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1
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I don't think many of the aircrew
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00:00:15,099 --> 00:00:17,768
knew what strategic bombing
really meant.
3
00:00:17,852 --> 00:00:20,688
As schoolboys,
we joined the air force,
4
00:00:20,771 --> 00:00:22,648
cos there was a war being fought
5
00:00:22,732 --> 00:00:26,068
and there was a bit of glamour
attached to the air force.
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00:00:26,152 --> 00:00:30,865
If you couldn't
get the Kraut in his factory,
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00:00:30,948 --> 00:00:34,076
it was just as easy
to knock him off in his bed.
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00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:40,166
If old Granny Shickelgruber next door
got the chop, that's hard luck.
9
00:00:40,249 --> 00:00:45,880
There are a lot of people who say
that bombing can never win a war.
10
00:00:46,797 --> 00:00:52,970
Well, my answer to that is that it has
never been tried yet, and we shall see.
11
00:02:19,515 --> 00:02:22,351
After the Battle of Britain,
12
00:02:22,434 --> 00:02:25,813
the Royal Air Force
had cause to celebrate.
13
00:02:28,065 --> 00:02:31,735
Fighter Command had shown how difficult
it was to destroy a country
14
00:02:31,819 --> 00:02:35,030
which could defend its own air space.
15
00:02:37,950 --> 00:02:43,455
A lesson the air staff, apparently,
neglected to teach itself.
16
00:02:46,458 --> 00:02:51,463
Lord Trenchard had founded the service
as a force of strategic bombers.
17
00:02:51,547 --> 00:02:54,884
Fighters for defence were secondary.
18
00:02:57,469 --> 00:02:59,805
Long-range bombers, it was argued,
19
00:02:59,889 --> 00:03:02,808
could win wars
without costly land battles.
20
00:03:02,892 --> 00:03:05,603
They would bomb the industrial heart
out of an enemy
21
00:03:05,686 --> 00:03:08,814
and totally demoralise
his civilian population.
22
00:03:11,650 --> 00:03:17,406
In 1939, the RAF was not really equipped
to put this thesis to the test.
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00:03:17,489 --> 00:03:22,661
But after Dunkirk, it was the only force
capable of attacking Germany.
24
00:03:22,745 --> 00:03:25,706
And the British public
desperately needed an attack.
25
00:03:28,500 --> 00:03:32,046
The British Empire
is building up a bomber force
26
00:03:32,129 --> 00:03:37,718
designed as the offensive air weapon
to smash the heart of Germany.
27
00:03:42,473 --> 00:03:44,808
The first daylight raids
were disastrous.
28
00:03:44,892 --> 00:03:49,188
Bombers fell easy prey to the Luftwaffe.
29
00:04:03,869 --> 00:04:07,748
Still the RAF persevered,
though losses mounted.
30
00:04:07,831 --> 00:04:12,127
Heavy casualties forced Bomber Command
to start flying at night.
31
00:04:20,135 --> 00:04:22,221
OK, chaps, here we go.
32
00:04:26,725 --> 00:04:29,270
Taxi out and take off.
33
00:04:51,333 --> 00:04:54,211
Do you see what I see, skipper?
34
00:04:54,336 --> 00:04:56,588
What do you see, my Scottish friend?
35
00:04:56,672 --> 00:05:00,092
Fog. Dirty, yellow, stinking fog.
36
00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,931
For aircrews
trained to attack in daylight,
37
00:05:06,015 --> 00:05:07,808
night flying had its problems.
38
00:05:07,891 --> 00:05:10,060
To find a target in Germany,
39
00:05:10,144 --> 00:05:11,770
in the dead of night,
40
00:05:11,854 --> 00:05:15,774
in any average weather conditions,
41
00:05:15,858 --> 00:05:18,319
was quite far beyond the task
42
00:05:18,402 --> 00:05:20,446
of any bomber crews.
43
00:05:24,033 --> 00:05:27,786
We're over the Dutch coast.
Too much cloud to see where.
44
00:05:28,787 --> 00:05:32,583
Patriotic films had no
difficulty in giving the impression
45
00:05:32,666 --> 00:05:35,252
that determination
and a diet of raw carrots
46
00:05:35,336 --> 00:05:38,672
could overcome the law saying
you cannot see in the dark.
47
00:05:38,756 --> 00:05:42,801
- Can't see anything else but the Rhine.
- I hope it's not the Danube.
48
00:05:42,885 --> 00:05:46,513
Keep on going. You might be able
to pick up something with lights on.
49
00:05:46,597 --> 00:05:50,100
If you could get visual pinpoints
en route,
50
00:05:50,184 --> 00:05:56,398
you could get within five or seven miles
of the targets.
51
00:06:00,235 --> 00:06:02,821
- Bomb doors open.
- Steady.
52
00:06:02,905 --> 00:06:06,408
Once the target was reached,
it was a piece of cake...
53
00:06:06,492 --> 00:06:07,951
Bombs gone.
54
00:06:11,038 --> 00:06:15,376
...provided you were just
blowing up a studio model.
55
00:06:18,504 --> 00:06:20,464
I hope we haven't
kept you waiting, sir.
56
00:06:20,547 --> 00:06:22,674
Good Lord, no. Come and sit down.
57
00:06:25,260 --> 00:06:27,971
- How did you get on?
- Caused a hell of a great big fire.
58
00:06:28,097 --> 00:06:32,059
Buckets of smoke.
Visible, ooh, 50 miles away.
59
00:06:33,268 --> 00:06:37,106
Well, old boy,
how about some bacon and eggs?
60
00:06:45,197 --> 00:06:47,241
The truth was different.
61
00:06:47,324 --> 00:06:51,787
In fact, in those days,
and it's been proved since,
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00:06:51,870 --> 00:06:57,626
three bombs in every 100 got
within five miles of the aiming point.
63
00:07:02,589 --> 00:07:08,053
In diesem Schlafsaal wurden neun Kinder
getötet und fünf schwer verletzt.
64
00:07:08,137 --> 00:07:12,766
Inaccurate bombing
could be embarrassing.
65
00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,311
The German propaganda ministry
quickly capitalised
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00:07:16,395 --> 00:07:19,064
on the destruction
of this children's hospital.
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00:07:19,148 --> 00:07:21,233
Das sind die Opfer
der britischen Mordbuben,
68
00:07:21,316 --> 00:07:23,861
die dieses gemeine Verbrechen ganz
bewusst begangen haben.
69
00:07:23,944 --> 00:07:26,613
Es wird unerbittlich gesühnt werden.
70
00:07:28,657 --> 00:07:32,870
But the war cabinet's view
was that Germany had to be bombed.
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00:07:32,953 --> 00:07:36,874
And this was the only strategic
bombing Britain could then undertake.
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00:07:36,957 --> 00:07:40,419
Coventry and Liverpool indicated
German industry would suffer
73
00:07:40,502 --> 00:07:43,213
if its workers were bombed out.
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00:07:43,964 --> 00:07:48,343
Professor Lindemann told Churchill that
de-housing a third of German workers
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00:07:48,469 --> 00:07:51,096
would bring industrial production
to a halt.
76
00:07:51,180 --> 00:07:55,350
And there was popular pressure
to avenge the Blitz.
