Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Beale
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.
|
Undoubtedly, but since the practice has been, at least when it comes to Bomber Command operations to count only enemy related losses (see Nürnberg raid, where only the 96 lost over the target is counted, and not those being written off back in base, lost over the sea or to accidents), I`d go with a similiar practice when it comes to Steinbock.
Quote:
|
If the whole bomber force was 2200, a much smaller number could actually bomb targets on a given night.
|
The ca 2200 would of course include the entire
Kampfflieger fleets, ie. all aircraft present with all KG units in all theatres. It is just to put the Steinbock losses into a broader perspective. Steinbock has been occasionally as some sort of a decimation of the LW bomber force, yet looking at the loss statatistics, and the rate of montly losses in the previous years, such statements cannot be justified.
As you`ve pointed out, the raids were of typically rather small scale.