Mighty Eighth Air Force 'Target For Today' Film

[Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] almost three miles below this formation of american flying fortresses there lies marionberg in east prussia up to this moment one of the most important cogs in germany is war machine the specific target on which this lead bombardier is lining up his bomb site is the [ __ ] wolf 190 plant up to this instant this aircraft factory has been accounting for almost 50 percent of germany's total fw 190 fighter assembly tons of bombs rained down on a tight pattern of destruction this remember is no area attack it is an assault on one single target and any bomb that falls outside that target has failed to achieve its purpose the assembly of fighters in this [ __ ] wolf factory has come to a sudden and violent end to many the bombing of germany probably seems to be little more than a series of capricious adventures one attack unconnected in any way with the one that preceded it or the one that will follow it it is easy for the average citizen to envision the positions of ground armies because of maps like these which make the positions of the contesting forces quite clear it is harder to express so graphically the progress of a bombing program yet there is a real line in this battle of germany not a geographical front but an industrial one in the british isles there are the allied air forces on the european continent we have regensburg marienberg bremen oceslaven barnamunda and castle these are the major german fighter assembly plants and as such are actually the center of germany's industrial defense line however these are only the places where the aircraft is assembled into the finished fighting machine component parts for german fighters are made at england the vaser flugzoidbar works at bremen the great hederhein propeller works near frankfurt the aircraft tire factory at hanover the cam ball bearing plant at paris and the ball bearing factories at schweinsteig obviously an assembly plant can't operate if other plants aren't building the parts from which the enemy planes will be assembled hults produce 29 of all german synthetic rubber production and is in fact responsible for 18 of her entire supply of rubber natural or synthetic at boshim there's a great steel plant producing high grade aviation steel arroya up in norway is a great producer of aluminum and magnesium metals which figure importantly in aircraft production at harm there are great railroad marshalling yards having a capacity of ten thousand free cars a day much of the tonnage handled here is closely connected with a manufacturer assembly maintenance and repair of enemy aircraft and so it is all over germany and occupied europe everywhere there are plants and installations that contribute directly or indirectly to the making of german aircraft industrial bastions which must first be ripped apart before the enemy's armies can be destroyed the smashing blows by the allied air forces at hulse arroyo regensburg schweinfurt hanover and frankfurt have had the result of piercing the german industrial line to the extent of thirty-seven and one-half percent of estimated single-engine fighter production in september of 1943. if this rate of drop continues there can be only one result the eventual disappearance of the luftwaffe as a defensive force but these attacks have had other far-reaching effects for instance in january of 1943 just when the eight bomber command had started daylight attacks against germany proper 42 percent of the german fighter strength was concentrated in western europe 33 of it in russia and 25 in the mediterranean area after 10 months of american bombers appearing by day over germany the figures line up more like this on the russian front 19 percent in the mediterranean area 12 and in western europe 69 germany thought it was urgent enough to withdraw fighters from two important theaters all in a vain attempt to save their crumbling industry from the grim destructive blows of the british american bomber offensive that is why the battle of germany is being fought now we come to the problem how are the targets elected and what enormous effort is necessary for the 10 or 15 minutes that our air task forces will be over any given target the daylight bombing offensive against germany is the responsibility of the eighth air force under the eighth air force are the eighth bomber command the eighth fighter command and the eighth air service command all of whom contribute to every bombing mission but it is the bomber command which is charged with the actual destruction of the selected targets the bomber command with which this picture is primarily concerned is divided into three divisions each division has a number of combat wings each combat wing in turn has three groups this is the chain of command since the operations which we ought to follow there have been some organizational changes but they are principally changes of nomenclature and have not affected the broad strategical and tactical purposes of the organization for instance what is referred to as bomber command in this picture is now the eighth air force weather is the greatest single enemy of the eighth bomber command for here is to be found the most changeable treacherous weather in the world to keep the most accurate possible check on weather conditions all over europe the raf has established vast communication and reporting systems weather planes such as this mosquito [Music] and our own b-17s are continually in the air in an effort to know in advance what the weather will be over europe and the united kingdom [Music] men like this supply a major portion of the data from which eight main weather maps of europe and of the united kingdom are drawn each day in addition there are four upper air maps and eight maps of a miscellaneous [Music] classification in this room all weather information is collected coordinated by the raf and sent out by teletype to every responsible command this is the weather section in the operations block at the bomber command here the information gleaned from the weather stations is put together and correlated into weather maps accurate predictions must be made as to the direction and speed of the wind downward and forward visibility temperature humidity possible icing conditions and probable atmospheric pressure at the bases on route and over the target upon the findings made in this room will depend whether or not there will be an american bombing of a german target tomorrow this is the operations room of the bomber command here is where the wheels are put in motion for any american bombing attack right now the officers you see are waiting