The Netherlands. It targeted southern England and lasted from January to May Steinbock was the last strategic air offensive by the German bomber arm during the conflict.
The Allied air forces were conducting a strategic bombing campaign day and night against German industrial cities. In retaliation, Adolf Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to prepare a bombing operation against the United Kingdom. The bombing offensive also served as propaganda value for the German public and domestic consumption.
The Luftwaffe assembled bomber aircraft for the offensive. The attacks were mainly aimed at and around the Greater London area. In Britain, it was known as the Baby Blitz due to the much smaller scale of operations compared to the Blitz , the campaign against the United Kingdom in β It achieved very little, and the German force suffered a loss of some machines during the five months of operations before it was abandoned.
Eventually, the revenge attacks gave way to attempts to disrupt preparations for the impending Allied invasion of France, but Steinbock had worn down the offensive power of the Luftwaffe to the extent it could not mount any significant counterattacks when the invasion began on 6 June Under the leadership of Generalleutnant Josef Kammhuber , the Luftwaffe night fighter force expanded and adapted to the threat.
The development of and eventual widespread use of airborne radar in the Luftwaffe enabled the German air defences to inflict heavy losses on Royal Air Force RAF Bomber Command , but they could not prevent widespread destruction of industrial cities. This was below the ten percent required to force the British to abandon operations, though RAF losses increased to a peak of 7.