77
00:07:56,393 --> 00:07:58,979
We ask no favours of the enemy.
78
00:08:00,731 --> 00:08:07,863
We seek from them no... compunction.
79
00:08:09,490 --> 00:08:11,450
On the contrary,
80
00:08:11,533 --> 00:08:17,039
if tonight the people of London
were asked to cast their votes
81
00:08:17,915 --> 00:08:21,376
as to whether a convention
should be entered into
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00:08:21,460 --> 00:08:23,879
to stop the bombing of all cities,
83
00:08:23,962 --> 00:08:26,632
an overwhelming majority would cry:
84
00:08:26,715 --> 00:08:30,344
"No, we will mete out to the Germans
85
00:08:30,427 --> 00:08:35,933
the measure and more than the measure
they have meted out to us."
86
00:08:42,856 --> 00:08:48,403
But the Germans were now
meting it out to the British bomber.
87
00:08:57,204 --> 00:09:02,000
By the end of 1941,
Britain had lost 700 aircraft.
88
00:09:14,930 --> 00:09:21,311
The navy and the army were demanding
bombers for the Atlantic and the desert.
89
00:09:21,395 --> 00:09:24,856
Bomber Command
stood to be put out of business.
90
00:09:24,940 --> 00:09:27,651
In the face of mounting losses,
91
00:09:27,734 --> 00:09:30,862
the cabinet ordered bombing operations
to be cut down,
92
00:09:30,946 --> 00:09:33,282
to save the bomber force.
93
00:09:36,368 --> 00:09:39,037
During the respite in February 1942,
94
00:09:39,121 --> 00:09:42,833
Sir Arthur Harris took over as
Commander-in-Chief, Bomber Command.
95
00:09:42,916 --> 00:09:48,046
He was determined to succeed
with new tactics and new bombers.
96
00:09:48,130 --> 00:09:52,843
The Nazis entered this war
under the rather childish delusion
97
00:09:52,926 --> 00:09:55,554
that they were going to bomb
everybody else
98
00:09:55,637 --> 00:09:58,932
and nobody was going to bomb them.
99
00:09:59,474 --> 00:10:05,897
At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw
and half a hundred other places,
100
00:10:06,023 --> 00:10:10,402
they put that rather naive theory
into operation.
101
00:10:11,236 --> 00:10:16,199
They sowed the wind and now
they are going to reap the whirlwind.
102
00:10:16,283 --> 00:10:20,829
I put them onto the north German ports
in the Baltic,
103
00:10:20,912 --> 00:10:24,958
because, having flown
quite a bit at night myself,
104
00:10:25,042 --> 00:10:29,421
I realised that the easiest targets
to get hold of, of course,
105
00:10:29,504 --> 00:10:32,591
were always the ones on the coastline.
106
00:10:32,674 --> 00:10:36,219
Because if you can see anything,
you can see a coastline.
107
00:10:36,303 --> 00:10:39,598
If you can see a coastline
with its odd shapes,
108
00:10:39,681 --> 00:10:44,436
you can find your way along to ports
and recognise them.
109
00:10:44,519 --> 00:10:48,982
Lubeck and Rostock
were the first major targets.
110
00:10:49,066 --> 00:10:51,860
As ports, they were easy to find.
111
00:10:53,654 --> 00:10:55,781
And they burnt well.
112
00:10:56,657 --> 00:11:02,496
In March 1942,
230 bombers destroyed half Lubeck.
113
00:11:02,579 --> 00:11:06,667
In April,
Rostock was bombed into flames.
114
00:11:06,750 --> 00:11:10,754
The style was set: night area bombing.
115
00:11:11,672 --> 00:11:14,966
This was to become the pattern
for the next three years.
116
00:11:15,050 --> 00:11:18,970
It was terrifying,
it was indiscriminate,
117
00:11:19,054 --> 00:11:22,933
but as far as Bomber Command
was concerned, there was no alternative.
118
00:11:24,017 --> 00:11:25,227
How many occasions,
119
00:11:25,352 --> 00:11:28,772
looking out of the window,
or walking out in the garden,
120
00:11:28,855 --> 00:11:33,193
could you see up to 18 or 20,000 feet?
121
00:11:33,276 --> 00:11:35,404
Maybe on two or three days at most.
122
00:11:35,529 --> 00:11:39,783
On how many occasions can you
guarantee if you see up to it here,
123
00:11:39,866 --> 00:11:43,745
that you could see down to it
500 miles away,
124
00:11:43,829 --> 00:11:46,248
in the other end of Europe?
125
00:11:46,331 --> 00:11:48,750
That was the situation.
126
00:11:48,834 --> 00:11:53,088
There's no possibility
of hitting the individual targets,
127
00:11:53,171 --> 00:11:55,757
consistently small targets,
128
00:11:56,758 --> 00:12:01,763
until we got
the navigational electronic aids
129
00:12:01,847 --> 00:12:06,268
that would show those targets up
in the dark or through clouds.
130
00:12:07,853 --> 00:12:13,108
The first electronic aid
to navigation now came into service.
131
00:12:13,233 --> 00:12:14,526
It was called GEE.
132
00:12:14,609 --> 00:12:18,280
Three radio transmitters in England
sent an invisible grid of signals
133
00:12:18,405 --> 00:12:20,490
across western Europe.
134
00:12:25,704 --> 00:12:29,082
By monitoring the signals
and plotting them on a map,
135
00:12:29,166 --> 00:12:32,878
a navigator could tell
where his aircraft was.
136
00:12:35,005 --> 00:12:37,841
GEE was first used at Cologne.
137
00:12:37,924 --> 00:12:41,762
Here, Harris threw in every bomber
he could scrape up
138
00:12:41,845 --> 00:12:44,389
for a monumental prestige attack.
139
00:12:47,934 --> 00:12:50,729
In your hands
lie the means of destroying
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00:12:50,854 --> 00:12:56,693
a major part of the resources by which
the enemy's war effort is maintained.
141
00:12:56,777 --> 00:13:01,281
Press home your attack.
If you individually succeed,
142
00:13:01,364 --> 00:13:04,576
you will have delivered
the most devastating blow
143
00:13:04,659 --> 00:13:07,037
against the very vitals of the enemy.
144
00:13:07,162 --> 00:13:10,332
Let him have it right on the chin.
145
00:13:10,415 --> 00:13:14,085
Send that message
to all groups and stations.
146
00:13:15,837 --> 00:13:18,757
I was trying to show them
what could be achieved
147
00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:21,760
with something approaching
an adequate force,
148
00:13:21,843 --> 00:13:27,015
and that it would be achieved
without abnormal casualties.
149
00:13:30,018 --> 00:13:35,190
The dark hours over Hitler's
Germany are about to be made hideous.
150
00:13:35,273 --> 00:13:39,152
The men of Bomber Command
know well what they have to do.
151
00:13:39,236 --> 00:13:42,364
A calm, moonlit night,
everything ready and waiting,
152
00:13:42,989 --> 00:13:45,200
from planes to carrier pigeons.
153
00:13:45,283 --> 00:13:48,829
They seem to know the ops are on.
Come on, fellas, get cracking.
