1 00:00:12,679 --> 00:00:15,014 (man) l don't think many of the aircrew 2 00:00:15,098 --> 00:00:17,766 knew what strategic bombing really meant. 3 00:00:17,851 --> 00:00:20,686 (man #2) As schoolboys, we joined the air force, 4 00:00:20,770 --> 00:00:22,646 cos there was a war being fought 5 00:00:22,731 --> 00:00:26,066 and there was a bit of glamour attached to the air force. 6 00:00:26,151 --> 00:00:30,863 (man #1) lf you couldn't get the Kraut in his factory, 7 00:00:30,947 --> 00:00:34,074 it was just as easy to knock him off in his bed. 8 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:40,164 lf old Granny Shickelgruber next door got the chop, that's hard luck. 9 00:00:40,248 --> 00:00:45,878 There are a lot of people who say that bombing can never win a war. 10 00:00:46,796 --> 00:00:52,968 Well, my answer to that is that it has never been tried yet, and we shall see. 11 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,385 (♪ tea dance) 12 00:02:19,514 --> 00:02:22,349 (narrator) Affer the Battle of Britain, 13 00:02:22,433 --> 00:02:25,811 the Royal Air Force had cause to celebrate. 14 00:02:28,064 --> 00:02:31,733 Fighter Command had shown how difficult it was to destroy a country 15 00:02:31,818 --> 00:02:35,028 which could defend its own air space. 16 00:02:37,949 --> 00:02:43,453 A lesson the air staff, apparently, neglected to teach itself. 17 00:02:46,457 --> 00:02:51,461 Lord Trenchard had founded the serVice as a force of strategic bombers. 18 00:02:51,546 --> 00:02:54,882 Fighters for defence were secondary. 19 00:02:57,468 --> 00:02:59,803 Long-range bombers, it was argued, 20 00:02:59,888 --> 00:03:02,806 could win wars without costly land battles. 21 00:03:02,891 --> 00:03:05,601 They would bomb the industrial heart out of an enemy 22 00:03:05,685 --> 00:03:08,812 and totally demoralise his civilian population. 23 00:03:11,649 --> 00:03:17,404 ln 1939, the RAF was not really equipped to put this thesis to the test. 24 00:03:17,488 --> 00:03:22,659 But affer Dunkirk, it was the only force capable of attacking Germany. 25 00:03:22,744 --> 00:03:25,704 And the British public desperately needed an attack. 26 00:03:28,499 --> 00:03:32,044 (newsreel) The British Empire is building up a bomber force 27 00:03:32,128 --> 00:03:37,716 designed as the offensive air weapon to smash the heart of Germany. 28 00:03:42,472 --> 00:03:44,806 The first daylight raids were disastrous. 29 00:03:44,891 --> 00:03:49,186 Bombers fell easy prey to the Luffwaffe. 30 00:03:49,270 --> 00:03:51,647 (♪ "Bring Back My Bomber And Me") 31 00:04:03,868 --> 00:04:07,746 Still the RAF persevered, though losses mounted. 32 00:04:07,830 --> 00:04:12,125 Heavy casualties forced Bomber Command to start flying at night. 33 00:04:12,210 --> 00:04:14,378 (♪ "Bring Back My Bomber And Me") 34 00:04:20,134 --> 00:04:22,219 (man) OK, chaps, here we go. 35 00:04:23,012 --> 00:04:26,640 (indistinct radio contact) 36 00:04:26,724 --> 00:04:29,268 (redio) Taxi out and take off. 37 00:04:29,352 --> 00:04:31,728 (♪ "Bring Back My Bomber And Me") 38 00:04:51,332 --> 00:04:54,209 Do you see what l see, skipper? 39 00:04:54,335 --> 00:04:56,586 (man) What do you see, my Scottish friend? 40 00:04:56,671 --> 00:05:00,090 Fog. Dirty, yellow, stinking fog. 41 00:05:02,719 --> 00:05:05,929 (narrator) For aircrews trained to attack in daylight, 42 00:05:06,014 --> 00:05:07,806 night flying had its problems. 43 00:05:07,890 --> 00:05:10,058 To find a target in Germany, 44 00:05:10,143 --> 00:05:11,768 in the dead of night, 45 00:05:11,853 --> 00:05:15,772 in any average weather conditions, 46 00:05:15,857 --> 00:05:18,317 was quite far beyond the task 47 00:05:18,401 --> 00:05:20,444 of any bomber crews. 48 00:05:24,032 --> 00:05:27,784 We're over the Dutch coast. Too much cloud to see where. 49 00:05:28,786 --> 00:05:32,581 (narrator) Patriotic films had no difficulty in giving the impression 50 00:05:32,665 --> 00:05:35,250 that determination and a diet of raw carrots 51 00:05:35,335 --> 00:05:38,670 could overcome the law saying you cannot see in the dark. 52 00:05:38,755 --> 00:05:42,799 - Can't see anything else but the Rhine. - l hope it's not the Danube. 53 00:05:42,884 --> 00:05:46,511 Keep on going. You might be able to pick up something with lights on. 54 00:05:46,596 --> 00:05:50,098 lf you could get visual pinpoints en route, 55 00:05:50,183 --> 00:05:56,396 you could get within five or seven miles of the targets. 56 00:06:00,234 --> 00:06:02,819 - Bomb doors open. - Steady. 57 00:06:02,904 --> 00:06:06,406 (narrator) Once the target was reached, it was a piece of cake... 58 00:06:06,491 --> 00:06:07,949 Bombs gone. 59 00:06:11,037 --> 00:06:15,374 ..provided you were just blowing up a studio model. 60 00:06:18,503 --> 00:06:20,462 l hope we haven't kept you waiting, sir. 61 00:06:20,546 --> 00:06:22,672 Good Lord, no. Come and sit down. 62 00:06:25,259 --> 00:06:27,969 - How did you get on? - Caused a hell of a great big fire. 63 00:06:28,096 --> 00:06:32,057 Buckets of smoke. Visible, ooh, 50 miles away. 64 00:06:33,267 --> 00:06:37,104 Well, old boy, how about some bacon and eggs? 65 00:06:45,196 --> 00:06:47,239 (narrator) The truth was different. 66 00:06:47,323 --> 00:06:51,785 ln fact, in those days, and it's been proved since, 67 00:06:51,869 --> 00:06:57,624 three bombs in every 100 got within five miles of the aiming point. 68 00:07:02,588 --> 00:07:08,051 In diesem Schlafsaal wurden neun Kinder getötet und fünf schwer verletzt. 69 00:07:08,136 --> 00:07:12,764 (narrator) lnaccurate bombing could be embarrassing. 70 00:07:13,599 --> 00:07:16,309 The German propaganda ministry quickly capitalised 71 00:07:16,394 --> 00:07:19,062 on the destruction of this children's hospital. 72 00:07:19,147 --> 00:07:21,231 Das sind die Opfer der britischen Mordbuben, 73 00:07:21,315 --> 00:07:23,859 die dieses gemeine Verbrechen ganz bewusst begangen haben. 74 00:07:23,943 --> 00:07:26,611 Es wird unerbittlich gesühnt werden. 75 00:07:28,656 --> 00:07:32,868 But the war cabinet's view was that Germany had to be bombed. 76 00:07:32,952 --> 00:07:36,872 And this was the only strategic bombing Britain could then undertake. 77 00:07:36,956 --> 00:07:40,417 Coventry and Liverpool indicated German industry would suffer 78 00:07:40,501 --> 00:07:43,211 if its workers were bombed out. 79 00:07:43,963 --> 00:07:48,341 Professor Lindemann told Churchill that de-housing a third of German workers 80 00:07:48,468 --> 00:07:51,094 would bring industrial production to a halt. 81 00:07:51,179 --> 00:07:55,348 And there was popular pressure to avenge the Blitz. 