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There is no doubt that air power played a major role in World War II. It was, however, a role short of what some proponents of air power predicted. Air power alone did not win the War or forced NAZI Germany to surrender. Necertheless, air power was critical to the outcome of the War. The Luftwaffe played key roles in the Luftwaffe's success in Poland (1939) and then in the German Western Offensive (1940). The Luftwaffe scored decisive victories with Operation Barbarossa (1941). The flat planes of the Russian Steppe would seem to have offered the ideal environment for the application of air power. Despite achieving virtually total air superiority, the Luftwaffe did not have an adequate force to be a critical factor on the Eastern Front given the scope of the conflict. The Allies gradually brought both powerful tactical and strategic air components to bear against Germany in the west. The industrial power of the United States combined with Britain's substantial aviation industry was able to create a force capable of making Allied air power a decisive facytor in the West.
The Luftwaffe played key roles in the Luftwaffe's success in Poland (1939). The Polish Air Force was small and equipped with largely obsolete air craft. The flat Polish terraine was a perfect environment for the Luftwaff. The campaign could be conducted from prepared bases in the Reich and the former Czechoslovakia. As the campaign was limited confines of western Poland, the Luftwaffe force could be concentrated for maximum effectiveness. After only a few day of fighting, Polish forces and cities were virtually defenless from air attack.
The Luftwaffe again played a central role in the German Western Offensive (1940). The fighting was concentrated in Belgium and northern France. Again prepared bases in the Reich could be used. And again the Luftwaffe force could be concentrated for maximum effect.
Air power again proved decisive when the NAZIs turned their attention to Britain. This time it was RAF Fighter Command that emerged victorious. The Luftwaffe was built as a tactical force to provide close air support to the Wehrmacht--a key component of Blitzkrieg. The Luftwaffe's largely tactical forces demonstrated an inability to conduct strategic operations when pitted against an effective fighter force in the Battle of Britain.
The Luftwaffe scored decisive victories with Operation Barbarossa (1941). The flat planes of the Russian Steppe would seem to have offered the ideal environment for the application of air power. Despite achieving virtually total air superiority, the Luftwaffe did not have an adequate force to be a critical factor on the Eastern Front given the scope of the conflict. The Allies gradually brought both powerful tactical and strategic air components to bear against Germany in the west. The industrial power of the United States combined with Britain's substantial aviation ikndustry was able to create a force capable of making Allied air power a decisive factor in the West.
The industrial power of the United States combined with Britain's substantial aviation ikndustry was able to create a force capable of making Allied air power a decisive factor in the West. The Allied stratehic bombing campaign is probably the most controversial aspect of World War II. Historians discuss both the effectiveness of the campaign and the morality of the campaign. One of the major impacts of the campaign is that it forced the Luftwaffe to do battle which enabled Allied escorts to destroy it. This meant that there was total Allied control over the Normandy beaches on D-Day. Any assessment of the Allied bombing campaign has to ask the question of how much more the Germans could have expanded production had it not been for the bombing. The bombing significantly clearly disrupted the economy and the ability of the NAZIs to persue their development of new weapons. The cost to civilians was very high. Over 130 German cities were literally flatened. A German author describes the aftermath. "Horribly disfigured corpses lay everywhere. Bluish little phosphorus flames still flickered around many of them; others had been roasted brown or purple and reduced to a third of their size. They lay doubled up in pools of their own melted fat, which had sometimes already congealed." [Sebald] The reamins of many were never found. Only pieces of others were found. Many remain were never identified. Crazed mothers carried the bodie of their dead children, sometimes horribly disfigured. [Sebald] There is no exact accounting, but about 0.6 million are believed to have been killed. Another 7.5 million people were left homeless. German cities were left waistlands, mountains of rubbles criss-crossed by streets that were slowly cleared.
There is a vast body of literature on World War II, both fiction and non fiction. The Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the British evacuation of children, the V weapon attacks, and the Allied air campaign over northern Europe have been covered in thousands of books. There have also been large numbers of movies and television programs, again both documentaries and fiction accounts. These accounts address both the bravery of the aeviators and the suffering and endurance of the British people. Some of the accounts about children and books by adults looking back at their childhood are touching. HBC has drawn from much of this extensive literature and media presentations. Surprisingly given the fact that the Germans suffered more than any people in the War from the aerial campaign there has been an almost defening silence from German writers. We note very few writers or film makers who have addressed the subject.
Corum, James S. Luftwaffe: Creating the Operational Air War, 1918-1940" (University Press of Kansas, 2000).
Fest, Joachim C. Hitler (Vintage Books: New York, 1974), 844p.
Hillgruber, Andreas. Strategie=Hitlers Strategie: Politik und Kriegführung 1940 bis 1941 (Frankfurk am Main, 1965).
Sebald, W.G. Trans by Anthea Bell. On the Natural History of Destruction (Random House), 202p.
Snyder, Louis L. Historical Guide to World War II (1982).
Speer, Albert. Inside the Third Reich (New York, 1970).
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