Sat as I am, halfway between to RAF Bomber Command airfields from WW2 I often get that spooky feeling that the spirits of airmen past are still all around here.
Felt it very strongly tonight. It’s cold, damp and slightly misty out there and the thought of climbing into a slow and draughty bomber to challenge the defences of the Third Reich appeals not one bit.
So I checked Middlebrook and Everett’s BCWD for this date.
7/8th December 1941. 131 aircraft set out to bomb Aachen. As was the conceit at the time they were told that the aiming point was the Nazi Party HQ, which needless to say was just about in the middle of the town. It was actually an area bombing raid in all but name.
It wasn’t a great night and only 64 of the aircraft claimed to have found and bombed the target. The Civil Defence report from Aachen for that night recounts an attack by an estimated 16 aircraft, some of which flew as low as 1,000 – 1,500 feet in an attempt to locate their target. Possibly these brave guys were really looking for the Nazi HQ.
The result?
Aachen was deluged by a rain of five high explosive bombs, of which only three actually exploded, nine incendiaries and a handful of leaflets. The western railway goods yards collected another three bombs, and seven houses were slightly damaged elsewhere.
In exchange for this devastating blow, an RAF Halifax and a Hampden failed to return. (Somebody may be able to tell us if any of the dozen or so crewmen lived through the night.)
There was another raid on Brest, plus some minor ops on the Channel Coast which cost a Blenheim, a Manchester and a Wellington.
251 sorties in all. Five aircraft down.
The only good part is that I doubt the crews knew how futile their sacrifice was at this early stage of the bomber war.
Moggy
By: Smith - 9th December 2005 at 03:07
Good post.
I have this idea/memory/illusion or whatever it is that Harris (arriving on the scene after this time, ie after the survey) came to the conclusion that the only effective way to hit the enemy was area bombing. Accurate, large volume area bombing would have been an oymoron to Harris – when he started. But of course over time Bomber Command became much more proficient at placing all/most of their bombloads more-or-less in one place. Target marking improved, so did the general bombing accuracy, and the sheer volume, and the destructiion. The original rationale for area bombing become less pertinent, but the strategy never wavered.
All through this bear in mind, on all sides of the various theatres, the bomber was a key way of striking the enemy and an object of loathing to the defender. Brave men all, on all sides.
By: Barnowl - 9th December 2005 at 02:40
10 HOUSE POINTS TO GRIFFONDOR!
(sorry, couldn’t resist…)
By: Moggy C - 9th December 2005 at 00:21
Spot on. I should have said AM Sir Richard Peirse.
Take six housepoints that man.
Moggy
By: Eddie - 8th December 2005 at 23:56
I fear we were in a situation where… AVM Harris…
Moggy – at the time wasn’t AVM Harris in the US with the British Purchasing Commission? He didn’t take command of Bomber Command until February 1942.
By: Dave Homewood - 8th December 2005 at 22:21
As I observed, it worries me that the guys down in the weeds, looking for the specified target were new guys, indoctrinated with the belief that they really should hit a single house. Scary.
Moggy
Yes, that is a sobering thought. One pilot I have interviewed said his first mission was in a thousand bomber raid when he was still at an OTU. He was 2nd pilot in a clapped out Wellington that could not hold much altitude, and over the traget he found Stirlings above dropping bombs all around him. He reckoned it was a miracle he survived that op.
Yes, you’re right about the Pearl Harbor attack, they most probably wouldn’t have heard at all till the morning. Still, my sentiments of how it must have shaken the ‘antipodeans’ to the core remains, knowing they’re fighting for freedom half way round the world and now suddenly their homes are under grave threat.
By: Moggy C - 8th December 2005 at 13:19
… I think at that time in the war, they really genuinely thought they could bomb a single building in the occupied countries with great precision.
I fear we were in a situation where the Air Ministry, AVM Harris and the intelligence [sic] people knew we were lucky to land a bomb within ten miles of a target, but didn’t want to let the fact escape to avoid damaging crew morale. It is also quite possible that experienced crews knew this too, but kept it to themselves for fear that dropping their entire bomb load in the next country would nullify that mission counting towards their tour.
As I observed, it worries me that the guys down in the weeds, looking for the specified target were new guys, indoctrinated with the belief that they really should hit a single house. Scary.
On the subject of Pearl Harbour. The guys on these sorties almost certainly wouldn’t have known anything about it. The ones that survived would learn about it the following day when they went down to breakfast and picked up the morning newspapers. Their whole world must have changed overnight (But not quite so radically as it did for the poor sods in those five aircraft).
Moggy
By: Nermal - 8th December 2005 at 12:58
An old man once told me that British interests were attacked before Pearl Harbour, and because of the placing of the international date line it might even have been the day before. Any one confirm this? – Nermal
By: Dave Homewood - 8th December 2005 at 10:50
A great post Moggy.
And to pick up further on Mark’s post, I can only but imagine the thoughts going through the minds of those young bomber crew members on that particular night, or perhaps the next night had word not yet reached them, of the Japanese now entering the war too.
Especially those Bomber Command crews from New Zealand, Australia and perhaps maybe even some were from the USA, who not only were fighting war against the Third Reich, but now knew the sudden position their loved ones and homelands were in after the long perceived and expected onslaught from Japan had finally begun.
It must have caused much stress to them, especially in those early hours after the Pearl attack, hearing of the US fleet being so badly hit, Malaysia being invaded and all the other points of onslaught, and then the sinking in of these facts would lead to that knowing feeling there was nothing they could do but carry on their own little part of the war so far from home.
Brave men, one and all.
By: Corsair166b - 8th December 2005 at 04:32
Meanwhile…….far off to the west….in the middle of a VERY LARGE Pacific ocean…..gun crews were settling into hastily dug trenches on beaches along the shores of paradise….radio messages were flying back and forth in the US command chain and its subordinate stations throughout the Pacific….the invasion forces would show up ANY minute….any strange lights in the hills (and there were thought to be many) were investigated….fires were still being put out or left to burn uncontrollably….tapping was being heard from inside the Oklahoma, turned turtle in Pearl Harbor….anti aircraft crews scanned the skies and became nervous any time an engine was heard in the distance…the few remaining PBY’s were being fueled and readied for missions to search for the oncoming invaders….carriers were returning from their mission to deliver fighter planes to Wake island, only to discover that they were now needed all over the Pacific….smoke billowed still….wrecks were everywhere…..hospitals were packed with the maimed and the dead…
War had come to America.
M
By: galdri - 8th December 2005 at 00:47
As was the conceit at the time they were told that the aiming point was the Nazi Party HQ, which needless to say was just about in the middle of the town. It was actually an area bombing raid in all but name.Moggy
I’m prepered to be corrected (too lazy to check my books), but I think at that time in the war, they really genuinely thought they could bomb a single building in the occupied countries with great precision. True, the bombing survey conducted in the summer of 1941 had been conducted, but the resaults were still top secret in the Air Ministry, and a change of tacktics, to pure area bombing, only came into being in early 1942.
But I know how you feel. Lets never forget these very brave men!
By: Barnowl - 8th December 2005 at 00:28
As ever, a thoughtful and exceptional post Moggy. It always amazes me how futile these missions were, early in the war, with the collective backs of Britain against the proverbial wall, and how the crews could essentially climb into their coffins night after night to bomb a target far from home, that served little purpose in the grand scheme of things. Lest we all forget.
BARNOWL
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December 7, 2005 at 11:59 pm