Did Hitler underestimate the power of fighter planes?

Answer 1

hitler didn't really underestimate fighters, he overestimated bombers.

during the early 1930s an idea grew up that an offensive airforce could bomb an enemy into submission. the idea was that a civilian population would become so demoralised by constant aerial bombardment that they would turn to strikes and rioting and bring down their own government.

there seemed to be some confirmation of this during the spanish civil war (for which the germans supplied materiel) - but in fact there were many reasons why the various governments in spain were unstable, and prone to fall even without bombing.

when hitler tried bombing london into submission during the battle of britain he faced a much more secure government, and very little happened. it was the same story with the mass bombing of stalingrad and leningrad after operation barbarossa opened - if anything constant bombardment seemed to harden a civilian population's will to resist.

the final demonstration that saturation bombing just doesn't work (or at least, not the way it was supposed to) dame during the final months of wwii when allied planes bombed german cities almost without opposition. dresden was burned to a crisp, but it didn't surrender, or even riot. bombing just never breaks civillian morale.

of course bombing disrupts logistics and supply of materiel, and these were crucial ideas both in the dambuster raids and the battle of the bulge (where the german tanks were stopped by bombing their fuel depots more than by direct assault).

but you can't win a war that way, you can only help your groundtroops to win a battle.

Answer 2

First you should understand that Hitler viewed his air force as a component of combined arms operations involving, armor, artillery, infantry, and air power. Tactical bombing, for example the JU-87 "Stuka" dive bomber was an integral part of those tactics and early in the war performed very well.

The real problem his belief that these machines and tactics could be applied in a strategic sense. They could not German air force was simply not set up for strategic bombing. They lacked sufficient bomber in both numbers and capacity. For instance they had no equivalent to the B-17 B-24. In addition their fighters did not have enough fuel capacity to station over England for more than about 20 minutes making it difficult to adequately protect the bombers they were escorting.

Germany continued to develop and deploy some excellent aircraft however in particular the various marks of the FW-190.

The real problem with German air power however was one of personnel. They like the Japanese simply ran short of qualified pilots. A natural result when pilots were basically deployed until dead or captured.

Answer 3

I think he didn't understand the power of the fighter plane, if he did know what "Blitzkrieg" or not. He threw all his planes into one basket and got shot down or, just about. He didn't seem to care that the American and English forces were whittling at his air force every time he sent them over England, then instead of rebuilding it, he went into his "Flying bomb" techniques.

Stop and think....had Hitler, who by or near the middle of the war had the jet plane, that was already attacking our bombers, put more emphasis into his air force and more into this new plane, what would have happen?

Had he developed this jet plane, the American forces were totally stymied and afraid of this new plane, they didn't know what it was. But, Hitler was more interested in his show of tanks, ground forces and throwing his planes into the sacrifice arenas, to be shot down by the dozens by the allied forces.

Answer 4

Hitler definitely underemphasized the importance of fighters, to the great benefit of the Allies. If he had supported and emphasized the development of jet fighters, such as the ME 262, it would have benefited the German war effort tremendously.

Hitler wanted a "blitz bomber," a jet powered bomber that could attack successfully allied positions. He wanted to counter the terror of allied bombing with terror of his own. IMO, his psyche couldn't fathom the importance of blocking punches rather than punching back.

At one point, Hitler even ordered the diversion of jet fighter resources to the building of additional anti-aircraft artillery, because he reasoned that the Allies feared flak more than jet fighters.

Late in the war, when long-range Maverick fighters protected the Allied bomber fleets, certainly bomber crews worried more about flak than prop fighters inferior to the Mavericks. Hitler apparently didn't understand that jet fighters would have been even more efficient at destroying Allied aircraft than flak and capable of besting the Maverick air shield.

(See pages 354-355 of "Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany," linked below)

Answer 5

yes. he favored tanks more than planes. he had the opportunity to make jet fighter planes known as me-262's earlier in the war but didnt feel the need to since the propeller fighter planes were doing fine at the time until the battle of britain when germanys lufwaffe lost thousands of planes to the royal air force.

Answer 6

Quite the opposite actually. He over estimated the power of aircraft. He occasionally counted on the Luftwaffe to perform tasks that were simply beyond it's capabilities. Examples: he held the troops back at Dunkirk to let the air force "wipe out" the retreating allies. He tried to pummel England into submission from the air. He tried to supply Stalingrad from the air.

He just asked too much from air power. Of course, in all fairness he asked too much from the rest of the military too, but the air force in particular.

Answer 7

no question, he underestimated the power of planes and of tanks, both, did you hear me HE UNDERESTIMATED THE POWER OF PLANES AND OF TANKS.

(he was far too consumed with standard infantry techniques, and was way too consumed with the Eastern front (Russia) and of the extermination of Jews.)

No one could have suceeded with that priority agenda

MICHAEL: stfu -- biitzkrieg wasnt Hilter's idea and he went along with it reluctantly

Answer 8

What the hell are you on about? Look up "blitzkrieg"! Hint : it involves tanks and planes.