82 00:07:56,392 --> 00:07:58,977 We ask no favours of the enemy. 83 00:08:00,730 --> 00:08:07,861 We seek from them no... compunction. 84 00:08:09,489 --> 00:08:11,448 On the contrary, 85 00:08:11,532 --> 00:08:17,037 if tonight the people of London were asked to cast their votes 86 00:08:17,914 --> 00:08:21,374 as to whether a convention should be entered into 87 00:08:21,459 --> 00:08:23,877 to stop the bombing of all cities, 88 00:08:23,961 --> 00:08:26,630 an overwhelming majority would cry: 89 00:08:26,714 --> 00:08:30,342 "No, we will mete out to the Germans 90 00:08:30,426 --> 00:08:35,931 the measure and more than the measure they have meted out to us." 91 00:08:42,855 --> 00:08:48,401 (narrator) But the Germans were now meting it out to the British bomber. 92 00:08:57,203 --> 00:09:01,998 By the end of 1941 , Britain had lost 700 aircraff. 93 00:09:14,929 --> 00:09:21,309 The navy and the army were demanding bombers for the Atlantic and the desert. 94 00:09:21,394 --> 00:09:24,854 Bomber Command stood to be put out of business. 95 00:09:24,939 --> 00:09:27,649 ln the face of mounting losses, 96 00:09:27,733 --> 00:09:30,860 the cabinet ordered bombing operations to be cut down, 97 00:09:30,945 --> 00:09:33,280 to save the bomber force. 98 00:09:36,367 --> 00:09:39,035 During the respite in February 1942, 99 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,831 Sir Arthur Harris took over as Commander-in-Chief, Bomber Command. 100 00:09:42,915 --> 00:09:48,044 He was determined to succeed with new tactics and new bombers. 101 00:09:48,129 --> 00:09:52,841 (Harris) The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion 102 00:09:52,925 --> 00:09:55,552 that they were going to bomb everybody else 103 00:09:55,636 --> 00:09:58,930 and nobody was going to bomb them. 104 00:09:59,473 --> 00:10:05,895 At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw and half a hundred other places, 105 00:10:06,022 --> 00:10:10,400 they put that rather naive theory into operation. 106 00:10:11,235 --> 00:10:16,197 They sowed the wind and now they are going to reap the whirlwind. 107 00:10:16,282 --> 00:10:20,827 l put them onto the north German ports in the Baltic, 108 00:10:20,911 --> 00:10:24,956 because, having flown quite a bit at night myself, 109 00:10:25,041 --> 00:10:29,419 l realised that the easiest targets to get hold of, of course, 110 00:10:29,503 --> 00:10:32,589 were always the ones on the coastline. 111 00:10:32,673 --> 00:10:36,217 Because if you can see anything, you can see a coastline. 112 00:10:36,302 --> 00:10:39,596 lf you can see a coastline with its odd shapes, 113 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:44,434 you can find your way along to ports and recognise them. 114 00:10:44,518 --> 00:10:48,980 (narrator) Lubeck and Rostock were the first major targets. 115 00:10:49,065 --> 00:10:51,858 As ports, they were easy to find. 116 00:10:53,653 --> 00:10:55,779 And they burnt well. 117 00:10:56,656 --> 00:11:02,494 ln March 1942, 230 bombers destroyed half Lubeck. 118 00:11:02,578 --> 00:11:06,665 ln April, Rostock was bombed into flames. 119 00:11:06,749 --> 00:11:10,752 The style was set: night area bombing. 120 00:11:11,671 --> 00:11:14,964 This was to become the pattern for the next three years. 121 00:11:15,049 --> 00:11:18,968 lt was terrifying, it was indiscriminate, 122 00:11:19,053 --> 00:11:22,931 but as far as Bomber Command was concerned, there was no alternative. 123 00:11:24,016 --> 00:11:25,225 How many occasions, 124 00:11:25,351 --> 00:11:28,770 looking out of the window, or walking out in the garden, 125 00:11:28,854 --> 00:11:33,191 could you see up to 18 or 20,000 feet? 126 00:11:33,275 --> 00:11:35,402 Maybe on two or three days at most. 127 00:11:35,528 --> 00:11:39,781 On how many occasions can you guarantee if you see up to it here, 128 00:11:39,865 --> 00:11:43,743 that you could see down to it 500 miles away, 129 00:11:43,828 --> 00:11:46,246 in the other end of Europe? 130 00:11:46,330 --> 00:11:48,748 That was the situation. 131 00:11:48,833 --> 00:11:53,086 There's no possibility of hitting the individual targets, 132 00:11:53,170 --> 00:11:55,755 consistently small targets, 133 00:11:56,757 --> 00:12:01,761 until we got the navigational electronic aids 134 00:12:01,846 --> 00:12:06,266 that would show those targets up in the dark or through clouds. 135 00:12:07,852 --> 00:12:13,106 (narrator) The first electronic aid to navigation now came into serVice. 136 00:12:13,232 --> 00:12:14,524 lt was called GEE. 137 00:12:14,608 --> 00:12:18,278 Three radio transmitters in England sent an invisible grid of signals 138 00:12:18,404 --> 00:12:20,488 across western Europe. 139 00:12:25,703 --> 00:12:29,080 By monitoring the signals and plotting them on a map, 140 00:12:29,165 --> 00:12:32,876 a navigator could tell where his aircraff was. 141 00:12:35,004 --> 00:12:37,839 GEE was first used at Cologne. 142 00:12:37,923 --> 00:12:41,760 Here, Harris threw in every bomber he could scrape up 143 00:12:41,844 --> 00:12:44,387 for a monumental prestige attack. 144 00:12:47,933 --> 00:12:50,727 (Harris) ln your hands lie the means of destroying 145 00:12:50,853 --> 00:12:56,691 a major part of the resources by which the enemy's war effort is maintained. 146 00:12:56,776 --> 00:13:01,279 Press home your attack. lf you individually succeed, 147 00:13:01,363 --> 00:13:04,574 you will have delivered the most devastating blow 148 00:13:04,658 --> 00:13:07,035 against the very vitals of the enemy. 149 00:13:07,161 --> 00:13:10,330 Let him have it right on the chin. 150 00:13:10,414 --> 00:13:14,083 Send that message to all groups and stations. 151 00:13:15,836 --> 00:13:18,755 l was trying to show them what could be achieved 152 00:13:18,839 --> 00:13:21,758 with something approaching an adequate force, 153 00:13:21,842 --> 00:13:27,013 and that it would be achieved without abnormal casualties. 154 00:13:30,017 --> 00:13:35,188 (newsreel) The dark hours over Hitler's Germany are about to be made hideous. 155 00:13:35,272 --> 00:13:39,150 The men of Bomber Command know well what they have to do. 156 00:13:39,235 --> 00:13:42,362 A calm, moonlit night, everything ready and waiting, 157 00:13:42,988 --> 00:13:45,198 from planes to carrier pigeons. 158 00:13:45,282 --> 00:13:48,827 They seem to know the ops are on. Come on, fellas, get cracking. 