"Peter Duniho" wrote in message

You cannot simply look at the German production numbers and claim that
because they were higher at one point in time than an earlier point in
time,
the bombing was ineffective. It's entirely possible that their production
would have been even higher than it was, if not for the bombing.

That's what I think. The Germans used disposable slave labor so bombing
railyards just caused delays while they rounded up more prisoners to do the
repairs, BUT, it can be argued, every factory that was built was X-number of
fighter planes, tanks, bullets, ball bearings, rifles, submarines or other
equipment that didn't make it to the front line to reenforce the German
forces. If the bombing campaign did nothing but curtail the growth or
resupply of the German infantry and Panzer divisions, it saved American
lives on the ground.

I have photographs of bf109s destroyed in the factories by allied bombing
raids. Those 109s never left the ground to shoot down folks like my
grandfather, so calling the air campaign a complete failure is a disservice
to not only the guys who endured the flak guns and FW-190s and Me262s in the
air war, but the guys on the ground who didn't have to face those Tigers,
artillery, etc.
-c