page_title: Hugo Sperrle
section_title: Circus offensives, Baedeker Blitz, Mediterranean
hierarchical_section_title: Hugo Sperrle / World War II / Circus offensives, Baedeker Blitz, Mediterranean
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Generalfeldmarschall Sperrle Wie der Bericht des Oberkommandos der deutschen Wehrmacht am 13. Februar 1942 bekannt gab, kam es zwischen den deutschen Schlachtschiffen "Scharnhorst" und "Gneisenau", sowie dem großen Kreuzer "Prinz Eugen" und feindlichen Flotteneinheiten zu Gefechtsberührungen. Im Verlauf der sich entwickelnden Kämpfe, bei denen die Engländer auch zahlreiche Luftstreitkräfte einsetzten, verloren die Briten bei nur 7 eigenen Verlusten 43 Maschinen. An dieser hohen Abschußziffer hatten die Luftwaffenverbände des Generalfeldmarschalls Sperrle einen hervorragenden Anteil. UBz: Generalfeldmarschall Sperrle. PK Fischer Orbis 2. TEXT: Neueste Aufnahme von Generalfeldmarschall Sperrle. (Herausgabe-Datum 20. Februar 1942)
context_page_description: Hugo Sperrle was a German military aviator in World War I and a Generalfeldmarschall in the Luftwaffe during World War II.
  Born in 1885 Sperrle joined the Imperial German Army in 1903. He served in the artillery upon the outbreak of World War I. In 1914 he joined the Luftstreitkräfte as an observer then trained as a pilot. Sperrle ended the war at the rank of Hauptmann in command of an aerial reconnaissance attachment of a field army.
  In the inter-war period Sperrle was appointed to the General Staff in the Reichswehr, serving the Weimar Republic in the aerial warfare branch. In 1934 after Nazi Party seized power, Sperrle was promoted to Generalmajor and transferred from the army to the Luftwaffe. Sperrle was given command of the Condor Legion in November 1936 and fought with the expeditionary force in the Spanish Civil War until October 1937. The Legion attracted global attention for the ruthless bombing of towns and cities in Spain.
  Sperrle was appointed as commanding officer of Luftwaffengruppenkommando 3 the forerunner of Luftflotte 3 in February 1938. Sperrle was used during the Anschluss and Czech crisis by the Nazi leadership to threaten other governments with bombardment.
context_section_description: Sperrle commanded all German air forces in France, Netherlands and Belgium upon the departure of Kesselring in mid–1941. At this time, Sperrle was permitted to keep two Luftgau in southern Germany under his control to appease his "vanity". Luftflotte 3 now became solely responsible for maintaining the pressure on British cities, sea communications and protecting German occupied territory from RAF incursions, named the Circus offensives. The RAF Circus offensives were the brainchild of Air Chief Marshal Sholto Douglas, Air Officer Commanding Fighter Command and his principal lieutenant, Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, AOC Park's No. 11 Group. It formed the Air Staff's policy of "leaning" into Europe. Fighter Command began with Circus Number 1 on 10 January 1941.
  Sperrle was stripped of most the fighter forces leaving only two wings—JG 2 and JG 26. The two fighter wings covered the coast from Brittany to eastern Belgium. They would carry the burden of air defence in 1941 and 1942. Kesselring's departure left Jagdfliegerführer 2 (Fighter Flyer Command 2) under Theo Osterkamp responsible for air space from the Schelde to the Seine. Werner Junck inherited Jagdfliegerführer 3 which defended air space to the west of the Seine. Karl-Bertram Döring commanded Jagdfliegerführer 1 covering the Netherlands—each leader controlled a single wing; JG 26, 2 and 1 respectively. JG 1 was added to Sperrle's command by 10 July 1942. Sperrle had only two bomber wings under his command—one of which formed part of Fliegerführer Atlantik.
  Between mid-June and the end of July 1941, Fighter Command flew some 8,000 offensive sorties, covering 374 bombers. They claimed 322 German aircraft for the loss of 123. Sperrle's forces lost 81 fighters from the approximate total of 200 in France and Belgium. The strength of the two fighter Geschwader fell to 140 in August 1941, and serviceability within these totals from 75 percent to 60 percent. July and August proved to be the busiest, with 4,385 and 4,258 interceptions.
  From July to December 1941 Circus operations cost Fighter Command 416 fighters in 20,495 sorties and RAF Bomber Command 108 in 1,406. Sperrle's fighters flew 19,535 sorties and lost 93 in the same period. Fighter Command claimed 731 German aircraft from 14 June to December 1941 whereas actual German losses were 103 leading post-war RAF analysis to conclude it lost four aircraft and 2.5 pilots for every German fighter destroyed. Rather than wear Luftflotte 3 down, the number of German fighter aircraft in the west increased from 430 on 27 September 1941 to 599 on 30 September 1942.
  1942 began with a continuation of the 1941 successes. In February 1942, the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the cruiser Prinz Eugen escaped from the French port at Brest in Operation Cerberus upon their return from the recent Operation Berlin. One of Sperrle's former wing commanders, General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland, planned Operation Donnerkeil, an air superiority plan with Sperrle's chief of staff Karl Koller. From the Luftwaffe's perspective, the operation was a success against the odds. Sperrle was able to provide five bomber groups for the Donnerkeil.
  The Circus offensive in 1942 succeeded in putting Sperrle's air defences under pressure. Fighter Command flew 43,339 daylight sorties over Western Europe, with Bomber Command's 1,794. The largest single air battle occurred on 19 August 1942 during the Dieppe Raid. Luftflotte 3's units won a significant victory over Fighter and Bomber Command. They lost 106 aircraft; the Germans lost only 48 aircraft destroyed and 24 damaged. At the end of 1942, Leigh-Mallory replaced Douglas as AOC Fighter Command. The two men had presided over the loss of 587 fighters while Sperrle lost 108 through the year. The British losses were equivalent to 30 squadrons.
  The Luftwaffe did not remain on the defensive in 1941 and 1942. Sperrle's air fleet carried out intensive and consistent air attacks on Britain and the limited German bomber force was reinforced over the winter, 1941–42. Concurrently, Sperrle with sup
caption: Sperrle, February 1942. During the month his air fleet aided the escape of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen
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