Air Force the Official Service Journal - Air Force Historical Studies ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

all key points of the factory's 3-+,000 square yards of space, setting fires which flamed for two days, By sonic chance, the home of the director, George Auclair, who lived on one corner of the property, \\'as neither hit nor damaged, Almost adjoining Standard \vas a gasoline depot once owned hy the Compagnic Indnstrialc M.u itimc hut later taken over by the Germans. This distrihution depot, known as \VII
d~BPOWER , cOlltillued tion of electric pO\\"er. And while the Ccrrnans had already begun to curtail usc of this pl.mt before the attack, wrecking of more than :;0 percent of its facilities ended all hope of continued or future usc, The strategic bombing of railroads, like all foregoing types of bomb damar;e, is a subject for cxhuustivc research, ;\0 definite conclusions can be drawn until the enemy is finally defeated and a thorough-going study is completed. Still, even casual inspection of French railwavs is impressivc, particularly in the Paris area. The French transportation system is so constructed that all troop and freight traffic from Germany to Normandy or southern France normally passed through Paris, and in 1'lay and June, 19-H, a terrific joint assault on Paris marshalling yards was carried out by the RAF and AAF. Murshalling yards run to a pattern. There arc reception sidings, forwarding sidings and sorting sites where trains arc made up. This maze of trackage always converges at one or two points in the yard. Allied technique in blasting these targets was to combine an RAF saturation attack by Lancastcrs and l lalifnxcs with precision bombing by the 8th Air Force against choke points. RAF bombs demolished and burned rolling stock, shattered yard buildings and raised hell generally, while the AAF tore up tracks where it would do the most good and destroyed key repair shops, control stations and other works. Robert Le Bcsnerais, general manager of the Societe Nationale de Chemins de Fcrs Francais-the govcmmcnt-controlled railway system-conceded that marshalling yard attacks had considerable cumulative effect in immobilizing the Germans in 1'Iay. He believes, however, that precision bam bing of bridges and important trackage was even more disastrous and represented a more economic usc of aircraft. lIe cited especially the cutting of rail and highway bridges on the Seine, Loire, Oise and Yonne rivers. Prior to the invasion, Seine River bridges had been cut by the 9th Air Force. Then, after D-dav, the 8th was given the assignment of knocking out rail and highway bridges across the Loire and Yonne. Along the former river, from Nantes on the coast to Nevers in central France, not a bridge was left standing. This havoc, said 1'1. Le Bcsncrais. hurt the German effort incalculablv. Some reinforcing divisions for I\'ormanch' were delayed eight to fifteen days-despite constnnt bridge-mending by those indefatigable rcbuildcrs, the Ccnnans-c-and rnanv were eompletelv stopped. Prcsurnablv, the Nazis had sufficient rolling stock, but everlasting detours made it irnpossible for them ever to get troops or equipment to the right place at the right time. 111e railroads of France were in a gigantic dislocation. As has been indicated, the Germans went underground wherever possible to escape Allied air blows, and an interesting example of their frenzied frustration was found in the Paris subwav. Earlv in' the war, there had existed a French turbomechanical factorv at Eponc-Mczicres, 40 kilometers west of Paris. This plant made compressors and other equipment for French aircraft and had obtained in 19'39 a large amount of machinery from the United States for the purpose. After France's collapse the factory owners refused to work for Ccrrnanv. One man fled to Switzerland, another to New York; a third just staved in Paris. Germans took over the plant and converted' it to the manufacture of shafts for Ratier propellers. In June, 1944, an average of 300 prop shafts a month \\"as being produced. Just about that time, hO\\"eH.T,1\1\1' bombers clcstrovcd a raih\"a\" station .uljaccut to the factory at Epone-?\lc,,;cres and tl;e Ccrm.ms gre\\' nLT\"OllS.They were afraid that next time the plant would go up, too. Moreover, they were having :z:; or more air laid alerts daily which, as in many other French plants, scriouxlv disrupted production. Consequently, they decided to move the factory into some mushroom caves ncar Poissv. ?