Quote:
Originally Posted by MiloMorai
The American bombing never stopped, they just didn't bomb anything that was outside escort range.
|
Technically correct; there were, however, 'pauses' during the periods in summer of 1943 and later, when losses made big formation missions difficult for a few weeks. The winter of '43-'44 was also pretty bad, weather-wise, which also created week-long gaps in large-scale operations. Bombing over France had a limited effect on the German war effort; in fact it could be argued that the Germans did a poor job of integrating the industries and economies of their conquered territories and folding them into their own.
The tempo of operations slowed markedly after Second Schweinfurt in early October '43, due to weather, bringing new fighter and bomber units up to speed and the changes in command at 8th AF, and didn't pick back up until Big Week, which began in mid February of 1944.
Another note on an earlier post; the B-24 was a
lot harder to keep in close formation than the B-17, and Liberator groups suffered accordingly. Its superior range, speed and payload made it a valuable patrol bomber and more useful in the Pacific, but it was not well thought of in the ETO, and there were fewer B-24s in the 8th AF's order of battle as a result. Fortresses required a lot less attention and physical effort to keep close formation at all altitudes than most heavy bombers of the era, which allowed a greater degree of mutual support (meaning that more gunners could fire their guns in the general direction of an attacker).
cheers
horseback