Operation Bodenplatte

Significance

Operation Bodenplatte was the Luftwaffe's attempt to regain air superiority over the Low Countries during the Battle of the Bulge, timed to allow German ground forces to resume their stalled offensive. Planned for 16 December 1944, the operation was repeatedly delayed by bad weather until New Year's Day 1945. Despite resulting in the destruction of almost 500 Allied aircraft, the operation failed to achieve its strategic objective of neutralizing Allied air power. German losses of 234–280 aircraft, drawn from a shrinking pool of experienced pilots and serviceable planes, represented a cost the Luftwaffe could not sustain. The Allies absorbed their losses and maintained effective air superiority, leaving German ground forces without the air cover the operation was designed to provide. Bodenplatte marked one of the last large-scale offensive actions of the Luftwaffe in the war.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (7)