|
Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces Please use this forum to discuss the German Luftwaffe and the Air Forces of its Allies. |
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Announcement of Luftwaffe Losses by OKW?
My limited understanding is that the OKW issued a daily communique about developments in the war on air, land and sea (but I certainly stand to be corrected).
My questions are:
Boomerang |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Announcement of Luftwaffe Losses by OKW?
From what I have seen from newspapers of the 40-45 era, while US and UK usually gave figures for their losses, roughly in accord with the real ones (ie when they give a figure it is the good one or close to), German communiques translated in French newspapers only counted enemy losses, and only said that 'German losses were nil/light' or 'the fight was severe'.
|
#3
|
||||
|
||||
Re: Announcement of Luftwaffe Losses by OKW?
Try to get hold of Günter Wegmann's "Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht Gibt Bekannt…" (Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1982) which is a collection of all the daily OKW communiqués throughout the war.
The Imperial War Museum library was where I saw it. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Announcement of Luftwaffe Losses by OKW?
When one compares with the loss returns to the Generalquartiermeister der Luftwaffe, it is obvious that both the OKW communiqués (in the source which Nick mentioned above) and the OKW/OKH diary ("Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht") gave daily Luftwaffe loss figures which were lower or much lower than the actual losses. This does not necessarily mean that the figures were deliberately false (particularly not in the case with the figures in the OKW/OKH diaries), but perhaps only preliminary and incomplete.
|
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Announcement of Luftwaffe Losses by OKW?
German losses were rarely publicized because of the obvious fallout created by official casualty figures. the only way the German public realized their armed forces were suffering high losses(especially after the opening of Barbarossa) were the black bordered death notices in the daily papers. From this point on the German public began to grow alarmed at the heavier losses and there were 'official' measures taken to censor these death notices.
Hope this helps. I'm sure other members will have more detailed info. Regards Bulldog. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Announcement of Luftwaffe Losses by OKW?
Gentlemen:
Thank you for those very informative replies. It looks as if there are some very good primary sources to throw further light on this issue. One can speculate that, in the absence of quantitative official information on Luftwaffe losses, the German population learnt to read between the lines. Cheers Boomerang |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Luftwaffe losses in the East | NBE1942 | Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces | 0 | 4th August 2006 13:57 |
Total Luftwaffe losses in the East | Jack Sanders | Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces | 8 | 19th July 2006 11:53 |
Luftwaffe losses to ground fire during Bodenplatte | Jon | Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces | 12 | 15th February 2006 23:49 |
Soviet air force losses 1941-1945 | Six Nifty .50s | Allied and Soviet Air Forces | 12 | 15th May 2005 17:57 |
Luftwaffe fighter losses in Tunisia | Christer Bergström | Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces | 47 | 14th March 2005 04:03 |