154
00:13:57,045 --> 00:13:59,339
Round the clock with the RAF.
155
00:13:59,422 --> 00:14:03,343
At station after station, there
are heavies, including Lancasters,
156
00:14:03,426 --> 00:14:06,763
the heavy bomber of the moment,
ready for tonight.
157
00:14:06,847 --> 00:14:10,600
For tonight is going
to be very, very interesting -
158
00:14:10,684 --> 00:14:12,352
a thousand-bomber night.
159
00:14:27,617 --> 00:14:31,997
On that night, May 30, 1942,
160
00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:35,625
1,046 bombers took off for Cologne.
161
00:14:39,963 --> 00:14:43,675
Wir hörten auch gleich
kurz darauf das Brummen
162
00:14:43,758 --> 00:14:44,926
der anfliegenden Bomber.
163
00:14:45,010 --> 00:14:48,096
We heard the drone
of the approaching bombers
164
00:14:48,179 --> 00:14:52,350
and guessed that
it was a heavy formation.
165
00:14:57,022 --> 00:15:00,859
And soon after,
the first bombs fell around us.
166
00:15:00,942 --> 00:15:05,030
We were all shaking with fear.
Some people nearly fainted.
167
00:15:05,113 --> 00:15:07,866
Many of the patients were crying.
168
00:15:07,949 --> 00:15:11,620
The roaring and crashing
came closer and closer.
169
00:15:11,703 --> 00:15:15,749
We really thought
all hell was breaking loose.
170
00:15:17,334 --> 00:15:19,544
Our part of the city was in flames.
171
00:15:19,628 --> 00:15:22,672
People were running out of cellars
and out of houses.
172
00:15:22,756 --> 00:15:24,549
Some were buried in the rubble.
173
00:15:24,674 --> 00:15:27,260
Others were caught
by the falling masonry.
174
00:15:27,344 --> 00:15:34,225
Many people actually caught fire,
running around like living torches.
175
00:15:35,644 --> 00:15:41,775
We really didn't expect, in '42,
that such a heavy raid would take place.
176
00:15:41,858 --> 00:15:45,028
We were only used to smaller attacks,
177
00:15:45,111 --> 00:15:52,035
and when I got the news that about
1,000 bombers were attacking Cologne,
178
00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:53,745
it was incredible.
179
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,630
The morale of the people
was not shattered too much.
180
00:16:03,713 --> 00:16:08,510
It was more like a short shock
which passed away.
181
00:16:11,721 --> 00:16:16,351
German industry remained
resilient, although the industrial Ruhr
182
00:16:16,434 --> 00:16:18,895
was under attack throughout 1942.
183
00:16:18,979 --> 00:16:22,065
Damage was extensive,
but there was some slack in the economy
184
00:16:22,148 --> 00:16:25,610
to be taken up in more war production.
185
00:16:26,236 --> 00:16:30,365
The Nazi war machine was skilled
at orchestrating civilian morale.
186
00:16:56,182 --> 00:16:58,476
Flugzeuggeräusch.
187
00:17:03,690 --> 00:17:08,486
Bitte mal die Geschwindigkeit
von 02:15 Uhr nachmessen.
188
00:17:13,533 --> 00:17:17,203
The Germans could give as well as take.
189
00:17:17,287 --> 00:17:21,458
The Luftwaffe was acutely aware of
the lesson radar-controlled RAF fighters
190
00:17:21,541 --> 00:17:25,462
had taught it
during the Battle of Britain.
191
00:17:26,087 --> 00:17:31,426
Air defence chief General Kammhuber
evolved a most efficient system.
192
00:17:31,509 --> 00:17:33,053
Across the North Sea coast
193
00:17:33,136 --> 00:17:36,806
stretched an early-warning radar grid,
the Kammhuber Line.
194
00:17:36,890 --> 00:17:39,642
This grid was divided into boxes.
195
00:17:39,726 --> 00:17:44,481
In each box was a night fighter,
waiting like a spider for the fly.
196
00:17:44,564 --> 00:17:51,446
We overtook the plane on the side,
so he thought, "Ah, he hasn't seen me."
197
00:17:53,198 --> 00:17:57,660
He still did some corkscrewing
or waving.
198
00:17:57,744 --> 00:18:03,041
I just banked slightly to give
the gunners a good view underneath.
199
00:18:03,124 --> 00:18:08,171
I moved off maybe ten degrees to port
and starboard during this manoeuvre,
200
00:18:08,254 --> 00:18:11,257
but it wasn't violent
in any sense at all.
201
00:18:11,341 --> 00:18:18,014
And then I was shooting this way
and diving directly,
202
00:18:18,098 --> 00:18:23,561
or with a - what we said -
schräge Musik,
203
00:18:23,645 --> 00:18:27,607
two two-centimetre cannons,
204
00:18:27,690 --> 00:18:30,819
the same, only flying underneath,
205
00:18:30,944 --> 00:18:34,614
and waiting, moving very easy.
206
00:18:34,697 --> 00:18:38,868
We did the same
parallel to the other one, shooting.
207
00:18:38,952 --> 00:18:45,166
Between the motors
you had about 5,000 litres of gasoline,
208
00:18:45,250 --> 00:18:48,086
and that was burning very easily.
209
00:18:48,169 --> 00:18:52,799
The advent of the Kammhuber Line,
and all that went with it,
210
00:18:52,882 --> 00:18:58,054
was a startling sort of thing
to be confronted with,
211
00:18:58,138 --> 00:19:04,060
because the German night defences
took a terrible toll of British bombers.
212
00:19:09,274 --> 00:19:11,693
But now the RAF
was no longer alone.
213
00:19:28,168 --> 00:19:33,798
Hiya, fellas. There's your birdseed
for Hitler. Come and get it.
214
00:19:40,054 --> 00:19:43,474
Throughout 1942,
the US Eighth Army Air Force
215
00:19:43,558 --> 00:19:46,311
had been building up in England.
216
00:19:49,564 --> 00:19:53,484
The American air chiefs
believed they could succeed in daylight
217
00:19:53,568 --> 00:19:56,654
without suffering the losses
the British had done.
218
00:19:56,738 --> 00:20:01,784
They were convinced
they could bomb accurately by day.
219
00:20:01,868 --> 00:20:04,037
Charlie's doing his twirl again.
220
00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:06,289
Wish I had something like that.
221
00:20:06,372 --> 00:20:08,958
You guys wouldn't know
what to do with it.
222
00:20:09,042 --> 00:20:13,338
Took six months to teach you
how to pull a trigger.
223
00:20:13,421 --> 00:20:17,675
Can the small talk.
You need to come home.
224
00:20:19,219 --> 00:20:24,098
Their aircraft were very heavily armed.
Some carried up to 12 machine guns.
225
00:20:24,182 --> 00:20:28,686
And they were trained
to fly in close formation.
226
00:20:28,770 --> 00:20:31,981
Formation flying
was really the name of the game
227
00:20:32,065 --> 00:20:35,735
as far as the Eighth Air Force
was concerned.
228
00:20:35,818 --> 00:20:41,241
There was never anything like it
happened before or since.
229
00:20:44,827 --> 00:20:50,667
They actually were sort of making
their own rules up as they went along,
230
00:20:50,750 --> 00:20:53,878
because it was just a brand-new concept.