for the commanding general's morning conference they are the a3 or operations officer the operational intelligence officer a weather officer and other members of the staff what's the weather prospect today major it looks like most of germany will be pretty good sir but we have a warm front approaching from down here which we do not expect to affect the bases until late in the evening how's the wider ankle at ankle sir we expect two to five tenths of low cloud and small amounts of midland high cloud above 18 000 feet visibility six to eight miles how about merrimack at marionberg two to four tenths of low cloud little to no middle or high cloud visibility six to eight miles what will it be at danzig and continue at danzig and gadina sir two to five tenths of low cloud two to four tenths of high cloud above twenty three thousand feet visibility in there about five miles give me the map of anklem and the picture of the aircraft factory there [Applause] yes all right the possible factor yes we will attack mirenberg with two combat wings bank them with two combat wings shipyards of dancing with two combat wings and the port facilitates a cadena with two combat wings that will require a maximum effort now the various specialist officers then go into action this is the operational intelligence section here are target files containing complete information as to the type construction and vulnerability of the targets this data is gathered both from photo interpretation of aerial pictures and from confidential ground sources on the basis of this information the aiming point for the attack will be selected the aiming point is a building or installation in the approximate center of the target here operational research experts are minutely studying the architectural and construction details of the targets it will be their duty to recommend on the basis of studies previously made the types of bombs and the proper fusing to accomplish the greatest possible destruction of the objective these studies of the erado factory at anklum are immensely important since the nose and tail fuses of a bomb can be adjusted to give varying degrees of delay between the time of initial impact and the explosion for example an improperly fused bomb would react something like this result very superficial damage that may hardly even cause delay in production on the other hand here's what happens when a properly fused bomb strikes the same factory two bombs of exactly identical weight and explosive power have totally different effects because one was fused properly and the other was not it is the responsibility of the operational research section to determine proper bomb fusing here the commanding general and the operations officer are working out the overall planning of each of the missions with the staff bombardier the staff navigator and the flac officer this is a complex business because of the multiple nature of the attack we'll attack vaclum one hour before we attack the other targets that should draw most of the german fighters on the ankle force the ankle force is big enough to take care of itself you mean along the same course no uh send them a little solve uh they'll act as a better diversion this would be the best place for the coast and standpoint of pilotage but sir the uh flat concentration at that point is quite heavy the heaviest along the coast we could rather move them a little further south but the general suggests and they would not run into flack difficulties at that point how is that for the navigation viewpoint that's very good landfall sir all right we'll cross at that point and you adjust the flight times accordingly take care of it while this is going on the various liaison officers stationed at bomber command headquarters are busy keeping their respective commands acquainted with the course of events the closest liaison is maintained with both the raf fighter and bomber commands the royal navy the eighth fighter command and the ninth bomber command it is through these liaison officers that requests will be made for the necessary fighter support diversionary effort by the medium bombers air sea rescue patrols and so on officers at fighter command immediately look up plan number 2340 to find out what part the fighters are expected to play in the next day's operations similarly the ninth air force is informed that bomber command intends to lay on plan number two three four zero it will be the duty of the mediums to attack enemy airfields at a time that will cause maximum interference with german attempts to intercept the heavy bombers right now weather officers are getting ready their forecast for the general's late afternoon conference where final decisions will be yeah made should should be okay thanks good night [Applause] does your morning's forecast still hold yes sir there's practically no change in the situation and we still expect the base weather to hold up for return send out the field order exactly as planned get me the first second and third divisions on a conference call please already with your conference call go ahead can you scramble okay over okay over over okay there's a mission tomorrow maximum effort with five task forces the first task force comprising six groups of the first division will hit three nine four eight three nine four eight secondary eight seven three one eight seven three one last resort nine zero zero nine nine zero zero nine the second task force comprising five groups of the third division will hit six eight four eight six eight four eight secondary six four two four six four two four last resort five three eight one five three eight one the third task force will comprise four groups of the second division which will hit six four two four six four two four secondary five three eight one five three eight one last resort any industrial target of importance in germany okay the first and third divisions will each dispatch one here the field order now goes over the teletype to all interested units and command the first step has been taken in the sequence of events that will finally result in bringing our planes over the targets and discharging their bomb loads command has conceived the mission and laid out general plans and routes division now plans in detail what command has ordered the actual time of assembly of the various task forces is determined the combat wings are assigned to their specific task forces and the routes from assembly to rendezvous points and the target are chartered many considerations go into the selection of the routes here is the commanding general of the first division which you will remember has two targets for tomorrow hanklin and gdenia