For those that don't know what operation Bodenplatte was where the Luftwaffe sent between 750 and 800 fighter planes in a coordinated attack on 16 Allied air bases on January 1, 1945. The Germans came in at tree level maintaining radio silence. Most of you knew that. But there are a couple of things I bet you didn’t know. 1)Bodenplatte was supposed to happen at the opening of the Ardennes offensive to coordinate with the armor. But, just like the Allies the Germans were grounded because of weather. It was not a “great plan” to coordinate the attack with bad weather. That was just the way it worked out. 2)In late December there were some friendly fire incidents both from the air and from the sky. Seems the ground forces were claiming that the Germans were flying P-47s and strafing them on the ground. The P-47 pilots were being shot at from the ground and even lost about 3 planes in that period to US AAA. One pilot was killed. 3)Third army AAA batteries put holes in a plane that was carrying Generals Spaatz and Doolittle. 4)Three P-47s chased a staff car with General Gaffey into a ditch (commander of 4th Armored Division) 5)Because of the friendly fire incidents, the US grounded all tactical operations in the Metz area for two days until they could sort out the communication and identification problems. This was done on December 31, 1944. This is why there were no patrols in the area. 6)The new MEW radar system had been moved to an optimal spot for the area a couple of days before but it took about 4 days for it to go operational so the long range detection was not employed and the other radar systems only detected them three minutes before striking fields in the Metz area. 7)Tactical air bases have either area patrols or a 5 minute alert group ready. Because of the long range radar being inoperable, none of them got off the ground. 8)The Third Army AA gunners were admonished to be “less” trigger-happy. According to the XIX TAC book (David Spiers), Adolph Galland reported 220 planes lost with the Allies reporting 134 destroyed on the ground and 64 needing major repair. Of course the Allies didn’t lose pilots since they were not in the air. This was a disaster to the Germans because of the lost pilots. The US had the planes replaced and back up to the previous strength within 2 weeks. On the airfield at the Metz, they got 20 planes. Of the 15 ME-109s attacking, the field AAA shot down 12 of them (that’s some pretty good shooting). At first they thought they were British P-51s, until they started to fire on the field. The fortunes of war are incredible. In all the “what ifs” we discuss here, there is one thing we never take into account that we absolutely have to. That is the X factor of not knowing what fortunes await. The beauty of hindsight is not just knowing the best tactics and strategy for a given event, but also that the X factor is always removed.
My late father's unit, the 92nd (Loyals) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA, had a very dramatic morning on January 1, 1945, as Operation Bodenplatte was launched by the Germans. This is the account of that day as I researched it for my history of the regiment: On New Year’s Day, Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Henderson RA, of the 97th Anti-Tank Regiment, took command of 92nd LAA when Lieutenant-Colonel Bazeley transferred to 7th Field Regiment. That same morning, the Germans launched a massive air offensive with almost 1,000 planes against 16 Allied airfields in forward areas of Belgium and Holland. Operation Bodenplatte (Baseplate) was the last major attack in the West by the Luftwaffe – and brought the 92nd’s most dramatic and successful engagement of the war. At 9.15am, the regiment’s air sentries saw a long line of 50 to 60 enemy aircraft approaching from the east. The first wave consisted of between 15 and 18 FW 190s, flying in line astern at treetop level. The planes, each carrying one bomb slung below the fuselage, passed over the 92nd’s guns towards Helmond and became involved in dogfights with British Spitfires, Typhoons and Tempests. As they broke off from the battle, they swept back in strafing runs across the 92nd’s area. Ten minutes later, three more FW 190s roared across at 500ft from west to east, followed shortly afterwards by a single unidentified aircraft flying at between 200ft and 300ft and an ME 109 at 100ft over Leunen church. The planes had light green camouflaged livery and their German insignia were small – some of the ME 109s were reported to have RAF roundels and markings and some had an unusual red surround to the black German cross. As more and more raiders – including at least one jet-propelled ME 262 – filled the skies, it became clear that for the anti-aircraft crews, this was a moment of extreme danger, but also a golden opportunity. All their years of training had been devoted to identifying targets in a couple of seconds, aiming and shooting almost instantaneously. And here, on this first day of 1945, there were targets galore. For the next 45 minutes, with the 92nd LAA Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant Jack Prior, co-ordinating the radio links with the gunsites from the school playground in Leunen, the Bofors fired almost continuously with devastating effect. One gun of D Troop 318, commanded by Sergeant William ‘Taffy’ James, destroyed three aircraft and shared in the destruction of a fourth. 