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Posted on 05/22/2005 10:36:38 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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Evolution of Allied Air Doctrine In October 1943, the U.S. Eighth Air Force's losses became critical, forcing a reappraisal of the American daylight bombing strategy.  Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress Sixteen bomber groups from the 1st and 3rd Air divisions would participate in the strike. In all, 291 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses took off from bases in England and headed east toward the German border. As the bombers formed up over the Channel, short-range British Supermarine Spitfire fighters climbed to escort the heavies to the Continent. There, Republic P-47 Thunderbolts took over, escorting the flying armada to the German border. But insufficient range prevented the Thunderbolts from keeping the bombers company all the way to the target. Turning back somewhere around Aachen, just inside the German border, the P-47s left the unescorted bombers to a catastrophic fate. Out of 291 bombers dispatched, 257 actually entered German airspace. Sixty were shot down, just over 20 percent of the total number. Two hundred twenty-nine B-17s reached Schweinfurt and dropped their bombs. Only 197 returned to England. Of those, five planes were abandoned or crashed on landing, while 17 others landed so damaged that they had to be written off. Altogether, 82 of the 291 original bombers that left England were lost, more than 28 percent of the entire force assigned to the raid.  Moreover, the Schweinfurt raid was the climax of a week of strikes against German industrial targets. Between October 8 and 14, 1943, the Eighth Air Force flew 1,342 heavy bomber sorties, losing a total of 152 bombers (11.3 percent), with another 6 percent receiving heavy damage. During the entire month of October, the Eighth lost a total of 214 heavy bombers, almost 10 percent of the total number dispatched. Lost and damaged planes constituted more than half the sorties flown during the month. At that rate of attrition, an entirely new bomber force would be required every three months in order to maintain the Allied bomber offensive. After the prohibitive losses sustained in October 1943, the Eighth Air Force suspended deep bomber strikes into German territory. Two premises of daylight strategic bombing--that bombers would be able to get through enemy defenses and back without escorts, and that destroying the enemy's industrial base would cripple its war effort--appeared to be greatly mistaken. American air leaders, recognizing the inability of unescorted heavy bombers to get through and bomb German industry without excessive losses, questioned the very foundation of American air strategy. But why did American air leaders initially believe their heavy bombers would always get through, and what were the consequences of the American strategic doctrine when applied in the skies over the Third Reich? How has American air doctrine changed as a result?  The airplane, initially used during World War I in a reconnaissance role to locate enemy troop and artillery movements and concentrations, evolved throughout the conflict to perform all of the roles identified with modern air power--including strategic bombing. Although it was an immature weapons system during the Great War, the airplane's enormous potential fueled the imaginations of interwar air theorists, foremost among them Italy's Giulio Douhet. Assuming that population and industrial centers would be vulnerable to fleets of heavy bombers, Douhet advocated attacking an enemy nation's urban areas and factories with explosives, incendiaries and poisonous gas--with no distinction being made between combatant and noncombatant. Douhet believed that the impact of strategic bombing would simultaneously demoralize an enemy's civilian population and destroy its capacity to wage war.  During the 1920s, Douhet's theories and those of air power advocate Brig. Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell gained champions within the U.S. Army Air Corps, and strategic bombing doctrine began to be reflected in its field manuals. Chief among this new generation of bomber advocates in the late 1930s was the leader of the Army Air Corps, General Henry "Hap" Arnold. As the commander in chief of the American air service, General Arnold surrounded himself with "bomber men," disciples of daylight strategic precision bombing. According to Arnold and his top commanders, the primary purpose of air power in Europe during the coming conflicts would be strategic bombing. Strategic bombing was the only major contribution the airmen could make to the war effort that was largely independent of the Army and Navy. If air power was to show its capabilities as an equal partner to ground and naval forces, it would be done through the successes of strategic bombing. Because of the prohibitive cost of creating a bomber fleet on a "Douhetian" scale in the interwar fiscal environment, the U.S. Army Air Corps Tactical School advocated only the precision bombing of an enemy nation's vital centers--its factories, power sources, transportation and raw materials. Advocates believed this goal could be achieved through the use of the new, fast, long-range "precision bombers" coming into service late in the 1930s, the B-17 Flying Fortress and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.  Consoilidated B-24 "Liberator" Powered by four turbocharged engines, the B-17s and B-24s were, at the time of their test flights in the mid-1930s, faster than most of the world's operational interceptors. "If the superior speed of the bomber was such to make interception improbable, or at worst, infrequent, then no provision need be made for escort fighters to accompany the bombers on their long range missions," said one modern analyst of the 1930s air doctrine. Moreover, the new heavy bombers flew above 20,000 feet, too high to be reached by most ground-based anti-aircraft. The Air Corps bomber men believed the American heavy bombers would fly high and fast into enemy territory, eluding interceptors and anti-aircraft defenses. Once above the target area, these "self-defending" American bombers would utilize the world's most sophisticated bombsight--the Norden--which allowed for such factors as speed, course, wind direction and distance to target. Under favorable conditions, trained aircrews were able to place their payloads within a few hundred feet of their target from over 15,000 feet, prompting an Army Air Forces spokesman to boast that the aircrews could "drop a bomb into a pickle barrel at 25,000 feet." But for the Norden bombsight to work well, American pilots had to deliver their payloads during daylight hours, in good weather and in level flight.
