The famous “Battle of Britain” prevented the German invasion of England
in 1940, because the
Royal Air Force dominated skies over Britain.
Nazi
Germany was attempting to prevent the invasion
of
Europe
(D-Day) by
dominating the skies over
Europe, as the
456th Bomb Group arrived in
Italy during
January 1944.This was less than five months before the planned Allied
invasion of
Europe, ordered
for early June,1944. Germany
dominated
the skies!
This book gives a detailed history of how the 456th Bomb Group (flying B-24
Liberator four engine heavy bombers) helped gain air superiority in Europe, making D-Day possible, on time. During
this great four month battle, the 456th Bombardment Group lost almost
one-third of its aircraft.
Written by Dr. Robert Capps a Group pilot during this period.
About the Author
Dr. Robert S. Capps served in the USAF thirty years and retired in 1972 as a
Colonel and Command Pilot. He also received a doctors’ degree from
George
Washington
University
(1978), a masters’ degree from the University
of
Southern California
(1959), and a bachelor of science degree
from the
University
of California
(Berkeley-1948).
After
retiring from the USAF, Dr. Capps taught at
George
Washington
University,
George
Mason
University
. Prior to that, he also taught for UCLA
and Southeastern
University. He also did
management consulting work in government and industry.
In 1994, Dr Capps wrote “Hannibal’s Lieutenant,” about
the life of the Carthaginian, Hannibal, who was famous for taking his
elephants and army over the Alps and
into Roman
Italy in 218 BC.
FOREWORD
This book is a history of events as seen from the perspective of a
Liberator bomber group, the 456th Bombardment Group (Heavy) in
Italy, that took part in the great air war
in Europe
during World War II. It covers the
history of the Group from its inception in 1943 to
July 7, 1944
, with a summary of events
afterwards. Chapters 3 and 4 are a composite of many official and private
diaries obtained from sources as outlined in the previous Acknowledgments.
The Luftwaffe dominated the skies over
Europe
when the 456th Bomb Group arrived in
Italy
in January 1944. Heavy bombers were
being blasted from the skies by the Luftwaffe every time the Allies attempted
to bomb in
Central Europe
.
On
August 17, 1943
the Eighth Air Force lost an
unsustainable 60 planes and 600 airmen when it raided targets at
Regensburg
and
Schweinfurt
in
Germany
. Sixty more planes and 600 more
airmen were lost on a second attack against
Schweinfurt
on
October 14, 1943
. Raids deep into German controlled
airspace had been halted after these two raids, and didn’t resume until
February 1944 because the Allies didn’t have fighters that had enough range
to escort our heavy bombers.
When Army Air Force raids deep into German
controlled airspace resumed in February, 1944, many additional heavy bomber
groups had arrived in
Italy
, including the 456th Bomb Group.
Although we still didn’t have escort fighters with long enough range to
protect us, it was believed that many heavy bombers attacking targets in a
coordinated attack at the same time would disperse Luftwaffe fighter defenses
sufficiently. The Luftwaffe would have to spread its fighter defenses between
three fronts,
Italy
,
England
, and
Russia
, now that we were flying bombing
raids from
Italy
.
Control of the air over
Europe
was a necessary prelude to the
invasion of
Europe
from
England
. Everyone agreed that without
control of the skies, an invasion could not be attempted. Unknown to us in the
heavy bomber groups at the time, the big three world leaders, Stalin,
Churchill, and
Roosevelt
had set the invasion date for
Europe
in early June 1944, five months
after we arrived in
Italy
.
Not enough has been written about that great,
decisive air battle for domination of the skies over
Europe
which lasted from February 1944 to
June 1944. Much has been written, justifiably, about the great air battle for
control of the skies over
Great Britain
in the critical “Battle of
Britain” during the summer of 1940, when the Royal Air Force achieved
domination of the skies over
England
and prevented the German invasion of
England
from
Europe
. But the critical air battles for
domination of the skies over
Europe
that enabled the Allied invasion of
Europe
from
England
, has not been given sufficient
recognition.
The diaries of this book cover the period
from the beginning of 1944 to
July 7, 1944
, a few weeks after the Allied air
forces had gained air superiority over the German Luftwaffe in
Europe
. That day,
July 7, 1944
, was selected as the last day
reported as a daily diary in this book because that happened to be the day
that I completed flying fifty-one missions with the Group and I earned a
ticket back to the
United States
. The Luftwaffe was defeated by that
time. in time for the Invasion of Europe, project Overlord, in
June 6, 1944
. The last bomber of the 456th Bomb
Group that was shot down by an enemy aircraft occurred in August, 1944.
I
attempted to provide some perspective and background, throughout the book, to
point up how our Bomb Group’s effort fit into the overall picture of what
was being accomplished in the master plan of that great war. The book will
bring back poignant memories for many readers who participated in that great
experience.
Many
readers will think I included too much trivial information for each day’s
activities, whereas other readers will feel that I didn’t include enough
detail. At the risk of occasionally boring the casual reader, I have provided
much minutiae in the daily diaries of some of the missions included in
Chapters 2 and 3. More information has been preserved in the archives for some
of each day’s missions than for others, because the records of some missions
were incomplete after being knocked around for more than fifty years. I only
wish that I could include more detail than I did.
I
found minor conflicts in the records while researching facts, and I had to
make a judgment concerning which was the most accurate. In most cases, I used
the official reports that the 456th Bomb Group made to its higher
headquarters, the 304th Bombardment Wing (Heavy) as the best information.
I
decided to write this history of my experience in the 456th Bombardment Group
(Heavy) after I made a visit to the Italian farm in the Foggia Valley of Italy
where we flew our Liberators off a steel-matted runway during World War II.
The runway was located one third of the way between Stornara and the
village
of
Stornarella
in southeastern
Italy
. It was about thirty miles southeast
of the city of
Foggia
.
