1. Notes 13: The Allies Close in on Germany + the Air War in Europe
World Wars – Hamer
January 11, 2011

2. War in the Air

3. General Theory of Allied Bombing of Germany
At first England tried strategic bombing of Axis targets
Casualties were high with daylight raids, but also with nighttime raids…
Switched to bombing of Axis industrial cities in 1942
At the Casablanca Conference in 1943 the Allies adopted a “round-the-clock” bombing policy
US would bomb Germany during the day
RAF would bomb at night

4. British Avro Lancasters
Main Allied Bombers
B-17 and B-24
British Avro Lancasters
Most advanced technologically
Not pressurized, open windows… inside of the plane often fell to between -20 and -40 F
Mainly night bombers
Left to right: Lancaster; B-17 formation radar bombing Germany; B-24

5. An Eye for an Eye
With the adoption of the concept of area bombing, the Allies chose to bomb civilian centers just like the Germans had
Even worse for the Allies, they were really terrible at it (missing targets by miles or more)
By 1942 improved radar technology and the Pathfinder squadron formations allowed for more precision
The mixed Pathfinder squadrons had light, high-altitude Mosquitoes that would “mark” the area to be bombed with incendiary bombs and then back up the heavy bombers as they attacked

6. Long Distance Capabilities
Once the Allies began to precision bomb targets such as German aircraft factories and the 12 Germany synthetic oil factories, they needed fighters that could reach to Berlin and back to defend the daylight bombers.
Auxiliary droppable fuel tanks were used
The P-51 Mustang became the first long range heavy weight fighter with the performance of a shorter range plane

7. Fire Bombing of Hamburg
Total bombing between July 24-30, 1943.
Initial bombing burst the water mains in over 800 places
Dry weather and inability to properly fight the fire along with the layout of the old city led to a firestorm on the night of July 27/28 when the city was bombed by 787 aircraft guided by Pathfinders
RAF managed a very concentrated drop of almost 600 bombs in an area of approximately 2 square miles

8. Fire Bombing of Hamburg cont.
An area of 62,000 acres was burned in the city during a firestorm that lasted approximately three hours and reached 1500 F in the center.
30,000-40,000 people were killed, many suffocated when the firestorm sucked the air out of their basement shelters.
John Keegan on firestorms:
“A firestorm is not an effect that a bombing force can achieve at will; it requires a particular combination of prevailing weather conditions and the overwhelming of civil defenses. When such circumstances are present, however the consequences are catastrophic. A central conflagration feeds on oxygen drawn from the periphery by winds which reach cyclone speed, suffocating shelterers in cellars and bunkers, sucking debris into the vortex and raising temperatures to a level where everything inflammable burns as if by spontaneous combustion”

9. Lancaster bombing Hamburg January 1943

10. Hamburg after the bombing

11. Pre-Overlord Bombing
During the Spring of 1944 Allied air bombing vacillated between strategic bombing of French railways and the continued area bombing of German cities
The destruction of the French railway system effectively stifled German troop movements before and after D-Day
Germany still moved both troops and supplies (even vehicles) by train
Panzers were only ones that moved themselves

12. Bombing of Dresden February 13-15 1945
Approximately 1300 Allied bombers dropped almost 4000 tons of bombs and incendiary devices on the city
Resulting firestorm destroyed fifteen square miles with the estimated dead between 24,000-40,000
British worried that if the Soviets couldn’t continue their push, Germany would hold out even longer
Horrible destruction so close to the end of the war

13. Bodies Piled to be Cremated after Dresden Bombing

14. Dresden After the Bombing

15. Axis Bombing Strategy
The Luftwaffe was run by former army commanders and therefore became a support piece for the army
Long range heavy bombers were never developed
Bombing of Britain was conducted with medium-range bombers
The Red Air Force (USSR) followed the same path

16. Hitler’s Focus on Rockets

17. Hitler’s Secret Weapons PART 1
During the war, Hitler had focused the German army’s attention on creating new and deadlier weapons.
Originally, the research was focused on a nuclear weapon, but this was later put aside because it was considered too slow and costly.
While some weapons did not work, like the vertical take-off plane, many were successful and revolutionary.

18. Hitler’s Secret Weapons PART 2
The V-1 Flying Bomb was created in Germany by1942.
It operated on a jet-pulse engine with a gyroscopic guidance system.
After initial flight problems were fixed, the V-1 was first used against England beginning in June of 1944.
The V-1 had to be launched from ramps on the ground or from planes.

19. Hitler’s Secret Weapons PART 3
The British knew the V-1 was coming because of its characteristic buzzing noise, which gave it the nickname of “buzz bomb”.
The V-1 killed over 6,000 people and injured almost 18,000 in London.
British countermeasures involved sending misinformation through Double Cross to convince the Germans that they were aiming wrong.
Spitfire tips a V-1 mid-flight

20. Hitler’s Secret Weapons PART 4
Next, the Germans invented the V-2 Rocket.
This was an improvement on the V-1 because it could fly faster than the speed of sound.
It flew so quickly and quietly that the British did not know what hit them when the V-2 attacks began in September of 1944.

21. Hitler’s Secret Weapons PART 5
The V-2 flew so quickly on its alcohol and oxygen fuel that countermeasures were useless; thankfully by March of 1945 the Allies had captured or destroyed the V-2 launch sites.
The V-2 technology and those who created it would later be brought to America and the Soviet Union to create rocket technology that would take us into space.

22. Hitler’s “Secret Weapons”: Too Little, Too Late!
V-1 Rocket: “Buzz Bomb” - first guided missile - used against Allies since June 1944
V-2 Rocket - supersonic, first successfully fired on September 8, 1944
Werner von Braun

23. Questions on Bombing of Civilians
Did the bombing / firebombing of civilians on either side make a difference in ending the war?
In other words – is the killing of thousands of civilians justified?

