 Below this formation of American flying fortresses, there lies Marion Berg and East Prussia. Up to this moment, one of the most important cogs in Germany's war machine. The specific target on which this lead bombardier is lining up his bomb site is the Fokker Wolf 190 plant. Up to this instant, this aircraft factory has been accounting for almost 50% of Germany's total FW 190 fighter assembly. Tons of bombs rain down on a tight pattern of destruction. This, remember, is no area attack. It is an assault on one single target, and any bomb that falls outside that target has failed to achieve its purpose. The assembly of fighters in this Fokker Wolf factory has come to a sudden and violent end. To many, the bombing of Germany probably seems to be little more than a series of capricious adventures, one attack unconnected in any way with the one that preceded it, or the one that will follow it. It is easy for the average citizen to envision the positions of ground armies because of maps like these, which make the positions of the contesting forces quite clear. It is harder to express so graphically the progress of a bombing program. Yet there is a real line in this battle of Germany. Not a geographical front, but an industrial one. In the British Isles, there are the Allied Air Forces. On the European continent, we have Regensburg, Marienburg, Bremen, Auschwitz-Lebens, Warnemunde, and Kassel. These are the major German fighter assembly plants, and as such are actually the center of Germany's industrial defense line. However, these are only the places where the aircraft is assembled into the finished fighting machine. Component parts for German fighters are made at Anklam. The aircraft is made by a simple, detailed, ajaw-like pack of gears, and the air suspension system. And so the aircraft is a little bit more streamlined, and the military systems are a little bit more ventilated. And this is one of the most beautiful lines in the world, because you can do so much in a few days because of the age of the aircraft. In Germany, there are only two of the most important aircraft, the two are the American armored vehicles. the aircraft is assembled into the finished fighting machine. Component parts for German fighters are made at Anklin, the Weser Flugzeugbau works at Bremen, the Great Hedderheim Propeller works near Frankfurt, the aircraft tire factory at Hannover, the C-A-M ball bearing plant at Paris, and the ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt. Obviously an assembly plant can't operate if other plants aren't building the parts from which the enemy planes will be assembled. Hulse produced 29% of all German synthetic rubber production and is in fact responsible for 18% of our entire supply of rubber. Natural or synthetic. At Boschum there's a great steel plant producing high-grade aviation steel. Heroya up in Norway is a great producer of aluminum and magnesium. Metals which figure importantly in aircraft production. At harm there are great railroad marshaling yards having a capacity of 10,000 freight cars a day. Much of the tonnage handled here is closely connected with the manufacturer, assembly, maintenance and repair of enemy aircraft. And so it is all over Germany and occupied Europe. Everywhere there are plants and installations that contribute directly or indirectly to the making of German aircraft. Industrial bastions which must first be ripped apart before the enemy's armies can be destroyed. The smashing blows by the Allied air forces at Hulse, Heroya, Regensburg, Schweinfurt, Hanover and Frankfurt have had the result of piercing the German industrial line to the extent of 37.5% of estimated single-engine fighter production in September of 1943. If this rate of drop continues, there can be only one result. The eventual disappearance of the Luftwaffe has a defensive force. But these attacks have had other far-reaching effects. For instance, in January of 1943, just when the 8th bomber command had started daylight attacks against Germany proper, 42% of the German fighter strength was concentrated in Western Europe, 33% of it in Russia and 25% in the Mediterranean area. After 10 months of American bombers appearing by day over Germany, the figures line up more like this. On the Russian front, 19%. In the Mediterranean area, 12%. And in Western Europe, 69%. Germany thought it was urgent enough to withdraw fighters from two important theaters, all in a vain attempt to save their crumbling industry from the grim destructive blows of the British-American bomber offensive. That is why the Battle of Germany is being fought. Now we come to the problem. How are the targets selected? And what enormous effort is necessary for the 10 or 15 minutes that our air-task forces will be over any given target? The daylight bombing offensive against Germany is the responsibility of the 8th Air Force. Under the 8th Air Force are the 8th bomber command, the 8th fighter command, and the 8th Air Service Command, all of whom contribute to every bombing mission. But it is the bomber command which is charged with the actual destruction of the selected targets. The bomber command with which this picture is primarily concerned is divided into three divisions. Each division has a number of combat wings. Each combat wing, in turn, has three groups. This is the chain of command. Since the operations which we are to follow, there have been some organizational changes. But they are principally changes of nomenclature and have not affected the broad, strategical, and tactical purposes of the organization. For instance, what is referred to as bomber command in this picture is now the 8th Air Force. Weather is the greatest single enemy of the 8th bomber command. For here is to be found the most changeable, treacherous weather in the world. To keep the most accurate possible check on weather conditions all over Europe, the RAF has established vast communication and reporting systems. Weather planes such as this Mosquito and our own B-17s are continually in the air in an effort to know in advance what the weather will be over Europe and the United Kingdom. Men like this supply a major portion of the data from which eight main weather maps of Europe and of the United Kingdom are drawn each day. In addition, there are four upper air maps and eight maps of a miscellaneous classification. In this room, all weather information is collected, coordinated by the RAF, and sent out by teletype to every responsible command. This is the weather section in the