WI: 8th Air Force and RAF Bomber Command used for logistic tasks?

As it is well known, the Allied advance through France was delayed by long supply lines. This one is politically ASB, but somewhat feasible technically:

What if, realising the unique chance for true "blitzkrieg" it is decided that bombing campaign against Germany is suspended for a month on beginning of August 1944 and the main airborne strength of 8th Air Force and RAF Bomber Command bombers are used for resupplying spearheads and airheads of advance? Although the heavy bombers were not ideal cargo planes, they could still deliver a very significant amount of supplies via parachuting and also to airfields when captured. Historically bombers were used in Operation Manna during the last days of Second World War to supply Dutch population with food.

1st US Army used some 800,000 gallons of fuel per day during highly mobile operations, or some 5 000 000 pounds. Multiply this by three (for 2nd British and 3rd US Army) and you get some 15 000 000 pounds of fuel. This is equivalent of some 750 fully laden Lancaster bomber bombloads. What would have been a practical amount to carry I don't know, but considering that fuel could have been delivered rather directly to advancing units should have counted something, as well as the fact that 750 Lancasters would have been just a portion of the vast Allied bomber force. Moreover, a sortie rate higher than one per day could be envisioned due to less strain of cargo mission and shorter length of flights.

Naturally much more than just fuel would have been needed. An American division in Normandy was calculated to need a total of 640 tons of supplies per day, or equivalent of 64 Lancaster sorties in bombload terms. This was the requirement in breakthrough battles requiring a lot of ammunition. What the volume terms or sortie rate would have been I don't have an idea. Naturally a lot would have been supplied via traditional overland route as in OTL.

As even smaller portion of Allied heavy bomber strength, and above all, fighters, could have kept the Luftwaffe defending the Reich at bay, I don't know if there would have been any pro-sides for Germany due to this policy.

But anyway, does anyone have thoughts about this?
 

burmafrd

Banned
Paris was the real reason we were short of supplies. That is why Eisehnower wanted to bypass it as long as possible. With no real working port and everything coming off the beaches supplying Paris pushed us over the edge.
Which to me shows the real shortcoming of the whole OverLord planning- capturing one of the major channel ports after securing the beach head should have been a top priority. Quickly refit the para troops and have them hit one of the ports followed by seaborne reinforcements. Le Havre should have been the target. But the problem with that was Montgomery's slowness in taking Caen.
 
Just how much gas are those 750 Lancs going to need? Not that it wouldn't be used in the air campaign. IMO what should of been done (and maybe it was) was to extend the UK to Normandy pipeline into Northern France
 

hammo1j

Donor
Excellent idea.

Parachuting stuff would be impractical and you would have to get an airfield near to the front line. Planes would be vulnerable when landing and taking off but with the air superiority the Allies had this would be entirely practical.

I suppose the supply problem is the reason allied airfields were not moved forward from the UK as they advanced.
 
Paris was the real reason we were short of supplies. That is why Eisehnower wanted to bypass it as long as possible. With no real working port and everything coming off the beaches supplying Paris pushed us over the edge.

You bring up a good point - Paris had several airbases. Using Paris as an airhead for supplies would have helped tremendously with this idea. Cache the supply's in Paris, supply the French civvies and use whatever is left to supplement the supplies coming over the beach in Normandy.

Which to me shows the real shortcoming of the whole OverLord planning- capturing one of the major channel ports after securing the beach head should have been a top priority. Quickly refit the para troops and have them hit one of the ports followed by seaborne reinforcements. Le Havre should have been the target. But the problem with that was Montgomery's slowness in taking Caen.

Well the plan was to take Caen by like D+12 but the Germans and the weather did not cooperate. Funny that. Seriously the Allies planned to take a port but it was not as easy as either you or they thought. Also until the Germans started falling back unexpectedly fast the supply situation was not a problem.
 
You'd probably have to shoot Harris first...which might not be such a bad idea...;)

shooting General JC Lee, commander of US Army service forces European Theater, might have been a better idea. Why that guy wasn't relieved for cause during the war I will never understand.

The holdup isn't available fuel in the theater, but moving fuel from the beachhead to the front lines with inadequate port space and too few transportation units. Using RAF and USAAF bombers could have been helpful, but more helpful would have been reallocating the C47s and gliders to the Allied 1st Airborne Army that spent most of June-August waiting for an airdrop that never occured.
 
Top