231
00:20:53,962 --> 00:20:59,425
You made it possible
to have a more concentrated firepower
232
00:20:59,509 --> 00:21:03,179
from the gunner's positions
of all your aeroplanes.
233
00:21:03,263 --> 00:21:10,270
The fact that you could depend
on good formation, tight formation,
234
00:21:12,313 --> 00:21:17,944
not only helped you
in defence of fighter attack,
235
00:21:20,154 --> 00:21:25,702
it made your chances of achieving
good bombing results much better.
236
00:21:25,785 --> 00:21:29,539
Because if you're bombing,
a squadron of aeroplanes was bombing,
237
00:21:29,622 --> 00:21:33,668
and the pattern was
a good, tight pattern,
238
00:21:33,751 --> 00:21:39,215
your results were bound to be good.
239
00:21:41,175 --> 00:21:42,969
Bombs away.
240
00:21:43,052 --> 00:21:46,514
Early raids into France
bore out American optimism.
241
00:21:46,597 --> 00:21:50,143
Later, over Germany,
it was a different story.
242
00:21:50,226 --> 00:21:52,729
They found at first, yes, the bombers
243
00:21:52,812 --> 00:21:55,523
could cope pretty well with the fighters
244
00:21:55,648 --> 00:21:57,608
and take acceptable losses,
245
00:21:57,734 --> 00:22:00,236
if penetrations were not too deep,
246
00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:04,907
if they kept good formation and they had
supporting fire, one from the other.
247
00:22:04,991 --> 00:22:07,827
But the Germans were learning too.
248
00:22:07,910 --> 00:22:11,414
They learned how to make their attacks
and penetrate formations.
249
00:22:11,497 --> 00:22:15,418
And they started the head-on attacks,
to try to get the leader
250
00:22:15,501 --> 00:22:17,211
and spread the formation.
251
00:22:17,295 --> 00:22:19,756
Once they got the formation spread out,
252
00:22:19,839 --> 00:22:24,802
then they could pick the bombers off
at will. More or less, anyway.
253
00:22:39,317 --> 00:22:42,570
But it was too early to admit defeat.
254
00:22:46,074 --> 00:22:51,954
At night, the British bombers flew on,
hundreds at a time, but each on its own.
255
00:22:52,038 --> 00:22:57,085
We used to see them go over in
the early evening, one by one in trail,
256
00:22:57,168 --> 00:23:00,004
I would not have changed places
for them.
257
00:23:00,088 --> 00:23:04,842
I'd much rather have
the close formation, the firepower,
258
00:23:04,926 --> 00:23:07,470
than go over the way they did.
259
00:23:07,553 --> 00:23:11,182
Flying with the RAF,
you were Single Charlie.
260
00:23:11,265 --> 00:23:14,143
Just after we'd crossed the Dutch coast,
261
00:23:14,227 --> 00:23:16,562
I felt a terrific bang in my face.
262
00:23:18,022 --> 00:23:22,443
The windscreen was shot away
and I'd been wounded in the forearm,
263
00:23:22,527 --> 00:23:27,323
the shoulder and the head. The plane
went out of control temporarily.
264
00:23:32,328 --> 00:23:35,706
I didn't see any sense
in saying that I'm wounded,
265
00:23:35,790 --> 00:23:41,379
in case they all thought,
"He's going to pop off any minute now."
266
00:23:41,504 --> 00:23:45,258
Again, the gun exploded
in the front of the plane beside us
267
00:23:45,341 --> 00:23:49,595
and the shell hit the engineer
who stood beside me in the forearm.
268
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:54,851
And I had bits in my leg and they
sort of skinned the skin off my hand.
269
00:23:55,852 --> 00:23:58,521
The port elevator had been shot off-
270
00:23:58,604 --> 00:24:02,483
it keeps the plane straight,
on each side of the tail,
271
00:24:02,567 --> 00:24:04,527
and the port one had been shot off.
272
00:24:04,610 --> 00:24:07,488
This meant that you had
to hold the stick back, right back,
273
00:24:07,572 --> 00:24:11,951
as if you're going to climb like this,
to keep the plane straight and level.
274
00:24:12,076 --> 00:24:16,873
The bomb aimer had to help push it back
because this hand was pretty weak,
275
00:24:16,956 --> 00:24:18,541
my shoulder had been hit
276
00:24:18,624 --> 00:24:22,795
and it was keeping the stick back by
holding my hands in front.
277
00:24:22,879 --> 00:24:25,965
And the engineer held it
with his other hand, his good arm.
278
00:24:26,048 --> 00:24:30,428
So we held it, combined, back,
to keep the plane straight and level.
279
00:24:30,511 --> 00:24:33,848
It wasn't
a "press on regardless" feeling,
280
00:24:33,931 --> 00:24:39,437
it was just a fact that
the four engines were still flying.
281
00:24:39,562 --> 00:24:42,398
If we'd had any engine cut,
I'd have thought,
282
00:24:42,482 --> 00:24:44,692
"Well, we can't get any further."
283
00:24:44,775 --> 00:24:47,653
But another factor here was,
had I turned back,
284
00:24:47,778 --> 00:24:51,824
we'd have another 700 planes
that are more or less on the same track,
285
00:24:51,908 --> 00:24:54,619
and spread something like
eight or ten miles broad
286
00:24:54,702 --> 00:24:57,747
and maybe
four to six thousand feet deep.
287
00:24:57,830 --> 00:25:04,045
And you're turning back right into them,
heading through this lot to get back.
288
00:25:04,128 --> 00:25:08,674
And then again, had I turned off, say
at 90 degrees, to try and avoid them,
289
00:25:08,758 --> 00:25:11,802
you're still turning across
quite a number of them.
290
00:25:11,886 --> 00:25:15,348
Then I watched the target indicators
and opened the bomb doors
291
00:25:15,431 --> 00:25:19,185
and kept the plane steady as I could
on the target indicators, and level.
292
00:25:19,310 --> 00:25:21,771
This is one of the things
they made a fuss about,
293
00:25:21,854 --> 00:25:24,232
that we'd a picture
of the target after all this.
294
00:25:24,315 --> 00:25:29,529
But as soon as we'd a picture taken,
I turned to head for base.
295
00:25:30,821 --> 00:25:35,117
One of the things
I remember feeling on this trip
296
00:25:35,201 --> 00:25:38,788
was that we had to get back,
because I knew we were wounded.
297
00:25:38,871 --> 00:25:43,334
None of the other members could fly it,
even on normal straight and levels,
298
00:25:43,417 --> 00:25:45,753
so to fly it at night
with one elevator gone,
299
00:25:45,878 --> 00:25:50,299
and having the stick in your belly
and no instruments, as it were,
300
00:25:50,383 --> 00:25:52,552
would've been pretty well impossible.
301
00:25:52,635 --> 00:25:57,098
We were shot at a few times on the way
back, but we weren't hit again.
302
00:25:57,181 --> 00:26:01,185
Eventually, we came over England,
when I saw these beacons flashing.
303
00:26:08,693 --> 00:26:12,280
As it touched down, the legs
of the undercarriage collapsed.