operations block at the bomber command. Here the information gleaned from the weather stations is put together and correlated into weather maps. Accurate predictions must be made as to the direction and speed of the wind, downward and forward visibility, temperature, humidity, possible icing conditions, and probable atmospheric pressure at the bases en route and over the target. Upon the findings made in this room will depend whether or not there will be an American bombing of a German target tomorrow. This is the operations room of the bomber command. Here is where the wheels are put in motion for any American bombing attack. Right now, the officers you see are waiting for the commanding general's morning conference. They are the A3, or operations officer, the operational intelligence officer, a weather officer, and other members of the staff. Hey, Major. Looks like most of Germany will be pretty good, sir. But we have a warfront approaching from down here, which we do not expect to affect the bases until late in the evening. How's the weather at Anklam? At Anklam, sir, we expect two to five-tenths of low cloud and small amounts of middle and high cloud, above 18,000 feet, visibility six to eight miles. How about Marienberg? At Marienberg, two to four-tenths of low cloud, little or no middle or high cloud, visibility six to eight miles. What will it be at Danzig and Gdynia? At Danzig and Gdynia, sir, two to five-tenths of low cloud, two to four-tenths of high cloud, above 23,000 feet, visibility in there about five miles. Give me the map of Anklam and the picture of the aircraft factory there. Yes. The two combat wings, Anklam with two combat wings, shipyards at Danzig with two combat wings, and the port facilities at Gdynia with two combat wings. That will require a maximum effort. Now the various specialist officers then go into action. This is the operational intelligence section. Here are target files containing complete information as to the type, construction, and vulnerability of the targets. This data is gathered both from photo interpretation of aerial pictures and from confidential ground sources. On the basis of this information, the aiming point for the attack will be selected. The aiming point is a building or installation in the approximate center of the target. Here, operational research experts are minutely studying the architectural and construction details of the targets. It will be their duty to recommend, on the basis of studies previously made, the types of bombs and the proper fusing to accomplish the greatest possible destruction of the objective. These studies of the Arado factory at Anklam are immensely important, since the nose and tail fuses of a bomb can be adjusted to give varying degrees of delay between the time of initial impact and the explosion. For example, an improperly fused bomb would react something like this. Result, very superficial damage that may hardly even cause delay in production. On the other hand, here's what happens when a properly fused bomb strikes the same factory. Two bombs of exactly identical weight and explosive power have totally different effects, because one was fused properly and the other was not. It is the responsibility of the operational research section to determine proper bomb fusing. Here, the commanding general and the operations officer are working out the overall planning of each of the missions with the staff bombardier, the staff navigator, and the flak officer. This is a complex business because of the multiple nature of the attack. We'll attack Aiklum one hour before we attack the other targets. That should draw most of the German fighters on the Anklam force. The Anklam force is big enough to take care of itself. You mean along the same course, sir? No. Send them a little south. They'll act as a better diversion. This would be the best place for us to coast and standpoint a pilotage. Look, sir, the flak concentration at that point is quite heavy, the heaviest along the coast. We could rather move them a little further south for the general's suggests, and they would not run into flak difficulties at that point. How is that for the navigation viewpoint? That's a very good line, Paul, sir. All right, we'll cross at that point, and you adjust the flight times accordingly. Take care of it, Darrell. While this is going on, the various liaison officers stationed at bomber command headquarters are busy keeping their respective commands acquainted with the course of events. The closest liaison is maintained with both the RAF fighter and bomber commands, the Royal Navy, the eighth fighter command, and the ninth bomber command. It is through these liaison officers that requests will be made for the necessary fighter support, diversionary effort by the medium bombers, air-sea rescue patrols, and so on. Officers at fighter command immediately look up plan number 2340 to find out what part the fighters are expected to play in the next day's operations. Similarly, the ninth Air Force is informed that bomber command intended to lay on plan number 2340. It will be the duty of the mediums to attack enemy airfields at a time that will cause maximum interference with German attempts to intercept the heavy bombers. Right now, weather officers are getting ready their forecast for the general's late afternoon conference, where final decisions will be made. Everybody on the air has planned. Yeah, it should. It should be OK. Thanks. Good night. Does your morning forecast still hold? Yes, sir. There's practically no change in the situation. And we still expect the base weather to hold up for return. Send out the field order exactly as planned. Get me the first, second, and third divisions on a conference call, please. Already with your conference call. Go ahead, please. Can you scramble? OK, over. OK, over. Over. OK, there's a mission tomorrow. Maximum effort with five task forces. The first task force, comprising six groups of the first division, will hit 3948. 3948. Secondary, 8731. 8731. Last resort, 9009. 9009. The second task force, comprising five groups of the third division, will hit 6848. 6848. Secondary, 6424. 6424. Last resort, 5381. 5381. The third task force will comprise four groups of the second division, which will hit 6424. 6424. Secondary, 5381. 