Losses and the Luftwaffe after the Battle of Britain 

In the 'Aftermath' section, it is noted:  In losses of aircraft and experienced aircrew, the battle was a blow from which the Luftwaffe never fully recovered. It had significantly fewer bombers at the start of Operation Barbarossa, some 929 machines, because of losses sustained over Britain.Bergström 2007, p. 129.

I am not sure if that is what Bergström, who is being referenced here, actually writes, as I do not have access to his books. I doubt it, however. The Luftwaffe frontline strenght certainly did not decrease as a result of the Battle of Britain, as reinforcements and production was more than sufficient to replace losses, and, to replace the existing types with more modern type of aircraft, withdrawing the older models (ie. by the start of Barbarossa, much of the 109E fleet was now replaced by the new 109F).

It is also contestable on grounds of Luftwaffe reported strenghts. Olaf Groehler, in 1975, for example reports the LW frontline strenght (not including a lot of aux. and non-combat oriented units) gives the LW strenght as 5298 on 11 April 1940 (before the Western Campaigns), of which 1356 were S-E fighters, 1711 being bombers and 414 being dive bombers. A day before Barbarossa, 21 June 1941, he reports 5599 aircraft, (ie. some 300 aircraft increase) including 1440 S-E fighters, another 263 in a new category, the night-fighters, 1511 bombers and 424 dive bombers. Therefore the claim that only 929 bombers were in the Luftwaffe (which I suspect is a misunderstanding of the original text) is wrong, as is the conclusion that this was due to some 'irreversible blow' suffered during the BoB. It may well be that 929 or so bombers were employed against Russia, while the others elsewhere in the West and in the Med. In any case, the claim that the BoB was some sort of a death blow to the LW lacks solid foundation. It certainly suffered considerable losses, as did the RAF which lost apprx. 100% of the fighter and bomber force it started the Battle with, but even in absolute terms those losses were not irrecoverable; the LW already lost about the same number of aircraft during the two months of the Battle of France as it did during the four months of the Battle of Britain; yet it was was capable of launching the BoB offensive just a month later, as it was capable of seizing complete air dominance over the Eastern front in 1941. Therefore I think that particular sentence is contenstable and should be removed.