{{short description|Codename given to operations by the RAF during World War II}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}} {{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
'''Circus''' was the codename given to operations by the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) during the [[Second World War]] where [[bomber]]s, with a mass escort of fighters, were sent over continental Europe to bring {{lang|de|[[Luftwaffe]]}} fighters into combat. These were usually formations of 20 to 30 bombers escorted by up to 16 squadrons of escort fighters. Bomber formations of this size could not be ignored by the {{lang|de|Luftwaffe}}.
[[File:Handley Page Hampden in the air.jpg|thumb|right|{{centre|Handley Page Hampden}}]] At first medium bombers such as the [[Handley Page Hampden]] were used but even with many escorts they were too vulnerable to {{lang|de|[[flak]]}} and German fighters. The Hampdens were replaced with [[Bristol Blenheim]] light bombers but those fared no better. Heavy bombers such as the [[Short Stirling]] were easier to escort but after several missions [[RAF Bomber Command|Bomber Command]] needed them back.
The [[Hawker_Hurricane_variants#Hurricane_IIC|"Hurribomber"]], a [[fighter-bomber]] development of the [[Hawker Hurricane]], was used with better results, although the small bomb load carried by this aircraft caused little damage.
There were other [[Glossary_of_RAF_code_names#ramrod|codenames for similar missions]]. * Ramrod: similar to Circus but with destroying a target being the principal aim. An example would be [[Operation Ramrod 16]]. * Ranger: large fighter formation intrusion over occupied territory with aim of wearing down German fighter force. * Rhubarb: small-scale freelance fighter sorties against ground [[targets of opportunity]]. * Roadstead: low-level attack on coastal shipping.
==History== Following the end of the [[Battle of Britain]] RAF Fighter Command moved from defensive to offensive operations where they would engage German fighters on the other side of the Channel; the operational instructions were ready by December 1940.<ref name=Difficult/> This was a result of the replacement of [[Hugh Dowding]] by the more aggressive [[Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside|Sholto Douglas]] as [[Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief]] of RAF Fighter Command. Douglas described his policy as "leaning forward into France" and it was enthusiastically supported by [[Trafford Leigh-Mallory]] who had replaced [[Keith Park]] as head of [[No. 11 Group RAF]], whose command covered the [[South East of England]].<ref>Richards 1953, p. 383</ref>
There would be two types of offensive operation: "[[Glossary_of_RAF_code_names#rhubarb|Rhubarb]]" (initially called Mosquito), in which small patrols would cross under cover of cloudy conditions and engage any aircraft they found; and on clear weather days "Circus", in which several squadrons - possibly with a few bombers - would conduct sweeps of northern France. Circus came to mean an operation with bombers.<ref name=Difficult>Sholto Douglas "1941: The Difficult Year"</ref>
The first circus offensive was on 11 January 1941 against [[Guînes]] with [[No. 114 Squadron RAF|114 Sqn]] of Blenheims, with nine squadrons of fighters.
