German Defensive Strategy
The Luftwaffe lacked an effective air defence system early in the war. The daylight actions over German controlled territory were sparse in 1939–1940. The responsibility of the defence of German air space fell to the Luftgaukommandos (air district commands). The defence systems relied mostly on the Anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) arm. The defences were not coordinated and communication was poor. This lack of understanding between the AAA and flying branches of the defence would plague the Luftwaffe throughout the war. Adolf Hitler in particular wanted the defence to rest on AAA as it gave the civilian population a "psychological crutch" no matter how ineffective the weapons. Germany's Ruhr region, frequently targeted by Allied raids during this time, proved particularly difficult to defend as resources became increasingly strained. Frequently, the only air units available for Ruhr defence were the Luftgaukommandos, which were assigned specific objectives and lacked an effective ground-to-air control system to aid in interception of enemy aircraft.
On 21 September 1939, Hans Jeschonnek the Luftwaffe's Chief of Staff, clarified the role of the day fighter force in the defence of German territory. Fighter units earmarked for specific defensive tasks would remain under local air-defence command. However, all other fighter units would be organized under one of several Luftflotten (Air Fleets), which would prosecute the defence of German targets in a manner "linked directly with the strategic concept for the continued conduct of the air war". In other words the Luftwaffe fighter force would act as both a defensive and offensive force, maintaining air superiority over enemy air space would prevent enemy attacks on German-held territory.
This kind of strategy worked well at the front, but it soon became clear that a lack of training, experience and coordination between the Fliegerdivisions (Flying Divisions) and the AAA arm, when dealing with strategic defensive operations, made an effective defence difficult. With the AAA defences ineffective and seven Gruppen covering German air space, the vital industries were not well protected. This system remained in place for so long because the Allied air forces were too weak to take advantage of the situation.
Most of the battles fought by the Luftwaffe on the Western Front would be against the RAF's Circus raids and the occasional daylight raid into German air space. This was a fortunate position since the Luftwaffe's strategy of focusing its striking power on one front started to unravel with the failure of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The "peripheral" strategy of the Luftwaffe, advocated by Jeschonnek, had been to deploy its fighter defences at the edges of Axis occupied territory, with little protecting the inner depths.
Read more about this topic: Defence Of The Reich
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