Who are the great generals?

[Tom Odom]

I was thinking of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berlin_%28air%29

But you're right, night bombing.

I still question whether large-scale strategic bombing was worth it. Obviously Douhet was dead wrong, but Germany also increased its war production almost to the end. Granted that's more a sign of inadequate mobilization of national resources for war, but it still calls into question how much the bombers were really doing.

And I've seen many note that RAF crews were composed of some of the smartest and best-educated men in the British armed forces in WWII. A big chunk of that best and brightest went down over Germany.

There is no doubt that the costs were high. My father-in-law was a waist gunner on a B17; he didn't get into the war until the fall of 44. Still he had his own set of memories and many were horrific.

The question I always in response to the fact that Germany increased production under the intensive boming campaign, is simpy do you think Germany's production would have been less without the strategic effort? Without the bomber streams, German warfightiong industries could have concentrated on greater production of Tiger tanks, rockets, etc without any disruption.

As for the talent issue, one of the greatest selection of talent was in the airborne divisions; again one can ask the question was it worth it and many did during and after the war.

On Douhet--he is alive at Maxwell AFB. He comes in quietly and sings with duets with Elvis during Friday Kareoke. I met him one evening in early August 1990 in Checkmate, the AF targeting cell in the Pentagon. He was advocating a strategic bombing offensive against Iraq while ignoring Iraqi forces in Kuwait.

Best
Tom