaffe now had to establish or restore bases in the conquered territories, and rebuild their strength. |
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Initial Luftwaffe estimates were that it would take four days to defeat the RAF Fighter Command in southern England. |
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Later reassessments gave the Luftwaffe five weeks, from 8 August to 15 September, to establish temporary air superiority over England. |
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The Luftwaffe kept broadly to this scheme, but its commanders had differences of opinion on strategy. |
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The Luftwaffe consistently varied its tactics in its attempts to break through the RAF defences. |
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The Luftwaffe also tried using small formations of bombers as bait, covering them with large numbers of escorts. |
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Although the Luftwaffe correctly interpreted these new ground control procedures, they were incorrectly assessed as being rigid and ineffectual. |
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The Luftwaffe believed it was weakening Fighter Command at three times the actual attrition rate. |
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Throughout the battle, the Luftwaffe had to use numerous reconnaissance sorties to make up for the poor intelligence. |
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In the euphoric atmosphere of perceived victory, the Luftwaffe leadership became increasingly disconnected from reality. |
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In this role, the Blenheims again proved to be too slow and vulnerable against Luftwaffe fighters, and they took constant casualties. |
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The Luftwaffe concentrated all their strength on knocking out Fighter Command and made repeated attacks on the airfields. |
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Throughout the battle, the RAF had more fighter pilots available than the Luftwaffe. |
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The RAF anticipated attacks on airfields and 11 Group rose to meet them, in greater numbers than the Luftwaffe expected. |
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The most damaging aspect to the Luftwaffe of targeting London was the increase in range. |
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The Luftwaffe wanted to achieve victory on its own, and was reluctant to cooperate with the navy. |
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The Second World War brought renewed prosperity, despite extensive bombing of cities by the Luftwaffe. |
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Due to the failure of the Luftwaffe to establish air supremacy, a conference assembled on 14 September at Hitler's headquarters. |
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A third of the initial strength of the German air force, the Luftwaffe, had been lost in the western campaign in the spring. |
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The thrust of Stigler's story is that the moral compass of German pilots and the Luftwaffe was superior to those of the US Army Air Forces. |
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It earned great fame during the Battle of Britain in 1940, when the Few held off the Luftwaffe attack on Britain. |
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Through the summer and autumn of 1940 in the Battle of Britain, Dowding's Fighter Command resisted the attacks of the Luftwaffe. |
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One officer and two aircrew were killed on 26 October 1940 when RAF Lossiemouth was attacked by the Luftwaffe for the first time. |
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In fact, the Luftwaffe pilot had landed at RAF Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, home to the RAF's Air Gunnery School. |
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During the Battle of Britain, however, British Hurricanes and Spitfires proved roughly equal to Luftwaffe fighters. |
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Initially the Luftwaffe concentrated on destroying the RAF on the ground and in the air. |
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With the Luftwaffe largely cleared from the skies, Allied fighters increasingly served as attack aircraft. |
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From the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1943, Birmingham was bombed heavily by the German Luftwaffe in what is known as the Birmingham Blitz. |
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During 1940 the Luftwaffe targeted Cardiff on 3, 10 and 12 July and 7 August. |
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The Battle of Britain began in early July with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping and harbours. |
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On Monday 19 August 1940 a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 bomber flew up the haven waterway and bombed a series of oil tanks sited at Pennar. |
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The earliest part of the house was damaged by the Luftwaffe when a plane returning from a raid on Cardiff jettisoned its remaining bombs. |
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During World War II the Luftwaffe bombed the post office at Gutcher in an attempt to disrupt the communications system. |
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By this time, until May 1941, the Luftwaffe effort was aimed against both civilian and industrial targets. |
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Action in the air began on 16 October 1939 when the Luftwaffe launched air raids on British warships. |
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The operations of the Luftwaffe against the Royal Air Force became known as the Battle of Britain. |
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Thereafter, the Luftwaffe gradually decreased daylight operations in favour of nocturnal attacks, to avoid RAF defences. |
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During the beginning raids of Operation Barbarossa the Luftwaffe wiped out the majority of the Soviet air forces. |
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While Allied air forces in 1940 were tied to the support of the army, the Luftwaffe deployed its resources in a more general, operational way. |
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The remainder of the ML was dispersed and accounted for only a handful of Luftwaffe aircraft shot down. |
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An operation organised separately by the Luftwaffe, the Battle for The Hague, failed. |
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The Dutch Army, still largely intact, surrendered in the evening of 14 May after the Bombing of Rotterdam by the Luftwaffe. |
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As a result, the Luftwaffe was assured air superiority over the Low Countries. |