24. Closing in on Germany

25. July 20, 1944 Assassination Plot
Major Claus von Stauffenberg

26. July 20, 1944 Assassination Plot
July 20, 1944 Assassination Plot
Culmination of years of planning and attempted plots
Approximately 7,000 were arrested by the Gestapo and almost 5,000 were executed
1. Adolf Hitler 2. Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel 3. Gen Alfred von Jodl 4. Gen Walter Warlimont 5. Franz von Sonnleithner 6. Maj Herbert Buchs 7. Stenographer Heinz Buchholz 8. Lt Gen Hermann Fegelein 9. Col Nikolaus von Below 10. Rear Adm Hans-Erich Voss 11. Otto Gunsche, Hitler's adjutant 12. Gen Walter Scherff(injured) 13. Gen Ernst John von Freyend 14. Capt Heinz Assman(injured)

27. Allied Decision – What to do After Paris PART 1
Germany appeared beaten after the re-capture of Paris
The Allies had recaptured France
Soviet Union was moving in from the East
Allies wanted to end the war in 1944

28. Allied Decision – What to do After Paris PART 2
2 options
Montgomery proposed a single pronged attack towards the Ruhr
This would involve Monty’s armies leading the attack and Patton’s standing still to preserve supplies
Eisenhower wanted a broad front strategy instead
Even though the Allies were having supply shortages since their only ports were still back in Normandy

29. Allied Issues Fall 1944 Manpower shortages Overconfidence
England didn’t have anyone else
America was stretched from a 2-front war
Overconfidence
Had issues with intelligence and underestimating German reserves in the West
Troops were outrunning supplies and Allies needed a port nearer to the front – were hoping for Antwerp in Belgium
Allies captured the port of Antwerp in September 1944, but Hitler controlled the estuary leading from the port

30. Operation Market Garden PART 1
Planned for September 1944
Montgomery’s plan
Wanted to cross the Rhine in Holland to outflank the Siegfried line
Wanted to threaten the V2 launch sites in Holland
Allied paratroopers would be dropped in to control bridges
Would have to hold out for 3 days before reinforcements would come
American troops cross the Siegfried Line

31. Operation Market Garden PART 2
Would face 2 German Panzer divisions
Once again overconfidence got the better of the Allies
Market Garden was a huge failure as the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem faced terrible resistance from the German Panzer corps
Meant the Allies would not win the war or cross the Rhine in 1944
German troops near Arnhem (above)

32. Allies Enter Germany
Patton’s First Army were bogged down in Lorraine during Market Garden
Entered Germany and took the town of Aachen, after an almost 3 week long battle, on October 21, 1944
Aachen saw 5,000 casualties for the Allies and 5,000 dead or injured for the Germans with another 5,000 taken prisoner
GI’s in Aachen

33. Germany’s Ardennes Offensive PART 1
Hitler wanted one last offensive in the West – hoping to defeat the Allies
This was against the urgings of his high command who wanted to fortify defenses behind the Rhine
Plan was to attack the Allied line in the Ardennes Forest, then make a drive for Antwerp to split the Allied forces and seize the oil coming in there.
Finally the Germans would destroy the different bits of the Allied army that were now encircled

34. Germany’s Ardennes Offensive PART 2
Hitler sent his best troops and tanks into this battle
Tigers
Panthers
SS from the Eastern Front

35. Vulnerable Allies Assumed the Ardennes were impenetrable to tanks
Germans assumed radio silence so Ultra didn’t work
But duh – what did they think the radio silence meant?
Germans were massing troops along the Western Front and the overconfident Allies ignored what this meant

36. Operation Autumn Fog Launched December 16, 1944
Aimed at the Allied line in between British (North) and American (South) forces
Took Americans by surprise
Some Nazis who spoke good English wore American uniforms to sneak through the line and do sabotage at the beginning of the battle
Patton described it as: “Krauts… speaking perfect English… raising hell, cutting wires, turning road signs around, spooking whole divisions, and shoving a bulge into our defenses.”
Allies couldn’t use air support because of terrible weather for one week
Created a huge bulge in the American lines
Hence called “The Battle of the Bulge”

37. The Battle of the Bulge PART 1
The US 75thin the Ardennes Forest during the Battle of the Bulge
Hitler used seven panzer divisions, two panzer brigades and thirteen infantry divisions for a total of 240,000 soldiers.
The tank divisions drove 60 miles into the Allied territory

38. The Battle of the Bulge PART 2
Patton’s army was able to break the siege of the important crossroads town of Bastogne on December 26, 1944
Allied air power was able to halt the German offensive once the weather cleared
This battle raged on until January 25, 1945 when the line was pushed back until it was close to its original position.

39. Clockwise from top left: American POW’s; massacred Belgian civilians; NAZI soldiers in the Ardennes; the Malmedy Massacre

40. The Battle of the Bulge PART 3
By the time the battle was over, the Germans had lost 120,000 troops (dead, wounded, or captured), 600 tanks and assault guns, and 1600 planes.
This proved to be too much of a loss, and after this point the Nazis were on the retreat on both fronts
Operation Autumn Fog had pulled too many resources from the Eastern Front and now the Soviets were closing in on Germany
Battle of the Bulge Maps

41. The Battle of the Bulge Atrocities
Malmedy Massacre December 17, 1944: A group of German soldiers from the 1st SS Panzer division massacred 120 American troops by mowing them down with machine guns and pistols in a large field.
In another location (Wereth) soldiers from the same division on the same day tortured and killed 11 African American troops