The Battle of the Airfields

At first light on the morning of 1st January 1945, over 800 Luftwaffe fighters took off from their bases in Germany to attack Allied airfields in Holland, Belgium and France. Some of these surprise attacks proved successful, some were hardly noticed, while others were disastrous for the attackers. Basing his account on information from both Wing and Squadron diaries, with many first-hand accounts from the men who were there, Norman Franks paints a picture of that winter morning and the rest of the day. In these attacks, and in the air battles which were fought at low level across the open countrysides and over towns in the low countries, the Luftwaffe lost up to 300 of their fighter aircraft and over 200 pilots were killed or taken prisoner. The damage inflicted on the Allied air forces was some 200 aircraft but with little loss of life and the Allies were able to replenish their forces within days - whereas the Luftewaffe had greater difficulty in finding new pilots. Operation Bodenplatte was planned as a lightening blow to smash the British and American forces in north-west Europe. In fact it turned out to be the Luftwaffe's final act of self-destruction.