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The Belgians launched considerable counterattacks which were broken up by the Luftwaffe. |
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The Luftwaffe executed the heaviest air bombardment the world had yet witnessed and the most intense by the Germans during the war. |
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In some cases, the Luftwaffe responded to requests within 10 to 20 minutes. |
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The RAF also provided air cover, denying the Luftwaffe an opportunity to attack the shipping. |
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The Luftwaffe failed in its task of preventing the evacuation, but inflicted serious losses on the Allied forces. |
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The German Army relied on the Luftwaffe to provide decisive assistance in silencing French guns, enabling the German infantry to inch forward. |
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The Luftwaffe subjected lines of resistance to ferocious assault, which then quickly collapsed under armoured attack. |
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Wever argued that the Luftwaffe General Staff should not be solely educated in tactical and operational matters. |
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The Allied air forces were active and made bombing and strafing attacks on the German forces, with little opposition from the Luftwaffe. |
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For years, it was assumed that Adolf Hitler ordered the German Army to stop the attack, favouring bombardment by the Luftwaffe. |
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The same day, the Luftwaffe heavily bombed Dunkirk, both the town and the dock installations. |
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The Luftwaffe was met by 16 squadrons of the Royal Air Force, who claimed 38 kills on 27 May while losing 14 aircraft. |
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On 25 and 26 May, the Luftwaffe focused their attention on Allied pockets holding out at Calais, Lille, and Amiens, and did not attack Dunkirk. |
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Ships on Route Y were the most likely to be attacked by German surface vessels, submarines, and the Luftwaffe. |
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The British also lost 243 ships to Luftwaffe bombing in Dynamo, including 8 destroyers and 8 troopships. |
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From July until September 1940 the Luftwaffe attacked RAF Fighter Command to gain air superiority as a prelude to invasion. |
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Hundreds of Luftwaffe pilots and technical personnel visited, studied and were trained at Soviet air force schools in several locations in Central Russia. |
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In the end, the Germans failed to attain air superiority, although the RAF had been eating into its reserves during the battle, as had the Luftwaffe. |
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The Luftwaffe and RAF clashed in the skies over the French city. |
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Although the RAF succeeded in preventing the Luftwaffe from interfering with the shipping, which was its primary aim, its perceived success was misleading. |
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The man who masterminded the RAF's defences against the German Luftwaffe, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, was born and raised in Moffat, Dumfriesshire. |
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The Battle of Britain started on July 10 with the Luftwaffe trying to gain control of the Straits of Dover to leave the way clear for a seaborn landing. |
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Although most Luftwaffe units saw time on both the Western and Eastern Fronts, JG 2 remained primarily in the West throughout the war to face the Allies. |
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From 7 September 1940, just over a year into the war, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 out of the following 57 days and nights. |
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In the Luftwaffe, there was a cautious view of strategic bombing. |
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In 1936, Wever was killed in an air crash and the failure to implement his vision for the new Luftwaffe was largely attributable to his successors. |
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He told OKL in 1939, that ruthless employment of the Luftwaffe against the heart of the British will to resist would follow when the moment was right. |
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Although not specifically prepared to conduct independent strategic air operations against an opponent, the Luftwaffe was expected to do so over Britain. |
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Although there were a few large air battles fought in daylight later in the month and into October, the Luftwaffe switched its main effort to night attacks. |
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On 15 September the Luftwaffe made two large daylight attacks on London along the Thames Estuary, targeting the docks and rail communications in the city. |
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Not all of the Luftwaffe effort was made against inland cities. |
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The effectiveness of British countermeasures against Knickebein, which was designed to avoid area attacks, forced the Luftwaffe to resort to these methods. |
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They believed the Luftwaffe had failed in precision attack and concluded the German example of area attack using incendiaries was the way forward for operations over Germany. |
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By 1939 the Luftwaffe was not much better prepared than its enemies to conduct a strategic bombing campaign, with fatal results during the Battle of Britain. |
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Command and control problems were experienced, but owing to the flexibility and improvisation of both the army and Luftwaffe, these problems were solved. |
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As the war dragged on, the Luftwaffe was eroded in strength. |
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The Luftwaffe lacked an effective air defence system early in the war. |
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In July 1940, the air and sea blockade began with the Luftwaffe mainly targeting coastal shipping convoys, ports and shipping centres, such as Portsmouth. |
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A revised edition was issued in 1940, and the continuing central principle of Luftwaffe doctrine was that destruction of enemy armed forces was of primary importance. |
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Following severe Luftwaffe losses, Hitler agreed at a 14 September OKW conference that the air campaign was to intensify regardless of invasion plans. |
