German forces toward the end of the war

[sigma]

Towards the end of WWII there was the drive to Berlin against the German army but what became of the German air force and navy. Did they play a significant part.

[Andyvon]

Not much sigma. In the last few months of the war the Allies concentrated on destroying German supply lines - ammuniition, materiel, fuel etc. After the reserves and supplies stockpiled by the Germans for the Ardennes offensive of December 1944 (Battle of the Bulge) had been exhausted, the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe were virtually paralysed by lack of fuel. The Luftwaffe was also overwhelmed at that point by vastly superior numbers of Allied aircraft.

WW2 was always a land war for Germany and the German Navy only ever played a side role. It's main contribution was commerce raiding by surface ships and submarines attacking Allied supply lines. After D-Day, the Kreigsmarine had also been overwhelmed by Allied numbers and technology and it played little role in the European land campaigns.

[sigma]

Thanks for that Andy

[mike b]

The remains of the German Navy in the Baltic spent the last months of the war attemting to evacuate the civilian population of East Prussia (and those military personnel who hadn't been ordered to stand and die) from the path of the advancing Red Army. The numbers involved were staggering, and the suffering and losses appalling.
http://en.wikipedia.o...ki/Operation_Hannibal

[123everton]

The ranks of the Luftwaffe was deployed as infantry and artillery towards the end of the war, there were several naval brigades also.