During World War II, Bomber Command aircraft were operational on almost every one of the 2076 days the war in Europe lasted. The Command controlled 128 airfields from which some 365,000 sorties were dispatched. However, this effort and achievement was not without its cost. The enemy’s defences were formidable; the Luftwaffe a tenacious opponent. There were heavy losses in aircraft and crews. Bombers missing totalled 8,325; bombers damaged 13,778. Out of a total aircrew force of 125,000, all volunteers, 55,573 aircrew were killed (with an average age of 22); 8,403 were wounded; 9,838 were prisoners of war.
Bomber aircrew came from the Commonwealth countries - there was a Canadian Group and Australian and New Zealand Squadrons. American, South African and West Indian aircrew came to help us in our fight, together with those who had escaped from Poland, Czechoslovakia, France and other countries of occupied Europe.
Much has been written about the effectiveness of the Bomber Offensive. The Combined Chiefs of Staff Conference at Casablanca in January 1943, at which President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill were present, produced this directive; “The primary aim of the British and American bomber forces in the United Kingdom would be ‘the progressive destruction and dislocation of the German military, industrial and economic system, and the undermining of the morale of the German people to the point where their capacity for armed resistance is fatally weakened.’’
After the devastating week of attacks on Hamburg in August 1943, when that important port and industrial centre almost ceased to exist, Albert Speer, Hitler’s Armaments Minister, said: “This is what Hitler and Goering wanted to do to London.” He told his colleagues: “Another six similar attacks, quickly repeated, would cripple Germany and might well compel the end of the war.” Afterwards, Speer wrote: “The real importance of the Bomber Offensive was that it opened a second front long before the invasion of Europe. It was the greatest lost battle on the German side.”
The many roles of Bomber Command
Bomber Command is best known for its campaign against German industrial cities. However the aircrews carried out many other types of mission. During the British army’s retreat to Dunkirk in 1940, out-of-date, single-engine Battle light bombers fought courageously to hold off the attacking German forces. An important role that allowed the trapped British forces to get away, but unfortunately one which meant that few of the aircrews survived.
Throughout the war the bombers also flew raids against shipping targets, not only laying thousands of mines at sea that sank hundreds of enemy ships, but they also incapacitated (severely damaged or sank) ten out of German's 18 capital ships - accounting for 35% of all German surface shipping losses. On top of this were the 40 U-Boats they accounted for, not including those under construction.
Bomber Command’s precision raids included bombing Hitler’s V-rocket weapon development centre and launch sites, the famous ‘Dambusters’ raid and the sinking of the ‘Tirpitz’ battleship.
RAF bombers supported the Allied armies before and after the D-day landings, and flew many spectacular precision low-level daylight raids across Europe, hitting factories, rail and communications targets and even the Berlin radio station as Goering, the Head of the Luftwaffe, began to broadcast a speech in honour of the Nazi Party. It had been Goering who had declared at the beginning of the war “No enemy aircraft will fly over the Reich territory”.
