Lynne Olson’s history of WW II (Citizens of London) has some interesting angles.
She is an American author writing for American readers, so she is to be commended for her criticism of the US Army Air Force. The nub of the matter is the Americans and, to only a slightly lesser extent, the RAF, believed the war could be shortened and lives saved by strategic bombing of Axis targets. The American Air Force invented a new way of dropping bombs accurately, the Norden bombsight. They believed this would succeed, delivered from Flying Fortresses and Liberators, where the RAF had failed.
Just to make sure they conducted trials in Arizona and the system worked. When put into action in Europe there were snags: the Arizona skies are cloudless, not so in Europe, and there were no German fighters shooting them down. The Eighth Air Force stationed in England were sent on suicide missions. In the first ten months the Eighth lost 188 heavy bombers and about 1,900 crewmen. These numbers soared over the next eighteen months. 26,000 American lives were lost in air operations in Europe. The problem was they flew over Germany without any fighter protection – RAF fighters didn’t have the range.
A German émigré who had designed Messerschmitts designed the Mustang for the RAF, to be built in California, as as a low-level tactical fighter-bomber. It was faster than a Spitfire, had a longer range and was nimbler – “the cleanest and sweetest thing in the air”. The only problem was its American engine was underpowered. Once Mustangs were fitted with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines they were a game-changer, escorting bombers deep into Germany and shooting down so many German fighters that opposition withered. There were plenty more German fighters but the Luftwaffe ran out of pilots.
The Allies won the war but made mistakes that cost a lot of lives. Something worth reflecting on in our battle against the pandemic.
Moritz Thomsen, who served as a bombardier with the Eighth Air Force writes of stateside instructors saying things like, “Well, you hit Germany but you missed the Ruhr.” Apparently the Norden bombsight was overrated even under good conditions.
Your support for Lynn Olson’s criticism of the US Army Air Force mystifies me. Near the end of the war airmen from the 8th Air Force and their commanding officer (CO) met at their headquarters in England. The CO requested volunteers to fly a suicide mission over Nazi Germany’s ball-bearing works which if successful would end the war, saying “I am asking you to give your life for your country.” Many leaped to accept this challenge. The mission set out and as they crossed over a concentration camp the prisoners, seeing the massive mission, congregated in the yard and waited hopefully for their successful return. Unfortunately, only one plane returned, leaving the prisoners to believe they were doomed. The mission, however, was successful, the prisoners were freed, and the war ended shortly thereafter. I doubt those prisoners or their descendants will read Olson’s work. I know, I will not.
The most famous ball-bearing raid was on Schweinfurt, on a day when another component of the air force raided a Messerschmitt factory in Regensburg. That raid was not advertised as suicidal, though it certainly incurred heavy losses. The raid occurred on August 17, 1943, ergo it did not end the war. In fact, the Germans apparently ended the war with more plenty of ball bearings, a second raid on Schweinfurt notwithstanding.
The information I provided was accurate, complete, and obtained from reliable sources, including two airmen on the flight and a Jewish man in the camp. All confirmed the flight ended the war. No flight was ever advertised as a suicide mission as this information would assist your enemy. Christopher, please delete my email from your mailing list. I had joined to assist my heritage search since I believe you are my cousin through the Dillon family from Galway. I am thankful and proud of my American heritage and for my country’s contribution in World War II.