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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0067.PDF
JANUARY I6TH, 1947 FLIGHT 39 Behind the Scenes War Cabinet "Qeri" Released in Qraphic Form By B. J. HURREN FROM the Office of the CabinetChief-of-Staff Committee hasjust come an awkwarcUshaped book which will become a bible for war historians. It is entitled, some- what unglamqjrously, "Diagrammatic Representation of Certain Phases of the War," and sets out in graph form information so far withheld from the public. The book is as interesting for the material it omits as for that which it includes. In the preamble it is truly stated that the graphs make gloomy pictures of various stages of the war. But despite the cold form oi the presenta- tion, things do stand revealed which could not be better expressed. The graph pictures make silent comment; those abroad who read between the squares will blush at the magnitude of the British war effort compared with their own. The statistics on food con- sumption are a living reproach to those living outside this blessed plot of earth. Air-minded people will, however, turn to a study of the Services infor- mation, and will receive an eye-opener on many aspects of the war. Here we must register protest at the slip- shod method of presentation, which is vague and incomplete. The " graphs " The German offensive reached its peak in September, 1940, with 10,000 tons of bombs an Britain are not really graphs at all, since the infuriating method adopted is to give coloured columns without the precise figures. Therefore, • in the following paragraphs, the figures cited are near approximations, being read-off against unmarked data lines. Every effort has been made to secure near-exact- ness, but errors will certainly be pre- sent entirely due to the method of pre- sentation. Bombing Perhaps no more vivid indication of the tremendous bomber offensive against Germany (and to a lesser de- gree Italy) can be given than the bare statement that in compiling the graphs the scale has had to be changed three times! (Regrettably, the graphs do not distinguish precisely where bombs were dropped, and tend to over-emphasize Bomber Com mand.) The first stage appears in 1940-41, and the German offensive reached its peak in September, 1940, with 10,000 tons of bombs on Britain. By Decem- ber, 1941, this had declined to a mere 100 tons, at which figure it remained until the first six months of 1944, when it increased to an average of about 1,500 tons (or i/24th of Bom- ber Command's effort). Whilst the enemy was on the de- cline, Bomber Command shows in- creasing strength. For 1942-43, the peak month was 19,000 tons, or more than twenty times as much as the German counter-effort. These figures Peak strength of the R.A.F. was 1, 100,000 and of the W.A.A.F. 180,000. The R.A.F. had 60,000 killed, 20,000 wounded and 10,000 missing. are quite dwarfed by the 1944-45 offensive, with 66,000 tons in August, 1944, and the record peak of 69,000 tons in March, 1945. On the graph the German figures are too small to gauge accurately, but they amount to approximately 200 tons a month. If, then, we take the best German period, August, 1940, to August, 1941, we find that the aggregate is only 55,000 tons, whereas for the peak British period (Bomber Command only), the 13 months ended March,1 945> we find that the total is 647,000 tons. It is, to borrow a suitable adjec- tive, Kolossal. One interesting aspect is the switch from incendiary bombs. In 1943 there were about 85,000 tons of explo- sives against 70,000 tons of incen- diaries. In 1941, the ratio was 28,000 to 4,500; but in 1944 the ratio was 450,000 of explosives to 50,000 of in- cendiaries. The foregoing figures refer to Bomber Command alone ; they should be coupled with the mighty effort of the U.S. 8th Army Air Force, which, starting later and operating mainly by day instead of the night watches used by the R.A.F., made an equivalent effort- From May, 1944, onwards, this force never dropped less than Fighter production in September, 1939, was less than 100 a month. No fewer than 1,045 were produced in April, 1944. 30,000 tons a month, and reached a peak of 66,000 tons in March, 1945. Nor is this all the enemy endured. The Mediterranean Allied Air Force weighed-in with an average of about 25,000 tons a month, and a peak (May, 1944) of 44,000 tons. And furthermore, the Allied Expeditionary Air Force joined the attack with an average of about 15,000 tons a month from March, 1944, and with a peak of 47,000 tons a year later. In all, the shattering crescendo of devastation dropped by these forces all combined in March, 1945, came to 221,000 tons, which was more than 20 times as much as the German peak. Production We now come to production. The figures given in the M. of I. publica- tion '' Statistics Relating to the War Effort of the United Kingdom" (Table 12) are slightly amplified. We see that fighter production was less than 100 a month in September, 1939. but had risen to 450 a month in August,. 1940. By 1944, the figure was 900 a month, and the peak (in April, 1944) was 1,045. Heavy bom- bers were not produced at all during the opening months of the war, but reached a production peak of 525 a month, in March, 1944. It may be remarked here that the Germans did not believe we could make big bombers, and also that they did not succeed themselves in making big bombers in appreciable numbers. They preferred pilotless weapons of air war. Flying Bombs and Rockets At approximately identical dates, the British High Command must have come to the staff decision to build big Bomber Command's peak was 69,000 tons dropped in March, 1945. In the same month all commands and forces combined dropped, altogether, 221,000 tons. bombers, and the Germans to the con- clusion that the Vi and V2 were wanted. The gravity of these decisions is re- flected in the devastation made by personal bombing compared with the relative futility of the pilotless air- craft. Remembering that one great raid (on Hamburg) was said to have killed 70,000 people, mainly in the holocaust which followed, let the fly- ing bomb story speak for itself in figures. The first Vi (flying bomb) arrived over England on the night of June 12-13, 1944. It was late, in that In- telligence believed the Vi was inten- ded to be used against the Southamp- ton area, where the second front in- vasion force was known to be gathering. Full-scale attack followed on June 15th, and in the first week 940 flying bombs were launched, of which 300 were destroyed—160 by
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