304
00:26:12,363 --> 00:26:16,284
We went along on our belly
for maybe 50 yards or so.
305
00:26:16,409 --> 00:26:20,496
And came to a stop. Switched off
engines to keep the fire hazard down.
306
00:26:20,580 --> 00:26:24,667
It was then only, that I knew
the navigator was killed,
307
00:26:24,750 --> 00:26:27,753
because he'd slid forward beside me.
308
00:26:42,643 --> 00:26:45,438
About how many enemy fighters
did you see?
309
00:26:45,521 --> 00:26:48,357
I couldn't keep track,
but I counted about 65.
310
00:26:48,441 --> 00:26:51,611
I stopped trying to count
when I got to 50, sir.
311
00:26:51,694 --> 00:26:54,155
I think
it was generally understood
312
00:26:54,238 --> 00:26:57,158
that the combat tour was 25 missions,
313
00:26:57,241 --> 00:26:59,994
because you'd be dead
by the end of that time,
314
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:04,248
so there wasn't any point
in asking you to stay around any longer.
315
00:27:04,332 --> 00:27:07,084
Bomber crews lived a curious war.
316
00:27:07,168 --> 00:27:09,629
One day in action, the next on the town.
317
00:27:09,712 --> 00:27:12,506
When our group wasn't flying,
318
00:27:12,590 --> 00:27:15,134
they'd usually go into London.
319
00:27:15,217 --> 00:27:17,511
Spend the day in London.
320
00:27:17,595 --> 00:27:20,848
And sometimes,
if they had some money left,
321
00:27:20,931 --> 00:27:25,269
they'd call up to find out if there
was a mission going the next day,
322
00:27:25,353 --> 00:27:27,188
and if not, they'd stay over.
323
00:27:27,271 --> 00:27:30,483
Flak will be heavy,
probably accurate,
324
00:27:30,566 --> 00:27:32,860
but you've been through worse before.
325
00:27:32,943 --> 00:27:38,491
Remember that your biggest enemy
still is single-engine fighter planes.
326
00:27:44,372 --> 00:27:47,416
I recall one evening
in the officers' club.
327
00:27:47,500 --> 00:27:52,421
Our operations officer was pouring
Scotch into a one-armed bandit,
328
00:27:52,505 --> 00:27:55,216
you know, these things
that you put quarters in,
329
00:27:55,299 --> 00:27:59,470
trying to persuade the machine
to deliver a jackpot.
330
00:27:59,553 --> 00:28:07,395
But... I guess it was a kind of an eat,
drink and be merry sort of life.
331
00:28:18,656 --> 00:28:21,701
The going's gonna be rough.
332
00:28:21,784 --> 00:28:27,498
You'll have to pull your necks in there
and stay in there and pitch, every man.
333
00:28:54,108 --> 00:28:57,653
I think that flying is so impersonal,
334
00:28:57,737 --> 00:29:00,114
that is to say combat flying,
335
00:29:00,197 --> 00:29:03,200
that you don't get
that intimate sense of loss
336
00:29:03,325 --> 00:29:05,786
if you see an aeroplane get shot down
337
00:29:05,870 --> 00:29:09,665
that you'd have
if your buddy on a battlefield
338
00:29:09,749 --> 00:29:12,918
had his head blown off
right within arm's length.
339
00:29:17,548 --> 00:29:20,968
Men came from Britain,
America, Occupied Europe,
340
00:29:21,051 --> 00:29:22,928
and the British Commonwealth
341
00:29:23,012 --> 00:29:27,933
to fight and die in
the most determined air offensive yet.
342
00:29:29,059 --> 00:29:32,521
In January 1943, at Casablanca,
Churchill and Roosevelt
343
00:29:32,605 --> 00:29:35,733
decided to combine
the British and US bombing efforts
344
00:29:35,858 --> 00:29:38,444
in preparing Nazi Europe for D-day.
345
00:29:40,321 --> 00:29:43,574
U-boat yards, aircraft plants...
346
00:29:45,284 --> 00:29:47,286
...armament factories,
347
00:29:47,369 --> 00:29:50,247
oil installations and transport,
348
00:29:50,331 --> 00:29:55,544
were deemed priority targets
for round-the-clock precision bombing.
349
00:30:00,633 --> 00:30:04,804
But precision bombing at night
was still impossible for Harris.
350
00:30:04,887 --> 00:30:08,307
An attempt to pick off the Ruhr dams
with specially designed bombs
351
00:30:08,390 --> 00:30:10,810
was only partially successful,
352
00:30:10,893 --> 00:30:14,313
and cost the lives
of some of the best aircrews.
353
00:30:24,698 --> 00:30:30,621
Though the raid led to improved accuracy
later on, not all the dams were hit.
354
00:30:30,704 --> 00:30:34,416
Ruhr arms production was unaffected.
355
00:30:34,500 --> 00:30:38,504
Harris believed that only the mounting
onslaught of night area bombing
356
00:30:38,587 --> 00:30:41,590
would crush German industrial capacity.
357
00:30:41,674 --> 00:30:45,010
At this time,
we were getting better aircraft.
358
00:30:45,135 --> 00:30:47,638
The Lancaster
was coming out in great numbers.
359
00:30:47,721 --> 00:30:52,977
We were losing the less efficient
Stirling and the Halifax.
360
00:30:53,060 --> 00:30:55,396
We were getting better radar devices.
361
00:30:55,479 --> 00:31:01,318
And we had extremely good navigators,
selected navigators.
362
00:31:01,402 --> 00:31:03,654
And this was the essence
of the whole thing.
363
00:31:03,737 --> 00:31:09,243
And these navigators were able
to get much closer to an aiming point
364
00:31:09,326 --> 00:31:11,328
than we had previously.
365
00:31:11,412 --> 00:31:16,250
Then we laid great lanes of flares,
hundreds of flares.
366
00:31:16,333 --> 00:31:18,419
Even if we missed the aiming point,
367
00:31:18,502 --> 00:31:24,925
we would identify some
very positive feature on the ground,
368
00:31:25,009 --> 00:31:28,429
like a lake or a bend in the river.
369
00:31:28,512 --> 00:31:31,599
And from there,
we could then creep on to the target
370
00:31:31,682 --> 00:31:35,728
and put flares down,
different coloured flares.
371
00:31:35,811 --> 00:31:38,898
And then later on,
we got target indicators.
372
00:31:38,981 --> 00:31:45,571
And these were... Just imagine
a great bunch of incandescent grapes
373
00:31:45,654 --> 00:31:52,745
falling from 2,000, 4,000, wherever
we wanted them to detonate from.
374
00:31:53,579 --> 00:31:55,915
At the end of July 1943,
375
00:31:55,998 --> 00:32:01,337
Harris deployed his improving technology
with devastating effect on Hamburg.
376
00:32:01,420 --> 00:32:05,341
The effectiveness
of the first Hamburg raid
377
00:32:05,424 --> 00:32:10,554
was due to us at last getting permission
378
00:32:10,638 --> 00:32:14,058
to use something
we'd had in the bag for a long time,
379
00:32:14,141 --> 00:32:16,685
which was known as "window",
380
00:32:16,769 --> 00:32:21,732
which was the dropping
of clouds of aluminium paper strips,
381
00:32:21,815 --> 00:32:27,571
which completely upset
not only the German location apparatus,
382
00:32:27,655 --> 00:32:30,407
but also their gun-aiming apparatus.
