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#1
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Area bombing is not a dirty word.
60 years of hindsight with some revisionism thrown in have obscured the
original intent of attacking an enemy from the air. I only flew one (of 50) mission over cloud cover using GEE. We didn't call it area bombing. We didn't call it blind bombing. Those are words are now used to stake out an agenda against bombing in general. We flew the mission because it had to be flown and GEE was the only way to get it done. And there was a war on. A very nasty unpleasant war. The name of the game was to go for the enemies throat. Hit him night and day in good weather and bad with no let up and no relief. We flew the missions, came back, buried our dead and went out again.We always hit a specific target that had to be hit. .The idea of having the enemy hit us without our hitting back any way we could was unthinkable. It shows weakness and gives the inititive to the enemy, and once you have lost the initiative, you have lost the war. Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II B-26 website at: http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer |
#2
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The idea of having the enemy hit us without our hitting
back any way we could was unthinkable. It shows weakness and gives the inititive to the enemy, and once you have lost the initiative, you have lost the war. Is that a quote from George W. Bush? Chris Mark |
#3
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ubject: Area bombing is not a dirty word.
From: ost (Chris Mark) Date: 12/31/03 12:24 PM Pacific Standard Time Message-id: The idea of having the enemy hit us without our hitting back any way we could was unthinkable. It shows weakness and gives the inititive to the enemy, and once you have lost the initiative, you have lost the war. Is that a quote from George W. Bush? Chris Mark Nope. It is a paraphrase from a Military Tactics instructor at Cadet school. Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II B-26 website at: http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer |
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#5
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In article , Chris Mark wrote:
And here's a paraphrase from a mission briefing: Not a paraphrase of anything I can find on the net. Where is it from? Mike Beede |
#6
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Subject: Area bombing is not a dirty word.
From: Mike Beede Date: 12/31/03 4:48 PM Pacific Standard Time Message-id: In article , Chris Mark wrote: And here's a paraphrase from a mission briefing: Not a paraphrase of anything I can find on the net. Where is it from? Mike Beede It's just a lot of crap he made up. Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II B-26 website at: http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer |
#7
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From: Mike Beede
And here's a paraphrase from a mission briefing: Where is it from? Approximate words of Maj. Frank Pilliard briefing for attack on Porto Torres, Sardinia. Chris Mark |
#9
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From: ost (Chris Mark)
Date: 12/31/2003 6:12 PM Central Standard Time Message-id: From: (ArtKramr) Nope. It is a paraphrase from a Military Tactics instructor at Cadet school. And here's a paraphrase from a mission briefing: "Remember, if things get screwed up, get rid of those bombs. Find something, anything, another target--trains, trucks, camps, emplacements, guns, troops, anything is fair game--and drop on it. I don't care what it is. Better to drop those bombs than bring them back here. We're not trying to save money, it's all expendable, and we have a lot more bombs where these come from. I want those people shook, so shook they never come out of their holes again. If you kill them today they can't kill you tomorrow. We're not playing fair. We're playing to win. We win by killing them. Killing them until they've had enough and quit. They can quit any time, but until they do we are going to kill them anywhere and anyway we can." Q: We're dropping to rooftop height three minutes from the target and you said to fire on "targets of opportunity" during that time. What is a "target of opportunity"? A: "Just strafe anything in your line of fire. Fire on anything that moves." Q: Donkeys move, farmers move, women washing clothes move.... A: "You've got the idea. We've got to hit them where they live until they drop their ****ing guns and quit. Do you understand?" Complete silence in the tent. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Yes, sir! Chris Mark I just can't see anyone in command position that blatantly advocating war crimes. I can imagine it being hinted at, but never openly stated with that many witnesses. They have plenty of room in Leavenworth for anyone that stupid. Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired |
#10
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Subject: Area bombing is not a dirty word.
From: (B2431) Date: 12/31/03 8:24 PM Pacific Standard Time Message-id: From: ost (Chris Mark) Date: 12/31/2003 6:12 PM Central Standard Time Message-id: From: (ArtKramr) Nope. It is a paraphrase from a Military Tactics instructor at Cadet school. And here's a paraphrase from a mission briefing: "Remember, if things get screwed up, get rid of those bombs. Find something, anything, another target--trains, trucks, camps, emplacements, guns, troops, anything is fair game--and drop on it. I don't care what it is. Better to drop those bombs than bring them back here. We're not trying to save money, it's all expendable, and we have a lot more bombs where these come from. I want those people shook, so shook they never come out of their holes again. If you kill them today they can't kill you tomorrow. We're not playing fair. We're playing to win. We win by killing them. Killing them until they've had enough and quit. They can quit any time, but until they do we are going to kill them anywhere and anyway we can." Q: We're dropping to rooftop height three minutes from the target and you said to fire on "targets of opportunity" during that time. What is a "target of opportunity"? A: "Just strafe anything in your line of fire. Fire on anything that moves." Q: Donkeys move, farmers move, women washing clothes move.... A: "You've got the idea. We've got to hit them where they live until they drop their ****ing guns and quit. Do you understand?" Complete silence in the tent. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Yes, sir! Chris Mark I just can't see anyone in command position that blatantly advocating war crimes. I can imagine it being hinted at, but never openly stated with that many witnesses. They have plenty of room in Leavenworth for anyone that stupid. Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired I have been through 50 combat briefings and never heard any such line of crap in my life. Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II B-26 website at: http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer |
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