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Morning quietolong.
The Portland schools won't allow military recruiters in to speak to students. GRRRRRRR!
Morning Aeronaut.
Morning E.G.C.
They're predicting a week of good weather, no rain and hitting the 80's
Morning Mayor.
Morning alfa6.
You'll have to let us know if you get on an interesting case.
Morning Iris7.
Morning PE. Nice Flag-O-Gram today. :-)
Fort Douaumont at the beginning of the battle
Fort Douaumont in the Summer of 1916
The construction work for Fort de Douaumont started in 1885 and was reinforced till 1913. The fort is situated on one of the highest points of the former battlefield. The fort has got a total surface of 3 hectare and is approximately 400 meters long. The fort is 4 times the size of fort Vaux and has got two subterranean levels; the fort is being protected by a 12 meters thick roof.
Fort Douaumont was assumed to be the strongest fort of Europe a role that the fort did not proved in 1916. In august 1915 all forts in the Verdun sector where part of a general reformation, as a resulted al forts were being striped from their guns, to use them at the frontline. When a small German advance guard reached the fort and discovered that it was almost deserted he decided to have a look inside. The fort was taken without any bloodshed and the small garrison was taken prison. The Germans immediately started to arm the fort, and it would last until October 24 before the French would recapture the fort in which tens of thousands were killed.
On May 8, a disaster hit the fort. A couple of soldiers are heating their coffee. Out of there was a huge explosion, the small fire from the soldiers lighted the stored Flame-thrower fuel. The face of many Germans was covered with a light layer of soot. Other soldiers in the fort yelled, "the blacks are coming" (which they mean the feared French colonial troops) and started to fire on their own comrades. Due to explosions from hand grenades stored gas shells exploded and caused more dead and destruction. At the end of the day the Germans counted more than 700 dead. The bodies of the dead men were lain in on of the fortress chambers. After that the Germans build a brick wall to close it. The remains of these soldiers are still at the same place, and it is still possible to visit this room and see the brick wall.
After an unsuccessful attempt on May 22, a regiment of colonial troops from Maroc manage to recapture the fort on October 24. During the German occupation the fort was used as a hideout for troops on their way to the front and as a logistics base. Moreover they had a perfect view, which allowed them to lead the offensives on Fleury and Fort de Souville in June and July 1916. Until the heavy bombardment on the fort it was still in a good condition when the French took it over again. This in spite of the constant French artillery attack on the fort from February 1916 until 24 October! The French used even some of the 400mm guns while trying to brake through the roof of the fort.
Morning PzLdr.
I've got some of Jablonski's books in my library.
Morning Feather.
Hey Sam.
Be Careful! There's a big bright thing in the sky.
Yeah, what's with that? I thought someone was arc welding outside my window.
Thank goodness, the sky is turning a nice claming shade of gray, who knows we might even get a little rain...we sure need it.
We just had a line of showers and t-storms with thunder and lightning move through. We had to unplug the computer and the phone line for a few minutes. It's moved passed our area so we've tunred the computer back on.
My brother and his son from Texas have had a tremendous amount of luck this weekend with catching a lot of fish at the lake. They're here for one more day and then they're going back tommorow.
How's it going, Snippy?((HUGS))
I got released! The defense counsel was the defense counsel on a trial that I was on a jury on a few years ago. IMHO he was almost imcompetent. It also was going to be a sex crime/child molestation case, not sure which it would be.
I do not mind jury duty as it is part of the resposibilty of being a citizen, but I am glad that I will not be on this case. The trial I was on a few years ago was a sex crime/child molestation case and it left a, for lack of better words, a bad impression on me. I asked the jury clerk if they needed me for another case but she said no, so back to work I will go on Wednesday.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Hoping to see the Verdun battlefield someday. Must be an amazing place. No other battlefield compares to Verdun.
Have seen good photos of German fields of fire at the Somme. Ugh.
Good illustration, puts it in perspective.
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