the Bath operation Sperrle's pilots flew at only 600 ft (180m) to magnify the damage. York was attacked and the cities suffered as German crews flew several missions per night. The offensive was halted on 9 May. Sperrle's bombers had suffered a 5.3 percent loss rate in 716 missions, a loss of 38 bombers. Bombing operations continued upon the cessation of Baedeker against Birmingham in July and Canterbury. Luftflotte 3 flew 2,400 night bomber sorties against Britain in 1942 and lost 244 aircraft; a loss rate of 10.16 percent. During the operations, Sperrle's wing commanders were forced to draw upon increasing numbers of instructor pilots—IV./KG 55, for example, lost a quarter of them. Sperrle's air fleet flew 7,039 bombing operations and dropped 6,584 tons of bombs. On 8 November 1942, Anglo-American forces landed in North Africa (Operation Torch). Hitler ordered Sperrle's forces to occupy the French-Mediterranean coast (Case Anton). The aerial component of Anton was Operation Stockdorf. Sperrle's command in the south was Fliegerdivision 2 commanded by Johannes Fink. Eight bomber and two fighter groups (approximately 30 aircraft in each) were selected for reconnaissance and anti-shipping operations by his order, dated 2 November. The air forces were to support the army, destroy any French aerial resistance and carry out interdiction of supply lines. Aside from anti-aircraft fire near Marseille, no serious resistance was encountered. The invasion provided bases for Sperrle's fleet to strike at shipping in the Mediterranean Sea but left him with only four fighter groups to defend northern France. Luftflotte 3's headquarters remained in France but it provided three bomber groups to Richthofen—commanding Luftflotte 2—for the defence against the Allied invasion of Sicily. The Luftwaffe continued to defend Western Europe in 1943 as its offensive capabilities declined. The Jabo operations came to a halt in the summer, 1943 due to excessive casualties and the need to reinforce the Mediterranean. German bomber units flew less than 4,000 individual bomber sorties during the entire year. In March 1943, Hitler ordered the appointment of an officer to coordinate attacks on Britain. Dietrich Peltz was given command of IX Fliegerkorps, part of Sperrle's air fleet for this task. By December 1943 Peltz had pooled 501 bombers. As Peltz organised the bomber command, German operations against Britain continued. The year began with 311 sorties in January 1943 which dipped to 176 the following month. It reached 415 in March before peaking with 537