gatt wrote:

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.

And it did much more than that. Hundreds of the best pilots and aircraft were
withdrawn from the Russian front during Operation Barbarossa to attempt to counter
the growing daylight bombing campaign in the west. Hundreds of thousands of artillery
pieces were devoted to anti-aircraft batteries instead of being sent to the front
lines as anti-tank guns (the difference between an 88mm FLAK and 88mm PAK was
negligible). One week of the daylight bombing campaign was devoted simply to drawing
the Luftwaffe up for our fighters to ensure that none of them could interfere with
D-day. Without that effort, it's quite possible that we could not have remained in
France for long.

George Patterson
None of us is as dumb as all of us.