here at zero hour another control point here for the bottom unit the northern forest should be about the east coast of denmark at that time soon it looks like we're going to catch all the fighters on the southern forest aren't we looks very much that way i think we'd better bend that route around so it's headed towards berlin if we can pin those uh german fighters down in berlin until we can get started at home they'll never catch us at the second division the target for tomorrow is dancing dancing gay that's fine how many ships we have tomorrow well sir if you recall general on our last mission we had heavy battle damage and now all those aircraft are repaired yet call up the wing commanders and have them put pressure on the groups to get their maintenance crews to work on these ships tonight and get every possible airplane on the line in the morning the third division which we'll have for its targets marionberg and gadinya looks pretty good sir we're going to be right over a lake there for good checkpoints to turn we're going in against the sun sun will be at our backs or defenses at the target uh major frost uh what about the black defenses the upper target there are 24 guns that approach is good lower target isn't defended by heavy guns no having guns whatever meringue the division's operations officer bases his precise plans on aircraft and crews available at the various groups he then calls the combat wings to give them advance information before the field order actually arrives operator give me a combat link for the conference please okay scramble over okay uh okay over for tomorrow first problem division will be called on for two task forces first task force will be made up of two combat wings uh on targets three nine four eight eight seven three one eight seven three one tomorrow uh and i want two groups from each combat wing the target will be primary six four two four four secondary five three eight one five three eight the last resort will be any industrial uh target of importance in germany okay there's an order coming through the third division will furnish eight groups first and second wings comprising the second task force we'll head six eight four eight six eight four and eight secondary six four two four six six four this is operations of the combat wing a purely tactical unit having absolutely no administrative functions whatsoever problems of takeoff and assembly are the particular specialized function of this organization it is the primary business of the combat wing to get the airplanes of its group into the air at the proper times and to get them assembled once in the air field order requires that we provide the second combat wing in the secondary task force 89th group will lead 81st group will be high and the 63rd group will be low uh that means that colonel whitman will leave the combat wing on this mission that'll be fine the obama command has asked for a maximum effort that means every available plane is to be gotten into the air ramsey this field order has called for 3100 gallons for the ages due to the distance now they've called for maximum bomb load how about that for the weight i think we'd better put eight bombs in the h's and 12 and the d's that keeps us around 65 000 pounds how about the ct cg is well forward and i think it worked out very well because we download for a long period of time all right we'll have eight in the ages and maximum in the v's most of the groups are going further than an american bomber has gone before combat wings must work out precisely the maximum bomb load in relation to the required gas load decisions made in this and other matters are added to the division's field order and passed on to the groups the ultimate tactical unit to the men who get the planes in the air and fly the mission on the basis of the alert telephone down to the group by the combat wing the various agencies necessary to get the planes airborne on their mission wheel into action intelligence operations weather signals group navigators and bombardiers have the grave responsibility of passing on and making clear to the combat crews the vital target and route information furnished by bomber command and bomb division the proper information folders maps weather maps and charts and photographs have to be selected by the various group officers and then the information therein passed on to the cruise in dispersal areas ground crews are getting their planes in condition to fly the mission the normal work of keeping an airplane fit for operation is enormous even in peacetime when you add to this already great job the element of battle damage the problem becomes gigantic engines wings propellers controls wiring fuel system oxygen system the thousand and one elements that go to make up the complex mechanics of a heavy bombardment plane all must be kept in perfect shape the failure of any one of them on a mission can easily mean the loss of the plane and its personnel or at best such a failure will cause the plane to abort that is returned to its base without having reached the target it was originally estimated that about 37.5 of planes on hand would be effective at one time however the maintenance and repair has been so magnificently performed that sometimes up to 50 percent of planes on hand have been affected ordinance is already at work getting the bombs in their racks and loading ammunition onto the plane these are 100 pound incendiaries [Music] these are 500 pound general purpose bombs and these are thousand pound gps [Music] the bombs have to be placed in their racks very carefully one bomb sticking in its rack through careless placement might make a whole mission useless so far as that individual plane goes [Music] three o'clock in the morning all over england at this exact moment american air crews are being roused from their sleep okay fellas roll out we have a mission this morning next in half an hour captain kirk captain thompson lieutenant bushka ackerson all the way and hawker scheduled to fly we'll stop it up three o'clock this is a hell of a time to get a man out of bed [Music] come on you drift out about breakfast in half an hour come on nick rise and shine all right two dodos let's go this is it okay fellas let's go come on swifty get it out let's go you guys hit the deck breakfast at four breathing at five let's go that's fine just when i had a 48 hour pass coming up you guys you're ruining my beauties through the cold of the english early morning the combat crews go to their mess they have no idea where they're going yet but they know they'll be taking off in about four hours how do you think those jerry's will be today what do you think dogs would be