5381. Last resort, any industrial target of importance in Germany. OK. The first and third divisions will each dispatch one air force. The field order now goes over the teletype to all interested units and command. The first step has been taken in the sequence of events that will finally result in bringing our planes over the targets and discharging their bomb loads. Command has conceived the mission and laid out general plans and routes. Division now plans in detail what command has ordered. The actual time of assembly of the various task forces is determined. The combat wings are assigned to their specific task forces. And the routes from assembly to rendezvous points and the target are chartered. Many considerations go into the selection of the routes. Here is the commanding general of the first division, which you will remember has two targets for tomorrow, Pinkland and Gideonia. The northern unit, 0 plus 40 minutes. The other friendly unit. From that, from that time. The northern force should be about the east coast of Denmark at that time, sir. It looks like we're going to catch all the fighters on the southern force, aren't we? Looks very much that way, sir. I think we'd better bend that route around so it's headed towards Berlin. If we can bend those German fighters down to Berlin until we can get started home, they'll never catch us. At the second division, the target for tomorrow is Danzig. Danzig, eh? That's fine. How many ships do we have tomorrow? Well, sir, if you recall, general, on our last mission, we had heavy battle damage and now all those aircraft have repaired yet. Call up the wing commanders and have them put pressure on the groups to get their maintenance crews to work on these ships tonight and get every possible airplane on the line in the morning. The third division, which will have for its targets, Marion Berg and Gdynia. Looks pretty good, sir. We're going to be right over a lake there for good checkpoints to turn. We're going in against the sun. The sun will be at our backs, sir. Defense isn't the target, major Frost. What about the flag defenses? Sir, the upper targets are 24 guns. That approach is good. The lower target isn't defended by heavy guns. No heavy guns, whatever. Merrinberg announced. The division's operations officer bases his precise plans on aircraft and crews available at the various groups. He then calls the combat wings to give them advance information before the field order actually arrives. Operator, give me combat wings. Two combat wings, 3948. 3948. 3948. 8, 7, 3, 1. 8, 7, 3, 7, 3, 1. The last resort, 9009. 9009. Task Force. OK, ready to scramble? Over. Over. There will be a mission tomorrow. And I want two groups on each combat wing. The target will be primary 6424. 6424. Secondary. 5381. 5381. The last resort will be any industrial target of importance in general. OK. There's an order coming through. The third division will finish eight groups. First and second wings comprising the second task force will hit 6848. 6848. Secondary 6424. 6424. Last resort, 5381. 5381. 5381. Last resort. Final order. 500-pound GPs, fused, 1-tenth nose, 1-100 tail. 1-tenth nose, 1-100 tail. This is operations of the combat wing. A purely tactical unit having absolutely no administrative functions whatsoever. Sir, we'll assemble over Wallsworth. Problems of takeoff and assembly are the particular specialized function of this organization. It is the primary business of the combat wing to get the airplanes of its group into the air at the proper times and to get them assembled once in the air. The field order requires that we provide the second combat wing and the second air task force. 89th group will lead, 81st group will be high, and 63rd group will be low. That means that Colonel Whitton will lead the combat wing on this mission? That'll be fine. The bomber command is asked for a maximum effort. That means every available plane is to be gotten into the air. Ramsay, this field order has called for 3,100 gallons for the Hs due to the distance. Now, they've called for maximum bomb load. How about that for the weight? I think we'd better put eight bombs in the Hs and 12 in the Ds. That keeps us around 65,000 pounds. How about the CG? CG is well forward, and I think it'll work out very well because we've been down low for a long period of time. All right. We'll have eight in the Hs and maximum in the Ds. Most of the groups are going further than an American bomber has gone before. Therefore, combat wings must work out precisely the maximum bomb load in relation to the required gas load. Decisions made in this and other matters are added to the division's field order and passed on to the groups, the ultimate tactical unit to the men who get the planes in the air and fly the mission. On the basis of the alert, telephone down to the group by the combat wing, the various agencies necessary to get the planes airborne on their mission wheel into action. Intelligence, operations, weather, signals, group navigators, and bombardiers have the grave responsibility of passing on and making clear to the combat crews the vital target and route information furnished by bomber command and bomb division. The proper information folders, maps, weather maps and charts, and photographs have to be selected by the various group officers and then the information therein passed on to the crews. In dispersal areas, round crews are getting their planes in condition to fly the mission. The normal work of keeping an airplane fit for operation is enormous, even in peacetime. When you add to this already great job, the element of battle damage, the problem becomes gigantic. Engines, wings, propellers, controls, wiring, fuel system, oxygen system, the thousand and one elements that go to make up the complex mechanics of a heavy bombardment plane all must be kept in perfect shape. The failure of any one of them on a mission can easily mean the loss of the plane and its personnel. Or at best, such a failure will cause the plane to abort. That is, return to its base without having reached the target. It was originally estimated that about 37.5% of planes on hand would be effective at one time. However, the maintenance and repair has been so magnificently performed that sometimes up to 50% of planes on hand have been effective. Ordnance is already at work getting the bombs in their racks and loading ammunition onto the plane. These are 100 pound incendiaries. These are 500 pound general purpose bombs. And these are 1000 pound GPs. The bombs have to be placed in their racks very carefully. One bomb sticking in its rack through careless placement might make a whole mission useless so far as that individual plane goes. One o'clock in the