159 00:13:57,044 --> 00:13:59,337 (newsreel #2) Round the clock with the RAF. 160 00:13:59,421 --> 00:14:03,341 At station affer station, there are heavies, including Lancasters, 161 00:14:03,425 --> 00:14:06,761 the heavy bomber of the moment, ready for tonight. 162 00:14:06,846 --> 00:14:10,598 For tonight is going to be very, very interesting - 163 00:14:10,683 --> 00:14:12,350 a thousand-bomber night. 164 00:14:27,616 --> 00:14:31,995 (narrator) On that night, May 30, 1942, 165 00:14:32,079 --> 00:14:35,623 1 ,046 bombers took off for Cologne. 166 00:14:39,962 --> 00:14:43,673 (woman) Wir hörten auch gleich kurz darauf das Brummen 167 00:14:43,757 --> 00:14:44,924 der anfliegenden Bomber. 168 00:14:45,009 --> 00:14:48,094 (translator) We heard the drone of the approaching bombers 169 00:14:48,178 --> 00:14:52,348 and guessed that it was a heavy formation. 170 00:14:57,021 --> 00:15:00,857 And soon affer, the first bombs fell around us. 171 00:15:00,941 --> 00:15:05,028 We were all shaking with fear. Some people nearly fainted. 172 00:15:05,112 --> 00:15:07,864 Many of the patients were crying. 173 00:15:07,948 --> 00:15:11,618 The roaring and crashing came closer and closer. 174 00:15:11,702 --> 00:15:15,747 We really thought all hell was breaking loose. 175 00:15:17,333 --> 00:15:19,542 Our part of the city was in flames. 176 00:15:19,627 --> 00:15:22,670 People were running out of cellars and out of houses. 177 00:15:22,755 --> 00:15:24,547 Some were buried in the rubble. 178 00:15:24,673 --> 00:15:27,258 Others were caught by the falling masonry. 179 00:15:27,343 --> 00:15:34,223 Many people actually caught fire, running around like living torches. 180 00:15:35,643 --> 00:15:41,773 (man) We really didn't expect, in '42, that such a heavy raid would take place. 181 00:15:41,857 --> 00:15:45,026 We were only used to smaller attacks, 182 00:15:45,110 --> 00:15:52,033 and when l got the news that about 1 ,000 bombers were attacking Cologne, 183 00:15:52,159 --> 00:15:53,743 it was incredible. 184 00:15:58,999 --> 00:16:03,628 The morale of the people was not shattered too much. 185 00:16:03,712 --> 00:16:08,508 lt was more like a short shock which passed away. 186 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:16,349 (narrator) German industry remained resilient, although the industrial Ruhr 187 00:16:16,433 --> 00:16:18,893 was under attack throughout 1942. 188 00:16:18,978 --> 00:16:22,063 Damage was extensive, but there was some slack in the economy 189 00:16:22,147 --> 00:16:25,608 to be taken up in more war production. 190 00:16:26,235 --> 00:16:30,363 The Nazi war machine was skilled at orchestrating civilian morale. 191 00:16:30,447 --> 00:16:33,157 (♪ "Deutschlandlied") 192 00:16:56,181 --> 00:16:58,474 (man) Flugzeuggeräusch. 193 00:16:58,559 --> 00:17:00,643 (telephone rings) 194 00:17:03,689 --> 00:17:08,484 Bitte mal die Geschwindigkeit von 02:15 Uhr nachmessen. 195 00:17:10,195 --> 00:17:12,196 (siren) 196 00:17:13,532 --> 00:17:17,201 The Germans could give as well as take. 197 00:17:17,286 --> 00:17:21,456 The Luffwaffe was acutely aware of the lesson radar-controlled RAF fighters 198 00:17:21,540 --> 00:17:25,460 had taught it during the Battle of Britain. 199 00:17:26,086 --> 00:17:31,424 Air defence chief General Kammhuber evolved a most efficient system. 200 00:17:31,508 --> 00:17:33,051 Across the North Sea coast 201 00:17:33,135 --> 00:17:36,804 stretched an early-warning radar grid, the Kammhuber Line. 202 00:17:36,889 --> 00:17:39,640 This grid was divided into boxes. 203 00:17:39,725 --> 00:17:44,479 ln each box was a night fighter, waiting like a spider for the fly. 204 00:17:44,563 --> 00:17:51,444 We overtook the plane on the side, so he thought, "Ah, he hasn't seen me." 205 00:17:53,197 --> 00:17:57,658 He still did some corkscrewing or waving. 206 00:17:57,743 --> 00:18:03,039 l just banked slightly to give the gunners a good view underneath. 207 00:18:03,123 --> 00:18:08,169 l moved off maybe ten degrees to port and starboard during this manoeuvre, 208 00:18:08,253 --> 00:18:11,255 but it wasn't violent in any sense at all. 209 00:18:11,340 --> 00:18:18,012 And then l was shooting this way and diving directly, 210 00:18:18,097 --> 00:18:23,559 or with a - what we said - schräge Musik, 211 00:18:23,644 --> 00:18:27,605 two two-centimetre cannons, 212 00:18:27,689 --> 00:18:30,817 the same, only flying underneath, 213 00:18:30,943 --> 00:18:34,612 and waiting, moving very easy. 214 00:18:34,696 --> 00:18:38,866 We did the same parallel to the other one, shooting. 215 00:18:38,951 --> 00:18:45,164 Between the motors you had about 5,000 litres of gasoline, 216 00:18:45,249 --> 00:18:48,084 and that was burning very easily. 217 00:18:48,168 --> 00:18:52,797 The advent of the Kammhuber Line, and all that went with it, 218 00:18:52,881 --> 00:18:58,052 was a startling sort of thing to be confronted with, 219 00:18:58,137 --> 00:19:04,058 because the German night defences took a terrible toll of British bombers. 220 00:19:04,143 --> 00:19:07,270 (aircrew singing "Home on the Range" ) 221 00:19:09,273 --> 00:19:11,691 (narrator) But now the RAF was no longer alone. 222 00:19:28,167 --> 00:19:33,796 Hiya, fellas. There's your birdseed for Hitler. Come and get it. 223 00:19:40,053 --> 00:19:43,472 (narrator) Throughout 1942, the US Eighth Army Air Force 224 00:19:43,557 --> 00:19:46,309 had been building up in England. 225 00:19:49,563 --> 00:19:53,482 The American air chiefs believed they could succeed in daylight 226 00:19:53,567 --> 00:19:56,652 without suffering the losses the British had done. 227 00:19:56,737 --> 00:20:01,782 They were convinced they could bomb accurately by day. 228 00:20:01,867 --> 00:20:04,035 (man) Charlie's doing his twirl again. 229 00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:06,287 (man #2) Wish I had something like that. 230 00:20:06,371 --> 00:20:08,956 (man) You guys wouldn't know what to do with it. 231 00:20:09,041 --> 00:20:13,336 Took six months to teach you how to pull a trigger. 232 00:20:13,420 --> 00:20:17,673 (man #3) Can the small talk. You need to come home. 233 00:20:19,218 --> 00:20:24,096 Their aircraff were very heavily armed. Some carried up to 12 machine guns. 234 00:20:24,181 --> 00:20:28,684 And they were trained to fly in close formation. 235 00:20:28,769 --> 00:20:31,979 (man) Formation flying was really the name of the game 236 00:20:32,064 --> 00:20:35,733 as far as the Eighth Air Force was concerned. 237 00:20:35,817 --> 00:20:41,239 There was never anything like it happened before or since. 