shooting at us sometimes i don't think those jerry's got proper respect for us well what do you expect buster the way you shoot jay look who's talking you couldn't hit a town flying with a bullfighter yeah how about those two jerry's i slapped down over swine i'll tell you what happened there they heard that i was on a tailgate and they painted from fright that's all and so it goes the four thousand men who will go on this mission all know it will be a rugged deal for some of them it's their first mission others are veterans of many happy to get through now at all the groups in the bomber command the air crews are assembling in the briefing rooms to learn the target for [Music] today [Music] there's every morning this is the briefing room of the 303rd group here in a few minutes the nature locale and root of today's mission will be made known to the men who fly it [Music] target for the day is ankle specifically you have to destroy the errato factory this plant manufactures aircraft components principally wing and tail assemblies for the park wolf 190. the parts are then shipped to new brandenburg for assembly i cannot stress upon you too much the importance of this if it is tags destroyed it will have a very serious effect on germany's aircraft production right please your ip is on the northwest side of new brandenburg your heading on your run-up will be 45 degrees true immediately after your turn you have an airdrome on your right almost directly north of the town you should be able to pick out friedland six miles to your right and halfway between your ip and the target along this route you should be able to see the mainline railroad and the main road from friedland the main road moves in toward your run up and goes into ankle but the railroad terminates at friedland shortly after passing cleveland you will see a peculiarly formed wooded area on the right of your course from here pick out the aerodrome slightly southwest of the city and the intersection of the main railroad and the pine river just outside of the town to the north night target map your target is across the railroad beyond the town in the area formed by the bend of the river and now a picture of a target this group of buildings here is your target this building will be the aiming point if your bomb patent is concentrated in this area it should very effectively knock out the factory lights please at the 379th the intelligent briefing continues from an altitude of 13 000 feet we feel that this low altitude will be equalized by the element of surprise which is with us and it should ensure a thorough complete fighting of the tire another task force is hitting the fw 190 assembly planet marionberg if the two missions are successful 65 percent of gerry's remaining fw 190 production and assembly facilities will be destroyed at the 384th other forces are attacking submarine yards aircraft assembly plants and units of the german fleet at danzig and if these attacks succeed they will destroy thirteen and a half percent of germany's remaining uber construction and will destroy or immobilize a large section of the german navy the overall result of all four attacks will be to show the hunt that his efforts to protect his key industries by moving them to the east will be unsuccessful it'll show that we will seek out his industry and destroy it wherever he places it at the 351st the intelligence briefing is completed your secondary target this morning is the airpod this contains a fourth wolf assembly plant a bombardier school and you'll love this it's the country club of the german air force should you be unable to bomb either of those two targets then in that case you will attempt to bomb the last resort target which is the ankle assembly plant at this is the only complete ankle unit in north germany it should be easily identified by the airfield adjoining which has six intersecting runways running from one thousand to sixteen hundred yards and they're full of nice flat juicy handles a weather officer briefs the crews of the 305th group going to gadina the synoptic situation today is this we have a high pressure system centered over northwest europe up here near finland extending southwestward down across the british arms causing an influx of south and southwesterly air going up in this direction hence causing little or no cloud in the area up there and toward your target there are no fronts to affect your roof today except a thermal system off to the west which will cause an increase of medium and high clouds as you come back across the north sea light speed at takeoff time there will be nil to three tenths low clouds also a layer of high clouds above 23 000 feet four to six tenths in amount also a middle layer of clouds and they're between 10 and 12 000 feet these medium and high clouds decreasing out over the north sea to three to five tenths each in amount the low clouds will increase as you go out toward the north sea to three to five tenths space fifteen hundred to two thousand feet tops four to five thousand feet there will be some fog patches over england visibility one to two miles except in those fog patches five hundred to a thousand yards visibility increasing rapidly out over the north sea and the remainder of your route to four to six miles the high clouds continuing three to five tenths and also the middle clouds on toward the target decreasing to nil at the target low clouds continuing three to five tenths decreasing to two to four tenths at the target base two thousand feet tops five thousand feet visibility four to six miles the temperature at bombing altitude minus 26 degrees centigrade the freezing level on your route out 12 000 feet over the north sea with light light rhyme in the middle clouds as you return back to base that freezing level will lower to about 7 000 feet continuing light rhyme in your middle clouds now on the return route weather will be very similar to your root out except your clouds increasing in amount as you proceed back across the north sea based on return visibility four to six miles a flat officer briefs the 389th group of the second division going to donzig gentlemen this morning because we are going to cross the danish coast at such a relatively low altitude we've planned the route so as to avoid as much flack as possible at any rate any flag that you do encounter will be merely deterred in nature however you can expect heavy flat batteries at a place where we make landfall here at the minicab about a mile south of course also there are no the other heavy batteries eight miles south of course there on the coast at pem other batteries are known to be located here at corsor 20 miles south