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CANADIAN FORCES COLLEGE / COLLÈGE DES FORCES CANADIENNES CSC 30 / CCEM 30 MASTER OF DEFENCE STUDIES The Luftwaffe’s Support of Naval Operations during World War II 1939 – 1941 By /par Oberstleutnant Marc S. Koestner This paper was written by a student attending La présente étude a été rédigée par un stagiaire the Canadian Forces College in fulfilment of one du Collège des Forces canadiennes pour of the requirements of the Course of Studies. satisfaire à l'une des exigences du cours. The paper is a scholastic document, and thus L'étude est un document qui se rapporte au contains facts and opinions which the author cours et contient donc des faits et des opinions alone considered appropriate and correct for que seul l'auteur considère appropriés et the subject. It does not necessarily reflect the convenables au sujet. Elle ne reflète pas policy or the opinion of any agency, including nécessairement la politique ou l'opinion d'un the Government of Canada and the Canadian organisme quelconque, y compris le Department of National Defence. This paper gouvernement du Canada et le ministère de la may not be released, quoted or copied except Défense nationale du Canada. Il est défendu de with the express permission of the Canadian diffuser, de citer ou de reproduire cette étude Department of National Defence. sans la permission expresse du ministère de la Défense nationale. Abstract During World War II, the Luftwaffe was the service which assisted the German navy in achieving its operational goals in the conduct of the war at sea. It is often overlooked, that at the outbreak of the war, the German navy possessed its own naval air force. In the course of this essay, the origins of the Luftwaffe and the naval air force will be analyzed as well as the suitability of the existing organizational structure. A look at the lessons learned from World War one, and at the air doctrine at that time, will show learned experience had not been lost during the interwar period. The arrangement between the Luftwaffe and navy, and the consequences for the naval air force, will be analyzed. In addition equipment and units and their subsequent employment will be examined. It will be concluded that the organizational structure of the Luftwaffe and the navy was suitable for joint and support operations but that there were deficiencies in the equipment and the command and control of forces that limited its effectiveness in supporting naval operations. Table of contents Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 The Origin of the Luftwaffe and the Naval Air Force........................................................ 4 Building up the Luftwaffe............................................................................................... 5 State of the Naval Air Force ........................................................................................... 8 The development of German air doctrine ......................................................................... 12 Luftwaffe Regulation 16............................................................................................... 13 Education and Training................................................................................................. 17 Arrangement between the Luftwaffe and the navy........................................................... 19 General der Luft............................................................................................................ 23 Operations of the naval air arm......................................................................................... 28 Equipment and tasks ..................................................................................................... 28 Limitations .................................................................................................................... 30 The anti shipping force ..................................................................................................... 32 Fliegerkorps X .............................................................................................................. 33 The aerial Torpedo........................................................................................................ 38 Mine Operations................................................................................................................ 41 Ninth Division............................................................................................................... 41 Limitations .................................................................................................................... 43 Achievements.................................................................................................................... 48 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 53 Introduction While much has been written about German operations during the World War II, cooperation between the different services and in particular the Luftwaffe liaison position at the “Oberkommando der Marine” (O.K.M.), the Naval High Command, has received little attention. The idea of joint operations emerged during the interwar period in the Wehrmacht, and several operations conducted during the war possessed joint aspects. The amphibious invasion of Norway in 1940, where the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine cooperated significantly with the Heer to achieve the objective; the airborne invasion of Crete in 1941, where the air force played a significant part; and the Ardennes Offensive in 1944, the last attempt of the Führer, Adolf Hitler, to assume a somewhat favorable bargaining position with the western powers. The Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine were rivals over control of the naval air arm and other air forces operating over the maritime environment up to early 1942, when the Commander in Chief (CINC) “Oberkommando der Luftwaffe” (OKW), the Air Force Command, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, gained ascendancy. Existing literature does not specifically address the Luftwaffe support of naval operations. The published microfiche series “Essays by German Officers and Officials on World War II”1 contains several essays that address the formation and employment of the Naval Air Force2 and the employment of the Luftwaffe against enemy shipping,3 all three 1 Essays by German Officers and Officials on World War II, (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources Inc.) 2 Walter Gaul, Navy-Air Force Planning and Build-up of the Naval Air Forces; Their Disbandment, and the Transfer of Naval Air Commitments to the Operational Air Force. Essays by German Officers and Officials on World War II, (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources Inc.) and Walter Gaul, The Development of the Naval Air Force Up to the Outbreak of the 1939-1945 War and its Activity during the 1/56 written by Walther Gaul, a post World War II historian and active duty officer during the war. A very brief but sequential explanation of events was published by the Great Britain Air Ministry in 1983, “The Rise and Fall of the German Air Force 1933-1945.”4 Very detailed and of great value in this essay’s part regarding German air doctrine were the two books published by James S. Corum which contain an extensive description about the evolution of German doctrine. 5 No original war diary entries for the Luftwaffe could be found. Citations from the “Kriegstagebuch” are taken from the war diaries of the General der Luft and his Quartermaster files. These could be used as an outstanding source for a study regarding logistical issues, but are of limited use for this essay. Adam Claasen, in his book “Hitler’s Northern War: The Luftwaffe’s Ill-Fated Campaign, 1940- 1945”, gives an insight into operations of the Luftwaffe during the invasion of Norway and in support of the German army and navy, the loss of opportunities in respect to the use of bases in Norway due to the lack of a long-range bomber and the, to his understanding, not very good cooperation between navy and Luftwaffe. 6 Williamson Murray also provides a detailed sequence of events and a thorough analysis of Luftwaffe First Seven Months of the War. Essays by German Officers and Officials on World War II, (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources Inc). 3 Walter Gaul, German Air Force Successes in Operations Against Enemy Shipping in the Channel, off the East Coast of Britain and in the North Sea between April and December 1940. Essays by German Officers and Officials on World War II, (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources Inc).