383
00:32:49,593 --> 00:32:53,514
None of us,
neither civilians nor firemen,
384
00:32:53,597 --> 00:32:56,767
knew what happened on this night.
385
00:32:56,850 --> 00:32:59,144
It was a very heavy raid,
386
00:32:59,228 --> 00:33:04,858
but we had almost the same
one year before.
387
00:33:05,484 --> 00:33:08,904
We were not prepared
for the fire storm
388
00:33:08,988 --> 00:33:12,908
which broke out
half an hour after the raid.
389
00:33:16,787 --> 00:33:20,290
The effect of the bombing,
combined with a heat wave,
390
00:33:20,374 --> 00:33:23,752
was to create
a man-made tornado of flame.
391
00:33:23,836 --> 00:33:25,921
A fire storm.
392
00:33:28,841 --> 00:33:32,803
Und diese ganze Gegend
wurde von Kanälen...
393
00:33:32,886 --> 00:33:35,723
I went to this area near the docks.
394
00:33:35,806 --> 00:33:37,891
It was crossed by canals.
395
00:33:37,975 --> 00:33:41,812
People tried to leap down into them
out of the flames,
396
00:33:41,895 --> 00:33:44,064
but the water was on fire.
397
00:33:51,030 --> 00:33:55,117
It's difficult to explain
why the water was burning.
398
00:33:55,200 --> 00:34:00,497
There were many ships, small ships,
moored in the canals.
399
00:34:00,581 --> 00:34:06,462
They had exploded, and burning oil
had been released onto the water.
400
00:34:08,338 --> 00:34:13,177
And the people, who were themselves
on fire, jumped into it.
401
00:34:13,260 --> 00:34:19,266
And they burnt, swam,
burnt and went under.
402
00:34:41,747 --> 00:34:46,376
Most people
were killed by the fierce heat,
403
00:34:46,502 --> 00:34:53,550
not burnt or suffocated
or poisoned by carbon monoxide.
404
00:34:53,675 --> 00:34:56,345
We think that in some places,
405
00:34:56,428 --> 00:35:02,518
the temperature
reached 1,000 degrees centigrade.
406
00:35:06,230 --> 00:35:09,441
The British night attacks
and American day raids
407
00:35:09,525 --> 00:35:11,568
lasted nearly a week.
408
00:35:11,652 --> 00:35:13,654
30,000 died.
409
00:35:13,737 --> 00:35:20,202
In Hamburg,
we really found out the first time
410
00:35:20,285 --> 00:35:25,707
that the morale of the German people
can be shattered so much
411
00:35:25,791 --> 00:35:29,253
that work for industry,
412
00:35:29,336 --> 00:35:33,507
the work in the armaments industry,
would collapse.
413
00:35:39,721 --> 00:35:41,932
At the time, Speer said
414
00:35:42,015 --> 00:35:45,894
six more raids like that
would have finished the war.
415
00:35:49,022 --> 00:35:52,359
The Allies did not have that capacity.
416
00:35:55,028 --> 00:35:57,322
The shock passed.
417
00:36:01,451 --> 00:36:04,079
At the same time, the Eighth Air Force
418
00:36:04,163 --> 00:36:08,876
had stepped up
the intensity of its daylight raids.
419
00:36:09,001 --> 00:36:12,838
Next group will bomb
from an altitude of 13,000 feet.
420
00:36:15,340 --> 00:36:17,551
We feel that this low altitude
421
00:36:17,634 --> 00:36:22,139
will be equalised by the element
of surprise which is with us.
422
00:36:24,057 --> 00:36:28,395
Two weeks after Hamburg,
they planned to deal their knockout blow
423
00:36:28,478 --> 00:36:30,814
against German industry.
424
00:36:30,898 --> 00:36:32,566
Lights, please.
425
00:36:32,649 --> 00:36:36,862
This group of buildings here
is your target.
426
00:36:36,945 --> 00:36:40,032
This building will be the aiming point.
427
00:36:40,115 --> 00:36:43,744
If your bomb pattern
is concentrated in this area,
428
00:36:43,827 --> 00:36:47,623
it should very effectively
knock out the factory.
429
00:36:47,748 --> 00:36:51,418
The target was the
ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt,
430
00:36:51,501 --> 00:36:54,379
producing a major part
of Germany's needs.
431
00:37:40,300 --> 00:37:43,262
The attacking force
was to be split into two.
432
00:37:43,345 --> 00:37:46,014
The first wave would fight
to a secondary target,
433
00:37:46,098 --> 00:37:49,601
the Messerschmitt aircraft plant
at Regensburg.
434
00:37:49,685 --> 00:37:52,938
Then it would fly on unhindered
to North Africa.
435
00:37:53,021 --> 00:37:55,649
The second wave,
ten minutes behind the first,
436
00:37:55,732 --> 00:37:57,693
would then arrive at Schweinfurt,
437
00:37:57,776 --> 00:38:01,154
whilst the German fighters
were on the ground refuelling.
438
00:38:01,238 --> 00:38:04,324
Their battle
would be during the trip home.
439
00:38:06,118 --> 00:38:09,413
I went in
without any fighter escort at all,
440
00:38:09,496 --> 00:38:14,293
and flew clear across Europe
without fighter escort,
441
00:38:14,376 --> 00:38:19,589
with about 125 aeroplanes
that I had in the division at the time.
442
00:38:21,508 --> 00:38:25,846
German air defence staff
plotted the path of the first wave
443
00:38:25,929 --> 00:38:29,766
as it flew further and further
into Germany.
444
00:38:30,684 --> 00:38:33,854
They could not tell
the plan was going wrong.
445
00:38:33,937 --> 00:38:37,524
British weather helped to upset
the Americans' careful plans.
446
00:38:37,649 --> 00:38:41,028
Unexpected low cloud
delayed the takeoff of the second wave.
447
00:38:41,111 --> 00:38:44,364
The result: the Luftwaffe,
refuelled and re-armed,
448
00:38:44,448 --> 00:38:46,074
was waiting for them.
449
00:38:46,158 --> 00:38:48,952
Well, we didn't expect an attack
450
00:38:49,036 --> 00:38:53,373
coming that far into the country
without fighter escort.
451
00:38:53,457 --> 00:38:56,668
And we were all very astonished.
452
00:39:00,630 --> 00:39:03,800
Null. Anfrage Viktor.
453
00:39:28,492 --> 00:39:35,332
Schweinfurt was the result of very good
conditions in favour of German fighters,
454
00:39:35,415 --> 00:39:38,627
and the fact
we could bring all our fighters
455
00:39:38,752 --> 00:39:42,255
into operation
to intercept the bomber stream.
456
00:39:42,339 --> 00:39:47,260
This altogether
has favoured our results.
457
00:39:52,099 --> 00:39:55,477
21 Flying Fortresses were lost
458
00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:59,189
before the first bomb fell
on Schweinfurt.
459
00:40:06,154 --> 00:40:09,825
The first division,
coming in later, had heavier losses,
460
00:40:09,908 --> 00:40:13,954
because they had to go back out
in addition to coming in.
