Luftwaffe failures against RAF medium bombers

[keith A]

In reading a lot of accounts of the war in the air over France in 1941-43 a lot of emphasis is made of the Jagdgeschwadern accounting for numerous Spitfires but in most raids it appears the German pilots failed to penetrate the fighter screen. In fact the only occasions that they make substantial claims against Blenheims, Bostons and Venturas is when the fighter screen is absent. Is this a tactical failure of the Luftwaffe and if so were fighter pilots ever called to account? Or did the LW feel the industrial targets hit by the bombers in Belgium, Holland and France were expendable?

Keith

[Chris Goss]

Many of the earlier attacks had massive fighter screens for 3-6 aircraft. I would have thought the chances of getting to them were slim so they were left to Flak. Then look at the 12 and 28 Aug 41 attacks-12 Blenheims lost first attack, 8 in the second to Flak and fighters

[Alfred.MONZAT]

Considering the small loads of bombs they carried and the type of targets I think I understand why the Luftwaffe used its aircraft and pilots with caution.

[Graham Boak]

The Luftwaffe may well have felt that the targets were expendable, but if we compare this comment to the similar results in the desert we see that the Luftwaffe pilots just weren't as interested in getting through to the bombers as in boosting their personal scores by attacking the fighters. In that case the targets were in not some other country but the Afrika Korps, which were not slow to complain about the success of the British bombers.