Battle of the Bulge - The Air War

to follow on the 22nd of January 1945 Allied pilots and air bases across Western Europe await to a cloudless sky revealing a brilliant sun which Shone across the freshly fallen snow officers Rouse the men from their bunks and shepherded them to briefing rooms while air controllers reported two words every pilot longs to hear visibility Unlimited within the hour four groups of p-47s from the usaaf 19th Tactical Air Command were airborne and headed towards the Arden sector of the front when they arrived at The Crossings of the all River the American Pilots could not believe their luck the roads were bursting with German soldiers and vehicles some retreating East back to Germany while other units were headed west the Allied Flyers had stumbled upon a perfect Target this massive traffic jam was quickly set upon by the Thunderbolts who dropped bombs and fired Rockets into the mass below B-26 Marauder medium bombers from the 9th bombardment division also arrived to attack the bridges trapping the German columns in place the aerial assault lasted all day as American squadrons flew over 600 sorties against the all River Crossings by the end of the 22nd of January the German Ground Forces had lost dozens of vehicles and hundreds of men it was the last official air-to-ground engagement of the Battle of the Bulge the situation in the Arden was quite different 37 days earlier on the 16th of December 1944 when Germany launched the Bulge offensive the fewer specifically times this blow to coincide with poor winter weather in order to neuter overwhelming Allied air superiority over the European continent however this gamble ultimately failed despite poor weather conditions a resurgent loved farther and the difficult operating theater of the Arden the combined Air Forces of the Allied still exercised a decisive role in the campaign the Allies enjoyed near undisturbed air superiority over Europe since the Normandy Landings in June of 1944. British and American Tactical Air Forces provided devastating close air support to the ground troops while their heavy bombers continued to pound Germany night and day outnumbered and outgunned by their adversaries German air power suffered heavy losses as the Allied Ground Forces Advanced to the reich's Border at this time the fuhrer and the German general staff had finalized plans for operation watch on the Rhine a massive offensive designed to drive through the ardenne region and push onto the Belgian Port of Antwerp German leadership hoped this attack would be enough to turn the tide of the wall back in their favor before the Allies invaded Germany itself the fuhrer's plan for the offensive Revolt around neutralizing the enemy's air power which far outnumbered his own at that point in the war the Allies had amassed over 8 600 aircraft in the immediate vicinity on the Western Front three thousand of which were tactical aircraft and the rest heavy bombers to oppose them the luftwaffe only had 2 300 aircraft left with the majority being Fighters and interceptors the attritional grind of the combined bomber offensive had degraded German transport and Industry while also crippling the luftwaffe's pilot Corps although German factories were building aircraft at a higher rate than ever before luftwaffe Pilots were entering combat with only 170 hours of flying experience compared to 300 hours for American Pilots furthermore The Chronic lack of fuel and spare parts severely curtailed flight operations reducing the luftwaffe to a shell of its former self to compensate for these deficiencies operation watch on the Rhine would be launched in mid-December when low cloud cover dense fog and frequent snowstorms would Ground American and British aircraft the Arden region was specifically chosen because it was where the U.S front line was the weakest but also where the thick Woods could Shield German vehicles and men from Air Attack the fuhrer envisioned a rebuilt luftwaffe which could support the ground offensive with overwhelming close air support this decision was opposed by General of Fighters Adolf galland who argued the remaining Fighters should be held in reserve to attack the Allied bomber streams over Germany ultimately the luftwaffe would play a small but important role in the campaign launching nuisance raids to harass Allied aircraft the offensive began on the 16th of December 1944 under a shroud of heavy fog and low clouds the ideal conditions German High command was looking for nonetheless Allied air power tried to attack the enemy spearheads in the early days of the operation aircraft from the U.S 9th Air Force flew interdiction missions against German supply lines the day after the offensive began but the low Cloud base led to inaccurate bombing the following day over 600 aircraft took to the skies to attack the enemy ground troops but the only notable success was a squadron