By July, 1943, the Allies were ready to begin their bombing assault on Germany. The initial plan was simple. The Americans would attack by day, using heavily armed B-17s and B-24s, while the Bomber Command aircraft would attack by night. The Americans thought that their bombers had sufficient firepower to hold off German fighters. They were wrong. In a series of raids from August through October the USAAF suffered very heavy casualties - 60 bombers lost over Augsburg, 77 lost over Schweinfurt, 55 shot down over Ploesti. Such heavy losses forced the USAAF to abandon its daylight attacks. Daylight bombing would not be successful until the Allies developed long-range fighters to escort the bombers.

The Bomber Command night time raids were more successful. Raids on major industrial centres such Essen, Kassel, Henschel and Hamburg destroyed city centres, put production of tanks, artillery, steel and ammunition back by many months, and forced over 500,000 out of their homes.

Here are four wartime film clips on Bomber Command and the United States Army Air Force:

RAF Bomber Command - Righteous Might 2:35

Lancasters on Bombing Raid (1944) 2:05

WW2 - The Bombing of Germany- in color 2:40

B-17 Bombs Away over Germany 1:20