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Chapter twenty-two
WEAPONS OF WAR
This war that started in Europe in the late 1930’s saw many different weapons and techniques used to attain a nations goal. These were either good or bad depending on how one chooses to view them. The biggest difference in the beginning was the use of airplanes and tanks. The Germans in the beginning had a big advantage in numbers and strategies. They used them to their advantage in what they called “blitzkrieg” warfare. Taken to its definition this means lightning-like attacks to overpower the enemy before he can mount a solid defense. For years, the United States relied on its large and powerful battleships to ensure its protection and improve its position all over the world. Although we didn’t know it then Pearl Harbor marked the beginning of the end for these mighty ships. After Pearl Harbor, the United States built several much larger and better battleships than those that were destroyed at Pearl. They were known as the Iowa class. They did serve well in the war! But it soon it became apparent that one battleship was no match for one aircraft carrier. The carrier would sink the battleship before it could come close enough to fire a shot. When this was demonstrated the United States as well as other countries started turning out bigger and better aircraft-carriers along with developing bigger, faster and longer ranged aircraft. This is one reason why we were able to win the war. I do think United States won the war. With out us the best that could have been hoped for would have been a stalemate with some sort of settlement. We sat here, miles away from the enemy, with no fear of bombing and produced war material in the proportion that no one thought would have been possible. We utterly built thousands of tanks, airplanes and other smaller weapons of war. We were also able to build ships and aircraft carriers faster than the rest of the world put together. In 1935, before the war started, someone in authority decided that bombers would play a big part in the next war. So a large four-engine bomber was designed and produced. It proved to be ahead of its time and to be a large asset to the war effort. There were many other airplanes, both fighters and bombers, that were very successful. But I think this large bomber called the B-17 played the biggest part in bringing Germany to its knees. The B-17 flew before the war and proved to be a very dependable and safe aircraft. Shortly after we entered the war it was decided if we were going to be able to stop the Germans their factories would have to be destroyed. The British had been trying to do this with night-time bombing. But at night over blacked-out cities and factories this was not very effective. The United States said it would start daytime bombing. The British said this was impossible. They had tried it and suffered devastating losses. They had even used some B-17s that they had obtained from us and still had horrible results. The generals thought that around the clock bombing would be very disruptive. Not only that the British could use the fires that we had set in the day as a guide for them to drop their bombs on. Therefore it was felt that we would have to try it and it proved to be very costly. The B-17s were upgraded, 50-caliber machine-guns were added top, bottom and sides. A hard lesson was learned when it was discovered that a fighter could approach from the rear where they were practically defenseless. When this was learned a rear gun-turret was added in the tail of the plane. With all this armament the plane was nick named the “Flying Fortress.” Flying together in formation they did have some defense but still losses were very high. Fighter escorts, because of their short range capabilities, could only accompany them as far as the French coast. From there on losses were staggering and sometimes over 50% did not return. The B-17 did its part. It could suffer unbelievable damage and still fly! Tales were told how it returned to base with one, two, and sometime three motors shot away and still land. There was a song composed that had these words in it “Although there’s one motor gone we can still carry on coming in on a wing and a prayer.” I’m sure the author had the B-17 in mind when he penned those words. In one case every man on board was either dead or wounded. Still we found men willing to go out day after day and fly them. These men were little more than boys just out of high school or college. Trained in just a few months they were given a plane of their own. They would practice with it for just a short time. Then they would fly it to England and soon they would be on bombing raids! At one time, are losses became so high that it was decided to cut back for a while. We had a fighter-plane called the P-47 at that time that was just as good or better than anything the Germans had. The designers decided that they could convert empty spaces in the plane to carry fuel. About this same time a new plane called the P-51 came out, faster and better, it had more fuel capacity thus more range. It was also decided that wing-tip fuel tanks would be added. These tanks could be dropped as they were over France and this allowed fighter escort for our bombers all the way to Berlin and back. This increased the bombers survivability and effectiveness immensely. Soon, they were devastating Germany’s war capability. Even with all this when we attacked the French coast on D-day it was a toss-up for many hours. It is thought that without these daytime raids Normandy would have been a disaster. Of course in the end the atomic bomb rendered all other weapons obsolete at the present time. The one thing that humans have become very efficient at is killing other people. The atomic bomb will not be the last of these weapons. I know the new weapons will be able to kill. I wonder if we will become intelligent enough to learn not to use them. Richard Grandpre was a navigator on one of these planes. He enlisted after one year of college, was trained for a few short months, flew to England and was shot down on his first mission. His story will appear as it was told to Donn Grandpre by Richard. Donn is my son and he did this work for two reasons. The first reason was his keen interest in war history and the second for a college credit while he was in college. “For you the war is over.” That was the almost universal greeting to shot-down American airmen when they fell into the hands of the German enemy. And it was as far from the truth as any lie concocted by the Third Reich’s propaganda machine. The war was not over for the new POW. It just became a different war and it was a war not without its own sometimes brutal casualties. For the average World War II flier who ended up at Stalag Luft III, the prison camp for downed airmen operated by the Luftwaffe, the longest mission was his last. Typically, his mission started before dawn at an airfield somewhere in England, North Africa, or Italy. It ended months, sometimes years later with the liberation of Stalag VIIA on April 29, 1945.. In between, his mission continued unabated. At first, it was a hailstorm, of flak and fighters, and then the realization that this time if was his turn--he wasn’t going to make it back to base. His role changed, from flier to prisoner of war. His mission changed. It was no longer a target, or an air assignment. His new task was to contribute to the war effort in the difficult roll of prisoner-of-war. He became a “kriegie”--from the German term for prisoner of war, “kriegsgefangenen”. His duty was now survival, escape or communication. He no longer engaged his enemy in the air. He met him in the isolation of an interrogation cell at Dulag Luft or another enemy installation. He met him behind the barbed wire at Stalag Luft Iil. He met him on a forced march in the dead of winter. he met him in the mares nest of Stalag VIIA. Statistics published after the War by the Army Air Force tell a dramatic story about the air war against Germany. During the course of the war 1.693,565 sorties were flown--a sortie defined as one aircraft airborne on a mission against the enemy. Of these missions, 89% were deemed effective. Mission accomplished! Flying these missions were 32,263 combat aircraft. 55% or 18,428 of these planes were lost in action. On the other hand 29,916 enemy aircraft were destroyed. On the human side, there were 94,565 American air combat casualties! Killed in action accounted for 30,099 with 13,360 wounded and evacuated. The remaining 51,106 were missing in action, POWs and internees. Miracles of survival were numerous. Stalag III held many fliers whose planes exploded in the air--disintegrated--yet one, two or more crew members survived. They were blasted unconscious into the sky, and came to on the ground, their open parachutes beside them. Others were literally dug out of the wreckage of their crashed airplanes--horribly injured yet survivors.
Please go to Prisoner of War to read Richard Grandpre’s story as written up by Donn Grandpre |
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