A thread for discussing WW2 bombing (by all sides)

It tied down nowhere near that many men. That is at least half a million soldiers. Most men in Germany were not there to fight the bombers. Only those manning the anti aircraft guns or flying fighters could do that. And even an extra half a million soldiers on the eastern front in any case would not have been enough to change the outcome anyway. Most of the men in Germany were above military age or unfit for service and it was mostly these and those still too young who worked in the factories and manned the anti-aircraft guns.  There was also the Reserve Army consisting of new units being trained for the front or withdrawn home for refitting. The anti aircraft guns were mostly German 88s which were also highly effective anti-tank weapons. But had all these been sent east it would not have changed anything either. The need for the Germans to retain aircraft in Germany as night fighters did remove aircraft from the fighting fronts which helped the Allies win air superiority, but the majority of night fighters were not the Germans best models. Only in 1944 when the first class America fighter, the Mustang, was equipped with extra drop tanks that greatly extended its range so that bombers in daylight could have fighter escort all the way to Berlin did the Germans find it necessary to challenge with the best fighters. This greatly facilitated Allied air superiority elsewhere but it was not until 1944  with the withdrawal of fighters to defend Germany did Allied air superiority at the front become overwhelming. From early in 1944 the cream of the Luftwaffe began to be shot out of the skies by the Mustang bomber escort fighters. But bomber and fighter losses on the Allied side continued to remain very high for the first few months before the Luftwaffe was completely overwhelmed

Well done Vinny. There are several strands that might be followed. Perhaps the most obvious is that the Allied Strategic Bombing Offensive was not only immoral but also ineffective.

In 1944 800,000 men were tied up repairing the damage caused by the bombing campaign - add to that the manpower used by the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht for air defence and those involved in resupplying all those units, that easily reaches a Million men.



Throughout Germany in 1944 alone,
approximately 800,000 workers were
engaged in essential repair work solely
attributable to the bombing, especially to
factories and to modes of communication. An
additional 250,000 to 400,000 personnel were
required to provide the necessary equipment,
resources, and services to effect the repairs.
Thus, a tremendous amount of the available
manpower was diverted from other essential
employment to the reconstruction effort.



The Balance Sheet: The Costs and the Gains of the Bombing Campaign

Of course it was - it was a centre of military production and a transport junction for resources to the Eastern Front.