This note and message describe the action taken by the USS WARD (DD 139) on inshore patrol duty just outside Pearl Harbor in the defensive sea area where even American submarines were not allowed to run submerged.
Dec
06
2009
The foregoing pages tell of the results achieved by air power in each of its several roles in the war in the Pacific, including the effects of the atomic bombs. The Survey has already reported on the results achieved by air power in the European war. It remains to seek out the degree to which the Pacific study modifies, adds to or supports the signposts to the future which were suggested by the European study; to state the extent to which hindsight suggests that air power might have been differently or better employed in the Pacific; to discuss the impact of the existence of atomic bombs on the role of air power; and to state the Survey’s recommendations.
Continue Reading >>>
Dec
06
2009
The Air Attack Against the Japanese Home Islands
Basic United States strategy contemplated that the final decision in the Japanese war would be obtained by an invasion of the Japanese home islands. The long-range bombing offensive from the Marianas was initiated in November 1944, with that in mind as the primary objective.
As in Europe prior to D-Day, the principal measure of success set for strategic air action was the extent to which it would weaken enemy capability and will to resist our amphibious forces at the time of landings. This led, originally, to somewhat greater emphasis on the selection of targets such as
Continue Reading >>>
Dec
05
2009
Elimination of Japanese Conventional Air Power
Japanese production of aircraft of all types rose from an average of 642 planes per month during the first 9 months of the war to a peak of 2572 planes per month in September 1944. The rise was particularly great during 1943, after the Japanese had learned the lessons of the 1942 campaigns. Aggregate production during the war was 65.300 planes.
Continue Reading >>>
Dec
05
2009
United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Summary Report, Pacific
WASHINGTON DC 1 JULY 1946
FOREWORD
The United States Strategic Bombing Survey was established by the Secretary of War on 3 November 1944, pursuant to a directive from the late President Roosevelt. It was established for the purpose of conducting an impartial and expert study of the effects of our aerial attack on Germany, to be used in connection with air attacks on Japan and to establish a basis for evaluating air power as an instrument of military strategy, for planning the future development of the United States armed forces, and for determining future economic policies with respect to the national defense.
Continue Reading >>>
Dec
03
2009
US STRATEGIC BOMBING SURVEYS
EUROPA AND PACIFIC THEATER
WORLD WAR TWO
The new relation of air power to strategy presents one of the distinguishing contrasts between this war and the last. Air power in the last war was in its infancy. The new role of three-dimensional warfare was even then foreseen by a few farsighted men, but planes were insufficient in quality and quantity to permit much more than occasional brilliant assistance to the ground forces. Air power in the European phase of this war reached a :
Continue Reading >>>
Jun
16
2009
Category : Archives Movies, CIC History, Intelligence US, Interrogation Teams
From its inception, the United States made use of spies. The nation’s first spy master, Gen George Washington, recognized the need for accurate intelligence during the Revolutionary War. In a letter written July 26 1777, Washington wrote :
- The necessity of procuring good intelligence is apparent and need not be further urged – All that remains for me to add is, that you keep the whole matter as secret as possible.
From his experience as a British officer in the French and Indian war, he often relied on intelligence provided by Native Americans to keep his troops mobile and out of reach of the enemy. Intelligence operations in the American colonies, though, predate the war. In 1765, after the British passed the hated Stamp Act, a confederation of dissident groups called the Sons of Liberty formed to harass the British. By 1772 the Sons of Liberty had evolved into the Committees of Correspondence, whose purpose was to share information in resisting colonial rule. In Boston, members of the committee, including Samuel Adams and John Hancock, patrolled the streets at night, observing the movement of British troops and warning rebels in the countryside of impending British raids that might turn up caches of arms and gunpowder. The Boston group learned that on one of these raids the British intended to arrest Adams and Hancock, but it was unclear whether troops leaving Boston would travel across land or up the seacoast.
Continue Reading >>>
Jun
07
2009
Category : Army Air Forces
The Douglas TBD Devastator was a torpedo bomber of the USN (United States Navy), ordered in 1934, first flying in 1935 and entering service in 1937. At that point, it was the most advanced aircraft flying for the USN and possibly for any navy in the world. However, the fast pace of aircraft development caught up with it, and by the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the TBD was already outdated. It performed well in some early battles, but in the Battle of Midway the Devastators launched against the Japanese fleet were almost totally wiped out. The type was immediately withdrawn from front line service, replaced by the Grumman TBF Avenger.
Continue Reading >>>
Mar
14
2009
Category : Army Air Forces
At the peak of its strength in World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (AAF) had more than 2.400.000 men and women in uniform. There were pilots, navigators, bombardiers, gunners, and radio operators, clerks and typists, artists and flautists, teachers, mechanics, statisticians, and engineers-for it took many talents and skills to conduct and support the war in the air. All these persons, from privates to generals, had to be welded into an organization capable of giving direction and coordination to their diverse activities. For combat the men were formed into squadrons, and squadrons into groups. Above the groups were wings, and wings were organized into commands, and commands into the 16 air forces of the AAF. The upper part of the structure had to be built while the war was on, but the foundation WAS old. Some of the squadrons, two of the groups, and one wing had combat records from the First World War. One squadron, the oldest in the Air Force, could trace its history back to 1913.
Continue Reading >>>
Feb
08
2009
Category : Army Air Forces, Doolittle Raid
The Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese home islands during World War II. The mission was notable in that it was the only operation in which United States Army Air Forces bombers were launched from a US Navy aircraft carrier. It was the longest combat mission ever flown by the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber. The Doolittle Raid demonstrated that the Japanese home islands were vulnerable to Allied air attack and it provided an expedient outlet for US retaliation for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941.
Continue Reading >>>