of p-47s which located the spearhead of the first SS Panzer Division the Thunderbolt spawned the German tanks as they crossed the lien River destroying 12 vehicles the luftwaffe also flew harassing sorties during this time locating Allied concentrations of aircraft and forcing them to jettison their Munitions before turning for home the Americans would learn a harsh lesson during the early stage of the battle on the second day of the offensive German units trapped approximately 9 000 U.S soldiers of the 106th Infantry Division in a pocket the commander of the 106th division General Alan Jones requested an airlift to sustain the trapped men and the mission was approved troop carriers at air bases in Britain were loaded with supplies and a window in the weather opened on the 18th of December but the order was never given to go ahead with the resupply mission poor liaison and Communications within Allied Air Command led to the mission being repeatedly canceled and uncanceled until it was too late by the 21st of December the pocket had been destroyed while fully loaded c-47s still sat on their runways yes it turned out to be a valuable learning experience for the Allies who would soon be called on for an even larger resupply Mission later in the campaign the weather turned for the worse on the 19th of December as freezing rain and snowstorms swept through the Arden with visibility near zero the U.S 9th Air Force only flew two sorties from the 19th to the 21st commander of 12th Army group General Omar Bradley was informed that no air missions were possible at a briefing on the 19th his Aid Colonel Chester Hansen wrote in his diary Bradley shook his head sadly weather is once again our undoing our air effort today has been negligible fighter bombers were either closed on their airfields or compelled to attack enemy ground installations almost without a ceiling on the 21st the 101st airborne's division Supply officer sent an urgent request of aerial resupply for the over 20 000 men trapped in a pocket around the town of bastonia this time the request was properly passed up the chain of command and a massive air Bridge operation was planned on the 22nd of December yet the weather forced another cancellation as the airborne troops in the pocket began to wonder who would arrive first resupply pattern or German forces finally on the 23rd of December an Eastern high pressure system known as the Russian high moved into the area and provided Clear Skies over the Arden both the allies and the luftwaffe are scrambled as many aircraft as possible but the superior British and American Air Forces had a distinct advantage German Pilots managed to fly over 900 sorties on the 23rd but the Allies flew 3500. the most important mission was the resupply operation for the trapped Americans in bostonya 241 c47 transports escorted by 82 fighter bombers successfully parachute dropped over 300 tons of supplies to the men on the ground more than enough to keep them in the fight these missions would continue day after day until the pocket was relieved by the 27th of December 961 c-47s of the usaaf had dropped over 850 tons of supplies and ammunition To The Defenders while gliders brought in Medics surgeons and fuel with the benefit of clear weather fighter bombers wreaked havoc on German Supply and Logistics the luftwaffe tried in vain to defend the troops on the ground but were overwhelmed by Allied air power traffic jams developed along the routes heading west which attracted heavy attacks from American p-47s and British Hawker typhoons the Vermont quickly restricted unit movement to the hours of Darkness only we severely hampered the fighting effectiveness of their forward units the fifth Panza Army's Chief of Staff summed up the impact of Allied air power on German artillery they negated the use of German rail artillery seriously impeded the forward movement of ammunition and fuel to support the artillery battle prevented the artillery from determining the depth of American defenses beyond the immediate line of contact provided the American artillery a significant advantage in Target location and in overall terms reduce the effectiveness of German artillery to 50 or 60 percent of its potential British and American Tactical Air Forces also directly attacked German units at the front working with Allied Ground Forces on Christmas day of 1944 American and British tanks were engaged by four Panther tanks of the second Panzer Division which were concealed in a tree line p-47s arrived and rocketed the tree line forcing the Panthers out into the open where they were knocked out by Shermans and tank Destroyers although they did not destroy the panzers with their Rockets the fighter bombers directly contributed to their eventual destruction the following day typhoons repeated this tactic against German tanks of the panzalea division which were also flushed out