238 00:20:44,826 --> 00:20:50,665 They actually were sort of making their own rules up as they went along, 239 00:20:50,749 --> 00:20:53,876 because it was just a brand-new concept. 240 00:20:53,961 --> 00:20:59,423 You made it possible to have a more concentrated firepower 241 00:20:59,508 --> 00:21:03,177 from the gunner's positions of all your aeroplanes. 242 00:21:03,262 --> 00:21:10,268 The fact that you could depend on good formation, tight formation, 243 00:21:12,312 --> 00:21:17,942 not only helped you in defence of fighter attack, 244 00:21:20,153 --> 00:21:25,700 it made your chances of achieving good bombing results much better. 245 00:21:25,784 --> 00:21:29,537 Because if you're bombing, a squadron of aeroplanes was bombing, 246 00:21:29,621 --> 00:21:33,666 and the pattern was a good, tight pattern, 247 00:21:33,750 --> 00:21:39,213 your results were bound to be good. 248 00:21:41,174 --> 00:21:42,967 (man) Bombs away. 249 00:21:43,051 --> 00:21:46,512 (narrator) Early raids into France bore out American optimism. 250 00:21:46,596 --> 00:21:50,141 Later, over Germany, it was a different story. 251 00:21:50,225 --> 00:21:52,727 They found at first, yes, the bombers 252 00:21:52,811 --> 00:21:55,521 could cope pretty well with the fighters 253 00:21:55,647 --> 00:21:57,606 and take acceptable losses, 254 00:21:57,733 --> 00:22:00,234 if penetrations were not too deep, 255 00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:04,905 if they kept good formation and they had supporting fire, one from the other. 256 00:22:04,990 --> 00:22:07,825 But the Germans were learning too. 257 00:22:07,909 --> 00:22:11,412 They learned how to make their attacks and penetrate formations. 258 00:22:11,496 --> 00:22:15,416 And they started the head-on attacks, to try to get the leader 259 00:22:15,500 --> 00:22:17,209 and spread the formation. 260 00:22:17,294 --> 00:22:19,754 Once they got the formation spread out, 261 00:22:19,838 --> 00:22:24,800 then they could pick the bombers off at will. More or less, anyway. 262 00:22:39,316 --> 00:22:42,568 (narrator) But it was too early to admit defeat. 263 00:22:46,073 --> 00:22:51,952 At night, the British bombers flew on, hundreds at a time, but each on its own. 264 00:22:52,037 --> 00:22:57,083 (man) We used to see them go over in the early evening, one by one in trail, 265 00:22:57,167 --> 00:23:00,002 l would not have changed places for them. 266 00:23:00,087 --> 00:23:04,840 l'd much rather have the close formation, the firepower, 267 00:23:04,925 --> 00:23:07,468 than go over the way they did. 268 00:23:07,552 --> 00:23:11,180 (man #2) Flying with the RAF, you were Single Charlie. 269 00:23:11,264 --> 00:23:14,141 Just affer we'd crossed the Dutch coast, 270 00:23:14,226 --> 00:23:16,560 l felt a terrific bang in my face. 271 00:23:18,021 --> 00:23:22,441 The windscreen was shot away and l'd been wounded in the forearm, 272 00:23:22,526 --> 00:23:27,321 the shoulder and the head. The plane went out of control temporarily. 273 00:23:32,327 --> 00:23:35,704 l didn't see any sense in saying that l'm wounded, 274 00:23:35,789 --> 00:23:41,377 in case they all thought, "He's going to pop off any minute now." 275 00:23:41,503 --> 00:23:45,256 Again, the gun exploded in the front of the plane beside us 276 00:23:45,340 --> 00:23:49,593 and the shell hit the engineer who stood beside me in the forearm. 277 00:23:49,719 --> 00:23:54,849 And l had bits in my leg and they sort of skinned the skin off my hand. 278 00:23:55,851 --> 00:23:58,519 The port elevator had been shot off - 279 00:23:58,603 --> 00:24:02,481 it keeps the plane straight, on each side of the tail, 280 00:24:02,566 --> 00:24:04,525 and the port one had been shot off. 281 00:24:04,609 --> 00:24:07,486 This meant that you had to hold the stick back, right back, 282 00:24:07,571 --> 00:24:11,949 as if you're going to climb like this, to keep the plane straight and level. 283 00:24:12,075 --> 00:24:16,871 The bomb aimer had to help push it back because this hand was pretty weak, 284 00:24:16,955 --> 00:24:18,539 my shoulder had been hit 285 00:24:18,623 --> 00:24:22,793 and it was keeping the stick back by holding my hands in front. 286 00:24:22,878 --> 00:24:25,963 And the engineer held it with his other hand, his good arm. 287 00:24:26,047 --> 00:24:30,426 So we held it, combined, back, to keep the plane straight and level. 288 00:24:30,510 --> 00:24:33,846 lt wasn't a "press on regardless" feeling, 289 00:24:33,930 --> 00:24:39,435 it was just a fact that the four engines were still flying. 290 00:24:39,561 --> 00:24:42,396 lf we'd had any engine cut, l'd have thought, 291 00:24:42,481 --> 00:24:44,690 "Well, we can't get any further." 292 00:24:44,774 --> 00:24:47,651 But another factor here was, had l turned back, 293 00:24:47,777 --> 00:24:51,822 we'd have another 700 planes that are more or less on the same track, 294 00:24:51,907 --> 00:24:54,617 and spread something like eight or ten miles broad 295 00:24:54,701 --> 00:24:57,745 and maybe four to six thousand feet deep. 296 00:24:57,829 --> 00:25:04,043 And you're turning back right into them, heading through this lot to get back. 297 00:25:04,127 --> 00:25:08,672 And then again, had l turned off, say at 90 degrees, to try and avoid them, 298 00:25:08,757 --> 00:25:11,800 you're still turning across quite a number of them. 299 00:25:11,885 --> 00:25:15,346 Then l watched the target indicators and opened the bomb doors 300 00:25:15,430 --> 00:25:19,183 and kept the plane steady as l could on the target indicators, and level. 301 00:25:19,309 --> 00:25:21,769 This is one of the things they made a fuss about, 302 00:25:21,853 --> 00:25:24,230 that we'd a picture of the target affer all this. 303 00:25:24,314 --> 00:25:29,527 But as soon as we'd a picture taken, l turned to head for base. 304 00:25:30,820 --> 00:25:35,115 One of the things l remember feeling on this trip 305 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:38,786 was that we had to get back, because l knew we were wounded. 306 00:25:38,870 --> 00:25:43,332 None of the other members could fly it, even on normal straight and levels, 307 00:25:43,416 --> 00:25:45,751 so to fly it at night with one elevator gone, 308 00:25:45,877 --> 00:25:50,297 and having the stick in your belly and no instruments, as it were, 309 00:25:50,382 --> 00:25:52,550 would've been pretty well impossible. 310 00:25:52,634 --> 00:25:57,096 We were shot at a few times on the way back, but we weren't hit again. 311 00:25:57,180 --> 00:26:01,183 Eventually, we came over England, when l saw these beacons flashing. 