Название: Stackpole Military History Series - Bodenplatte: The Luftwaffe's Last Hope
Автор: John Manrho, Ron Putz
Издательство: Stackpole Books
Год: 2010
Формат: PDF
Страниц: 596
Размер: 105,0 МБ
Язык: Английский

In the early morning of January 1, 1945, as the Battle of the Bulge smoldered to an end, the German Luftwaffe--assumed to be starved of fuel and fighting spirit--launched a massive, surprise, low-level strike on Allied airfields throughout France, Belgium, and Holland, an operation code-named Bodenplatte. More than 900 German aircraft took to the skies and attacked the vulnerable fields, destroying 200 Allied aircraft and damaging 150 more. In a pyrrhic victory, the Luftwaffe lost 271 fighters, with many more damaged, and 213 pilots--irreplaceable losses at this stage of the war.