of course on the island of skelem from then on the target you will have very little flash now while you're crossing the coast and when you're over air drones and cities in denmark you are advised to take evasive action now then when you get to the target itself your anti-aircraft fire from the ground will be known to be supported by fire from naval units now for those of you who have never been fired on by a naval unit i want to add that naval units can put up a hell of an intense barrage and you want to look out for an operations officer briefs the crews of the 94th group of the third division this group is leading a formation to marionsburg today the 80th will be high group and the 764th will be low group bottom load of each ship will be three one thousand pounders used one-tenth nose and one one-hundredths tail get that bombardier you'll also carry five m-47a extending areas you'll have full tokyos 1 000 gallons extra takeoff will be normal assembly 1000 feet over the field after takeoff and assembly proceed up this line to this point this will be your combat wing assembly line you'll leave the coast at this point here that's splasher 15. let's not have any student you're out of room it's a long haul the 57th combat wing will follow us today at a three mile interval now to the 95th group uh b-26s will be hitting the legal area and the low end uh at approximately zero hour minus 40 minutes uh one group of p-47s will strike the warden area and join us for escort on the way out joining us at approximately this point here uh all other forces are using approximately the same rock today uh just one point that the ankle force will probably pass us coming out as we're on our way in uh you should see plenty of air activity let's hope that most of it is ours the climb will commence at the english coast climbing at 150 miles an hour 100 feet per minute uh we should reach bombing altitude approximately the danish coast and under those circumstances should the danish coast be crossed at less than twelve thousand feet uh we will train tokyos as soon as possible we should have plenty of gas we figure approximately 400 gallons overload at the hundredth the operations briefing is completed fly loose formation today echelon to the right fill a point 75 miles from the enemy coast where a normal combat form combat wing formation will be assumed for visibility everybody use all this land the royal navy will be out patrolling with sea routes so any crews that have to ditch will probably be rescued very quickly commanding general obama command asked us to put out a special effort today so let's give it to him the commanding officer of the group invariably has a few words to say man the going's going to be rough you're going to have to pull your necks in there and stay in there and pitch every minute now gentlemen this the type target you don't want to have to go back after the second time if you fly a good tight formation get a good dense pattern on that target we won't have to this ankle and crab down here may pull most of the fighters off of us however that's just a guess so particularly for you gunners you've got to be on the ball from the danish coast onto the target black will be heavy probably accurate if you've been through worse before remember that your biggest enemy is still a single engine fighter plane now you bomb a death take your time in going in on your releases don't allow the flag to worry you it's merely to break up your formation now if you're getting any trouble up in this area remember you can always board the suite you get on this country and it's close over there could be rough i don't think it'll be too bad and whether it's easy or up i'll be sitting out front taking the whole works in the main briefing over the pilots navigators bombardiers radio operators gunners receive separate specialized briefings these briefings are very technical and very thorough and are held so that every member of the combat crew will understand exactly what he can expect and what is expected of him any lack of thoroughness here might very well result in the failure of a mission as dawn breaks over the english countryside it finds the ground crews still working grimly in an effort to get every plane in the air that is scheduled to be dispatched [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] these men take us fiercer pride in their planes as do the air crews to each of them it is a personal tragedy reflecting in some way on their capabilities when their airplane is forced to turn back without having completed its mission or when they have been unable to get an expected plane ready in time for a mission [Music] it's getting on to the time when the combat crews go to their planes here they are in the crew room putting on their flying clothes clothes and equipment especially constructed to ward off the intense subzero cold which they will encounter so shortly all air crew members receive escape kits containing equipment that will help them get back to safety if they are forced down in germany or in occupied territory the pilots co-pilots navigators and bombardiers are also issued battle folders containing the maps which will be of such vital importance to them in the prosecution of the mission the men turn in all personal papers and valuables which might serve to give the enemy information in case of capture some of the crew members turn to their chaplain whose ministrations are always available to the men of obama basis here [Music] so changeable is the weather in the european theater that sometimes widely varying conditions will be found on fields only a few miles from each [Music] other [Music] and now the last briefing of all the final intimate conference around each airplane as the pilots recheck the details of the mission with their crews crew members have ceased to exist as individuals they are now ten men teams and on the excellence of their teamwork will defend the success of the operation [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] wow [Music] [Music] on the perimeters of 20 odd fields of the eighth air force more than 400 forts and liberators with their 4 000 crew members taxi for the takeoff [Music] the lead plane of each squadron upon becoming airborne proceeds for about 90 seconds it banks sharply to indicate its turning point then goes into a slow left turn each successive plane in the element turns as soon as the pilot sees the plane in front of inter the element of three planes levels off at one thousand feet and returns parallel to the take-off runway at a distance of about two miles here the elements start to assemble into squadrons of six continuing to circle the field