Germany built a larger military force than the world had ever seen. Hitler,s
Panzer Divisions had control of most of Europe. Only England was still
surviving, however, it seemed only a matter of time before the Nazi forces
would invade the little islands that stood alone, so bravely for so long,
against constant bombardment from the German Luftwaffe.
The United States was recovering from a
terrible depression, and had a very small, poorly equipped military
force. Technically, our country was neutral, but our sympathy was, of
course, with England. The other Allied nations like Poland, France, and
Belgium had already been forced to surrender their military forces to the
Axis powers of Germany and Italy.
It was a very real possibility the entire world could be
enslaved by this growing military force. So the United States began a
program to help supply England with guns and tanks to defend themselves.
It was called the Lend Lease Program.
Then on December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The United States declared war against the Axis powers and began
rebuilding an Army, Navy, and Air Force, and prepared to fight a war on
two fronts, Europe and the Pacific.
Strategic Air Offensive
For
some reason that military strategists never understood, Hitler invaded
Russia. This was at a time when England was almost defenseless, and it
would be many months before the American armed forces could help.
Fortunately, for the free world, this was one of Hitler,s great blunders.
Our country realized that it would be a long, costly war to defeat the
Nazi military machine. Our first goal would be to destroy their oil
refineries, ball bearing plants, and other factories that produced the
machinery of war. This meant a Strategic Air Offensive. This was
something that had never been done in the history of warfare.
This also meant flying out of England, and
bombing targets hundreds of miles away, in daylight, over enemy territory, and return,
and with no fighter escort for protection.
The enemy had hundreds veteran of fighter
pilots, ME109 and FW fighter planes, and mobile Anti-Aircraft Batteries
that were capable of shooting down bombers over five miles in the air.
Could it be done? It had to be done.
The Army recruited what was once referred to as the cream of the crop to
join the Army Air Corps. Within a year, the now famous B-17s and B-24s
were rolling off the assembly lines. Pilots, Bombardiers, Navigators,
Flight Engineers, Radio Operators, and gunners were completing training to
bring the war to the enemy, and the U.S. Army Air Corps Strategic Air Force
was born.
Late
in 1942, from Airfields in England, the 8th Air Force started
bombing strategic military targets in France and Germany. At the beginning
of this offensive, the American B-17s (Flying Fortress) and B-24s
(Liberators) were almost sitting ducks. They were out numbered and
outgunned
on every mission. Hundreds of American bombers were shot down,
and thousands of American Airmen were killed, wounded, and or taken
prisoner when they crashed or parachuted into the hands of the enemy.
These men who flew with the 8th and 15th Air
Forces
faced death every time they went on a mission, and those who are still
alive have the scars to prove it. These were the men who bombed the Ploesti Oil Fields, Bremen, St. Nazair Sub Pens at 8,000 feet, and many
others – and over 10,000 of these men who fought their last battle in the
air spent the rest of the war in Stalag XVII-B, Luft III, Stalag IV,
VII-A, and several other prison camps all over Europe..