morning. All over England at this exact moment, American air crews are being roused from their sleep. Okay, fellas, roll out. We have a mission this morning. Captain Kirk, Captain Thompson, Lieutenant Boots get Ackerson out of the way and Ackerson is scheduled to fly. Let's stop it up. This is a hell of a time to get a man out of bed. Drip, talk about breakfast in half an hour. Come on, Nick. Rise and shine. Let's go. Come on, Swiftie. Get it out. Let's go. Go, you guys. Just when I had a 40-dollar pass coming up. Can't, you guys. You're running my beauty sleep. Through the cold of the English early morning, the combat crews go to their mess. They have no idea where they're going yet, but they know they'll be taking off in about four hours. How do you think those Jerry's gonna be today? What do you think, Doc? They'll be shooting at us. Sometimes I don't think those Jerry's got proper respect for us. What do you expect, Buster, the way you shoot? You could hit a chow and flange at a bullfader. Yeah. How about those two Jerry's I slapped down over Swine? I'll tell you what happened there. They heard that I was on a tail gun, and they painted from fright. That's all. And so it goes. The 4,000 men who will go on this mission all know it will be a rugged deal. For some of them, it's their first mission. Others are veterans of many. Now, at all the groups in the bomber command, the air crews are assembling in the briefing rooms to learn the target for today. This is the briefing room of the 303rd group. Here in a few minutes, the nature, locale, and root of today's mission will be made known to the men who fly it. Specifically, you are to destroy the errato components, principally wing and tail assemblies for the Falk Wolf 190. The Falks are then shipped to New Brandenburg for assembly. On service, target. Your heading on your run-up will be 45 degrees true. Immediately after your turn, you have almost directly north of the town. You should be able to pick out Freedland, 6 miles to your right and halfway between your IP and the target. Along this route, you should be able to see the main line railroad from Freedland, the main road, and goes into Anquins at Freedland. Shortly after passing Freedland, you will see a peculiarly formed wooded area on the right of your course. From here, pick out the aerodrome slightly southwest of the city and the intersection of the main railroad and the Peene River just outside of the town to the north. Night target map. Your target is across the railroad, beyond the town in the area formed by the bend of the river. And now a picture of the target. This group of buildings here is your target. This building will be the aiming point. If your bomb pattern is concentrated in this area, it should very effectively knock out the factory. Lights, please. At the 379th, the intelligent briefing continues. Groups will bomb from an altitude of 13,000 feet. Feel that this low altitude will be equalized by the element of surprise which is with us. And it should ensure a thorough and complete planning of the target. Another task force is hitting the FW190 assembly plant at Marionburg. If the two missions are successful, 65% of Jerry's remaining FW190 production and assembly facilities will be destroyed. At the 384th. Other forces are attacking submarine yards, aircraft assembly plants and units of the German fleet at Danzig and Gdynia. If these attacks succeed, they will destroy 13.5% of Germany's remaining U-boat construction and will destroy or immobilize a large section of the German Navy. The overall result of all four attacks will be to show the hunt at his efforts to protect his key industries by moving them to the east for beyond successful. It will show him that we will seek out his industry and destroy it wherever he places it. At the 351st, the intelligence briefing is completed. Your secondary target this morning is the air park at Teuton. This contains a FW190 assembly plant, a Bombardier school and you'll love this. It's the country club of the German Air Force. Should you be unable to bomb either of those two targets then in that case you'll attempt to bomb the last resort target which is the Hankel assembly plant at Rostow. This is the only complete Hankel unit in North Germany. It should be easily identified by the airfield adjoining which has six intersecting runways running from 1,000 to 1,600 yards and they're full of nice, fat, juicy Hankels. A weather officer briefs the crews of the 305th group going to Gdynia. The synoptic situation today is this. We have a high-cretia system centered over northwest Europe up here near Finland extending southwestward down across the British Isles causing an influx of south and southwesterly air going up in this direction. Hence, causing blue or no cloud in the area up there and toward your target. There are no fronts to affect your route today except a kernel system off to the west which will cause an increase of medium and high clouds as you come back across the North Sea. Lights please. At takeoff time there will be nil to three-tenths low clouds also a layer of high clouds above 23,000 feet four to six-tenths in amount also a middle layer of clouds in there between 10 and 12,000 feet these medium and high clouds decreasing out over the North Sea to three to five-tenths each in amount. The low clouds will increase as you go out toward the North Sea to three to five-tenths base 1500 to 2,000 feet tops four to 5,000 feet. There will be some fog patches over England visibility one to two miles except in those fog patches 500 to 1,000 yards visibility increasing rapidly out over the North Sea and the remainder of your route to four to six miles. The high clouds continuing three to five-tenths and also the middle clouds on toward the target decreasing to nil at the target low clouds continuing three to five-tenths decreasing to two to four-tenths at the target base 2,000 feet tops 5,000 feet visibility four to six miles temperature at bombing altitude minus 26 degrees centigrade the freezing level on your route out 12,000 feet over the North Sea with light rime in the middle clouds as you return back to base that freezing level will lower to about 7,000 feet continuing light rime in your middle clouds now on the return route weather will be very similar to your route out except your clouds increasing in amount as you proceed back across the North Sea base on return visibility four to six miles a flak officer briefs the 389th group with the second division going to