461
00:40:14,037 --> 00:40:18,166
I think we wound up the day
by losing about 60 aeroplanes,
462
00:40:18,250 --> 00:40:22,087
which didn't make anybody very happy.
463
00:40:23,588 --> 00:40:26,591
Ich kam dann noch mal hoch und bin
von unten ins Ziel und...
464
00:40:26,716 --> 00:40:28,802
hat dann prima hingehauen.
465
00:40:56,455 --> 00:40:58,498
The cost was high.
466
00:40:58,582 --> 00:41:02,627
But ball-bearing production
was disrupted for six weeks.
467
00:41:02,711 --> 00:41:07,841
When you hit Schweinfurt first,
468
00:41:07,924 --> 00:41:12,554
it was a nightmare getting true.
469
00:41:12,637 --> 00:41:16,808
But then, I had
a very good representative, Kessler,
470
00:41:16,892 --> 00:41:21,771
and he did with all means,
not only the repair,
471
00:41:21,855 --> 00:41:27,903
but also the replacement
of ball bearings with other devices
472
00:41:27,986 --> 00:41:31,198
which could do the job,
473
00:41:31,281 --> 00:41:34,451
not as good as a ball bearing,
but it could be done.
474
00:41:39,206 --> 00:41:41,917
In the two-wave attack,
475
00:41:42,042 --> 00:41:45,712
over 120 aircraft
were lost or damaged beyond repair.
476
00:41:45,795 --> 00:41:50,509
To prove their point at Schweinfurt,
the Americans would have to go back.
477
00:41:50,592 --> 00:41:53,637
Naturally, I was keenly disappointed,
478
00:41:53,720 --> 00:41:56,973
largely because
in sending my crews back,
479
00:41:57,057 --> 00:42:00,268
I knew they would sustain
additional losses.
480
00:42:00,352 --> 00:42:03,021
If we had done the job right
in the first place,
481
00:42:03,104 --> 00:42:05,690
we could have avoided these losses.
482
00:42:05,774 --> 00:42:11,321
But nobody who fires a gun
hits his target every time.
483
00:42:11,404 --> 00:42:14,032
We went back
because we got good weather
484
00:42:14,115 --> 00:42:17,118
and it was our highest priority target.
485
00:42:17,202 --> 00:42:19,162
That's why we returned.
486
00:42:20,914 --> 00:42:25,835
On 14th October, some 300 bombers
were marshalled over England.
487
00:42:26,545 --> 00:42:30,048
There were aeroplanes
climbing all over England.
488
00:42:30,131 --> 00:42:31,883
England was just an airport.
489
00:42:31,967 --> 00:42:36,763
And this, I think, was real difficult.
490
00:42:38,682 --> 00:42:40,183
It took some time
491
00:42:40,267 --> 00:42:45,146
to group a large number
of heavy bombers into a tight formation.
492
00:42:45,230 --> 00:42:48,692
These complicated manoeuvres
gave warning to the Luftwaffe
493
00:42:48,775 --> 00:42:51,945
of the strength and direction
of an attacking force.
494
00:42:52,028 --> 00:42:54,656
Two thirds of all German fighters
495
00:42:54,739 --> 00:42:58,076
were now concentrated
against the Eighth Air Force.
496
00:42:58,159 --> 00:43:00,537
The fighter was the boogie man.
497
00:43:00,620 --> 00:43:08,336
The fighter had eyes
and, in a great many instances,
498
00:43:08,420 --> 00:43:14,301
the fighter had a pretty competent fella
at the controls.
499
00:43:14,384 --> 00:43:21,850
And when he latched on to you,
you were in trouble lots of times.
500
00:43:21,933 --> 00:43:26,563
I was that close
that I could really see the rear gunner.
501
00:43:26,646 --> 00:43:31,443
I saw him as frightened as I was.
502
00:43:35,655 --> 00:43:39,868
They'd call the positions
of the fighters out over their intercom.
503
00:43:39,951 --> 00:43:41,995
Sometimes they'd get so frightened
504
00:43:42,078 --> 00:43:44,998
that they'd continue
to hold the microphone down,
505
00:43:45,123 --> 00:43:48,918
and keep hollering into the microphone.
506
00:43:51,254 --> 00:43:56,968
And they started
at 1,000 metres, almost,
507
00:43:57,052 --> 00:44:00,555
with their tracing ammunition,
in order to frighten us.
508
00:44:00,639 --> 00:44:05,226
And I told my younger pilots,
who had no experience,
509
00:44:05,310 --> 00:44:09,522
to close their eyes,
attacking from behind.
510
00:44:13,943 --> 00:44:18,907
There wasn't much time
to think. You just put that gun sight on
511
00:44:18,990 --> 00:44:22,869
and kept waving your head around
looking for enemy fighters
512
00:44:22,952 --> 00:44:25,455
and kept the gun sight on 'em.
513
00:44:26,623 --> 00:44:29,751
Pilot to navigator, what's the word?
514
00:44:29,834 --> 00:44:31,461
We're making the run.
515
00:44:31,544 --> 00:44:34,881
Right before we hit the target
was the worst part.
516
00:44:35,006 --> 00:44:38,677
We got picked up by fighters, were
taken into the target and they left,
517
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:43,098
and we dropped the bombs
and they picked us up after the target.
518
00:44:46,559 --> 00:44:50,021
More than 60%
of all ball-bearing production
519
00:44:50,105 --> 00:44:52,357
at Schweinfurt was destroyed.
520
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:56,736
The Americans had lost
more than 60 Flying Fortresses.
521
00:44:57,987 --> 00:45:01,449
If you would have repeated those raids
shortly afterwards,
522
00:45:01,533 --> 00:45:05,036
it wouldn't have given us
the time to rebuild.
523
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:08,540
Then it would have been
a disastrous result.
524
00:45:08,665 --> 00:45:10,875
Could you take the losses
the forces took
525
00:45:10,959 --> 00:45:13,378
when you didn't know
if you'd accomplish it?
526
00:45:13,461 --> 00:45:17,674
When you thought ball bearings were
coming in from Sweden and Switzerland?
527
00:45:17,757 --> 00:45:20,510
You didn't know.
You don't go on with those things.
528
00:45:20,593 --> 00:45:25,932
So the strategy swung back
from pinpoint targets like Schweinfurt
529
00:45:26,057 --> 00:45:30,520
to another night area offensive: Berlin.
530
00:45:31,104 --> 00:45:35,650
With American support, Harris believed
he could wreck Berlin in six months
531
00:45:35,734 --> 00:45:37,694
and win the war.
532
00:45:37,777 --> 00:45:42,115
But the depleted Eighth Air Force
were not now able to join him.
533
00:45:42,240 --> 00:45:46,995
He sent the most amazing signals.
And one that I'll always remember -
534
00:45:47,078 --> 00:45:52,584
and this is the sort of thing
you read out to your crews at briefing -
535
00:45:52,667 --> 00:45:55,378
this one went on to say:
536
00:45:55,462 --> 00:45:58,840
"Tonight you go to the big city."
That's Berlin.
537
00:45:58,923 --> 00:46:03,261
"You have the opportunity to light
a fire in the belly of the enemy
538
00:46:03,344 --> 00:46:05,722
and burn his black heart out."
