Figure 1.--One of the priority targets when the strategic bombing campaign was resumed was Germany'sefficient transportation network, especially the railroads and to a lesser extent barge and highway traffic. This photograph was taken March 24, 1945 as the Allies were crossing the Rhine. The German boys here are trying to find something useful in what remains of Wehrmacht convoy after it was strafed by Allied fighters. The location is near Bad Durkheim (12 miles west of Lundwigshafen and the Rhine,just after the arrival of 7th Army units. Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps DIO-PQ-45-24143.

One of the priority targets when the strategic bombing campaign was resumed was Germany'sefficient transportation network, especially the railroads and to a lesser extent barge and highway traffic. Destroying the transportation system meant that war plants could not obtain raw materials or ship finished products. It also meant that the Whrmacht could not move soldiers and equipment to the front. Often when cities were bombed, the targer was railroad centers and marsaling fields. The attack on the transportation network did not just involve the bombers. The fighters flying escort were releasrd for low-level ground attack. Often they went after airfields hoping to catch the new German Me-262 fighters on the ground and tearing up whatever airbase facilities were still in tack. The fighters also went after what ever they saw moving, especially trais. River barges and highway traffic was also hit. By the end of the War the Wehrmacht was largely on foot and Germany no longer had a railway system.

Created: 4:06 AM 12/20/2005
Last updated: 4:06 AM 12/20/2005