Rhubarb patrols began by [[No. 66 Squadron RAF|66 Sqn]] on 20 December 1940, with two Spitfires over [[Le Touquet]]. While the pilots were allowed to attack ground targets if any presented itself, their primary objective was to bring down German aircraft. By mid-June 1941, Fighter Command had flown 149 Rhubarb patrols (336 sorties) claiming seven enemy aircraft brought down for loss of eight pilots on the British side. Circus operations with bombers began in January and eleven had been carried out by June, the targets including docks on the French coast and airfields. More than forty sweeps without bombers had been made in the same period.<ref name=Difficult/> While Fighter Command's priority was the German fighters, Bomber Command concentrated on destroying the ground targets. At higher levels in the RAF it was felt that the effects on the war by damage that could be inflicted by the bombers would be minimal; the commanders of Bomber and Fighter Commands held a conference in which it was agreed that the purpose of a Circus was to force German fighters into combat in circumstances that favoured the British and to that end the bombers had to do enough damage that the {{lang|de|Luftwaffe}} could not ignore the attacks.<ref name=Difficult/>
Prior to [[Operation Barbarossa]], the German invasion of the [[USSR]], Air Chief Marshal [[Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford|Sir Charles Portal]] the [[Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom)|Chief of the Air Staff]] directed Fighter and Bomber Commands to find a way to keep German fighters in western Europe rather than reinforce the {{lang|de|Luftwaffe}} in eastern Europe. The resulting policy was to conduct Circus operations against industrial targets in the region of [[Béthune|Bethune]], [[Lille]] in north-east France; this might draw German fighter defences towards the area leaving the defences on the flanks weaker for unescorted bombers to make daylight attacks on Germany. At the same time night bombing operations would be made against the [[Ruhr]] industrial region.<ref name=Difficult/> The [[Air Ministry]] directed the RAF that the purpose of Circuses would be destruction of the ground targets with German fighters as secondary priority. It soon became clear that unescorted daylight bombing was too risky and heavy bombers should be used on night operations only.{{efn|The Short Stirling were used in Circus operations for a brief period; a formation of a few heavies being easier to manage than several light bombers such as the [[Bristol Blenheim]].}} Over six weeks RAF Fighter Command flew 8,000 sorties in support of 376 bomber sorties and a further 800 sorties on sweeps.{{efn|Fighter Command also made around 10,000 defensive sorties and 1,000 sorties supporting attacks on German ships in this period.}} In August, Circuses were flown with [[No. 2 Group RAF|2 Group]] and [[No. 5 Group RAF|5 Group]], Bomber Command.<ref name=Difficult/>
Fighter Command was losing pilots and aircraft on operations over Europe, but Douglas claimed that losses were lighter than during the Battle of Britain and aircraft losses were replaceable.<ref name=Difficult/> In fact, the losses were actually higher and the results disappointing. During 1941, Fighter Command claimed to have destroyed 800 enemy aircraft for the loss of 462 fighter pilots; however, the actual number of German aircraft destroyed was only 183.<ref>Richards 1953, p. 387</ref> Included in the lost RAF aircrew, killed or captured, were some of their most experienced officers; thirty flight lieutenants, twenty squadron leaders, six wing commanders and one group captain.<ref>Allport 2020, p. 443</ref> Amongst them were some of the Fighter Command's most vaunted aces; [[Eric Lock]] killed in the Channel, [[Douglas Bader]] captured in northern France and [[Paddy Finucane]] killed in the [[Pas de Calais]].<ref>Bishop 2017, pp. 193-195</ref> Fighter Command found in 1941 that it was experiencing in the offensive all the same disadvantages that the ''Luftwaffe'' had experienced in 1940; operating at the limits of their range and over enemy territory so that shot-down pilots were captured rather than being able to rejoin their squadrons. Additionally the German commanders were free to choose which raids to challenge and which to ignore, since the bomber forces deployed by the RAF were rarely large enough to inflict critical damage.<ref>Allport 2020, p. 442</ref>