the squadrons then go to two thousand feet where the group assembly takes place this accomplished the group now moves on to the combat wing assembly point here is how the group stacks up from the side the group has a depth of 850 feet this is how the group looks from above in the lead squadron the second element is flown with the nose of the leader slightly behind and to the right of the right wing aircraft first element the lead plane of the high squadron flies even with the lead plane second element lead squadron the second element of the high squadron flies with the leader's nose just behind and to the left of the left-wing aircraft first element here's the group as an enemy fighter pilot sees it from head-on the first element of the lead squadron is stacked high left and low right the first element of the low squadron is stacked high right and low left likewise the first element of a high squadron is stacked high right and low left all second elements are flown low the second element of the lead squadron is stacked high left and low right the second elements of the high and low squadrons are stacked high right and low left experience has shown that this arrangement of the group brings to bear on attacking fighters the greatest possible amount of firepower by utilizing to fullest advantage the field of fire of each gun in the formation again it has proved to be the most maneuverable formation from which to execute the primary and all important purpose of the mission the dropping of the bomb loads on a precise target obviously it would be desirable to stack as many bombing planes as possible in one defensive formation however it has been found that the largest practical defensive formation is the combat wing of three groups any formation of aircraft larger than this becomes unwieldy this force has a depth of three thousand feet the nose of the lead aircraft of the low group is aligned with the tail and slightly to the left of the rear most aircraft of the lead element lead squadron lead group the nose of the lead aircraft of the high group is aligned with the tail of the rear most aircraft of the lead element lead squadron lead group the combat wing having been assembled they now move on to make rendezvous with the rest of the task force in this case another combat wing [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] this plane from the force which is to attack anklin is now approaching the danish coast and the formation is subject to enemy attack at any moment [Music] [Music] it is now 10 30 hours and denmark has been penetrated to some distance without any great opposition as yet so far there has been only some light and inaccurate flack at the coastline [Music] having fires at 7 o'clock high [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] i'm getting closer yes what do you want me to do from 10 30 on the ankle formation has to contend with constant german fighter attack from all levels and all clock positions during this time the gunners aboard the fortresses knocked down fighter after fighter however the gunnery of the thoughts no matter how sensational it may be is only to ensure the successful performance of the mission it is not the job or purpose of thoughts or liberators to seek out action with enemy fighters they merely defend themselves against enemy fighter attack so that they can destroy their target and bring their crews back safely to their home bases an anxious moment comes now for the lead navigator and bombardier the formation is approaching the initial point that is the point where the wing will turn off and make its bombing run on the target upon proper navigation to this point may rest the success of the entire mission [Music] once the combat wing has reached the ip it breaks up into three component groups for the wing formation is too unwieldy for a unit bombing operation as the ip is reached and the lead airplane of the lead group is about to make the turn it fires two red flares spaced five seconds apart then the group makes its turn onto the runner the low group goes on straight ahead for 20 seconds then makes its turn the high group proceeds for 20 seconds beyond the low group's turn then it turns on to the runner the most critical defensive period in the mission has begun the wing to accomplish most efficiently its primary purpose the bombing of the target has sacrificed its mutual defensive firepower and the groups are thrown on their own now the crucial moment is almost here the moment around which the entire mission revolves [Music] is [Music] action may be taken until the bombs are away and at this time the formation is most vulnerable to attack both from flak and enemy fighters [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] at marienberg an hour later the second task force comes over the target [Music] honestly [Music] the third task force comes over its target at [Music] all the danzig [Music] [Music] the fourth and fifth task forces arrive over the harbor area of gadina [Music] [Music] [Music] yes it is standard procedure for the group leader to inform bomber command the moment the target has been attacked bomber command in turn promptly informs the commanding general of the eighth air force yes yes sir i'll provide you as soon after getting bombs away and closing the bombay doors the groups can now defend themselves again at least to the extent of evasive action against the flack [Music] [Music] the lead group flies a straight course for 15 seconds before turning off to the rally point the lead group then proceeds to the rally point at an indicated airspeed of 155 miles per hour making s turns meanwhile to permit the trailing groups to catch up the lead group crosses the rally point at a height one thousand feet lower than bombing altitude the succeeding groups will close with the lead group as quickly as possible to regain the defensive combat wing formation the following groups need not necessarily pass exactly over the rally point in regaining wing formation in the meanwhile the marauders take off to fulfill their part in the day's [Music] operation they bombed the airdrome at one strike one of the most important of the enemy's fighter bases this blow by the medium bombers is timed so as to provide the maximum interference with the enemy's capacity to intercept our withdrawing heavy bombers last offer the fighters their great speed will enable them to reach the warden district in a short time sweep the area cleared of enemy fighters then give the heavy bombers withdrawal support from the enemy coast home [Music] at the fields it's getting on towards the most nervous of all times the estimated time of return everyone who stays