539
00:46:12,937 --> 00:46:16,691
Well, crews, after they stopped
cheering a thing like that,
540
00:46:16,775 --> 00:46:18,735
they didn't want aircraft.
541
00:46:18,818 --> 00:46:21,446
You could just fill their pockets
with bombs
542
00:46:21,529 --> 00:46:25,825
and point them towards Berlin
and they'd take off on their own.
543
00:46:29,245 --> 00:46:32,540
Bomber Command
had to go on on its own.
544
00:46:32,624 --> 00:46:38,254
It was a long way, and the weather
at the end of 1943 was particularly bad.
545
00:46:38,379 --> 00:46:42,425
But each night, the bombers
fought their way to Berlin
546
00:46:42,509 --> 00:46:45,053
and other cities deep in Germany.
547
00:46:50,058 --> 00:46:54,187
Harris' crews wrought terrible damage.
548
00:46:58,817 --> 00:47:01,778
Berlin is getting
a real taste of total war.
549
00:47:01,861 --> 00:47:05,198
The terrific weight of RAF assaults
on the capital of Naziland
550
00:47:05,281 --> 00:47:06,574
has set the Hun reeling.
551
00:47:06,658 --> 00:47:10,328
How he must regret the ruthless attacks
he made on Warsaw, Rotterdam,
552
00:47:10,411 --> 00:47:13,081
Belgrade, London,
Coventry and the rest.
553
00:47:13,164 --> 00:47:15,416
The day and night of reckoning is here.
554
00:47:15,500 --> 00:47:17,585
And what do you think of it, Keith?
555
00:47:17,669 --> 00:47:21,798
Jerry definitely had it this time.
It certainly was a wizard prang.
556
00:47:30,932 --> 00:47:37,897
Yet many of Berlin's offices
and factories managed to go on working.
557
00:47:38,606 --> 00:47:44,737
In my experience,
people rather got numb.
558
00:47:44,821 --> 00:47:49,784
They were going through the streets
like shadows.
559
00:47:49,868 --> 00:47:53,580
But they were still working
like automats.
560
00:48:30,867 --> 00:48:33,578
We had very little trouble
in getting there,
561
00:48:33,661 --> 00:48:35,204
but one thing I did notice
562
00:48:35,330 --> 00:48:38,416
was the vicious way
in which every German town
563
00:48:38,499 --> 00:48:42,795
now seems
to throw up flak indiscriminately.
564
00:48:42,879 --> 00:48:45,757
The technological advantages
565
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:48,760
which prevailed over Hamburg
no longer applied.
566
00:48:48,843 --> 00:48:53,514
The German air defence
had leapfrogged ahead once more.
567
00:49:00,313 --> 00:49:04,192
Berlin looked as if
it would indeed remain Berlin.
568
00:49:23,044 --> 00:49:28,758
By early spring, 1944, Harris
had not totally destroyed the city.
569
00:50:01,290 --> 00:50:04,836
Bomber Command had been
savagely mauled by the Germans.
570
00:50:04,919 --> 00:50:09,298
In those four months, in raids
against Berlin and other targets,
571
00:50:09,382 --> 00:50:14,762
1,000 aircraft, the Command's
first-line strength, were lost.
572
00:50:15,596 --> 00:50:19,142
But Harris did not,
and does not, concede defeat.
573
00:50:19,225 --> 00:50:21,769
The casualties in the Battle of Berlin
574
00:50:21,853 --> 00:50:25,106
were no more than we would have suffered
575
00:50:25,189 --> 00:50:30,153
if we'd gone anywhere else in Germany,
deep into Germany.
576
00:50:30,236 --> 00:50:32,864
People seem to forget
that Bomber Command
577
00:50:32,947 --> 00:50:35,950
fought 1,000 battles during the war.
578
00:50:36,034 --> 00:50:37,910
You can't succeed in every one.
579
00:50:37,994 --> 00:50:42,290
I'm not saying the Battle of Berlin
was a defeat or anything like a defeat.
580
00:50:42,373 --> 00:50:47,336
I think it was a major contribution
towards the defeat of Germany.
581
00:50:47,420 --> 00:50:51,841
There were thousands
of heavy anti-aircraft guns,
582
00:50:51,966 --> 00:50:56,554
millions of ammunition for them,
583
00:50:56,637 --> 00:50:59,891
and hundreds of thousands of soldiers,
584
00:51:00,016 --> 00:51:04,687
which were torn away
from our fight in the Eastern Front.
585
00:51:04,771 --> 00:51:09,484
So I should say,
with air attacks on Germany,
586
00:51:09,567 --> 00:51:13,404
you had, in an early stage, from '43 on,
587
00:51:13,488 --> 00:51:16,032
really a so-called second front.
588
00:51:20,536 --> 00:51:24,373
Despite all the devastation,
the Germans carried on.
589
00:51:24,457 --> 00:51:26,667
German industry was still supplying
590
00:51:26,751 --> 00:51:29,962
the armies fighting fiercely
in the east and in Italy.
591
00:51:30,046 --> 00:51:34,967
The strategic bombing thesis
remained as yet unproven.
592
00:51:40,306 --> 00:51:44,018
The lessons of Schweinfurt
had been well learnt by the Americans.
593
00:51:44,102 --> 00:51:48,022
Re-equipped, they joined the RAF
over Berlin in March 1944.
594
00:51:48,106 --> 00:51:50,399
But now they were escorted
by the Mustang,
595
00:51:50,483 --> 00:51:53,694
a remarkable aeroplane
which was to change everything.
596
00:51:53,778 --> 00:51:56,823
It had a bomber's range
and a fighter's performance.
597
00:51:56,906 --> 00:52:00,576
The German day fighter
had now met its match.
598
00:52:06,290 --> 00:52:09,961
By the end of spring 1944,
the German day fighter had lost
599
00:52:10,044 --> 00:52:12,964
where the Spitfire and Hurricane
had won.
600
00:52:13,047 --> 00:52:16,676
The Americans had finally beaten
the Luftwaffe over daylight Europe
601
00:52:16,759 --> 00:52:18,886
with their long-range fighters.
602
00:52:20,138 --> 00:52:25,726
We had nothing of the same effort.
603
00:52:25,810 --> 00:52:29,981
And I think
they frightened us quite a bit.
604
00:52:30,064 --> 00:52:31,983
I think the main concern
605
00:52:32,066 --> 00:52:36,070
was the quantities
in which they were showing up.
606
00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:45,371
The Germans had lost control
of their air space in daylight.
607
00:52:45,454 --> 00:52:52,128
From now on, the Allies would be able to
launch day raids over Germany at will.
608
00:53:01,220 --> 00:53:05,433
But, in March 1944,
609
00:53:05,516 --> 00:53:09,270
both bomber forces were placed
under Eisenhower's overall command
610
00:53:09,353 --> 00:53:11,606
to prepare for D-day.
611
00:53:11,689 --> 00:53:13,608
There would be six months' respite
612
00:53:13,691 --> 00:53:16,569
before the Allied bombers
could set out once more,
613
00:53:16,652 --> 00:53:20,198
to break the will of the German people.
71872
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