Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurfürst
Two things need to be considered.
Firstly, those 300+ plus bombers appearantly include aircraft lost in the accidents/non-enemy related causes ... and yet the bomber force alltogether stood at some 2200 aircraft by the end of January.
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The losses to all causes are important because accidents in France and in the training units were all part of the cost to Germany of conducting the Steinbock campaign. The numbers of aircraft that were sent over on the first raids could nor be sustained as the campaign progressed. The first raid involved about 400 aircraft, within a month 200 or less was more typical and in the last few raids less than 100.
Units brought back from Italy for Steinbock but had to be returned after the Anzio landing. Typical raids in Italy in early 1944 involved about 100–110 aircraft.
If the whole bomber force was 2200, a much smaller number could actually bomb targets on a given night.