the verge of collapse as assumed by German intelligence. The consequences for Luftwaffe airmen were severe on 15 September 1940. German aviators met a prepared enemy and crew losses were seven times that of the British. Furthermore, Fighter Command did not commit its reserve during the main attacks as the German command predicted. The Blitz The bombing operations continued against Fighter Command into October 1940, but with gradually more emphasis placed on attacking industrial cities, primarily because it offered the only way to continue hostilities against Britain directly in the absence of invasion. Air strategy became increasingly aimless and confused. The damage to the British war economy and morale was minimal into 1941. The preference for night over day operations was evident in the number of bombing operations flown by the German air fleets. In October 1940, 2,300 sorties were flown in daylight and 5,900 at night, reducing losses from 79 in day operations to 23 at night. Sperrle's command flew the majority of the missions; 3,500 to Kesselring's 2,400. Sperrle's air fleet received Fliegerkorps I in late August 1940. The corps contained specialist units equipped with Y-Verfahren (Y-Control), a night navigational aid which precipitated the Battle of the Beams. Several of Greim's air corps were assigned pathfinder units from KG 26 and KG 55 known as Beleuchtergruppe (illumination group). Sperrle had spent the last week of August and first week of September gearing up for large–scale night operations. Sperrle's air fleet assisted in the beginning of The Blitz which began in earnest on 7 September 1940. This night approximately 250 aircraft dropped 300 tons of high explosive and 13,000 incendiaries on the centre of London. Sperrle's airmen flew 4,525 bombing operations in November 1940. The air fleet played a large role in the Birmingham and Coventry Blitz, with support from Luftflotte 2. Sperrle provided 304 of the 448 bombers in the Coventry attack. Surviving German records suggest that the aim of the Coventry raid was to disrupt production and reconstruction critical to the automotive industry, but also to dehouse workers. 503 tons of high explosive and oil bombs were dropped by the 449 crews that claimed to have hit the target. The destruction of the city centre cost the air fleet one bomber. In November, 159 bombers from Luftflotte 2 and 3 bombed Southampton destroying much of the city. Bombers attached to the air fleet led attacks on Birmingham,