The Allies knew that before Europe could be invaded from the UK, the Luftwaffe had to be contained. The British had long ago given up daylight precision bombing preferring to use the less accurate carpet bombing of German cities during the night. This was after early war raids during the day were disastrous for the RAF in terms of bomber losses. With no fighter protection, the Luftwaffe fighters were able to knock down bombers at an unsustainable rate for the RAF.

When the USAAF came into the picture in 1943, missions started out small and close to the English Channel. The Luftwaffe did not have the fighter density at that time that it would have later on, and so few US bombers were lost to fighters. It seemed that daylight missions were possible with only heavily armed bombers. But this was not to last.

It was decided that the best way to stop the Luftwaffe was to destroy those industries that helped to make aircraft. Initially that was ball bearings and the disasterous Schweinfurt raid of 1943 showed that more was needed in terms of fighter protection. However, the only two planes available were inadequate. The P-47 did not have the range and the P-38 was only a mediocre fighter. Developing drop tanks helped with the range situation, but it was still not enough. It wasn't until the P-51 Mustang started trickling in during early 1944 that the combination of good range and a quality fighter were met.

Meanwhile, the bombing only temporarily slowed down fighter production by the Germans. Aircraft assembly plants were bombed with some success. What really worked well, however, was allowing US fighters to freely roam away from the bombers and seek out the German fighters. Strafing their fields on the way home also was also helpful. While German aircraft production still increased, the loss of trained pilots was devastating. So was the switch to bombing oil production facilities. No fuel, no quality training, and easy to shoot down German planes. It also helped that both USAAF bomber and fighter units continued to grow and grow where the Germans could barely keep up with attrition.

Steven Zaloga tells us the full story of the US bombing campaign; its successes and its setbacks during this critical time.  He tells us both the origins of the campaign as well as the events of the days that followed. A detailed look at the leaders involved, their plans and the men they had available to them are covered. All of this is superbly illustrated by an unknown artist whose well drawn maps and action pieces really bring a lot of life to the book. Of course, you get the usual batch of superb period photographs, some of which (the book cover image, for instance) are well known to help illustrate the book. Unlike other books, there is no look at the battlefield today as it took place in the sky. While there are many Allied memorials to the air war, there are few German ones. Few aircraft that participated in this operation are left today with most extant 'WWII' planes being late war or post war vintage that have been repainted to represent famous types.

I have to say that I found this to be a fascinating read that I can highly recommend to you.

August 2011

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