What was Operation "Circus" trying to achieve?

Circus operations sent bombers, with a massive fighter escort, over continental Europe to bring the Luftwaffe's fighters to battle. The operational instructions were ready in December 1940. The Circus was reserved for fine-weather days, with several squadrons — possibly with a few bombers — sweeping northern France, as opposed to the small patrols of the "Rhubarbs", which crossed under cover of cloudy conditions to attack any aircraft they found.

Circuses and Rhubarbs were the two types of offensive operation devised by RAF Fighter Command when it shifted from defensive to offensive operations. That shift followed the replacement of Hugh Dowding by the more aggressive Sholto Douglas as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Fighter Command. Trafford Leigh-Mallory, who had replaced Keith Park at the head of No. 11 Group RAF, supported it enthusiastically.

The first Circus offensive was flown on 11 January 1941 against Guînes, with 114 Sqn's Blenheims and nine fighter squadrons. The usual pattern was formations of 20 to 30 bombers escorted by up to 16 squadrons of escort fighters. Across its 1941 operations, Fighter Command claimed 800 enemy aircraft destroyed at the cost of 462 fighter pilots, while the actual number of German aircraft destroyed was only 183. The campaign failed in its objectives and wasted resources urgently needed elsewhere; the Germans referred to it as the "nonsense offensive".