BATTLE OF EUROPE: Some Germans Learned

The greatest aerial offensive in history had raged over Europe for six days when U.S. Eighth Air Force leaders said last week: “We have defeated the German air force. . . . Today marked the culmination of an epic, week-long battle. We have won that battle.”

Hamburg, second city of the German Reich and her greatest port, was a smoldering ruin. Kiel, Essen, Cologne, Hanover, Kassel, Oschersleben, Wilhelmshaven, Remscheid, Wesermünde and Wüstrow had been dealt shattering blows by heavy and medium bombers of the R.A.F. and U.S. commands. Nazi-held airfields and installations in France, Belgium and The Netherlands had been targets for constant harassment and devastation. With the loss of a single plane.* U.S. Flying Fortresses had blasted two vital targets in Occupied Norway on their longest missions of the war.

Killing a City. Perhaps the American air authorities were overoptimistic, but it was clear that everything the Luftwaffe could do was not enough to keep the Allied bombers from their objectives. Anti-aircraft fire grew more intense as the raids rolled on, but did not halt the onslaught. In six days Hamburg felt the searing, scarring impact of 8,000 tons of bombs, with the R.A.F. striking six times and the Eighth Air Force twice.

Some districts were completely wiped out; hardly a sector escaped unscathed. Docks, aircraft factories, machine shops, metal plants, refineries, gas works, shipyards, a telephone exchange, railway yards, U-boats and U-boat pens were literally extinguished. More than 14,000 persons were reported killed, thousands of others wounded; 400,000 homeless created a vast evacuation problem.

The Damage. At Hanover the Fortresses struck a synthetic-rubber plant; at Wilhelmshaven and Wesermünde, factories and docks; at Kassel and Oschersleben. aircraft plants; at Warnemünde, the Heinkel works; at Kiel, the shipyards; at Remscheid, vital machine-tool factories.

From the target catalogue emerged two clear Allied objectives: 1) to knock out Hamburg; 2) to strike at the roots of the Luftwaffe and U-boat fleet by demolishing the spawning grounds of Nazi planes and subs. As the offensive reached its climax. Allied airmen noted that fighter opposition grew weaker. The Luftwaffe seemed reluctant to throw in its strategic reserves.

To Berlin? At Kassel the Fortresses tested German day defenses within 185 miles of Germany’s capital. If, as the Eighth claimed, the Luftwaffe home fighter force had been broken, Berlin’s time might be near. According to a Swedish correspondent in the capital, Berliners gathered as much: Government notices in their mailboxes told nonessential civilians to leave the city.

Coordination. The relentless combined attack on Hamburg gave evidence of the superlative cooperation achieved between British and U.S. airmen. The R.A.F. hit hard by night; by day the Eighth Air Force followed up with precision attacks on points missed in the area bombing. Swift Mosquito bombers of the R.A.F. swooped in between the heavy raids to keep the defenders off balance.

Perfect Timing. Partly by design, partly by the coincidence of perfect flying weather, the tremendous British-American air offensive sledge-hammered Germany at the very moment when crises in Russia and Italy were delivering the Axis its worst blows of the war.

Some Germans, at least, had learned a most shocking lesson: that Germany can no longer wage war exclusively on non-German territory.

* One Fortress, fuel exhausted, landed in neutralSweden. Crew members, all uninjured, were interned.