The Atomic Bombing of Germany 1945
Part I
13 February 1945
RAF Marham, Great Britain
At 9PM a field order arrived from 8th Air Force headquarters at High Wycombe (codename:”Pine Tree”) to the 509th Composite Group. The field order stated that tomorrow, 14 February 1945 the 509th, in conjunction with other units of the 8th Air Force would attack the city of Dresden. The field order was merely a formality. The 509th, under the command of the recently promoted Colonel Paul Tibbets, already knew it was going to attack Dresden. The bomber group had officially been formed two months ago for the purpose of dropping an atomic bomb on either Nazi Germany or Japan. In fact it was Colonel Tibbets who had notified Pine Tree of the target selection.
The 509th Group flew Silverplate B-29 Superfortresses. These were B-29s modified to carry an atomic bomb. The group was actually part of the Manhattan Project, America’s ultra secret atomic weapons program. The 509th consisted of a mix of Silverplate B-29s, normal B-29s and C-54 cargo planes. The group was actually split into two detachments, Detachments (“Det”) A and B. Seven modified Superforts were in England with Col. Tibbets. Seven other Silverplates were deployed to the Pacific island of Tinian. There they were preparing for a nuclear strike against the Japanese.
The 509th Composite Group Det. A was for administrative and operational security reasons part of the 73rd Bombardment Wing. The 73rd was the only B-29 Superfortress bomber outfit in England. It had arrived in England in September 1944 commanded by Brigadier General Emmett O’Donnell. Officially the 73rd was part of the 20th Air Force under the direct command of General Henry “Hap” Arnold, commander of the entire USAAF. The USAAF’s other three operational B-29 combat wings, the 58th, 313 and 314th were currently in the Mariana Islands bombing Japan as part of the 20th Air Force. The 73rd Wing was initially supposed to be a separate unit, the XXI Bomber Command. It was soon decided that it would be easier for the B-29s to be integrated into the operations of the 8th Air Force already in England.
Operation Matterhorn and Project Heavyweight
In 1941 the Army Air Force planned on deploying the then unbuilt B-29 Superfortress to England. This was changed in the summer of 1942 with AWPD (Army War Plan Division) 42. Due to production and development problems it looked like the B-29 would be unavailable for immediate service in Europe.
In January at the Casablanca Conference President Roosevelt expressed the idea of basing long range bombers in China. Roosevelt wanted to use long range bombers to attack the Japanese home islands. He also wanted to show support to Chaing Kai Shek in the war against the Japanese. The Allied Joint chiefs of Staff felt supporting an air offensive against Japan from China would be a logistical challenge. The Japanese had overrun Burma in 1942 cutting off China from overland supply. The only way to keep China in the war was by flying war supplies over the Himalaya Mountains
In November 1943 Allied leaders were going to meet at the Cairo Conference. As President Roosevelt was preparing to attend the conference he received a message from Brigadier General Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project. Groves informed the President that an atomic bomb would be ready no later than the end of 1944. General Groves suggested that definite plans be made to use the weapon against Germany and Japan.
In October 1943, Brigadier General Kenneth B. Wolfe had developed Operation Matterhorn. Matterhorn was the plan to base a force of B-29s in China for the purpose of bombing Japan. At the time the operation would be the only way the Americans could strike at Japan itself, which was President Roosevelt’s wish. Matterhorn was projected to go into effect June 1, 1944. Hap Arnold considered it a temporary fix until the Mariana Islands were captured at a date still to be determined. President Roosevelt was going to announce Operation Matterhorn at the Cairo conference but now the situation changed with news of the availability of an atomic bomb.
Both Arnold and General Groves now believed it that the best course of action would be to have some B-29s in England as a contingency for use against Nazi Germany. At the time it was still believed that the Germans were making progress on their own atomic weapons program. One of the purposes of the Manhattan project was to counter the Germans. It was also becoming obvious that the B-29 would be the only American bomber capable of carrying an atomic weapon. Right now only 100 bombers had been built. The AAF needed to supply combat wings for service against Japan and also to deliver nuclear weapons. In keeping with the “Germany first” strategy there was now a way of knocking Hitler and the Nazis out of the war.
George Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff was not too happy with Operation Matterhorn sided with Arnold. Marshall convinced the President to move the Matterhorn deployment from China to the Mariana Islands. From there the United States would begin an air campaign against the Japanese empire. A B-29 combat wing would be deployed to England to be available in case it was needed. In order to placate the Chinese more air transport units and B-24 bombers would be sent to the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater. Churchill was told of the planned deployment at Cairo. He endorsed the idea of very long range (VLR) bombers in England. Churchill however hoped that the bombers might be used against targets in eastern Europe, especially Poland if possible. He wanted to show support to the Poles. Stalin was informed of the Superfortresss at the Tehran Conference two days after the Cairo meeting. He was not informed of the atomic bomb. Stalin was very interested in the B-29. Unknown to both Churchill and Roosevelt, Russian intelligence knew about the plane and about the Manhattan Project as well.
Project Heavyweight became the codename to move the B-29s to Great Britain. In December 1943 an advance party was sent to England to survey airfield sites. The rest of the 8th Air Force bombers were stationed in Norfolk, England so the Superforts would join them there to simplify logistics. RAF airfields at Marham, Sculthorpe, Lakenheath were selected. North Pickenham, an airfield under construction for the USAAF was also selected. Construction of an airfield at Milisle, Northern Ireland was halted and construction assets were to be moved to Norfolk. Construction began in January 1944. Arnold wanted the airfields completed before an invasion of France scheduled in the spring of that year. The project became a priority for USAAF Aviation Battalions already in Britain.
To be continued........