of their defensive positions and destroyed the Allied Air Forces contributed away from the battlefield as well c-47s evacuated over 5000 wounded men to Britain which provided a much-needed morale Beast to those fighting in the Arden however one of the most underdiscussed aspects of the air war was the Allies use of aerial radio jamming on the 28th of December four B-24 liberators of the U.S 8th Air Force's 36th jamming Squadron arrived over the Arden at 15 000 feet these liberators then activated their art3 Jackal VHF barrage Jammers while the fourth switched on an s27 radio receiver to search for German tank radios the 36th orbited the area and jammed the radios of the sixth Panza Army before returning to base these were known as Jackal missions and were among the first aerial jamming operations in military history The Jackal missions would continue throughout the Battle of the Bulge when weather permitted opposed by overwhelming air power the campaign had decisively turned against the German forces by the end of 1944. desperate to regain the initiative the fuhrer and luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering decided to use all remaining German air power on the Western Front in one final effort on New Year's Day 1945 the luftwaffe launched Operation board and Platt an attempt to destroy the Allied Air Forces on the ground in a surprise attack over 1 000 German Fighters took to the skies and headed west but soon encountered anti-aircraft fire from their own flat batteries the top secret designation of the operation meant that the German ground units believed it was actually Allied aircraft overflying their positions 16 luftwaffe Fighters were shot down by friendly flak fire and dozens damaged before the attackers even reached Enemy Lines despite the ominous Stars the German aircraft did achieve surprise in most cases 17 airfields were attacked as the luftwaffe bf-109s and fw-190s strafed Allied aircraft on the ground by the end of the day 305 Allied aircraft were destroyed and another 190 damaged however American British and polish Pilots quickly counter-attacked the most inexperienced German Pilots while anti-aircraft fire inflicted devastating losses on the attackers within hours operation Borden Platt had failed with 271 luftwaffe Fighters destroyed and over 220 Pilots killed wounded or captured general of Fighters Adolf galland bemoaned the doomed effort saying we have sacrificed our last substance Neville will the luftwaffe come out in large numbers to challenge the Allies in the skies above Europe again where the luftwaffe would never replace its lost aircraft the might of British and American aircraft production could swiftly replace Allied losses after New Year's Day snowy weather once again closed the airspace above the battlefield because of the poor conditions Allied Air Forces could not support the counter-offensive which was slowly pushing the German line back across the reich's border from the 6th to the 9th of January 1945 the ninth Tactical Air Force could not fly a single salty this was especially frustrating for the ground commanders as close air support could not attack the withdrawing German forces although the Tactical Air Forces could do little to influence the battle on the ground strategic bombers continue to interdict German supply routes flying high above the snowstorms British and American Heavies reduced the towns of who Feliz and sandvit to Rubble which hampered the enemy's ability to resupply its Frontline troops the 22nd of January saw the last clear day of the campaign allowing the 19th Tactical Air Command to inflict a harsh blow on German Collins retreating across the ore River although the air War above the Arden in the winter of 1944 to 45 saw Less Direct engagements than in other campaigns during the second world war it was still one of the major influences on the campaign Allied air superiority set the terms of the Battle of the Bulge before the German offensive even began enforcing the fuhrer to choose the sub-optimal terrain of the Arden as the location for his assault so as to cover the Panzer divisions from Air Attack the Relentless attacks on the German transport Network before the battle set the German offensive back three to four weeks as units and supplies were delayed in making it to the front when operation watch on the Rhine finally did begin the looming threat of Allied air power ensured that any clear weather would Doom the German offensive this proved to be the case as the luftwaffe was powerless to challenge British and American dominance in the Skies over Europe

Channel: The Intel Report

Views: 745,425

Keywords: ww2, documentary, history, battle of the bulge, us army, p-51 mustang, p-47 thunderbotlt, bodenplatte, raf, spitfire, hawker typhoon, usaaf

Id: tu9E2fNSMQE

Length: 15min 52sec (952 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 03 2022