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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 2314.PDF
338 FLIGHT SEPTEMBER 23RD, 1943 The Coming Phase The Opening of the Mediterranean Relieves Shipping and Aircraft : Speeding-up Supplies to Russia : Air Bases in Italy Unbolt Qermany's Back-door: Three-way Bomber Attacks Possible By V. L. GRUBERG "A I AHE Italian Empire"—wrote a German military I journal—"is the bridge to the neighbouring con- -*- tinent of Africa with its raw materials, and, beyond that, across the sea, to the Indian Ocean. In the Mediter- ranean Italy is the naval power of the Central European military space. Cut off from that sea, this space is but a prisoner threatened with isolation and militarily seriously handicapped." Italy's capitulation introduces, therefore, a new chapter in the air war against the remaining partner of the Axis, and opens new vistas for the strategic employment of the bomber. Hitherto, Luftwaffe bases have been much nearer to this country than R.A.F. aircraft bases to Germany. This ad- vantage of a land power operating on inner lines from a variety of strongholds, backed by a substantial hinterland, has been the main thesis preached for years by German Geopolitik. To-day the situation has radically altered. Allied aircraft based on Italy can fan out in three direc- tions, endangering not only the flanks of the "Fortress of Europe," in France and in the Balkans, but also striking at the main defences. East of the nineteenth longitude practically all German-occupied territories are within close range from air bases in Italy. From Grottaglie airfield, about ten miles east of Taranto, for instance, Belgrade is only 350 miles distant, Sarayevo 245 miles, Bucharest 535 miles. As soon as control of the air is established, and even if airfields in Northern Italy will not for a while be available to Allied aircraft, a timely exploitation of the offensive possibilities of Southern Italy, and perhaps of Sardinia, will bring vital centres of industry and commu- nications in Eastern and Southern France under a pattern of short operational ranges. While thus the perimeter defences of Germany are now facing a new threat, perhaps the greatest advantage bestowed on Allied air power by the occupation of Italy is the opening of the back-door to Germany proper. Where hitherto only-a part of Germany was within convenient bomber reach, and attacks on the Southern regions in- volved traversing of large areas under enemy control, soon Allied bombers will strike from the opposite direction as well. The capitulation of Italy has, in fact, exposed Ger- many to a three-way bomber attack and placed within easy range important areas within Germany's strategic rear. The Second Ruhr This vast industrial area which has been called by the Germans the "second Ruhr" (and which includes the Southern regions of Germany, the plateau of Bohemia, and Polish Silesia, hitherto more or less impervious to bomber attack) has been stripped of its geographic defence. For, although the Brenner Pass is a formidable obstacle to land armies, it is no deterrent to the bomber. As illustrated on the map overleaf the bomber casts its shadow over this entire area, and operational ranges from Anglo-American air bases overlap those from Russia. Thus, in conjunction with aircraft operating from Britain, not one square mile of the enemy's war industry is immune from a three-pronged air attack, a factor which will have considerable influence on the morale of Germany's satel- lites. Once Allied bombers are securely established in the plain of Lombardy, or perhaps before, this strategic hinter- land, which is to the Germans what the Ural-Volga basis is to Russia. will have to face the '' riihrifying'' attacks of strategic bombing, The Germans, it will be remembered, spared no efforts to develop the heavy industries previously existing in this region, and according to some estimates about 12,000,000 workers are engaged there on keeping Germany's war machine running. Moreover, flight from the bomb- devastated zones, and the destruction and disruption of pro- duction centres in the Ruhr, have given these industries a signal importance. Austria, for instance, has become an important arsenal. In terms of figures, she produces about 7,000,000 tons of iron ore. The " Alpine-Montan" mining concern employs some 20,000 workers, and in Linz alone the Hermann Goering works employ some 60,000 men. The Austrian Veitsch Magnesite Works supply Ger- many with this important material; the Zisterdorf oil area augments her fuel supplies; the vast I.G. coal-processing plant in Upper Austria employs local coal and the 111 hydro- electric power station in Vorarlberg supplies half of its out- put to Germany in addition to providing power for the entire railway system of Southern Austria and Tyrol. Fur- thermore, numerous aircraft concerns, such as Messer- schmitt, Henschel and Heinkel, have established branch plants in Austria, and the district between Vienna and Wiener-Neustadt has become one of the Continent's most important manufacturing centr.es. The Threat of the Bomber Similarly the Hungarian war industry, which has hitherto escaped the attention of Allied bombers, becomes an im- portant future objective. Already the prospect of the vast air-pincer operations closing in on Hungary is reflected in the changed tone of the Hungarian Press. It is now writing- down instead of writing-up the importance of Hungary's war industries, a modesty dictated by the changed possi- bilities of Allied air power. Budapest, now referred to as "a natural open city," but in fact the military and org isational centre of the war effort of Germany's Hungarian satellite, is but 500 miles from Tarant^ Worth noting is also the fact that fr considerable share of aluminium requirements of the German aircraft industry is covered by the great bauxite deposits in Western Hun- gary. This production amounted to about 1,000,000 tons in 1941, and is estimated to reach 4,000,000 tons by the end of 1943. Hungarian forces on the Russian front have been kept supplied by ordnance and munition plants at Gyor, in Western Hungary, and in Csapel, near Budapest; the Ganz Danube Shipyards, the machine plants at Kobenya, and the Rima-Murany and Salgotarjan iron works, are all working to capacity. Ujpest, with its chem- ical and machine industry, is also an important target, as are the petroleum refineries on the banks of the Danube. No less important is the fact that the entire fuel sources of Germany are now within relatively easy reach of aircraft operating from Anglo-American and Russian bases. While hitherto mainly synthetic fuel plants have been hammered by the bombers, and attacks on such important oilfields as those in Rumania involved considerable difficulties, from the airfields already in Allied possession in Italy the dis- tance to Ploesti has shrunk to 550* miles; oilfields in Occupied Poland are similarly open to attack. It may well be that this reduction of ranges which will enable the Allies to "ruhrify" Germany's fuel resources will precipitate the stoppage of her war machine.
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