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Once I have H2S/Oboe/Gee/Window etc. I'd equip every 4 engine heavy with it and use them to do them same. At night.
IMHO Harris was aptly named the Butcher who harkens memories of Haig , why didn't he follow the plans laid out pre war for attacking POL
the dummy couldn't or better yet would not transfer any 4 engine aircraft (long range) to protect convoys
You don't win a war by committing atrocities. It makes no difference if British atrocities are revenge for enemy atrocities.
An effective strategic bombing campaign against Germany means methodically destroying every large factory in the Ruhr Valley and keeping them from being repaired. That requires accurate navigation and the ability to bomb factory size targets despite smog and heavy AA fire.
it wasn't an atrocity anymore then the 8th af was an atrocity with its bombing they just had a far better publicistYou don't win a war by committing atrocities. It makes no difference if British atrocities are revenge for enemy atrocities.
An effective strategic bombing campaign against Germany means methodically destroying every large factory in the Ruhr Valley and keeping them from being repaired. That requires accurate navigation and the ability to bomb factory size targets despite smog and heavy AA fire.
Any opinions what the USAAF should be doing different, particularly in pre-1944 time frame?
...with equipment historically available
It would have been nice to see an aircraft with a higher useful bombload but then you end up with a British Bomber with no ceiling or defensive armamentAny opinions what the USAAF should be doing different, particularly in pre-1944 time frame?
It would have been nice to see an aircraft with a higher useful bombload but then you end up with a British Bomber with no ceiling or defensive armament
Harris did what he felt he needed to do and should be a hero.
While I reject the 'monster' tag for Harris, I don't think he qualifies as a hero either. He quite deliberately transformed the doctrine of area bombing into dogma, largely, I think, to justify his own messianic boast that area bombing would win the war on its own. It didn't. It couldn't.
Harris did what he felt he needed to do and should be a hero.
While I reject the 'monster' tag for Harris, I don't think he qualifies as a hero either. He quite deliberately transformed the doctrine of area bombing into dogma, largely, I think, to justify his own messianic boast that area bombing would win the war on its own. It didn't. It couldn't.
I suggest Norris Cole might have been more effective then Bumbler Harris
He may have been, but its unfair to call Harris a bumbler (or Haig for that matter). Harris was a very effective general officer. His only shortcoming was as above, a messianic belief in his own dogma. If there was a shortcoming, it was Portal's, for not having a grip of his subordinate.
And pardon the derail - but this notion about Haig being a bumbling old fool is nonsense too. The British did not suffer disproportionate losses in WWI and bearing in mind that for quite a time, Haig was the first and only British general in history to lead an army that was the senior partner in a general European war, then the worst we can say of him is that he was no worse than the best of his contemporaries. Nor were the casualty rates historically unprecedented. In napoleonic battles, casualty rates of 25% of the entire army were common enough for a single day's battle and instances of entire battalions being virtually annihilated were not unknown (The Buffs at Albuera for example) What was different was the scale of operations. At Waterloo, the Coalition suffered 48,000 casualties out of a total strength of 73,000. Compare this to the first day of Somme, infamous in British history as a day of slaughter, where 57,000 casualties were taken out of a total strength of around 500,000!
Its also a fact that by 1918, under Haig, the British army was competent in integrated all-arms operations encompassing infantry, artillery, armour and air-power. Under Haig, the British army had the first and only Tank Corp. It had a machine gun corp. It was supported by the largest air force in the world. The artillery corps grew 50 fold. The engineer corps grews 200 fold.
This hardly the handy work of the almost cartoon stereotype bumbling cavalry idiot that most people seem to think Haig was.
Derail over.