319 – which was at rest at the time, with many guns stripped down for maintenance – rapidly brought its Bofors into action and shot down two more. 317 destroyed at least one FW 190. ‘The enemy attacks were very low-level indeed,’ Major Peter Crane wrote in a report soon after. ‘The pilots were determined, and displayed great skill in low flying. On several occasions the guns had to break off firing owing to the target disappearing behind buildings, trees, or flying below prescribed safety limits.’ In all, the regiment fired 1,765 rounds and destroyed seven planes outright. Two more were shot down in conjunction with a neighbouring regiment, and five more were awarded as probably destroyed. Four of the German planes were downed in an area only 1,000 yards square – testimony to the intensity of the battle. As the action ended at 10.15am, the gunlayers slumped from their Bofors, exhausted and dizzy from the frenzied pace of the firing. ‘Today was a really happy one for us,’ the 318 war diary recorded. ‘The Luftwaffe came seeking action and we took it up.’ Jack Prior said: ‘We were beginning to believe our anti-aircraft role was over, but we were proved dramatically wrong.’ Knowing that his men – without time to aim properly – had mainly been firing over open sights, the CO summed it up even more succinctly. ‘Sheer good shooting, entirely visual,’ he said. By the end of the day, the Germans had lost more than 200 aircraft over Holland and Belgium and the Luftwaffe’s last gamble had come to nothing. Later, the 3rd Division intelligence summary acknowledged the 92nd’s superb performance during the New Year’s Day attack. Twenty-nine planes had been destroyed by the corps, but the 14 shot down by the 92nd were ‘by far the largest to the credit of a single LAA regiment on that memorable morning’.
Just like to fly the flag for the RAF Regiment. My Dad was in 2777 Squadron but his half of the Squadron was elsewhere on 1/1/45. There was an attack on Grimbergen. The airfield was not actually operational and the flight line consisted of 4 American B17s, 1 American Mustang and 1 twin-engine aircraft, probably a Dakota. All were damaged or destroyed. Half of 2777 Armoured Car Squadron and a Flight from 2719 Squadron (A Rifle Suadron), were in attendance. Three kills and two damaged, all FW 109s, were confirmed as shared between the two squadrons. This was purely with personal weapons, nothing bigger than Bren guns. Jim
I am living nearby ASCH , (AS, Belgium). South of AS was a US airfield, called Y-29. This airfield was also heavy attacked by the Germans during operation “Bodenplatte”, but with terrible losses for the Germans. See http://352ndfg.com/Y-29/legend.htm. I have visited the memorial in the woods, but I am still looking for a map of the airstrip, with the positions of the houses, hangars, anti-aircraft position. 352nd FG Memorials. Thanks.
The attached picture came from the RAF Regiment Museum at Honington. I hope you all find it of interest...
There's a Y-29 - ASCH - link here... Forgotten airfields europe Ps. There's a (totally unrelated) incidental ref to Asch in the SRY war diary... 10th November 1944 - The (SRY) Regiment arrived at ASCH at 0330 hours where Major Leigh and recce party met them. Went on to SCHINNEN where we found billets. The Col: went round squadrons and attended 214 Bde. Brigadier visited RHQ and plan was changed. Col: + I.O. went to 84 Div (U.S.) who are the new Div we are supporting under 30 British Corps. Edit: And there are a few photos of Y-29 Asch Belgium on Facebook- that can be found by searching Facebook with - for example - Y-29 Asch Belgium i.e. Y-29 Asch
Y 29 airfield would be laid down as a temporary strip,one of many laid down from the Normandy invasion by the RAF and USAAF tactical air forces as they advanced on Germany The USAAF was in residence here from 20 November 1944 until 20 June 1945 with a number of flying units,all fighter except a single bomber unit which operated from the airfield from April. The Y index indicated a USAAF airfield.
Just discovered this article by Sheldrake on his website. It includes a map of the planned Luftwaffe attack routes, although there is a focus on a few airfields, I did learn this to my surprise, with my emphasis: Link: 1 January: A Good Day for “Crack Flak” – Gunner Tours I have never seen a photo of an ATS member armed. Caveat: not looked very much at ATS photos.