\lunv such caves were beinie utilized for manufacture o'f aircr;rft parts, submarine tor: pcclocs and the like. Before they could move, however, the Sth Air Force wrecked a hridge at Poissy. This complicated the transportation problem. so the Germans took a new tack and moved the plant into a branch line of the Paris xuhwnv. To accomplish this, they shut off four kilometers of the 1'letro Paris subwuv on a deep branch line and, at no littl« trouble to themselves, moved scores of heavy machines onto the platforms at the Porte de Lilias station, 156 steps clown from the street. Apparently the original idea \\"as to operate lathes, drills and cutters right on the Porte de Lillas platforms. But a fresh difficulty presented itself. So great was the vibration that the platforms couldn't stand the strain. The Todt organization was called in. They tore up the subway tracks, laid a reinforced concrete floor on the roadbed and installed electric current. Additional plants had been moved in at other Metro stations and the plan called for installation of heating equipment. building of a railway connection and similar construction. While this mammoth job of work was begun on June 1:; none of the plants ever did get into operation and the whole project was cvcntu.illv abandoned in favor of a retreat from Paris. Incidcntallv, men who know Berlin say that refuge in that city's subwnvs would be impractical because they arc much too shallow. This effort to go underground, involving titanic labors, is perhaps the most dramatic evidence of the damage wronght by precision bombing in France. The Nazis knew that there was no escape, even for small-size plants-;lnd that what the 8th could sec, it could hit. This damage was done with a remarkably low loss of life among French civil inns. In some attacks, no 1ivcs WLTelost. Of all attacks described, only one could be called inaccurate -an assault upon Villaeouhiay. During one of four raids on that target, some bombs. falling short. hit the nearby villa~e, killing several persons. But the understanding with which the French accepted this uuavoidablc result of war revealed itself in a tvpical and touching incident. A Fortress had been shot down in the attack. The bomber crashed in a field, killing thc cntire crew, and the French people of the village paid tribute to those men bv covering the Fort with flowers. The Germans were enraged. Thev issued an order that the incident should not occur again. under threat of hcavv penalties. Next morning the bomber bore twice as many flowers. Ground inspection of French tariSets disclosed a wide varich' of information. For one thins; it showed that the Germans had consistcntlv been hit where it hurt the most" For another it showed that selection of bam bs and fuzes had been handled with skill. that the area and type of damage pcr ton of bombs had been highly effective and that the bam hings themselves had been extremely precise. Nobodv who visits these targets, who sees the demolished airfields, railwavs, oil depots and factories, could possibly doubt that the \Vehrmacht suffered inestimable blows from bam bing in France. N obodv who has seen the Tavcrny grotto or the subway platform at Porte de Li11ascould doubt that the Nazis were desperate and had great hopes and plans for underground production. But it was too late. As usual, their plans came to nothing in the end. * 12 AIR FORCE
Page 1 and 2:
~J 1 AIR FOftCES * OCTOBER 1944
Page 3 and 4:
Rendezvous Who Is He? Dear Editor:
Page 5 and 6:
[us: ,dlat is tIle AAI'I'DC~ It is
Page 7 and 8:
oads and bridges and military imtal
Page 9 and 10:
Here's how controllers direct the p
Page 11 and 12:
sengcr and courier service in areas
Page 13 and 14:
GET WISE Here are a few of the easi
Page 15 and 16:
Airborne soldiers. shown here durin
Page 17 and 18:
Smoke in background is fruin [up.ui
Page 19 and 20:
It has pronounced step characterist
Page 21 and 22:
TIIC{"II""IIIi; ;lItidc j, till' I/
Page 23 and 24:
OCTOBER,1944 The first thing the a\
Page 25 and 26:
YOUR ENEMY All ;Iirer;!ft fllillg o
Page 27 and 28:
->",i" .""tJnil'et hj/'- By Col. Do
Page 29 and 30: 28 011 BOll~aiIldk is quicklv unloa
Page 31 and 32: the plane landed, a jccp would driv
Page 33: THE PHiliPPINES DISTANCES SHOWN IN
Page 36 and 37: The economic system of the Philippi
Page 38 and 39: The AAF's homing pigeons are recogn
Page 40 and 41: Our aviation engineers had to fight
Page 42 and 43: ---- technique • -- - --- . RUNWA
Page 44 and 45: High Intensity Controlled Lighting
Page 46 and 47: Attached to a flyer's ear, the Oxim
Page 48 and 49: Automatic Pilot Trainer-A new train
Page 50 and 51: 3 5 7 Surprised by the friendliness
Page 52 and 53: TIM ELY A D V ICE FRO M THE A I R I
Page 54 and 55: R.6 I:>:CJ: the AAF S helicopter, t
Page 56 and 57: SS I. You on the left, Buddy, appea
Page 58 and 59: ever .nrivc at a fir',t ~Iid stut i
Page 60 and 61: p:rinted on the outvi.lc wrt l: ,ih
Page 62 and 63: tanks and truck-borne infantry and
Page 64 and 65: FIGHTER CONTROL (Colltilltled from
Page 68 and 69: Property of tDe Library ARMY INDtJS
Page 70 and 71: For the Record I)e:lr h!Jtlll Rende
Page 72 and 73: he Allie's into German-held of the
Page 74 and 75: H Combat may make you Lazy By Maj.