Donzig gentlemen, this morning because we are going across the Danish coast at such a relatively low altitude we've planned the route so as to avoid as much flak as possible at any rate any flak that you do encounter will be really a deterrent in nature however, you can expect heavy flak batteries at a place where we make landfall here at Naminda Gap about a mile south of course also there are known to be other heavy batteries eight miles south of course there on the coast at Penn other batteries are known to be located here at Korsor 20 miles south of course on the island of Skellef from then on into the target you will have very little flak now, while you're crossing the coast and when you're over aerodromes and cities in Denmark you are advised to take evasive action now then when you get to the target itself your anti-aircraft fire from the ground will be known to be supported by fire from naval units now for those of you who have never been fired on by a naval unit I want to add that naval units can put up a hell of an intense barrage and you want to look out for it an operations officer briefs the crews of the 94th group of the 3rd division this group is leading a formation of variance work today the 88th will be high group and the 764th will be low group bomb load of each ship will be 3 1000 pounders used 110th nose and 1 100th tail get that bomb of yours you'll also carry 5 M47A incendiaries you'll have full Tokyo's 1000 gallons extra takeoff will be normal assembly 1000 feet over the field after takeoff and assembly proceed up this line to this point this will be your combat wing assembly line you'll leave the coast at this point here that's flasher 15 that's not any suging around over England it's a long haul the 57th combat wing will follow us today at a 3 mile interval now to the 95th group B-26s will be hitting the the area and the lowland at approximately 0 hour minus 40 minutes one group of B-47s will strike the ordinary and join us for escort on the way out joining to the approximately this point here all other forces are using approximately the same route today just one point and that's the Anclam force will probably pass us coming out as we're on our way in you should see plenty of air activity let's hope that most of it is ours the flying will commence at the English coast climbing at 150 miles an hour 100 feet per minute we should reach bombing altitude approximately at the Danish coast under no circumstances should the Danish coast be crossed at less than 12,000 feet we will bring Tokyo as soon as possible we should have plenty of gas we figure approximately 400 gallons overload at the 100th the operations briefing is completed a lot of loose formation today the group's echelons to the right till a point 75 miles from the enemy coast for a normal combat combat wing formation will be consumed for visibility everybody use all this land the Royal Navy will be out patrolling the sea routes so any crews that have to ditch will probably be rescued very quickly the commanding general of bomber command has us to put out a special effort today so let's give it time the commanding officer of the group invariably has a few words to say men, the going is going to be rough you're going to have to bow your neck in there and stay in there and pitch every minute now gentlemen this is a tight target you don't want to have to go back after the second time if you fly a good tight formation get a good dense pattern on that target we won't have to this ankle and crowd down here may pull most of the fighters off of us or that's just a guess so particularly for you gunners you've got to be on the ball from the Danish coast onto the target flak will be heavy probably accurate, but you've been through worse before remember that your biggest enemy is still the single engine fighter plane now you bombardiers take your time and going in on your releases and don't allow the flak to worry you it's merely to break up your formation now to get in any trouble up in this area remember you can always go over to Sweden and get down in solution country and it's close over there it could be rough I don't think it'll be too bad and whether it's easy or rough I'll be sitting out in front taking the whole works in the main briefing over the pilots, navigators bombardiers, radio operators gunners receive separate specialized briefings these briefings are very technical and very thorough and are held so that every member of the combat crew will understand exactly what he can expect and what is expected of him any lack of thoroughness here might very well result in the failure of a mission as dawn breaks over the English countryside it finds the ground crews still working grimly in an effort to get every plane in the air that is scheduled to be dispatched these men take as fierce a pride in their planes as do the air crews to each of them it is a personal tragedy reflecting in some way on their capabilities when their airplane is forced to turn back without having completed its mission or when they have been unable to get an expected plane ready it is getting on to the time when the combat crews go to their planes here they are in the crew room putting on their flying clothes clothes and equipment especially constructed to ward off the intense sub-zero cold which they will encounter so shortly all air crew members receive escape kits containing equipment that will help them get back to safety that they are forced down in Germany or in occupied territory the pilots, co-pilots navigators and bombardiers are also issued battle folders containing the maps which will be of such vital importance to them in the prosecution of the mission the men turn in all personal papers and valuables which might serve to give the enemy information in case of capture some of the crew members turn to their chaplain whose ministrations are always available to the men of the bomber bases so changeable is the weather in the European theater that sometimes widely varying conditions will be found on fields only a few miles from each other conference around each airplane as the pilots recheck the details of the mission with their crews crew members have ceased to exist as individuals they are now 10 men teams and on the excellence of their teamwork will depend the success of the operation more than 400 forts and liberators with their 4000 crew members taxi for the takeoff one becoming airborne proceeds for about 90 seconds it banks sharply to indicate its turning point then goes