behind sweats out this period at the end of each mission here at the control tower at the dispersal areas at the red cross at the officers club everywhere on the field the one thing paramount in everyone's mind is that the group is due back [Music] [Music] eighteen went out to attack the target how many have returned one two three four five fifteen six 18 18 dispatched 18 return 23 dispatched 23 return however there are other groups which weren't so fortunate 18 dispatched 17 return 20 dispatched 19 return 20 dispatched 14 returns 19 dispatched 18 return 20 dispatched [Music] 18 dispatched eight returns flares drop from aircraft signal the presence of wounded aboard these airplanes are given priority in landing [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the airmen are home but their job isn't over yet before they can go to their billets for a well-earned rest they must first undergo one of the most important phases of any mission interrogation it is highly important to question the crews at the first possible moment after the mission while their impressions and memories are still fresh crews who have anything of immediate importance to report go at once to the hot newsroom somebody in trouble uh yeah we saw a 1v17 go down there just before we made landfall where was it well that was at the 5240 north part and one degree 50 minutes east 4150 yes and what time was that that was at 1524. that was that a g that was a g fix yes and uh we had the radio operator get on the mftx section he sent him the coordinates of the fix good and i had my radio operator turning his iff to emergency when we saw it go down okay and what happened well the ship went down apparently under control and uh sorry hit the water yes i was looking through the glasses and i saw two dinghies come out and ten men apparently all came good and what altitude were you uh we were five thousand feet at the time okay anything you know oh that looks for cup coffee it's waiting for you boys [Applause] third division please we are smitty got a b-17 crew down the dinghy thanks bill 16 group please please aircraft priority time control please uh 16 uh bowel division here we have a b17 reported fixed at 52 degrees 30 minutes north one degree 30 minutes east that's right he was seen to ditch yes he received a ditch at 15 24 hours by the reporting aircraft two dings were seen to break out and ten men got into them the reporting aircraft was at five thousand feet yes depositions of mf6 okay sixteen thank you [Music] in one way or another scores of our crews are saved by air sea rescue from the english channel and the north sea and return to combat service aside from human values a trained fortress crew is even more valuable than the plane they and the work of the air sea rescue unit has been of enormous value to the eighth air force the hungry crews are fed enough to hold them until they can be interrogated and get to their regular child these men are from the groups that went to england what time did you go with the target at 11 43 hours we went into 12 000 did you get your bombs on the target what about enemy fighter opposition well that's something considered disgusting well let's get some of the details where did it begin paul well they first jumped us at 10 30 they're just off the danish coast and how long did the attack continue they stayed with us to the target and until 1327. then at 13 45 we had another group attack we stayed until 1405. we had a couple more attacks and the last one was at 15 26 just off the danish coast coming out and about how many enemy fighters did you see well i don't know how many of them might have been repeated but i saw a six or seven to myself i couldn't keep track of them sir but i can't about 65. i stopped trying to count when i got well do you think it would be accurate to say then that your ship saw between 65 and 80 enemy aircraft what type of enemy aircraft did you encounter well from what i could see from the tail that threw the book out fw 109 has me 109s 110s 210s dornians even ju-87s and 88s i saw a couple of foxworth 189 at least two hankel 111s what positions did they attract from well they came from all over the place fighters are pressing home their attacks from three to four hundred yards would you characterize these attacks as determined brother you can say that again no i think those guys are really trying to shoot us down i wouldn't be surprised how would you describe the enemy fighter tactics well i described them as they usually attacked in formation queue up about three or four hundred yards away 12-13 single-engine fighters come barrelling right through the formation how the twin engine fighters react they stayed out to the sign above just out of range of our guns and charged cannons and rockets at us then they queue up and press home a regular fighter attack what caliber would you say the cannons were my guess would be 37 millimeters what do you think adam what about the rockets we shot a lot of them i didn't actually see any hit our formation but they weren't doing us any good i saw one of them blow a wing off the 17 below and ahead of us they started to spin in are you sure no sir i didn't see anything where was this over the target right after we talked about it tell us another thing distinctive markings on the enemy aircraft yeah quite a few there are a number of fw190s mostly yellow noses some white noses no red nose no i didn't see her well those yellow little boys really come in close something did you see that one come right on our left wing yeah i saw 109 with black and white diagonal markings under the wings black and white i had white net all right yeah getting back to those rapids i believe that jerry can reload his racket guns from inside the ship that would be my guess too i saw at least nine bursts from racket guns and one me 210 nine verse talking about two tens there was one that came in and shot a cluster it looked like clay pigeons to me hey those things look like baseballs tonight can you describe that more fully how did they react well they didn't look like baseballs it was more like streamlined and smoked all the way down but they didn't explode didn't explode what about planes i knocked down two they were making attacks about five o'clock level yeah i saw one of them blew up in the air and the other one went down in flames the pilot of the second one bailed out that was at 11 44. we were right over the ip were any other guns firing at these planes no sir these were my babies anymore yes i got one destroyed and one problem i knocked uh 210 down right over the target the plane exploded in the air i got a burst at a 110 and it started down in flames