HW 13

HW 13 - Read Chapter 13 "Defeat of the Axis," the materials on Bob Stewart and pages 102-104 and answer the following question: How important was Allied air power in helping to defeat Germany in WWII?


Based on chapter 13 (I wasn't here for Bob Stewart's presentation), air power was key to defeating Germany in WWII. Operation Thunderclap seems to have been one of the final straws for Germany and continuing to struggle through the war -- starting in February 1945 the Allies started to destroy German cities with a massive bomber offensive. Over half a million bombs were dropped on the mostly wooden city of Dresden over 2 days in February, and this created a firestorm that killed at least 35,000 people. This went on, and by April almost all German cities were in ruins, and 305,000 German civillians had been killed. It wasn't the reason that Germany surrendered, because the people were still willing to fight and it didn't manage to destroy the economy. However, it did make the job much easier for the troops on the ground, which proceeded to make the final attack. In April, after Hitler's suicide, Germany surrendered. So, although air power was not the thing that caused Germany to surrender directly, Germany wouldn't have been weakened so much if allied air power didn't allow for such massive, violent attacks with high casualty rates.