Talk:Strategic bombing during World War II

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Allied air superiority over Western Europe in jan 44?

I've put a dubious just after the sub paragraph that claims that bomber movements were seriously disrupted in preperation for Steinbock. This would presuppose night as well as daytime air superiority over france, and the low countries. I didn't think the allies achieved that till the spring? A citation would be good, indicating GAF bomber losses destroyed in transit to jumping off airfields, etc. For sure by Jan 44 the British air defence system was almost impenetrable without unacceptable losses to an attacker (the radical HE177 attack profile used in Steinbock proves that the GAF were grimly aware of that) So I have no issues with that part. Irondome (talk) 20:51, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

The USAAF and RAF were putting nightfighters over the continent on Intruder missions to both counter German nightfighters looking for Bomber Command's raids, and pick up German bombers on the way back. But as to whether than is what the original editor was referring to...GraemeLeggett (talk) 23:05, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

Area bombing and oil bombing graph

Could someone please include this graph of Allied bombing target or create a new graph? http://pages.uoregon.edu/dluebke/Germany342/BombingTonnage.GIF

I think it is important to visually show what the main targets were.

Please also replace the image in the start of the article. Bombing of the Astra Romana refinery is very much not representative of strategic bombing since the graph shows that less than 10% of the Allied bombing was on oil installations, while more than 60% of bombing was area bombing. Please use an image of bombing of residential areas to replace the refinery bombing with. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by IkswejezreiM (talk • contribs) 14:47, 19 January 2013 (UTC)

Operation Crossbow

Note that Today's Featured Article (for March 25) concerns the Nazi-built Blockhaus d'Éperlecques, La Coupole and the Fortress of Mimoyecques in NE France, and says, "All three facilities were put out of action by the Allies' Operation Crossbow bombing campaign between August 1943 and August 1944."

I realize these targets were much, much closer to Allied airfields than was the Wolfsschanze, but the fact that they were so thoroughly ravaged by accurate bombing seems to show that a massive raid on Hitler's so-called Wolf's Lair might have been possible, or at least worth trying. As noted above, the RAF bombed Königsberg — only 45 miles from Rastenburg — with devastating effect in August 1944. Danzig, some 75 miles from Rastenburg, also was bombed by Allied and Soviet air forces late in the war.

The Western Allies, particularly the British, steadfastly refused to lend any encouragement to the German resistance circles plotting Hitler’s assassination, despite the plotters' multiple attempts at contacts. I cannot but suspect, and I tend to conclude, that the Allies similarly refused to consider killing Hitler because they believed only a total military defeat of Nazi Germany served their war aims. If that is the case, they ignored an opportunity to save several million human lives – lives lost in the last year of the war in Europe. This is just one more among countless examples of the dehumanization of war.

I believe they should have tried to kill the beast (and at least some of his rabid pack) in his "Lair."

Sca (talk) 16:26, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Is it even certain that the British know of an anti-Hitler faction that could be supported. Sefton_Delmer#Early_career_and_work_during_wartime suggests that the British were faking a German resistance to Hitler. GraemeLeggett (talk) 16:56, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Such an assertion is totally baseless and terribly wrong. As early as 1938, and intermittently into 1944, the resistance made repeated attempts to enlist support from the British and the American OSS.

I suggest you read (among others):

• Fest, Joachim. Plotting Hitler’s Death; The Story of the German Ressistance, Metropolitan Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8050-4213-X.

• Gill, Anton. An Honorable Defeat: A History of German Resistance to Hitler, Henry Holt and Co., 1994. ISBN 0-8050-3514-1.

• Deutsch, Harold C. The Conspiracy Against Hitler, University of Minnesota Press, 1968,

Fest, in discussing attempts by various resistance leaders to contact British notables, says: "But there was to be no help or any sign of encouragement, just a deep, persistent silence." (Page 209.)

PS: GraemeLeggett, please DO NOT again delete this reply.

Sca (talk) 22:11, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

As the page history shows, I haven't edited anything you wrote on this page. GraemeLeggett (talk) 06:27, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

This is a talk page to be used to discuss ways to improve the article, and not for a general discussion of topics related to it. Please see WP:NOTFORUM. Regards, Nick-D (talk) 07:22, 26 March 2013 (UTC)