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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0081.PDF
JANUARY I6TH, 1947 FLIGHT A.EAF. OPERATIONS IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE Summary of Air Chief Marshal Leigh-Mallory's Despatch Concluded IN last week's issue of Flight a pointhad been reached in the narrative ofA.E.A.F. operations in Europe wherethe Air C.-in-C. was about to discuss events subsequent to D-Day.The interruption of enemy communica- tions during the post-assault phase, heexplains, was in two phases. From the moment the contending armies hadjoined battle it became of paramount im- portance that the enemy should be deniedthe freedom of movement necessary to mount counter-attacks, and that the re-inforcements he sought to bring into the battle zone should not oaly be hampered,But subjected to the severest casualties. Secondly, after the break-through of theAllied armies, the task of the air forces ag«inst communications was to harry thefleeing enemy columns, block the denies and police the river crossings, thereby re-moving the possibility of orderly retreat. The enemy endeavoured to overcomethe restrictions the railway attacks placed on him by moving stores and equipmentboth by road and by barges down the Seine from the unloading points nearParis to the ferries. These he had estab- lished at Elbeuf and in the neighbour-hood of Rouen and along the water- ways of Northern France. Both thesechannels were dealt with by air attack. Air Chief Marshal Leigh-Mallory wasconvinced that had the weather been con- sistently good the enemy would havebeen prevented from moving by rail at all, and his retreat, disastrous as it was,would have been virtually impossible. During August and September, largelyas the result of a " fighter and fighter- bomber war," the roads leading to theSeine, the crossings, and finally the roads of Northern France became littered withtransport and equipment. Reconnaissance The Air Chief Marshal commendshighly the work of his reconnaissance air- craft. There was evidence to show thatbecause the Allied fighters virtually pre- vented G.A.F. reconnaissance, the Ger-jnan High Command was fighting com- pletely in the dark.Some of the most interesting passages the despatch concern close supportiterations. These were "laid on" in hree ways: (a) armed reconnaissance;(b) prearranged support; (c) immediate tactical support. Armed reconnaissances were made byfighter bombers, which, with bombs, R.P. and cannon, attacked a variety oftargets, particularly on roads and rail- ways. Prearranged support was of twokinds—attacks made according to plans preparpd in advance and including heavyand medium bombers, and the more nor- mal form, those laid on the day before atconferences between Army and Air StSfl in the field. For these attacks the Armyusually assisted by marking the target with smoke signals. Immediate supportwas provided by strike aircraft held in readiness to attack targets requesteddirect by Arjny forward positions, or re- ported by reconnaissance aircraft. The first large-scale attack by heavybombers acting in a close-support role was on July 8th. Bomber Command em-ployed 467* bombers to drop 2,562 tons of bombs on positions north of Caen. TheBritish and Canadian troops, held up to the north of the town for so long, fol-lowed up with a frontal attack. By nightfall they had entered the streets ofCaen. Operation Goodwood The second, and largest, of these opera-tions (Operation Goodwood) took place on July 18th, when the combined weightof the United States Vlllth Air Force, Bomber Command and the A.E.A.F, sup-ported an advance by elements of the 2nd British Army in the Caen area.In each of six instances of heavy bomber attacks ground forces were ableto move into the bombarded positions practically without opposition, thoughthey may have failed fully to exploit the break-through. The heartening moraleffect of these large-scale operations on our own forces, and the shattering of thewill to resist among the enemy, was stated by Army Commanders to havebeen vital. The operation of medium and fighterbombers on prearranged support was often in small formations against targetssuch as gun positions, tank laagers, chateaux suspected of housing head-quarters formations, and defended posi- tions. The effectiveness of the supportmay be judged from the following extract from a captured document: "C.-in-C. West (Von Kluge), in areport to General Warlimont, Hitler's representative, on the position atAvranches, says: ' Whether the enemy can be stopped at this point is stillquestionable. The enemy air superi- ority is terrific, and smothers almostall of our movements. Every move- ment of the enemy, however, is pre-pared and protected by its air forces. Losses in men and equipment areextraordinary. The morale of the troops has suffered very heavily underconstant murderous enemy fire.' " During this phase of the land battlethe tactical air forces concentrated upon the close support of the armies withinthe tactical boundary. A system of Visual Control Points was perfected bywhich a fighter controller rode in one of the leading tanks, equipped with thenecessary V.H.F. radio-telephony equip- ment. By these means an extraordinaryflexibility of control of the fighter bombers was maintained. Another inter-esting development was the use of the American M.E.W. mobile Radar station,which, because of its ability to locate low-flying aircraft, and of its range ofdetection, proved of great assistance to the fighter forces covering the battleareas. When the United States armiesachieved their break-through which carried them to the Brittany Peninsulaand on into the country north of the Loire, the close support work of the airforces took on a new aspect. Continuous fighter cover was provided for the ad-vancing armoured spearheads. In -this connection the work of the U.S. IXthAir Force, particularly of the IXth and XlXth Tactical Air Commands, receivesspecial mention. Pilots of this force had developed a technique of attacking tanksfrom the rear, which experience had shown was most vulnerable to their 0.50calibre bullets. It was to hold up this break-throughthat the enemy, under personal orders from Hitler, attempted his really large-scale armoured- counter-attack, launched against Mortain in an effort to reach thesea at Avranches and split the advancing American armies from their main bases.This concentration of armour gave the tactical squadrons of A.E.A.F. a greatchance to inflict a crushing blow on the enemy. The opportunity was fullyaccepted, particularly by the Typhoons of R.A.F. Second Tactical Air Force. Bomb Lines During the period in which the GermanVHth Army was rapidly becoming en- circled, the Army Commanders fixedbomb lines which severely restricted attacks in close support of the land forcesand thus denied to the fighter bombers many excellent targets. "I pressed forrevision of these bomb lines," relates the. Air Chief Marshal, "to allow more free-dom to operate closer to the fighting, but the Army Commanders maintained theircaution. I am convinced that, as a result of this action, the reasons for which Ifully appreciate, the air forces let through a great deal of enemy material and troopsthat would otherwise not have escaped." He goes on to emphasize the " terrifichavoc" created by the air forces during the enemy's withdrawal to and acrossthe Seine. On August 25th the G.A.F. attempted in force to protect the effortsof the German Vllth Army to use the river crossing in the Rouen area. Theywere met by the fighters of the United States IXth Air Force and 77 enemy air-craft were destroyed in combat and a further 49 were on the ground. On thisand the subsequent three days approxi- mately 3,000 vehicles were destroyed. During the last week in August andthrough September strong bomber forces were used to reduce the enemy garrisonsholding the Atlantic and Channel ports. This bombing was undertaken at theexpress wish of the Army Commanders, and undoubtedly it succeeded in pavingthe way for, and in saving the lives of, thousands of our soldiers in the finalassault. Casualties to French civilians shut up with the German garrisons in
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