i couldn't see whether it went all the way down not we're under constant attack bombing results and enemy fighter reaction are only one phase of the interrogation the enemy's anti-aircraft defenses their concentration and their accuracy are also matters of great interest to the interrogators the group of the second division which went to danzig how would you describe the flag and reach the target from the coast of the target it was uh major and uh enactus height and deflection over the target it was still major but pretty accurate as a high deflection is that how the rest of you comes to describe it what about on the way back well it was major and inaccurate except now when we cross the coast they built a box barrage that was pretty accurate as to height in fact it was good at the altitude but the deflection was a little off the first burst hit about 100 yards ahead of a lead plane and we felt the concussion at it right we got a couple flag holes and fuselage right around my gun position any other battle damage a couple of black holes in the nose versus 303 in the number four engine i got an oil line over your altitude when this box garage almost caught you uh 21 500 feet did any of you notice anything unusual to kill you about the flight verse no it looked like the same old black flag for me wasn't six we have seen it also valuable to the interrogator is any intelligence that might be picked up by the crews on route to or from the target such observations may be completely incidental to the mission but can prove to be of great value at another time when another target is being attacked let's find out what the force attacking marion berg discovered on their way to and from the target this smoke screen of dancing what did that emanate from well it looked like to me it was coming from off of floats and boats here with smudge spots all night for just a little ways off the coast yeah honey they were shooting it up from the ground too and they get up so high and uh would you say it was effective well we didn't pass right over the city itself so we couldn't say definitely but it looked like to me it'd be pretty doggone effectively you see anything else yeah there's a new airport about two miles below dancing there south of nancy it'll look like pretty large airport with grass runways and a lot of construction at the south end i've seen another one there at uh park it seemed like it's building runways and uh some buildings new buildings okay now how about military installations did you see any of those well uh south of stutt off in east prussia we uh saw some installations that might have been fortifications uh they were large rectangular buildings with red tops yeah there were two rows of four four buildings each yes good deal now you see anything else as soon as interrogation of the men is finished the interrogation forms are checked and general statistics on the group's part in the attack are compiled [Music] all right let's get going on this report okay uh the number of aircraft's passed 28 number of aircraft attacking primary targets hello i want the a2 duty desk hello this is 492. got flash teletype report for you you ready the organizational flow which we have observed throughout this picture has now begun to operate in reverse information obtained from the crews is evaluated in divisional critiques conferences in which all responsible group and divisional officers carefully inspect the detailed record of the mission discuss any failures that may have occurred and plan to prevent their recurrence after a particularly large or important operation there will be a command critique with the eighth air force commanding general presiding here in the dark room the strike photos of the targets brought back by the returning planes of the group are developed and printed with all possible speed so that experts obama command can assess the damage done coming in from planes of every group participating in the various raids and interpreted and appraised by trained photo interpreters these pictures will give bomber command an excellent idea as to exactly what parts of the various targets were hit and how severely here as seen in these pictures taken the following day by photo reconnaissance planes severe damage has been inflicted on all the major and most of the minor buildings of the erado factory at anklam this is a strike photo showing how danzig looked during the attack very extensive damage has been suffered in the harbour area here is an annotated pru picture of gadina as it appeared after the attack and near miss is seen on the line of deutschland type the transatlantic liner stuttgart does not appear in this picture although she was seen a fire and in the hands of tugboats immediately after the attack as these strike photos reveal aside from the stuttgart several ships in the south basin have been sunk or damaged including the liner oceania shore installations are also heavily hit at marienberg the pru photo discloses that the damage was exceptionally severe almost every building having been destroyed or seriously affected general arnold has characterized this attack as the greatest example of precision bombing on record other targets will be as federally destroyed [Music] today while the invasion armies are pressing the battle of europe the battle of germany continues day by day whenever weather permits heavy bombers roar out over the heads of the advancing ground forces blasting away systematically at vital industrial installations hundreds of miles to the rear of the enemy lines now in contrast to earlier days of strategic bombing when forts and liberators fought their way along fleets of long-range fighters mustangs thunderbolts lightnings convoy the big bombers all the way to their targets targets which may be anywhere in german occupied europe the flood of supplies so necessary to the survival of an army or a nation synthetic rubber steel food fuel textiles this flood is gradually being reduced to a trickle and finally even this thin inadequate stream will die away then the german armies in the field and the german workers on the home front will have no food for their stomachs no clothing for their bodies no metals for their machines and no fuel with which to run them then the battle of germany will be won and with it the battle of europe [Music] [Music] you

Channel: airailimages

Views: 11,664

Keywords: Eighth Air Force, 8AF, 8th Air Force, Mighty Eighth, Airailimages, B-17, Flying Fortress, B-24, Liberator, How was an Eighth Air Force mission done?, AAF, World War II, training film

Id: V_0mTCLg2sY

Length: 93min 3sec (5583 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 10 2020