History UsefulNotes / TheAirWar

With the surrender of France, the United Kingdom (along with India, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and a couple dozen other protectorates and colonies) stands alone against the relative might of Hitler's Third Reich, and Mussolini's Fascist Italy. Their army is shattered and in no condition to resist an invasion, but they still have the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and the English Channel to protect them. The Germans, however, don't have specialized landing forces or amphibious landing gear and their navy is tiny; even more after their significant losses invading Norway, and their failure to seize the French fleet means it will be a long time before the Kriegsmarine can be reinforced.note Aerial superiority, therefore, is essential to shepherd an invasion force across the Channel and protect their supply convoys afterwards. Thus began the Battle of Britain.

However, the Allies learned a rather harsh lesson in August 1943, when they launched the audacious '''Operation Tidal Wave''', a large-scale, low level air attack on Romania's Polesti oil refineries, as part of an effort to deprive Germany of precious fuel that would otherwise go towards trucks, planes, and Panzers of the Third Reich. Unfortunately for the Allies, the operation is an unmitigated disaster; navigational errors, an underestimation of the refineries' defenses, and the mysterious loss of the lead formation's navigator leads to absolute chaos over Ploesti, with bombers dodging ''each other'' as much as they are flak and fighters, which have a field day attacking the bombers trapped between them and the ground with little room to maneuver. Of the 177 B-24 Liberators deployed to the mission, 53 are lost, and more than 300 allied airmen are killed, and what few bombers that managed to release on target don't do nearly enough damage to curtail the refinery operations, though some sources cite that damage to the oil reserves at Ploesti would come back to haunt Germany later when it would be needed most. For the Allies, it was a hard kick in the face that showed off the failings of low-level heavy bombing; although further raids on Ploesti were similarly unsuccessful, the lessons learned would help strengthen the case for high-level strategic bombing for the rest of the war.\\\

[[folder: Crimes Against Humanity/War Crimes]]

Neither side can claim a moral high ground in the air war. The purpose of German bombings of London was specially to grind the British morale into dust, which failed. The Anglo-American air forces specially targeted German cities such as Hamburg and Dusseldorf because of their industrial capacity, helping hamper the Germans' ability for war production. However, they also launched "terror raids," firebombing cities in order to destroy German morale. A dark example of this was the firebombing of Dresden, which took place in February 1945, only a few months before the end of the war. Of course, the morale aspect often failed as the raids became as routine to civilians on both sides as the weather.

In August 1943, the Allies launch the audacious '''Operation Tidal Wave''', a large-scale air attack on Romania's Polesti oil refineries, as part of an effort to deprive Germany of precious fuel that would otherwise go towards trucks, planes, and Panzers of the Third Reich. Unfortunately for the Allies, the operation is an unmitigated disaster; navigational errors, an underestimation of the refineries' defenses, and the mysterious loss of the lead formation's navigator leads to absolute chaos over Ploesti, with bombers dodging ''each other'' as much as they are flak and fighters. Of the 177 B-24 Liberators deployed to the mission, 53 are lost, and more than 300 allied airmen are killed, and what few bombers that managed to release on target don't do nearly enough damage to curtail the refinery operations, though some sources cite that damage to the oil reserves at Ploesti would come back to haunt Germany later when it would be needed most.\\\

In August 1943, the Allies launch the audacious '''Operation Tidal Wave''', a large-scale air attack on Romania's Polesti oil refineries, as part of an effort to deprive Germany of precious fuel that would otherwise go towards trucks, planes, and Panzers of the Third Reich. Unfortunately for the Allies, the operation is an unmitigated disaster; navigational errors, an underestimation of the refineries' defenses, and the mysterious loss of the lead formation's navigator leads to absolute chaos over Ploesti, with bombers dodging ''each other'' as much as they are flak and fighters. Of the 177 B-24 Liberators deployed to the mission, 53 are lost, and more than 300 allied airmen are killed, and what few bombers that managed to release on target don't do nearly enough damage to curttail the refinery operations, though some sources cite that damage to the oil reserves at Ploesti would come back to haunt Germany later when it would be needed most.\\\

Neither side can claim a moral high ground in the air war. The purpose of German bombings of London was specially to grind the British morale into dust, which failed. The Anglo-American air forces specially targeted German cities such as Hamburg and Dusseldorf because of their industrial capacity, helping hamper the Germans' ability for war production. However, they also launched "terror raids," firebombing cities in order to destroy German morale. A dark example of this was the firebombing of Dresden, which took place in February 1945, only a few weeks before the end of the war. Of course, the morale aspect often failed as the raids became as routine to civilians on both sides as the weather.

For Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF), WorldWarTwo was a life-or-death struggle for existence against its oldest and most bitter foes: the Royal Navy, and the British Army. The Germans were merely their opponent; but opponents came and went. The RAF's war went back to 1917, when the Royal Flying Corps secured independence from the British Army. However, the RAF was sullied and humiliated by its subordination to the British Army - which won all the credit for the battles won in 1917 and 1918. In the interwar period the RAF resolved to never let this happen again. Never again would the RAF be forced to help its enemies win their battles - and in the next war the RAF would, acting alone, win victories entirely for and by itself. One way or another, the next big war would make or break the RAF. If it managed to convince the British people and civilian government that it had done well, then it could be sure of continued independence if not expansion. If it did poorly, then its enemies might take control of it. And once the Army and Navy had done so, then they would never let their Air Forces pursue independent strategies ever again for fear that in doing so they could prove the value of their independence. One way or another, then, the next major war would be make-or-break.

TO DO: IJA, IJN

As the Nazis began to steadily rip apart the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, the Luftwaffe quickly found itself as the party's favorite branch of the Wehrmacht. Part of this stems from how the entire branch was effectively built from the ground up with no lingering feelings of conservatism (as in the Heer) or liberalism (as in the Kriegsmarine). Unlike other nations, the Luftwaffe managed to gain an extensive field test of their new designs and tactics through the Condor Legion, which fought for Fascist Spain in the Spanish Civil War.

Compared to other air forces, the Luftwaffe strictly built itself as a tactical air force. A strategic air force is meant to be able to fight against a nation's entire capacity to wage war, particularly through the usage of four-engine strategic bombers. The Luftwaffe was designed to fight alongside the Heer, ensuring that the enemy's units were sufficiently disrupted. The cornerstone of this strategy was the Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive-bomber, as iconic as it was deadly to enemy tanks.

Of course, this would have major drawbacks, especially in 1940. The Luftwaffe's biggest advocate of four-engine strategic bombers was killed in a plane crash, which left the air force in a tactical role. The inability to strike cities at long-range would significantly hamper the Wehrmacht's ability to crush production of enemy countries.

TO DO: RED ARMY

The Air War of World War Two. One of the largest single components of the war as a whole, it absorbed at least a quarter of all US-UK military spending, accounted for a tenth of all their losses, and ''may'' have reduced the increase in German tank and SP-gun production in late 1944 by as much as 10% (according to the US Strategic Bombing Survey conducted in 1945). [[note]] This is where that oft-cited figure of "10%" comes from. It is ''not'' a 10% loss of tank & Self Propelled gun production, but a 10% ''reduction in the increase''. German output of both only increased by 90% during 1944, whereas they had hoped to increase it by 100%. This production shortfall ''may'' have been the product of strategic bombing, according to the hastily-researched and fragmentary evidence thrown together by the Strategic Bombing Survey. Nor is this figure of 10% representative of the total loss caused to all German production for 1944 by strategic bombing, let alone the total effect of strategic bombing upon German weapons production in the years 1939-1944. This may seem obvious when we put it like this, but some Popular Historians have misquoted this statistic a number of misleading and frustrating ways [[/note]] By late 1944 the Air War finally had a major and undeniable effect upon the course of the war, as much of the increase in German production was diverted to increasing aircraft production in order to defend German cities from Allied bombardment. While the war was utterly lost by that time, it may have reduced Soviet and Allied deaths by many thousands - if not tens of thousands - through its slight effect upon German weapons output. Regardless of its costs or actual effects on the enemy, the Air War was one of the most universally beloved, romanticised, and propagandised elements of the war for the American and particularly the British people. This makes it a key part of the Anglo-American war and their memories of it.

The Air War of World War Two. One of the largest single components of the war as a whole, it absorbed at least a quarter of all US-UK military spending, accounted for a tenth of all their losses, and ''may'' have reduced the increase in German production in late 1944 by as much as 10%. By late 1944 the Air War finally had a major and undeniable effect upon the course of the war, as much of the increase in German production was diverted to increasing aircraft production in order to defend German cities from Allied bombardment. While the war was utterly lost by that time, it may have reduced Soviet and Allied deaths by many thousands - if not tens of thousands - through its slight effect upon German weapons output. Regardless of its costs or actual effects on the enemy, the Air War was one of the most universally beloved, romanticised, and propagandised elements of the war for the American and particularly the British people. This makes it a key part of the Anglo-American war and their memories of it.

TODO: THE SAD, SAD TALE OF GIULIO DOUHET

AND THE BITS OF WHAT HE WROTE THAT RAF LIKED

TO DO: LUFTWAFFE

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