312 00:26:08,692 --> 00:26:12,278 As it touched down, the legs of the undercarriage collapsed. 313 00:26:12,362 --> 00:26:16,282 We went along on our belly for maybe 50 yards or so. 314 00:26:16,408 --> 00:26:20,494 And came to a stop. Switched off engines to keep the fire hazard down. 315 00:26:20,579 --> 00:26:24,665 lt was then only, that l knew the navigator was killed, 316 00:26:24,749 --> 00:26:27,751 because he'd slid forward beside me. 317 00:26:42,642 --> 00:26:45,436 (man) About how many enemy fighters did you see? 318 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,355 (pilot) I couldn't keep track, but I counted about 65. 319 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,609 (pilot #2) I stopped trying to count when I got to 50, sir. 320 00:26:51,693 --> 00:26:54,153 (man) l think it was generally understood 321 00:26:54,237 --> 00:26:57,156 that the combat tour was 25 missions, 322 00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:59,992 because you'd be dead by the end of that time, 323 00:27:00,118 --> 00:27:04,246 so there wasn't any point in asking you to stay around any longer. 324 00:27:04,331 --> 00:27:07,082 (narrator) Bomber crews lived a curious war. 325 00:27:07,167 --> 00:27:09,627 One day in action, the next on the town. 326 00:27:09,711 --> 00:27:12,504 When our group wasn't flying, 327 00:27:12,589 --> 00:27:15,132 they'd usually go into London. 328 00:27:15,216 --> 00:27:17,509 Spend the day in London. 329 00:27:17,594 --> 00:27:20,846 And sometimes, if they had some money leff, 330 00:27:20,930 --> 00:27:25,267 they'd call up to find out if there was a mission going the next day, 331 00:27:25,352 --> 00:27:27,186 and if not, they'd stay over. 332 00:27:27,270 --> 00:27:30,481 (man) Flak will be heavy, probably accurate, 333 00:27:30,565 --> 00:27:32,858 but you've been through worse before. 334 00:27:32,942 --> 00:27:38,489 Remember that your biggest enemy still is single-engine fighter planes. 335 00:27:44,371 --> 00:27:47,414 l recall one evening in the officers' club. 336 00:27:47,499 --> 00:27:52,419 Our operations officer was pouring Scotch into a one-armed bandit, 337 00:27:52,504 --> 00:27:55,214 you know, these things that you put quarters in, 338 00:27:55,298 --> 00:27:59,468 trying to persuade the machine to deliver a jackpot. 339 00:27:59,552 --> 00:28:07,393 But... l guess it was a kind of an eat, drink and be merry sort of life. 340 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,563 (♪ "American Patrol" by Glenn Miller) 341 00:28:18,655 --> 00:28:21,699 The going's gonna be rough. 342 00:28:21,783 --> 00:28:27,496 You'll have to pull your necks in there and stay in there and pitch, every man. 343 00:28:54,107 --> 00:28:57,651 (Corcoran) l think that flying is so impersonal, 344 00:28:57,736 --> 00:29:00,112 that is to say combat flying, 345 00:29:00,196 --> 00:29:03,198 that you don't get that intimate sense of loss 346 00:29:03,324 --> 00:29:05,784 if you see an aeroplane get shot down 347 00:29:05,869 --> 00:29:09,663 that you'd have if your buddy on a battlefield 348 00:29:09,748 --> 00:29:12,916 had his head blown off right within arm's length. 349 00:29:17,547 --> 00:29:20,966 (narrator) Men came from Britain, America, Occupied Europe, 350 00:29:21,050 --> 00:29:22,926 and the British Commonwealth 351 00:29:23,011 --> 00:29:27,931 to fight and die in the most determined air offensive yet. 352 00:29:29,058 --> 00:29:32,519 ln January 1943, at Casablanca, Churchill and Roosevelt 353 00:29:32,604 --> 00:29:35,731 decided to combine the British and US bombing efforts 354 00:29:35,857 --> 00:29:38,442 in preparing Nazi Europe for D-day. 355 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,572 U-boat yards, aircraff plants... 356 00:29:45,283 --> 00:29:47,284 ..armament factories, 357 00:29:47,368 --> 00:29:50,245 oil installations and transport, 358 00:29:50,330 --> 00:29:55,542 were deemed priority targets for round-the-clock precision bombing. 359 00:30:00,632 --> 00:30:04,802 But precision bombing at night was still impossible for Harris. 360 00:30:04,886 --> 00:30:08,305 An attempt to pick off the Ruhr dams with specially designed bombs 361 00:30:08,389 --> 00:30:10,808 was only partially successful, 362 00:30:10,892 --> 00:30:14,311 and cost the lives of some of the best aircrews. 363 00:30:24,697 --> 00:30:30,619 Though the raid led to improved accuracy later on, not all the dams were hit. 364 00:30:30,703 --> 00:30:34,414 Ruhr arms production was unaffected. 365 00:30:34,499 --> 00:30:38,502 Harris believed that only the mounting onslaught of night area bombing 366 00:30:38,586 --> 00:30:41,588 would crush German industrial capacity. 367 00:30:41,673 --> 00:30:45,008 (Mahaddie) At this time, we were getting better aircraff. 368 00:30:45,134 --> 00:30:47,636 The Lancaster was coming out in great numbers. 369 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:52,975 We were losing the less efficient Stirling and the Halifax. 370 00:30:53,059 --> 00:30:55,394 We were getting better radar devices. 371 00:30:55,478 --> 00:31:01,316 And we had extremely good navigators, selected navigators. 372 00:31:01,401 --> 00:31:03,652 And this was the essence of the whole thing. 373 00:31:03,736 --> 00:31:09,241 And these navigators were able to get much closer to an aiming point 374 00:31:09,325 --> 00:31:11,326 than we had previously. 375 00:31:11,411 --> 00:31:16,248 Then we laid great lanes of flares, hundreds of flares. 376 00:31:16,332 --> 00:31:18,417 Even if we missed the aiming point, 377 00:31:18,501 --> 00:31:24,923 we would identify some very positive feature on the ground, 378 00:31:25,008 --> 00:31:28,427 like a lake or a bend in the river. 379 00:31:28,511 --> 00:31:31,597 And from there, we could then creep on to the target 380 00:31:31,681 --> 00:31:35,726 and put flares down, different coloured flares. 381 00:31:35,810 --> 00:31:38,896 And then later on, we got target indicators. 382 00:31:38,980 --> 00:31:45,569 And these were... Just imagine a great bunch of incandescent grapes 383 00:31:45,653 --> 00:31:52,743 falling from 2,000, 4,000, wherever we wanted them to detonate from. 384 00:31:53,578 --> 00:31:55,913 (narrator) At the end of July 1943, 385 00:31:55,997 --> 00:32:01,335 Harris deployed his improving technology with devastating effect on Hamburg. 