into a slow left turn each success of plane in the element turns as soon as the pilot sees the plane in front of him turn the element of three planes levels off at 1000 feet and returns parallel to the takeoff runway at a distance of about 2 miles here the elements start to assemble into squadrons of 6 continuing to circle the field the squadrons then go to 2000 feet where the group assembly takes place this accomplished the group now moves on to the combat wing assembly point here is how the group stacks up from the side the group has a depth of 850 feet this is how the group looks from above in the lead squadron the second element is flown with the nose of the leader slightly behind and to the right of the right wing aircraft first element the lead plane of the high squadron flies even with the lead plane second element lead squadron the second element of the high squadron flies with the leader's nose just behind the left of the left wing aircraft first element here is the group as an enemy fighter pilot sees it from head on the first element of the lead squadron is stacked high left and low right the first element of the low squadron is stacked high right and low left likewise the first element of the high squadron is stacked high right and low left all second elements are flown low the second element of the lead squadron is stacked high left and low right the second elements of the high and low squadrons are stacked high right and low left experience has shown that this arrangement of the group brings to bear on attacking fighters the greatest possible amount of firepower by utilizing to fullest advantage the field of fire of each gun in the formation again it has proved to be the most maneuverable formation from which to execute the primary and all important purpose of the mission the dropping of the bomb loads on a precise target obviously it would be desirable to stack as many bombing planes as possible in one defensive formation however it has been found that the largest practical defensive formation is the combat wing of three groups any formation of aircraft larger than this becomes unwieldy this force has a depth of 3,000 feet the nose of the lead aircraft of the low group is aligned with the tail and slightly to the left of the rear most aircraft of the lead element lead squadron, lead group the nose of the lead aircraft of the high group is aligned with the tail of the rear most aircraft of the lead element lead squadron, lead group combat wing having been assembled they now move on to make rendezvous with the rest of the task force in this case another combat wing from the force which is to attack Anglum is now approaching the Danish coast and the formation is subject to enemy attack at any moment it is now 10, 30 hours and Denmark has been penetrated to some distance without any great opposition as yet so far there has been only some light and inaccurate flak at the coastline Anglum formation has to contend with the German fighter attack from all levels and all clock positions during this time the gunners have bought the fortresses knocked down fighter out of fighter however the gunnery of the forts no matter how sensational it may be is only to ensure the successful performance of the mission it is not the job of purpose of forts or liberators to seek out action with enemy fighters they merely defend themselves against enemy fighter attack and bring their crews back safely to their home bases anxious moment comes now for the lead navigator and bombardier the formation is approaching the initial point that is the point where the wing will turn off and make its bombing run on the target upon proper navigation to this point may rest the success of the entire mission pilot to left waste gunner we're over the IP release flares, waste gunner to pilot Roger once the combat wing has reached the IP it breaks up into three component groups for the wing formation is to one we live for a unit bombing operation as the IP has reached and the lead airplane of the lead group is about to make the turn it fires two red flares spaced five seconds apart then the group makes its turn on to the run up the low group goes on straight ahead for 20 seconds then makes its turn the high group proceeds for 20 seconds beyond the low groups turn then it turns on to the run up the most critical defensive period in the mission has begun the wing to accomplish most efficiently its primary purpose the bombing of the target has sacrificed its mutual defensive firepower and the groups are thrown on their own now the crucial moment is almost here the moment around which the entire mission revolves the group is committed to its attack no evasive action may be taken until the bombs are away and at this time the formation is most vulnerable to attack both from flak and enemy fighters the second task force comes over the target this force comes over its target at Danzig the second task forces arrive over the harbor area of Gdynia bombs away the standard procedure for the group leader to inform bomber command the moment the target has been attacked bomber command in turn promptly informs the commanding general of the 8th Air Force bombs away and closing the bomb bay doors the groups can now defend themselves again at least to the extent of evasive action against the flak and fighter attack flies a straight course for 15 seconds before turning off to the rally point the lead group then proceeds to the rally point at an indicated airspeed of 155 miles per hour making S turns meanwhile to permit the trailing groups to catch up the lead group crosses the rally point at a height 1000 feet lower than bombing altitude the succeeding groups will close with the lead group as quickly as possible to regain the defensive combat wing formation the following groups need not necessarily pass exactly over the rally point in regaining wing formation in the meanwhile the Marauders take off to fulfill their part in the day's operation from the air drum at Warnstracht one of the most important of the enemy's fighter bases this blow by the medium bombers is timed so as to provide the maximum interference with the enemy's capacity to intercept our withdrawing heavy bombers last off are the fighters their great speed will enable them to reach the Lawarden district in a short time sweep the area clear of enemy fighters then give the heavy bombers withdrawal support from the enemy coast home at the fields it's getting on towards the most nervous of all times the estimated time