Besides the poor loss ratio of more than two British aircraft to one German, another stated aim of the campaign from the summer of 1941 was to divert Luftwaffe air assets away from [[Operation Barbarossa]], the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. Although a number of experienced German pilots were transferred back to France, no major units were withdrawn from the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] and the two fighter ''Geschwader'' in the Western Europe, [[Jagdgeschwader 2]] and [[Jagdgeschwader 26]], had returned to full strength by November 1941.<ref>Richards 1953, pp. 383-387</ref> On a broader view, the campaign kept 75 fighter squadrons equipped with the most modern aircraft in the United Kingdom, compared to a total of 34 fighter squadrons in the [[Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II|Middle]] and [[Pacific War|Far East]] theatres. Furthermore, Spitfires were not transferred to overseas commands and the Hurricanes supplied were of older models. The situation was worse in the Far East, where the RAF had to meet the [[Japanese invasion of Malaya]] equipped with the obsolescent [[Brewster Buffalo]], an American fighter deemed unfit for service in Europe.<ref>Bishop 2017, pp. 188-189</ref> The campaign failed in its objectives and wasted resources that were badly needed elsewhere; the Germans referred to it as the "nonsense offensive".<ref>Allport 2020, p. 443</ref>
==See also== * [[Royal Air Force daylight raids, 1940–1944]] * [[Siren Tour]], night-time raid, towards the end of the war
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * {{cite book |last=Allport |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Allport |date=2020 |title=Britain at Bay: The Epic Story of the Second World War: 1938-1941 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jGzDwAAQBAJ |location=London |publisher=Profile Books Ltd |isbn=978-1781257814}} * {{cite book |last=Bishop |first=Patrcick |date=2017 |title=Air Force Blue: The RAF in World War Two – Spearhead of Victory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4uaxDQAAQBAJ |location=London |publisher=William Collins |isbn=978-0007433131}} * Caygill, Peter. ''The Biggin Hill Wing – 1941: From Defence to Attack''. Pen & Sword Aviation, 2008. {{ISBN|978-1844157464}} * {{citation |url=http://spitfiresite.com/2010/04/1941-royal-air-force-offensive.html |title=1941: The Difficult Year |work=Dispatch Submitted to the Secretary of State for Air on 29 February 1948, by Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Sholto Douglas |via=Spitfiresite.com}} * {{cite book |last=Richards |first=Denis |author-link=Denis Richards |date=1953 |title=The Royal Air Force, 1939–45, Volume I: Fight at Odds |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-RAF-I/UK-RAF-I-13.html |location=London |publisher=HMSO }}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Baughen |first=G. |title=RAF on the Offensive: The Rebirth of Tactical Air Power 1940–1941 |year=2018 |publisher=Fonthill Media |location=Stroud |isbn=978-1-52673-515-7}} * {{cite book |last=Bowyer |first=M. J. F. |title=2 Group RAF: A Complete History 1936–1945 |year=1979 |orig-year=1974 |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |edition=2nd Faber Paperbacks |isbn=0-571-11460-1}} * {{cite book |last=Hinsley |first=F. H. |series=History of the Second World War |title=British Intelligence in the Second World War. Its influence on Strategy and Operations (abridged) |location=London |publisher=[[HMSO]] |year=1994 |orig-year=1993 |edition=2nd rev. pbk. |isbn=978-0-11-630961-7}} * {{cite book |last=Murray |first=Williamson |title=Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe, 1933–1945 |location=Maxwell Air Force Base, Al |publisher=Air University Press |year=1989 |orig-year=1983 |isbn=978-0-933852-45-7}} * {{cite book |last=Richards |first=Denis |authorlink=Denis Richards |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-RAF-I/ |accessdate=19 May 2020 |title=Royal Air Force 1939–1945: The Fight At Odds |series=History of the Second World War |volume=I |location=London |publisher=[[HMSO]] |year=1974 |orig-year=1953 |edition=pbk. repr. |isbn=978-0-11-771592-9 |via=Hyperwar Foundation}} * {{cite book |last=Saunders |first=H. St G. |authorlink=Hilary Saint George Saunders |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-RAF-III/index.html |accessdate=12 June 2020 |title=Royal Air Force 1939–1945: The Fight is Won |series=History of the Second World War |volume=III |location=London |publisher=[[HMSO]] |year=1975 |orig-year=1954 |edition=pbk. repr. |isbn=978-0-11-771594-3 |via=Hyperwar Foundation}} * {{cite book |last1=Shores |first1=C. |last2=Thomas |first2=C. |title=2nd Tactical Air Force: Spartan to Normandy June 1943 to June 1944 |volume=I |year=2004 |publisher=Classic Publications (Ian Allan) |location=Hersham |isbn=1-903223-40-7}}
{{World War II}}
[[Category:Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom]] [[Category:History of the Royal Air Force during World War II]] [[Category:Aerial operations and battles of the Western Front (World War II)]]