USA and strategic bombing

This question/idea has been bumbling around my head for a few days. Upon entry into the war the USAF had eagerly went to Britain to start the bombing campaign against German cities which by the end of the war had caused well over a million deaths to German civilians.

My question to you is: Do you think the US was merciless against German cities because they had never experienced it themselves?

I would think yes as; well ill make an example. Say if you were in your first fight and had never been punched before, do you think you might hit much harder not knowing what it fells like?

 

Just a correction. The USAF did not exist until September 18, 1947. It was the US Army Air Corps (USAAC) or US Army Air Forces (USAAF).

In answer to your question. No. It was the mission of the USAAF to destroy military and industrial targets and to break the will of the enemy military and civilian population to continue the war.

 

Jc, is going to mug you.....beware JC....

No I would say they were merciless, your words not mine, how can you be merciless when you are part of a service that bombs. Its your job but never mind, I would say they were whatever you want them to be Totenkopf, because they were at war, and supporting their British ally in the preferred and only striking weapon we had at that stage of the war.

Whether that holds true later on is for others, I though still think it holds true, they were at war and doing no different than the German Luftwaffe albeit on a smaller scale. But there are no figures in moral euivalancy.

It had and has nothing to do with wether you have experienced it yourself, although I'm sure a few British fliers were quite happy and I wont critisise them to do that job.

If that was the case, then Lancasters would never have flown over German cities as British had indeed experienced it themselves even if to a lesser extent.

US airmen were doing the role they were trained and developed for, same as any other nations airmen.

 

Blimey JC, you must have been typing that as I was....

 

These explain alot .
Europe
United States Strategic Bombing Survey: Summary Report (European War)

Pacific
United States Strategic Bombing Survey: Summary Report (Pacific War)

 

Get out of my head!!!! LOL. Sometimes we old gits think alike LOL.

 

It wasn't just the US that practiced strategic bombing during the war. So I think it's a bit unfair to single out the USA for something practiced by every major belligerent.

 

Oh, my mistake I thought the USAAF was a sort of special classification.

My point is that even if most of a cities' industry had been destroyed that never ending bombing was still put on just because they could.

I don mean to single out the USA, I simply am regarding that the US fielded much more aircraft then UK+CW which made them able to literaly anything.

 

look how long it took Ploesti as an example to be hammered, even Misburg oil refinerie(s) which were never completely 100 nailed, the area is full of oil enriched production toady.

It is not because they could at all it was because it was needed ......... both US and Bomber Command

 

Exactly Erich. As I stated before "It was the mission of the USAAF to destroy military and industrial targets and to break the will of the enemy military and civilian population to continue the war."

 

JC

the way I see this is it was a joint agreement more than just talk when it was decided to cream the Reich as much as possible, both parties on eve missions then the US for several reasons stuck to day light so it could be 24 x 7 against the form of evil that was gripping Europe

 

So very true Erich. They were in it to defeat the enemy with the force needed. Whether that enemy was German or Japanese. The objective was to destroy the enemy's will and ability to fight. Day and night. If the Germans ,Soviets or Japanese had had the same forces and ability they would have done the same.

 

Actually, the USAAF stuck to daylight bombing in Germany because they never abandoned the premise that they were targeting military facilities, even though, under the then current rules of warfare, enemy civilians were legitimate targets provided they were employed in war production. In the case of Japan, the USAAF targeted civilian sections of cities because that's where many of the smaller war production plants were located. Japanese war production was peculiar in that small, family owned companies produced many of the small parts and sub assemblies that went into military equipment, aircraft, and vehicles.

I remember seeing a picture of a bombed out civilian Japanese neighborhood. All you could see among the ashes that had been homes, were charred drill presses, lathes, and other industrial machines.

 

Thats correct. I was referring to both the USAAF and and the RAF in thier air campaigns. Both at one time conducted Day and Night missions both in the Pacific and Europe.

 

little side note: several US 492nd bg crews from their old night raids went over to the 15th AF 2641stbg doing up some very special bombing and agent drops in the southern part of the Reich so in effect the US never did stop the night ops, just reduced them to almost nil degree

 

The target of most of the US bombing missions was not the populace (I said most) it was the industry. It was not the point of the us to mercilessly kill German civilians (I said Germans) but to destroy industry.

The attacks during the day were done so that they could see the target. If you can see it you have to aim for something big like a city which is why the British attacked just cities at night, ans still missed frequently. I am sure that the more constant the attacks the worse for those on the receiving end.

 

Correct, the US AAF did not generally engage in "terror bombing" although there are many who would debate that. When American bombers roared off on a mission the objective was military or strategic in nature. The Americans mostly bombed by day.

There has not been alot written about this aspect but truth be told, the British may have been the worst perpetrators in the "terror bombing" accusations, even more so than the Nazis in numbers of dead civilians. The British bombed mostly at night, and the electronic guidance methods of the day were very crude allowing only about a mile or more CEP for bombing at night. (By comparison a smart bomb dropped from an aircraft in 2009 has a CEP of 5 meters). With German cities blacked out it was usually difficult or impossible to navigate with any precision at night. Realizing this the British actually did engage in terror bombing as they did often deliberately target German cities and civilians with NO attempt being made at destroying military objectives.

 

Terror bombing? Surely all bombing is terror bombing. If the object of this thread is to cast aspertions on who was the meanest bombing nation...I'll remind all that this was total war. The British had sorry for reminding some, had to fight for their very life for quite a little while, with the threat of a more subtle annihalation awaiting them if they failed.

Its not that hard to want to hit back when you tour blitzed areas in your own country and the populace shout at their leader give them some back. In fact Its expected.

Bomber command did what the nation as a whole supported. They did not act independantly, the British did what they had to do.

I'll take some critisism from any other nation that was bombed on the rights of fighting for your survival in total war certainly. But...

 

Before WW2 nobody really knew what large scale bombardment from the air would really do during a war - since no one had tried it yet.. Douhet was one of the most widely read theorists during the 1930s and he and some other military authors were dead certain that mass bombing would destroy not only the enemy homeland but also the enemy's whole will to fight. The theory was that massive bombing would so enrage and terrify the enemy population they would rise up and demand their government end the war. Alot of the theorists were also sure that future wars could and would be won by bombing alone. But as we all know now these theorists were proved mostly incorrect. Strategic bombing did do massive damage to Germany and Japan in WW2 and, at least in Europe, almost certainly did contribute to shortening the war. But the Germans and Japanese did somehow manage to find a way to keep up the morale of their people even after massive terror raids from the air. Their populations did not rise up and demand their government end the war. The masses of the common people did continue to go about their normal lives as much as possible no matter how intense the bombing, and did continue to support the war effort to the very end. And no war has yet been won only from the use of airpower.