of return everyone who stays behind sweats out this period at the end of each mission here at the control tower at the dispersal areas at the Red Cross at the officers club everywhere on the field the one thing paramount in everyone's mind is that the group is due back attack the target how many have returned 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 15, 16 17, 18 18 dispatched 18 returned 23 dispatched 23 returned however there are other groups which weren't so fortunate 18 dispatched 17 returned 20 dispatched 19 returned 20 dispatched 14 returned 19 dispatched 20 dispatched 10 returned 18 dispatched 8 returned sick dem tested if there are another group discontented a board these airplanes are given priority in landing they can go to their billets for a well sharp rest they must undergo one of the important phase of any mission interrogation it is very important to question the crew One V-17 go down there just before it made landfall. Where was that? Well, that was at 5240 north. One degree, 50 minutes east. 0150 east. Yes, and what time was that? That was at 1524. And was that a G-fix? That was a G-fix, yes. We had the radio operator get on the MFDX section. He sent in the coordinates of the fix. And I had my radio operator turn on his IFF to emergency when we saw it go down. And what happened? Well, the ship went down, apparently under control, and I saw it hit the water. Yes, I was looking through the glasses, and I saw two dinghies come out. And 10 men, apparently all of them came. Good. And what else did it do for you? Uh, we were at 5,000 feet at the time. Okay, anything else? I'll settle up for a cup of coffee. It's ready for you, boy. Thank you. Third division, please. You're submitting a V-17 crew down the dinghy. Thank you, all. 16 group, please. This aircraft priority. Flight control, please. Uh, 16, uh, bound division here. We have a V-17 reported fixed at 52 degrees, 30 minutes north. One degree, 30 minutes east. That's right. He was seen to ditch, yes. He was seen to ditch at 15, 24 hours by the reporting aircraft. Two dinghies were seen to break out, and 10 men got into them. The reporting aircraft was at 5,000 feet. Yes, that position's an MFX. Okay, 16. Thank you. Scores of our crews are saved by Air Sea Rescue from the English Channel and the North Sea, and returned to combat service. Aside from human values, a trained fortress crew is even more valuable than the plane they man, and the work of the Air Sea Rescue Unit has been of enormous value to the 8th Air Force. The hungry crews are fed enough to hold them until they can be interrogated and get to their regular chow. These men are from the groups that went to Anklin. What 43 hours? We went in at 12,000 feet. Did you get your bombs on the target? Yeah. What about enemy fighter opposition? Well, that's something that's interesting. Well, let's get some of the details. Where did it begin, Paul? Well, they first jumped us at 10, 30, there just after. And how long did the attack continue? They stayed with us to the target, and until 1327. And then at 1345, we had another group attack that stayed until 1405. We had a couple more attacks, and the last one was at 1526, just off the Danish coast coming out. And about how many enemy fighters did you see? Well, I don't know how many of them might have been reputed, but I saw six or seven of them myself. I couldn't keep track of them, sir, but I can about 65. I stopped trying to count when I got to 50, sir. Do you think it would be accurate to say then that your ship saw between 65 and 80 enemy aircraft? Yes, sir. What type of enemy aircraft did you encounter? Well, from what I could see from the tale, they threw the book out. FW 190s, they meet 109s, 110s, 210s, Donians, even J87s and 88s. I saw a couple of Falkworth 189s, at least two Hankel 111s. Oh, they came from all over the place. The fighters are pressing home their attacks from 300 to 400 yards. Would you characterize these attacks as determined? Sure. Well, you can say that again. No, I think those guys are really trying to shield us down. I wouldn't be surprised. How would you describe the enemy fighter tactics? Well, I'm describing the word of the town. If they usually attack in formation, queue up about 300 or 400 yards away, 12, 13 single-engine fighters. Right through the formation. How do the twin-engine fighters react? They stayed out to the side and above, just out of the rain. There's a lot of guns and shallots. Canons and rockets at us, then they'd queue up and press home a regular fighter attack. What caliber would you say the cannons were? My guess would be 37 millimeter, what do you think, Adam? What about the rockets? They shot a lot of them. I didn't actually see any hit our formation, but they weren't doing us any good. I saw one of them blow a wing off the 17 below and ahead of us. They start to spin in. You sure? No, sir, I didn't say any. Where was this? Over the target, right up to the top of the bottom. Notice any distinctive markings on the enemy aircraft? Yeah, yeah. It's all quite a few. There are a number of FW-19s, mostly yellow-nosed and some white-nosed. No red-nosed. No, I didn't see any. Boy, those yellow-nosed boys really come in close, don't they? Did you see that one come right on our left wing? Yeah. I saw a 109 with black-and-white, I had them walking through the wings. Black-and-white. I had white-nosed. All right. Getting back to those rackets. I believe that Jerry can reload his racket guns from inside the ship. I think you can. That would be my guess, too. I saw at least nine burst from the racket guns on one ME-210. Nine burst, all right. Talking about 210s, there was one that came in and shot a cluster. It looked like clay pigeons to me. Say, those things look like baseballs, don't they? Can you describe that more fully? How did they react? Well, they didn't look like baseballs. It was more like streamlined and smoked all the way down, but they didn't explode. Didn't explode? No. What about planes? I knocked down two. They were making attacks about five o'clock level. Yeah, I saw them. One of them blew up in the air, and the other one went down in flames. The pilot of the second one bailed out. That was at 1144. We were right over the IP. Were any other guns firing at these planes? No, sir. These were my babies. Any more? Yes, sir. I got one destroyed and one prowled. I knocked two 10 down right over the target. The plane exploded in the air. I got a burst at 110, and it started down in flames. I couldn't