Page 76 and 77: ..... -; ... The results of two yea
Page 78 and 79: Production charts show the disaster
Page 82 and 83: HE Fortresses T wings to the took o
Page 84 and 85: ';:'4"'~' .~~~c ~)'~ ~J ~~~ ~" . "
Page 86 and 87: 'l'h is was a YClr ago, but these a
Page 88 and 89: Pulling in His Ne-:I:. Reeelit de,c
Page 90 and 91: When a radio operator makes a mista
Page 92 and 93: Lifeline to the US,S R BY HERBERT R
Page 94 and 95: Ten o'clock of a December morning a
Page 96 and 97: THE MAN WITH THE PRIVATE BREEZE By
Page 98 and 99: THE AIR WAR IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFI
Page 100 and 101: STANDARD FLIGHT INSTRUMENT PANEL E
Page 102 and 103: It 11c:l!,illg l.ot h sidc
Page 104 and 105: , , ,CO:-iTI:-iUI:D ]'\o\\', pacbgi
Page 106 and 107: technique ••• CO]\;Tl:"UED Ne
Page 108 and 109: INSTRUMENT PANEL (Continued from Pa
Page 110 and 111: LIFELINE TO THE US S R ( Cout iuucc
Page 112 and 113: F\lr:RCF'\~CY FOUrp\lr:,\'T luvpcct
Page 114 and 115: 50 COMBAT MAY MAKE YOU LAZY (Contin
Page 116 and 117: EN of the AAF-including the hundred
Page 118 and 119: .I In. ]~rhO:S-':cl the'mll-it:IIT
Page 120 and 121: August 7. Patton kept moving his he
Page 122 and 123: l'Iiavigation Training En Masse. Th
Page 124 and 125: "WE arc not going to bubble over wi
Page 126 and 127: A wood block support; injured legs
Page 128 and 129: Burma. A Japanese light antiaircraf
Page 130:
~ ~,C"= =~=.~7~~ ---,- .... _._. __
Page 134 and 135:
HOW ,SHARP ARE YOU? A 'hoto Test of
Page 136 and 137:
.. ' Back to the Philippines PART I
Page 138 and 139:
Tacloban strip \\";IS not sC'ITicca
Page 140 and 141:
All Tile Illftl, \\ ,(("d If iii, ,
Page 142 and 143:
:lIe fbttle of Hrit.un. IC\i" intru
Page 144 and 145:
Underground. ,'~ group of worried m
Page 146 and 147:
volunteers between the agcs of II .
Page 148 and 149:
I f By Capt. Greer Williams Air SlI
Page 150 and 151:
Flaming debris (If njllI, ])1]]1:ll
Page 152:
ground fire the pilot should look f
Page 155 and 156:
two weeks: Cincinnati. one week: Pi
Page 157 and 158:
At 5.000 fed. the pilot opened the
Page 159 and 160:
cardboard bombs on their choice of
Page 161 and 162:
turn to Traffic Scction, Crcnicr Fi
Page 163 and 164:
Oil refineries arc gooel targets, T
Page 165 and 166:
Tile air campaign to choke off fuel
Page 167 and 168:
fallen into Allied hands, thus maki
Page 169 and 170:
Hamburg i lPolilz IMagdeburg 1 I r
Page 171 and 172:
He's the guy who holds the life of
Page 174 and 175:
:::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::
Page 176 and 177:
:::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::
Page 178 and 179:
46 V4ba\'s vnong V4itbtbis pictUfe1
Page 180 and 181:
:::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::
Page 182 and 183:
j ._3 Thirteen days after the 13th
Page 184 and 185:
THE ABC OF D-DAY When an invasion i
Page 186 and 187:
By all AIR F( )RCl-: ()\"t'rsc;/s S
Page 188 and 189:
The fighters called for help and th
Page 190 and 191:
A jeep, laden with leftover explosi
Page 192 and 193:
THE ABC OF D-DAY t Cont inu.xl [r o
Page 194 and 195:
By Capt. E. E. Churchill co, isu. A
Page 196 and 197:
- ~ --'fftJMlGa ~II.I - , • - '--
Page 198:
We're more than 2,300,000 individua
show all

Air Force the Official Service Journal - Air Force Historical Studies ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?