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A May 1939 planning exercise by Luftflotte 3 found the Luftwaffe lacked the means to do much damage to Britain's war economy, beyond laying naval mines. |
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On 11 July, Hitler agreed with Raeder that invasion would be a last resort, and the Luftwaffe advised that gaining air superiority would take 14 to 28 days. |
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He expected air warfare to decisively force Britain to negotiate, as all in the OKW hoped, and the Luftwaffe took little interest to planning to support an invasion. |
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Once the RAF had been defeated, Luftwaffe bombers were to move forward beyond London without the need for fighter escort, destroying military and economic targets. |
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In contrast, Luftwaffe fighters attempting to intercept raids had to randomly seek their targets and often returned home having never seen enemy aircraft. |
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Following Germany's rapid territorial gains in the Battle of France, the Luftwaffe had to reorganise its forces, set up bases along the coast, and rebuild after heavy losses. |
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Following this grinding battle, exhaustion and the weather reduced operations for most of a week, allowing the Luftwaffe to review their performance. |
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German intelligence reports made the Luftwaffe optimistic that the RAF, thought to be dependent on local air control, was struggling with supply problems and pilot losses. |
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At the 14 September OKW conference, Hitler acknowledged that the Luftwaffe had still not gained the air superiority needed for the Operation Sealion invasion. |
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Throughout the battle, most Luftwaffe bombing raids had been at night. |
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The training organisation of the Luftwaffe was failing to replace losses. |
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Postwar analysis of records has shown that between July and September, the RAF claimed 2,698 kills, while the Luftwaffe fighters claimed 3,198 RAF aircraft downed. |
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The Allied air offensive over Germany had crippled the Luftwaffe and established air supremacy over western Europe, so Rommel knew he could not expect effective air support. |
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They all wanted to fly the best, the fastest, the most maneuverable airplanes available and test their skill against Hermann Goering's vaunted Luftwaffe. |
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This was just the opportunity the German Luftwaffe, Italian Regia Aeronautica, and the Soviet Union's Red Air Force needed to test their latest aircraft. |
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Much of this combat was centered around the strategic bombing campaigns of the RAF and the USAAF against German industry intended to wear down the Luftwaffe. |
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An initial marker flare was dropped by a Luftwaffe plane and the following bombers dropped high explosives to the east of the city centre in the Danygraig residential area. |
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During the Second World War Pembroke Dock was targeted by the Luftwaffe. |
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The heart of Rotterdam was almost completely destroyed by the Luftwaffe. |
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From April to June 1940, the Luftwaffe laid 1,000 mines in British waters. |
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After that most of the strength of the Luftwaffe was diverted to the war against the Soviet Union leaving German cities vulnerable to British and later American air bombings. |
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It was not a Panzer spearhead arm, since in 1939 fewer than 15 percent of Luftwaffe aircraft were designed for close support as this was not its main role. |
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The Luftwaffe deployed the Fliegerkorps V to give air support. |
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The French Navy continued its gunfire support but the destroyers Fougueux and Chacal were damaged by the Luftwaffe and Chacal was later sunk by German artillery. |
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The German attacks were supported by the Luftwaffe and the Allied navies delivered supplies, evacuated wounded and bombarded German targets around the port. |
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The Luftwaffe attacked the evacuation ships and on 17 June, evaded RAF fighter patrols and sank the Cunard liner and troopship HMT Lancastria in the Loire estuary. |
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Seven German submarines patrolling off the west coast of France made no attempt to interfere and only the Luftwaffe was used against the evacuations. |
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The short route up the English Channel was preferred to a detour around the British Isles, to benefit from surprise and from air cover by the Luftwaffe. |
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The Luftwaffe announced on 29 July that they could begin a major air attack at the start of August, and their intelligence reports gave them confidence of a decisive result. |
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At the Berghof conference on 31 July, the Luftwaffe were not represented. |
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While Fighter Command claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on the Luftwaffe the ultimate balance sheet showed Allied aircraft losses as being serious. |
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Exeter was bombed by the German Luftwaffe in the Second World War, when a total of 18 raids between 1940 and 1942 flattened much of the city centre. |
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Despite efforts at camouflage, including painting the runways, Exeter attracted the Luftwaffe and administrative and technical buildings were destroyed. |
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By September 1940 the Luftwaffe had failed to gain air superiority. |
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He was promoted to general of flak artillery on March 1, 1945, and ended the war as the general of the flak arm at OKL, the High Command of the Luftwaffe. |
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The enormous structure could never have been concealed from the Luftwaffe. |
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During World War II, German pilots claimed roughly 70,000 aerial victories, while over 75,000 Luftwaffe aircraft were destroyed or significantly damaged. |
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