German-Soviet air war 22 June 1941

German-Soviet Air War 22 June 1941
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II

Soviet aircraft from the 15th Fighter Regiment of the 8th Mixed Air Division, destroyed by Luftwaffe strikes, abandoned in the southern part of the Kaunas airfield, 22 June 1941.
Date22 June 1941 (1941-06-22)
Location
Soviet Union
Result German victory
Belligerents
 Soviet Union  Germany
Commanders and leaders
Soviet Union Pavel Zhigarev
Soviet Union Aleksandr Novikov
Soviet Union Fyodor Michugin
Soviet Union Aleksey Ionov
Soviet Union Boris Pogrebov
Soviet Union Fyodor Polynin		 Nazi Germany Hermann Göring
Nazi Germany Hans Jeschonnek
Nazi Germany Albert Kesselring
Nazi Germany Alexander Löhr
Nazi Germany Alfred Keller
Nazi Germany Hans-Jürgen Stumpff
Nazi Germany W. von Richthofen
Nazi Germany Kurt Pflugbeil
Nazi Germany Bruno Loerzer
Nazi Germany Robert Ritter von Greim
Strength
Soviet Western Military Districts
Total:
10,451[1] combat aircraft
including 5,460[2] single-engine fighters		 Total:
3,297[2] combat aircraft
including 975 single-engine fighters [3]
Casualties and losses
22 June: >2,000[4] combat aircraft
22-24 June
Official Soviet data:
3,922[5][6] combat aircraft
Independent researchers' estimates:
unavailable[7]		 22 June
Official German combat losses:
35 [8][9] aircraft
Independent researchers' estimates:
55[10] or 57[11] aircraft
22-24 June
Official German data:
78 aircraft[12]

German-Soviet Air War 22 June 1941 was the largest one-day air battle in military history.[13] The battle involved both aerial dogfights and airstrikes on Soviet airbases. Around 14,000 combat aircraft took part in air war 22 June 1941, with more 2,000 combat aircraft destroyed. The loss ratio was estimated at 35:1 to 60:1 in favor of the Luftwaffe.

The Germans won a convincing victory, demonstrated superiority in tactics, the skills of pilots and, having destroyed significant forces of outnumbered Soviet air forces, gained air supremacy.[14][15][16] The defeat was seen as forcing the Soviets to request replacement lost aircraft from the western powers, resulting in the July 1941 Anglo-Soviet Agreement cementing the Soviet Union as an Allied Power, despite longstanding ideological differences and Soviet participation in the Invasion of Poland.[17]

  1. ^ Nigel Askey, Operation Barbarossa: the Complete Organisational and Statistical Analysis, and Military Simulation, Volume IIA, 2013, p. 259
  2. ^ a b Nigel Askey, 2013, p. 259
  3. ^ Nigel Askey, 2013, p. 258
  4. ^ Д. Б. Хазанов «1941. Сталинские соколы против Люфтваффе», 2010, p. 95
  5. ^ Bergström, Christer and Mikhailov, Andrey. Black Cross Red Star: The Air War Over the Eastern Front Volume 1: Operation Barbarossa, 1941. Pacific Military History, 2000, pp. 22-24
  6. ^ Д. Б. Хазанов, 2010, p. 95
  7. ^ access to Soviet archives is closed to Western researchers
  8. ^ Germany and the Second world war, Oxford, 1998, volume 4, p. 764
  9. ^ Christopher Shores, Luftwaffe fighter units Russia 1941-45, Osprey, 1978. P. 5
  10. ^ Bergström, 2000, p. 47
  11. ^ Д. Б. Хазанов «1941. Сталинские соколы против Люфтваффе», 2010, p. 97
  12. ^ Hardesty, Von (2012). Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II. University Press of Kansas, p. 9
  13. ^ Bergström, Christer and Mikhailov, Andrey. Black Cross Red Star: The Air War Over the Eastern Front Volume 1: Operation Barbarossa, 1941. Pacific Military History, 2000, p. 1
  14. ^ Bergström 2000, pp. 29-42
  15. ^ Christopher Shores, 1978, p. 3-6
  16. ^ Germany and the Second World War, 1998, volume 4, p. 763-766
  17. ^ Lukas, Richard C. (1 November 1966). "The Impact of 'Barbarossa' on the Soviet Air Force and the Resulting Commitment of United States Aircraft, June-October, 1941". The Historian. 29 (1): 60–80. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.1966.tb01767.x. ISSN 0018-2370.