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The Combination of Forces. In this new kind of air war, U.S. Fortresses fly—as they did last week—500 miles into Germany to hit Nazi factories at Schweinfurt -(producer of more than half the Reich's supply of roller bearings). At the same time, other Fortress forces—as they did last week—fight their way 600 miles into Germany to hit Regensburg on the Danube (Messerschmitt-101 fighters), turning south later to cross the Alps and the Mediterranean and land at North African bases. At the same time, U.S. medium bombers and fighters stage widespread diversionary raids on Nazi air bases on the flank of the main Fortress movement, drawing off as many German fighters as possible to clear the road for the heavy bombers.
All of these raids are linked in a pattern planned to anticipate countermoves of the Germans. The Fortresses can—and have—fought their way through any kind of opposition to their targets; German defenses have never yet turned them back. But the less opposition they encounter, the more effective is their bombing. The Allied offensive is planned to assure the minimum of resistance.
In this air war the R.A.F. deals the smashing blows to the body, the U.S. Eighth Air Force the precision blow to the heart. The Stirlings, Halifaxes and Lancasters that carry bombs in British night raids saturate an entire target area, hitting at German production and German morale indiscriminately. In a wide swath of smoking destruction the R.A.F may leave untouched factories on the outskirts of a city, or plants whose isolated location makes them difficult to hit. The precision bombers of the U.S. are sent over to get such factories by daylight. By this combination of forces not only the periphery of German production—the cities, the workers' houses, their will and ability to produce—is hit, but the heart of production itself, the factories turning out the materials of war.
The Eighth. This campaign of combined operations—night & day bombing, saturation and precision raids—became possible with the organization in Britain of the U.S. Eighth Air Force. The Eighth's Bomber Command, its backbone and most potent unit, was born on a grey day in February 1942 when Brigadier General Ira Clarence Eaker stepped from a transatlantic Clipper onto British soil. Eaker had with him a handful of aides, a paper commission and a plan. The plan foresaw the day when the Eighth, with Britain's R.A.F., would be able to overwhelm Ger man defenses and hollow out the German war effort from within.
But 18 months ago the Eighth had no planets, no airfields, no crews. It was five months before U.S. flyers could take part in a British-staged raid on Nazi airfields in The Netherlands. It was six months before the first All-American Flying Fortress raid, led by General Eaker himself, could take off to drop 18½ tons of bombs on railroad yards at Rouen in France. It was nearly a year before Eaker could stage the Eighth's first raid against targets in Germany.