But the Eighth continued grimly on, throughout 1943, next targeting ball-bearing production, considered a vital weak point in aviation manufcturing. On the 17th of August, a large force of 376 bombers raided Schweinfurt and Regensburg. Sixty bombers, with six hundred aircrew, didn't come back. 16 percent losses. At that rate, the Eighth Air Force could not continue. When B-17G's began to arrive in August and September, the forward machine guns in their chin turrets helped a little. The appalling wastage continued:
September 6 - Over 400 bombers attacked the Stuttgart ball-bearing plant; 45 were lost.
October 14 - Schweinfurt again. 291 B-17's went out; 60 went down.
January 11, 1944 - German aircraft industry targets. 600 Flying Fortresses were sent out. Because of bad weather, only 238 reached Germany; 60 were shot down.
German industrial capacity proved remarkably resilient. Armaments Minister Albert Speer mobilized German (and captive) labor and decentralized critical production. In his Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs, Speer told of his efforts "After the second heavy raid on Schweinfurt on October 14, 1943, we again decided to decentralize. Some of the facilities were to be distributed among the surrounding villages, others placed in small, as yet unendangered towns in eastern Germany. This policy of dispersal was meant to provide for the future; but the plan encountered ... resistance on all side. The Gauleiters did not want new factories in their districts for fear that the peacetime quiet of their small towns would be disturbed."
In late 1943, P-38's and P-47's began to provide the long range escort that the 'Forts' needed. But the ultimate answer, the P-51 Mustang, which could reach Berlin, only appeared in March, 1944.
Here's to a rain of daisy-cutters on the Parade of Anacephalics tomorrow.
Godspeed Swift Victory and Safe Return to the Finest Fighting Force on Earth.
God Bless Our Troops, Our Veterans, and their Families.
I don't think it will be long now Phil. I say your prayer daily. Thanks.