On 1 January 1945 the Luftwaffe launched Operation Bodenplatte, a surprise attack by some 700 to 800 German aircraft on Allied airfields in the Netherlands and Belgium. It destroyed or damaged many Allied planes on the ground, but Germany lost about 200 aircraft or more and pilots it could no longer replace.
Operation Bodenplatte
1 January 1945 · 81 years ago
A blow timed for the Ardennes
Germany opened its offensive in the Ardennes on 16 December 1944. The air attack of New Year's Day was meant to support that offensive. Its aim was to catch the Allied tactical air forces on their own airfields and destroy as many of their aircraft as possible on the ground. The story of the ground battle is told in our article on the Battle of the Bulge.1
The attack
The German fighters struck on 1 January 1945 and achieved surprise. The main targets were Allied air bases in the Netherlands and Belgium; at least one airfield in France, at Metz, was also hit.2
Estimates of the size of the force vary. The official history of the U.S. Army Air Forces speaks of about 700 German aircraft. The Royal Air Force Museum puts the force at 800 aircraft, and Eisenhower's report to the Combined Chiefs of Staff counts some 800 sorties. Thomas Jones and Robert Dorr give 850 fighters.3
Counting the losses
Allied losses are hard to pin down, and the sources disagree widely. The Army Air Forces history gives 156 Allied airplanes lost, 36 of them American. The Royal Air Force Museum gives 465 Allied aircraft destroyed or damaged. Eisenhower wrote only that the losses of planes on the ground were considerable.4
German losses were heavy. Eisenhower put them at 200 aircraft on that one day, and the Royal Air Force Museum at more than 220. Jones and Dorr write that about 40 percent of the attacking fighters were destroyed or damaged and that 234 German pilots were killed, captured or wounded. The Army Air Forces history counts 1 January 1945 among the worst single days for losses in men and aircraft that the Luftwaffe ever suffered.5
Why it mattered
Both the Army Air Forces history and Jones and Dorr judge the attack a failure for Germany because of what it cost. The official history adds that aircraft could be replaced on both sides, but that the Luftwaffe had spent some of its last capable pilots and key squadron leaders, while the military effect on the Allies was, apart from some embarrassment, negligible.6
Drake takes Santo Domingo, 1586: a New Year's raid on Spain's Caribbean capital
1 January 1586 · 440 years ago
English soldiers and sailors led by Francis Drake stormed and captured Santo Domingo, the Spanish-held city on Hispaniola, in one of the first actions of the Anglo-Spanish War. The raiders held the city for about a month and then sailed away with rich plunder.
Read the full story of Drake takes Santo Domingo, 1586: a New Year's raid on Spain's Caribbean capital ›
