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A review by komet2020
OPERATION STEINBOCK 1944: The Luftwaffe's disastrous last Blitz over England by Chris Goss
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I have had a curiosity about this late war night bombing campaign the Luftwaffe staged over England for a few years. This curiosity was stoked by the experience my late father told me about of being caught as a young GI in a night bombing raid in Liverpool in 1944. He sought to enter an air raid shelter but was denied entry. So, my Dad took to walking the streets of the city, hoping that no bombs would fall in his path. He looked up at the sky, lit by searchlights, occasionally glimpsing a German bomber. While doing so, he chanced upon a buddy from his unit. Thankfully, both got through that experience together without a scratch - though my Dad admitted to me shortly before his death in March 2019 (by then, he was 93 years old) that he hadn't thought he would survive the bombing.
OPERATION STEINBOCK 1944: The Luftwaffe's disastrous last Blitz over England provides a concise, thorough history of this bombing campaign concocted by Hermann Goering and the Luftwaffe high command to show the British that Germany was still capable of causing serious damage to London and several other vital, strategic areas in Southern England.
But the Luftwaffe bomber force in the West at this stage of the war (late 1943) was a shadow of its former self, which between September 1940 and May 1941, besieged London and England itself nightly on a regular basis for weeks non-stop. The bomber units were understrength and not all the crews were adequately trained for this type of undertaking Yet, between December 1943 and May 1944, the Luftwaffe carried out a variety of bombing raids with mixed results. The following quote, I think, best sums up what Steinbock amounted to: "It showed just how low the German bomber force's operational proficiency had sunk despite employing the full gamut of their electronic aids. It also shows how the technological superiority of the western Allies decided the outcome of Steinbock. Bravery, heroism, flying expertise, stubbornness, despair or suicide did not really help but at least it saved the lives of many British citizens."
Like other books in the Air Campaign series, Operation Steinbock 1944 offers the reader maps and 3D diagrams showing how some of the raiders were played out over England, lots of photos, and eyewitness accounts from both the German and Allied airmen involved in this campaign. Any aviation aficionado or anyone with an interest in World War II will love this book.
OPERATION STEINBOCK 1944: The Luftwaffe's disastrous last Blitz over England provides a concise, thorough history of this bombing campaign concocted by Hermann Goering and the Luftwaffe high command to show the British that Germany was still capable of causing serious damage to London and several other vital, strategic areas in Southern England.
But the Luftwaffe bomber force in the West at this stage of the war (late 1943) was a shadow of its former self, which between September 1940 and May 1941, besieged London and England itself nightly on a regular basis for weeks non-stop. The bomber units were understrength and not all the crews were adequately trained for this type of undertaking Yet, between December 1943 and May 1944, the Luftwaffe carried out a variety of bombing raids with mixed results. The following quote, I think, best sums up what Steinbock amounted to: "It showed just how low the German bomber force's operational proficiency had sunk despite employing the full gamut of their electronic aids. It also shows how the technological superiority of the western Allies decided the outcome of Steinbock. Bravery, heroism, flying expertise, stubbornness, despair or suicide did not really help but at least it saved the lives of many British citizens."
Like other books in the Air Campaign series, Operation Steinbock 1944 offers the reader maps and 3D diagrams showing how some of the raiders were played out over England, lots of photos, and eyewitness accounts from both the German and Allied airmen involved in this campaign. Any aviation aficionado or anyone with an interest in World War II will love this book.