386 00:32:01,419 --> 00:32:05,339 (Harris) The effectiveness of the first Hamburg raid 387 00:32:05,423 --> 00:32:10,552 was due to us at last getting permission 388 00:32:10,637 --> 00:32:14,056 to use something we'd had in the bag for a long time, 389 00:32:14,140 --> 00:32:16,683 which was known as "window", 390 00:32:16,768 --> 00:32:21,730 which was the dropping of clouds of aluminium paper strips, 391 00:32:21,814 --> 00:32:27,569 which completely upset not only the German location apparatus, 392 00:32:27,654 --> 00:32:30,405 but also their gun-aiming apparatus. 393 00:32:49,592 --> 00:32:53,512 (man) None of us, neither civilians nor firemen, 394 00:32:53,596 --> 00:32:56,765 knew what happened on this night. 395 00:32:56,849 --> 00:32:59,142 lt was a very heavy raid, 396 00:32:59,227 --> 00:33:04,856 but we had almost the same one year before. 397 00:33:05,483 --> 00:33:08,902 We were not prepared for the fire storm 398 00:33:08,987 --> 00:33:12,906 which broke out half an hour affer the raid. 399 00:33:16,786 --> 00:33:20,288 (narrator) The effect of the bombing, combined with a heat wave, 400 00:33:20,373 --> 00:33:23,750 was to create a man-made tornado of flame. 401 00:33:23,835 --> 00:33:25,919 A fire storm. 402 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,801 Und diese ganze Gegend wurde von Kanälen... 403 00:33:32,885 --> 00:33:35,721 (translator) l went to this area near the docks. 404 00:33:35,805 --> 00:33:37,889 lt was crossed by canals. 405 00:33:37,974 --> 00:33:41,810 People tried to leap down into them out of the flames, 406 00:33:41,894 --> 00:33:44,062 but the water was on fire. 407 00:33:51,029 --> 00:33:55,115 lt's difficult to explain why the water was burning. 408 00:33:55,199 --> 00:34:00,495 There were many ships, small ships, moored in the canals. 409 00:34:00,580 --> 00:34:06,460 They had exploded, and burning oil had been released onto the water. 410 00:34:08,337 --> 00:34:13,175 And the people, who were themselves on fire, jumped into it. 411 00:34:13,259 --> 00:34:19,264 And they burnt, swam, burnt and went under. 412 00:34:41,746 --> 00:34:46,374 Most people were killed by the fierce heat, 413 00:34:46,501 --> 00:34:53,548 not burnt or suffocated or poisoned by carbon monoxide. 414 00:34:53,674 --> 00:34:56,343 We think that in some places, 415 00:34:56,427 --> 00:35:02,516 the temperature reached 1 ,000 degrees centigrade. 416 00:35:06,229 --> 00:35:09,439 (narrator) The British night attacks and American day raids 417 00:35:09,524 --> 00:35:11,566 lasted nearly a week. 418 00:35:11,651 --> 00:35:13,652 30,000 died. 419 00:35:13,736 --> 00:35:20,200 ln Hamburg, we really found out the first time 420 00:35:20,284 --> 00:35:25,705 that the morale of the German people can be shattered so much 421 00:35:25,790 --> 00:35:29,251 that work for industry, 422 00:35:29,335 --> 00:35:33,505 the work in the armaments industry, would collapse. 423 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:41,930 (narrator) At the time, Speer said 424 00:35:42,014 --> 00:35:45,892 six more raids like that would have finished the war. 425 00:35:49,021 --> 00:35:52,357 The Allies did not have that capacity. 426 00:35:55,027 --> 00:35:57,320 The shock passed. 427 00:36:01,450 --> 00:36:04,077 At the same time, the Eighth Air Force 428 00:36:04,162 --> 00:36:08,874 had stepped up the intensity of its daylight raids. 429 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:12,836 Next group will bomb from an altitude of 13,000 feet. 430 00:36:15,339 --> 00:36:17,549 We feel that this low altitude 431 00:36:17,633 --> 00:36:22,137 will be equalised by the element of surprise which is with us. 432 00:36:24,056 --> 00:36:28,393 (narrator) Two weeks affer Hamburg, they planned to deal their knockout blow 433 00:36:28,477 --> 00:36:30,812 against German industry. 434 00:36:30,897 --> 00:36:32,564 (man) Lights, please. 435 00:36:32,648 --> 00:36:36,860 This group of buildings here is your target. 436 00:36:36,944 --> 00:36:40,030 This building will be the aiming point. 437 00:36:40,114 --> 00:36:43,742 lf your bomb pattern is concentrated in this area, 438 00:36:43,826 --> 00:36:47,621 it should very effectively knock out the factory. 439 00:36:47,747 --> 00:36:51,416 (narrator) The target was the ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt, 440 00:36:51,500 --> 00:36:54,377 producing a major part of Germany's needs. 441 00:37:40,299 --> 00:37:43,260 The attacking force was to be split into two. 442 00:37:43,344 --> 00:37:46,012 The first wave would fight to a secondary target, 443 00:37:46,097 --> 00:37:49,599 the Messerschmitt aircraff plant at Regensburg. 444 00:37:49,684 --> 00:37:52,936 Then it would fly on unhindered to North Africa. 445 00:37:53,020 --> 00:37:55,647 The second wave, ten minutes behind the first, 446 00:37:55,731 --> 00:37:57,691 would then arrive at Schweinfurt, 447 00:37:57,775 --> 00:38:01,152 whilst the German fighters were on the ground refuelling. 448 00:38:01,237 --> 00:38:04,322 Their battle would be during the trip home. 449 00:38:06,117 --> 00:38:09,411 (pilot) l went in without any fighter escort at all, 450 00:38:09,495 --> 00:38:14,291 and flew clear across Europe without fighter escort, 451 00:38:14,375 --> 00:38:19,587 with about 125 aeroplanes that l had in the division at the time. 452 00:38:21,507 --> 00:38:25,844 (narrator) German air defence staff plotted the path of the first wave 453 00:38:25,928 --> 00:38:29,764 as it flew further and further into Germany. 454 00:38:30,683 --> 00:38:33,852 They could not tell the plan was going wrong. 455 00:38:33,936 --> 00:38:37,522 British weather helped to upset the Americans' careful plans. 456 00:38:37,648 --> 00:38:41,026 Unexpected low cloud delayed the takeoff of the second wave. 457 00:38:41,110 --> 00:38:44,362 The result: the Luffwaffe, refuelled and re-armed, 458 00:38:44,447 --> 00:38:46,072 was waiting for them. 459 00:38:46,157 --> 00:38:48,950 Well, we didn't expect an attack 460 00:38:49,035 --> 00:38:53,371 coming that far into the country without fighter escort. 461 00:38:53,456 --> 00:38:56,666 And we were all very astonished. 462 00:39:00,629 --> 00:39:03,798 (man) Null. Anfrage Viktor. 463 00:39:28,491 --> 00:39:35,330 Schweinfurt was the result of very good conditions in favour of German fighters, 464 00:39:35,414 --> 00:39:38,625 and the fact we could bring all our fighters 465 00:39:38,751 --> 00:39:42,253 into operation to intercept the bomber stream. 466 00:39:42,338 --> 00:39:47,258 This altogether has favoured our results. 467 00:39:52,098 --> 00:39:55,475 (narrator) 21 Flying Fortresses were lost 468 00:39:55,559 --> 00:39:59,187 before the first bomb fell on Schweinfurt. 