see whether it went all the way down or not. We were under constant attack. Bombing results and enemy fighter reactions are only one phase of the interrogation. The enemy's anti-aircraft defenses, their concentration, and their accuracy are also matters of great interest to the interrogators. The group of the second division, which went to Danzig. How would you describe the flak as root to the target? From the coast to the target, it was meager and inaccurate height and deflection. Over the target, it was still meager, but pretty accurate height and deflection. Is that how the rest of you called for the describe it? What about on the way back? Well, it was meager and inaccurate, except now when we crossed the coast. They threw up a boxed barrage that was pretty accurate as the height. In fact, it was good as the altitude, but the deflection was a little off. The first burst hit about 100 yards ahead of the lead plane, and we felt the concussion at the right time. We got a couple of flak holes in fuselage right around my gun position. Any other battle damage? A couple of flak holes in the nose. The rest is 303 in the number four engine. I got an oil line. What was your altitude when this boxed barrage almost touched? 21,500 feet. Did any of you notice anything unusual or peculiar about the flak burst? No, it looked like the same old black flak to me. What is the 6-3-1-2 here? Also valuable to the interrogator is any intelligence that might be picked up by the crews en route to or from the target. Such observations may be completely incidental to the mission, but can prove to be of great value at another time when another target is being attacked. Let's find out what the force attacking Marienberg discovered on their way to and from the target. This smoke screen at Dan, where did that emanate from? Well, it looked like to me it was coming from off of floats and boats here with smudge butts on them. I could just a little ways off the coast. Yeah, Ernie, they were shooting it up from the ground, too, and it'd get up so high in that version of Mushroom Mountain. Would you say it was effective? Well, we didn't pass right over the city itself, so we couldn't say definitely, but it looked like to me it'd be pretty doggone effective. Was it all right? You see anything else? Yeah, there's a new airport about two miles below Danzig there, south of Danzig. What'd it look like? Pretty large airport with grass runways and a lot of construction at the south end. I seen a little one there at the park. It seemed like it was built in runways and some buildings, new buildings, like the part left of the hangars. Okay, now how about military installations? Did you see any of those? Well, south of Statoff in East Prussia, we saw some installations that might have been fortifications. Uh, they were large rectangular buildings, red tops. Yeah, there were two rows of four. Four buildings each? Yes. Good deal. Now, you see anything else? As soon as interrogation of the men is finished, the interrogation forms are checked and general statistics on the group's part in the attack are compiled. All right, let's get going on this report. Okay. The number of aircraft is back. 20. The number of aircraft attacking the primary target. 20. Hello, I want the A2 duty desk. Hello, this is Norgan 492. We've got a flash teletype report for you. You ready? The organizational flow which we have observed throughout this picture has now begun to operate in reverse. Information obtained from the crews is evaluated in divisional critiques, conferences in which all responsible group and divisional officers carefully inspect the detailed record of the mission, discuss any failures that may have occurred, and plan to prevent their recurrence. After a particularly large or important operation, there will be a command critique with the eighth Air Force commanding general presiding. Here in the dark room, the strike photos of the targets brought back by the returning planes of the group are developed and printed with all possible speed so that experts of bomber command can assess the damage done. Coming in from planes of every group participating in the various raids and interpreted and appraised by trained photo interpreters, these pictures will give bomber command an excellent idea as to exactly what parts of the various targets were hit and how severely. Here as seen in these pictures taken the following day by photo reconnaissance planes, severe damage has been inflicted on all the major and most of the minor buildings of the Arado factory at Anklem. This is a strike photo showing how Danzig looked during the attack. Very extensive damage has been suffered in the Harbour area. Here is an annotated PRU picture of Gdynia as it appeared after the attack and near miss is seen on the liner Deutschland type. The transatlantic liner Stuttgart does not appear in this picture although she was seen a fire and in the hands of tugboats immediately after the attack as these strike photos reveal. Aside from the Stuttgart several ships in the south basin have been sunk or damaged including the liner Oceania. Shore engines are also heavily hit at Marienberg. The PRU photo discloses that the damage was exceptionally severe. Almost every building having been destroyed or seriously affected. General Arnold has characterised this attack as the greatest example of precision bombing on record. Other targets will be as thoroughly destroyed. After pressing the battle of Europe the battle of Germany continues. Day by day whenever weather permits heavy bombers roar out over the heads of the advancing ground forces blasting away systematically at vital industrial installations hundreds of miles to the rear of the enemy lines. Now in contrast to earlier days of strategic bombing when forts and liberators fought their way alone fleets of long range fighters mustangs, thunderbolts, lightnings convoy the big bombers all the way to their targets targets which may be anywhere in German occupied Europe. The flood of supplies so necessary to the survival of an army or a nation synthetic rubber, steel, food, fuel, textiles this flood is gradually being reduced to a trickle and finally even this thin inadequate stream will die away. Then the German armies in the field and the German workers on the home front will have no food for their stomachs no clothing for their bodies no metals for their machines and no fuel with which to run them. Then the battle of Germany will be won and with it the battle of Europe.