469 00:40:06,153 --> 00:40:09,823 (Lemay) The first division, coming in later, had heavier losses, 470 00:40:09,907 --> 00:40:13,952 because they had to go back out in addition to coming in. 471 00:40:14,036 --> 00:40:18,164 l think we wound up the day by losing about 60 aeroplanes, 472 00:40:18,249 --> 00:40:22,085 which didn't make anybody very happy. 473 00:40:23,587 --> 00:40:26,589 Ich kam dann noch mal hoch und bin von unten ins Ziel und... 474 00:40:26,715 --> 00:40:28,800 hat dann prima hingehauen. 475 00:40:56,454 --> 00:40:58,496 (narrator) The cost was high. 476 00:40:58,581 --> 00:41:02,625 But ball-bearing production was disrupted for six weeks. 477 00:41:02,710 --> 00:41:07,839 (Speer) When you hit Schweinfurt first, 478 00:41:07,923 --> 00:41:12,552 it was a nightmare getting true. 479 00:41:12,636 --> 00:41:16,806 But then, l had a very good representative, Kessler, 480 00:41:16,891 --> 00:41:21,769 and he did with all means, not only the repair, 481 00:41:21,854 --> 00:41:27,901 but also the replacement of ball bearings with other devices 482 00:41:27,985 --> 00:41:31,196 which could do the job, 483 00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:34,449 not as good as a ball bearing, but it could be done. 484 00:41:39,205 --> 00:41:41,915 (narrator) ln the two-wave attack, 485 00:41:42,041 --> 00:41:45,710 over 120 aircraff were lost or damaged beyond repair. 486 00:41:45,794 --> 00:41:50,507 To prove their point at Schweinfurt, the Americans would have to go back. 487 00:41:50,591 --> 00:41:53,635 Naturally, l was keenly disappointed, 488 00:41:53,719 --> 00:41:56,971 largely because in sending my crews back, 489 00:41:57,056 --> 00:42:00,266 l knew they would sustain additional losses. 490 00:42:00,351 --> 00:42:03,019 lf we had done the job right in the first place, 491 00:42:03,103 --> 00:42:05,688 we could have avoided these losses. 492 00:42:05,773 --> 00:42:11,319 But nobody who fires a gun hits his target every time. 493 00:42:11,403 --> 00:42:14,030 We went back because we got good weather 494 00:42:14,114 --> 00:42:17,116 and it was our highest priority target. 495 00:42:17,201 --> 00:42:19,160 That's why we returned. 496 00:42:20,913 --> 00:42:25,833 On 14th October, some 300 bombers were marshalled over England. 497 00:42:26,544 --> 00:42:30,046 (Rogan) There were aeroplanes climbing all over England. 498 00:42:30,130 --> 00:42:31,881 England was just an airport. 499 00:42:31,966 --> 00:42:36,761 And this, l think, was real difficult. 500 00:42:38,681 --> 00:42:40,181 (narrator) lt took some time 501 00:42:40,266 --> 00:42:45,144 to group a large number of heavy bombers into a tight formation. 502 00:42:45,229 --> 00:42:48,690 These complicated manoeuvres gave warning to the Luffwaffe 503 00:42:48,774 --> 00:42:51,943 of the strength and direction of an attacking force. 504 00:42:52,027 --> 00:42:54,654 Two thirds of all German fighters 505 00:42:54,738 --> 00:42:58,074 were now concentrated against the Eighth Air Force. 506 00:42:58,158 --> 00:43:00,535 (Stewart) The fighter was the boogie man. 507 00:43:00,619 --> 00:43:08,334 The fighter had eyes and, in a great many instances, 508 00:43:08,419 --> 00:43:14,299 the fighter had a pretty competent fella at the controls. 509 00:43:14,383 --> 00:43:21,848 And when he latched on to you, you were in trouble lots of times. 510 00:43:21,932 --> 00:43:26,561 l was that close that l could really see the rear gunner. 511 00:43:26,645 --> 00:43:31,441 l saw him as frightened as l was. 512 00:43:35,654 --> 00:43:39,866 (Rogan) They'd call the positions of the fighters out over their intercom. 513 00:43:39,950 --> 00:43:41,993 Sometimes they'd get so frightened 514 00:43:42,077 --> 00:43:44,996 that they'd continue to hold the microphone down, 515 00:43:45,122 --> 00:43:48,916 and keep hollering into the microphone. 516 00:43:51,253 --> 00:43:56,966 And they started at 1 ,000 metres, almost, 517 00:43:57,051 --> 00:44:00,553 with their tracing ammunition, in order to frighten us. 518 00:44:00,638 --> 00:44:05,224 And l told my younger pilots, who had no experience, 519 00:44:05,309 --> 00:44:09,520 to close their eyes, attacking from behind. 520 00:44:13,942 --> 00:44:18,905 (Rogan) There wasn't much time to think. You just put that gun sight on 521 00:44:18,989 --> 00:44:22,867 and kept waving your head around looking for enemy fighters 522 00:44:22,951 --> 00:44:25,453 and kept the gun sight on 'em. 523 00:44:26,622 --> 00:44:29,749 Pilot to navigator, what's the word? 524 00:44:29,833 --> 00:44:31,459 We're making the run. 525 00:44:31,543 --> 00:44:34,879 (Rogan) Right before we hit the target was the worst part. 526 00:44:35,005 --> 00:44:38,675 We got picked up by fighters, were taken into the target and they leff, 527 00:44:38,759 --> 00:44:43,096 and we dropped the bombs and they picked us up affer the target. 528 00:44:46,558 --> 00:44:50,019 (narrator) More than 60% of all ball-bearing production 529 00:44:50,104 --> 00:44:52,355 at Schweinfurt was destroyed. 530 00:44:52,439 --> 00:44:56,734 The Americans had lost more than 60 Flying Fortresses. 531 00:44:57,986 --> 00:45:01,447 lf you would have repeated those raids shortly afferwards, 532 00:45:01,532 --> 00:45:05,034 it wouldn't have given us the time to rebuild. 533 00:45:05,119 --> 00:45:08,538 Then it would have been a disastrous result. 534 00:45:08,664 --> 00:45:10,873 Could you take the losses the forces took 535 00:45:10,958 --> 00:45:13,376 when you didn't know if you'd accomplish it? 536 00:45:13,460 --> 00:45:17,672 When you thought ball bearings were coming in from Sweden and Switzerland? 537 00:45:17,756 --> 00:45:20,508 You didn't know. You don't go on with those things. 538 00:45:20,592 --> 00:45:25,930 (narrator) So the strategy swung back from pinpoint targets like Schweinfurt 539 00:45:26,056 --> 00:45:30,518 to another night area offensive: Berlin. 540 00:45:31,103 --> 00:45:35,648 With American support, Harris believed he could wreck Berlin in six months 541 00:45:35,733 --> 00:45:37,692 and win the war. 542 00:45:37,776 --> 00:45:42,113 But the depleted Eighth Air Force were not now able to join him. 543 00:45:42,239 --> 00:45:46,993 He sent the most amazing signals. And one that l'll always remember - 544 00:45:47,077 --> 00:45:52,582 and this is the sort of thing you read out to your crews at briefing - 545 00:45:52,666 --> 00:45:55,376 this one went on to say: 546 00:45:55,461 --> 00:45:58,838 "Tonight you go to the big city." That's Berlin. 547 00:45:58,922 --> 00:46:03,259 "You have the opportunity to light a fire in the belly of the enemy 548 00:46:03,343 --> 00:46:05,720 and burn his black heart out." 549 00:46:05,804 --> 00:46:07,889 (cheering) 550 00:46:12,936 --> 00:46:16,689 Well, crews, affer they stopped cheering a thing like that, 551 00:46:16,774 --> 00:46:18,733 they didn't want aircraff. 552 00:46:18,817 --> 00:46:21,444 You could just fill their pockets with bombs 553 00:46:21,528 --> 00:46:25,823 and point them towards Berlin and they'd take off on their own. 554 00:46:29,244 --> 00:46:32,538 (narrator) Bomber Command had to go on on its own. 555 00:46:32,623 --> 00:46:38,252 lt was a long way, and the weather at the end of 1943 was particularly bad. 556 00:46:38,378 --> 00:46:42,423 But each night, the bombers fought their way to Berlin 557 00:46:42,508 --> 00:46:45,051 and other cities deep in Germany. 558 00:46:50,057 --> 00:46:54,185 Harris' crews wrought terrible damage. 559 00:46:58,816 --> 00:47:01,776 (newsreel) Berlin is getting a real taste of total war. 560 00:47:01,860 --> 00:47:05,196 The terrific weight of RAF assaults on the capital of Naziland 561 00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:06,572 has set the Hun reeling. 562 00:47:06,657 --> 00:47:10,326 How he must regret the ruthless attacks he made on Warsaw, Rotterdam, 563 00:47:10,410 --> 00:47:13,079 Belgrade, London, Coventry and the rest. 564 00:47:13,163 --> 00:47:15,414 The day and night of reckoning is here. 565 00:47:15,499 --> 00:47:17,583 And what do you think of it, Keith? 566 00:47:17,668 --> 00:47:21,796 Jerry definitely had it this time. lt certainly was a wizard prang. 567 00:47:30,931 --> 00:47:37,895 (narrator) Yet many of Berlin's offices and factories managed to go on working. 568 00:47:38,605 --> 00:47:44,735 (Speer) ln my experience, people rather got numb. 569 00:47:44,820 --> 00:47:49,782 They were going through the streets like shadows. 570 00:47:49,867 --> 00:47:53,578 But they were still working like automats. 571 00:48:21,857 --> 00:48:23,649 (siren) 572 00:48:30,866 --> 00:48:33,576 We had very little trouble in getting there, 573 00:48:33,660 --> 00:48:35,202 but one thing l did notice 574 00:48:35,329 --> 00:48:38,414 was the vicious way in which every German town 575 00:48:38,498 --> 00:48:42,793 now seems to throw up flak indiscriminately. 576 00:48:42,878 --> 00:48:45,755 (narrator) The technological advantages 577 00:48:45,839 --> 00:48:48,758 which prevailed over Hamburg no longer applied. 578 00:48:48,842 --> 00:48:53,512 The German air defence had leapfrogged ahead once more. 579 00:49:00,312 --> 00:49:04,190 Berlin looked as if it would indeed remain Berlin. 580 00:49:04,274 --> 00:49:07,068 (♪ "Berlin bleibt doch Berlin") 581 00:49:23,043 --> 00:49:28,756 By early spring, 1944, Harris had not totally destroyed the city. 582 00:50:01,289 --> 00:50:04,834 Bomber Command had been savagely mauled by the Germans. 583 00:50:04,918 --> 00:50:09,296 ln those four months, in raids against Berlin and other targets, 584 00:50:09,381 --> 00:50:14,760 1 ,000 aircraff, the Command's first-line strength, were lost. 585 00:50:15,595 --> 00:50:19,140 But Harris did not, and does not, concede defeat. 586 00:50:19,224 --> 00:50:21,767 (Harris) The casualties in the Battle of Berlin 587 00:50:21,852 --> 00:50:25,104 were no more than we would have suffered 588 00:50:25,188 --> 00:50:30,151 if we'd gone anywhere else in Germany, deep into Germany. 589 00:50:30,235 --> 00:50:32,862 People seem to forget that Bomber Command 590 00:50:32,946 --> 00:50:35,948 fought 1 ,000 battles during the war. 591 00:50:36,033 --> 00:50:37,908 You can't succeed in every one. 592 00:50:37,993 --> 00:50:42,288 l'm not saying the Battle of Berlin was a defeat or anything like a defeat. 593 00:50:42,372 --> 00:50:47,334 l think it was a major contribution towards the defeat of Germany. 594 00:50:47,419 --> 00:50:51,839 There were thousands of heavy anti-aircraff guns, 595 00:50:51,965 --> 00:50:56,552 millions of ammunition for them, 596 00:50:56,636 --> 00:50:59,889 and hundreds of thousands of soldiers, 597 00:51:00,015 --> 00:51:04,685 which were torn away from our fight in the Eastern Front. 598 00:51:04,770 --> 00:51:09,482 So l should say, with air attacks on Germany, 599 00:51:09,566 --> 00:51:13,402 you had, in an early stage, from '43 on, 600 00:51:13,487 --> 00:51:16,030 really a so-called second front. 601 00:51:20,535 --> 00:51:24,371 (narrator) Despite all the devastation, the Germans carried on. 602 00:51:24,456 --> 00:51:26,665 German industry was still supplying 603 00:51:26,750 --> 00:51:29,960 the armies fighting fiercely in the east and in ltaly. 604 00:51:30,045 --> 00:51:34,965 The strategic bombing thesis remained as yet unproven. 605 00:51:40,305 --> 00:51:44,016 The lessons of Schweinfurt had been well learnt by the Americans. 606 00:51:44,101 --> 00:51:48,020 Re-equipped, they joined the RAF over Berlin in March 1944. 607 00:51:48,105 --> 00:51:50,397 But now they were escorted by the Mustang, 608 00:51:50,482 --> 00:51:53,692 a remarkable aeroplane which was to change everything. 609 00:51:53,777 --> 00:51:56,821 lt had a bomber's range and a fighter's performance. 610 00:51:56,905 --> 00:52:00,574 The German day fighter had now met its match. 611 00:52:06,289 --> 00:52:09,959 By the end of spring 1944, the German day fighter had lost 612 00:52:10,043 --> 00:52:12,962 where the Spitfire and Hurricane had won. 613 00:52:13,046 --> 00:52:16,674 The Americans had finally beaten the Luffwaffe over daylight Europe 614 00:52:16,758 --> 00:52:18,884 with their long-range fighters. 615 00:52:20,137 --> 00:52:25,724 We had nothing of the same effort. 616 00:52:25,809 --> 00:52:29,979 And l think they frightened us quite a bit. 617 00:52:30,063 --> 00:52:31,981 l think the main concern 618 00:52:32,065 --> 00:52:36,068 was the quantities in which they were showing up. 619 00:52:41,199 --> 00:52:45,369 (narrator) The Germans had lost control of their air space in daylight. 620 00:52:45,453 --> 00:52:52,126 From now on, the Allies would be able to launch day raids over Germany at will. 621 00:53:01,219 --> 00:53:05,431 But, in March 1944, 622 00:53:05,515 --> 00:53:09,268 both bomber forces were placed under Eisenhower's overall command 623 00:53:09,352 --> 00:53:11,604 to prepare for D-day. 624 00:53:11,688 --> 00:53:13,606 There would be six months' respite 625 00:53:13,690 --> 00:53:16,567 before the Allied bombers could set out once more, 626 00:53:16,651 --> 00:53:20,196 to break the will of the German people.